New Pirate game mockup

[PypeBros]

well, if you are to keep that sprite size and 640x480 resolution, i think reorganizing the screen could benefit the overall readability. Of course, that will mostly depend on your gameplay. My comparison point is Jazz Jackrabbit 2 that had gorgeous gameplay in e.g. 400x300 but also let you play in 800x600 if you wanted increased resolution (keeping the sprites untouched). Being a "shoot-and-run" game, the extra resolution turned out that you see too much of the environment in advance, completely killing the fun.

So maybe you could want to use 640x480 but only use 480x320 for the "game area" and keep the rest for inventary, dialogs, and so on. That could save you from doing dialog "overlays" that might get in the way during the game and would easily allow for a larger, more readable, font (imho).

[ndchristie]

hmm, i dont know actually... I think that x2 ruins the details when do low-resolution sprites.

details aren't visible at x1 unless you've drawn them, which you haven't.  Heck, i need to search for your characters on the screen!  And 80% of the image is taken up with rough cutouts.

However, if i wanted bigger sprites I should have done it in the first place and the game have come to
that stage that it will destroy all the code if I make bigger sprites.

Very few games are highly dependent on resolution.  Also, game projects are HUGE, this screen and your other sketches are a drop in the bucket compared to the final project.  if your design has a serious flaw, which I believe it does (nothing screams NEWB DESIGNERS NEWB DESIGNERS like a huge empty screen), you're still well within the zone where you can redesign.

I think too that some of the charm will dissapear if  it is larger. This is of course not a finished mockup yet and
many other things will appear.

You'll never know until you try!  And now is the time I think.

Finally
A game is not all about the graphics, my job is doing the sprites. BUT, a great idea and story is
the MOST important thing. I have played many games with great graphics BUT with a terrible story and it sucks playing
such games.

We're here to help you with your job, and with graphics.  People around here obviously have other talents (I am a writer, there are a number of musicians, everyone can at least code a simple website ), but this is a graphics forum.  We're not really (and i mean this honestly) concerned with the rest of the game in this setting.

I hope you will enjoy the game anyway
I will post it here when its done!

we may well, I'm looking forward to it!

even with these small problems

I think the problem is bigger than you think, you're so far 5 for 5 against the empty screen style.  5 people hardly make a quorum of the universe, but.. well, I wish you wouldn't brush off critique soo readily.

[tehwexxl0rz]

I hope you will enjoy the game when its done, even with these small problems

I hope I will enjoy the game when it's done, without these small problems.

The health meter is TINY at the moment. That's not just a graphical quip, it's a design flaw.
The text for the dialog is also irritatingly small for the resolution. It will make the viewer squint and interrupt his/her experience.

Also (a purely graphical critique), the main character's right arm is still waaay shorter than his left one. It looks like a physical deformation rather than a style choice.

(OT: Speaking of the dialog, the missing apostrophe and the comma splice are driving me crazy.)

[coffee]

Oh, im sorry.. i got a little head of myselves.

You know, the time pressure and stuff.

I will take your critics Seriously and try my best to change the problems!

thank you! 

[megane]

One way to look at it, IMO: imagine playing this game.  Where are you going to be looking during action sequences?  At your character, of course.  Now, looking at your image, and focusing my eyes on the character, your whole HUD -- now something like 5 inches from my area of focus -- dissolves into a homogeneous purple blob, which is a Bad Thing.  On the other hand, if I perform the same exercise with ben2's edit I can clearly tell the number of hearts without so much as a glance in their direction.

Consider the Zelda games, which have, over time, gotten larger and larger health meters, and at some point began massively enlarging the "current" heart; HUD information needs to be readable even using only ones peripheral vision, and thus it should be almost too clear and obvious when looking directly at it, if you see what I mean.

[.TakaM]

and I think a smaller resolution helps with level design, especially for a platformer.

I've never liked how some platformers will have you move from screen to screen or a large resolution, it takes the fun out of exploring, and if you want to put something special in a spot out of immediate view you'd have to make it excessively far away.
(of course for some games it works, take 'n' for example, since it's focused entirely on pure platforming action and huge smooth jumps you need a large view)
Also with a smaller resolution it may reduce any slowdown (I don't know what your game is gonna be made in )


with that said you have a neat style and it looks like it will be a lot of fun to play already

[victorX]

First, new here

The game looks cool. There is one thing that caught my eye though. I saw a tree that was all the way in the left of the image that looks like it was copied and reversed. I suggest you just redraw the shade of the tree so it could match the light source of the other sprites.

rough edit:


I also agree with Ben2theEdge on the screen resolution. Other than that, awsome.

[TrevoriuS]

First, new here

The game looks cool. There is one thing that caught my eye though. I saw a tree that was all the way in the left of the image that looks like it was copied and reversed. I suggest you just redraw the shade of the tree so it could match the light source of the other sprites.

rough edit:


I also agree with Ben2theEdge on the screen resolution. Other than that, awsome.

Well in fact characters also have a different lightsource than the trees and (so far?) the ground has again another light source.