Platforman Game Mockup

[xerus]

Hey guys, I've been throwing pixels around trying to come up with a good look for a game project I'll be starting on soon.  I'm looking for any feedback you can offer, thanks!



I scaled it to 640 x 480 since Firefox 3 likes to blur everything when zooming... 

[Gizmonicgamer]

Looks awesome - the style particularly. Though the scarf looks a bit awkwardly big compared to the character. Maybe either shorter it or make it not as thick, so it seems more natural?

Aside from that, only complaint I could have is the map appears almost identical to metroid. This may be intentional in which case ignore this, but I'm going to say that differentiating it in some way probably wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Kapser]

I don't have much constructive feedback but i have to say this looks awsome.

[PypeBros]

possitively love the colors you've picked here. tree trunks are very interesting but the leaves still look a bit geometric to my tastes ...

I hope the oversized scarf is part of the hero's attributes (e.g. does he use it to attack or to control his fall), and not just a purely visual item (it certainly gives him character, though, which is a nice thing).

One thing i'd regret on this mockup is the large "plain-brown" area in the ground. I know about that style in platformers where only the border of the dirt are detailed, but in your case, it would be interesting to have a few more tiles, e.g. to soften the inner corners or vary heights, etc.


Tried a doodling to show possible directions for breaking the ground's uniformity, to illustrate my comment more than as a real graphic edit... Hope it helps.

[dkh]

Quick color-edit on PypeBros' version. Can't see the other images because they won't load for some reason.



Added contrast to tile-layer in the foreground for better readability.

[Kazuya Mochu]

I would add some contraste to the terrain, but probably not as much, cause it sort of steals away the attention on the character. I would probably dull out the backdrop, or have a completly diferent pallete for the character, so it never gets blended in.

[xerus]

I darkened the brown a little bit, and tried to come up with a solution for the brown void, I don't think it's working out too well though.



I didn't have much time to do a lot on it, but I appreciate the feedback thus far.

Gizmonicgamer:  I want to have the scarf be emphasized, and since that's something that will be left up to the engine I'll wait to see how it works out there before any changes happen.  The Super Metroid map was semi-intentional, but I would like to make it look unique somehow.

Kapser: Thanks

PypeBros: I appreciate the edit, which I attempted to respond to a little bit.  The scarf will definitely have some sort of impact in the game.  Everything is up in the air right now though.

dkh: That may be a little too dark for me, hm.

Kazuya Mochu: I'll consider all of this when I have more time to work on it.

[PypeBros]

the additional rocks within the ground bring interesting variety, but they're -- once again -- very rectangular. They should not only serve the purpose of distracting the eye, but also to break the "cubism" that is naturally induced by tiling. this post in the building of Lectro game illustrates what i mean, so i take the liberty to cross-post souly's art

you'll note that the below image only feature "vertical", "horizontal" and "corners tile, and that it gives a fairly rectangular look to the pice. On top-right corner, Souly took more liberty with intermediate and corner-filling tiles that gives the cave a much more interesting look (imvho).

[dkh]

dkh: That may be a little too dark for me, hm.

I overdid it a bit in order to show my point.

Please don't leave the colors as they are, because the foreground is just as desaturated as the already desaturated and contrast-lacking background and it all fades together and it's really hard on the eyes. Believe me or take a look around at other platformers, they all use saturation and contrast for close tiles or objects because it adds readability.

[xerus]

Whoa, that's really helpful PypeBros, thanks :O

Thanks for the feedback dkh, I'll definitely experiment with the colors and the contrast and saturation issues.

[Gizmonicgamer]

Though I personally would'nt worry too much on that issue, Xerus, I personally have no problem telling the different layers apart. It may become a hassle later though, so just keep an eye on it.

[PypeBros]

Though I personally would'nt worry too much on that issue, Xerus, I personally have no problem telling the different layers apart. It may become a hassle later though, so just keep an eye on it.

It's not a problem for me either. I've seen many games with equally little contrasts such as e.g. Kirby's Amazing Mirror or Twinbee : Rainbow Bell Adventures. This may become an issue for handhelds devices where the screen has poor contrast, though.

The only item that i cannot tell for sure is the tree right near the player. Is it a tiny tree right nearby the player or a medium tree a bit further that happen to have contrast similar to the ground below the player ? Only parallax will tell for sure, but as it is a very recognizable shape, the player will easily discard it.

[HughSpectrum]

Even though you faded the background objects, I think the sheer messiness and saturation of that brightest shade of the tree top detail is causing the trees in the background to pop out just as much, if not more than the tree in the background.

It also looks like you're trying to follow the suggestion where you put objects on the inside of the ground, but I think PyroBros' post was more about making your ground edges have more interesting curves to it, which I would do first.

[xerus]

Here's another attempt!



I think I may be starting to head in the right direction, but still stumbling around in some areas.

[Kazuya Mochu]

ok I'm going to say something I believe some people that posted above me will agree with.
if an object is away from the viewer it will have more atmospherical density (most of the cases it will be more blue) wich you have cleverly added to your scene. looks nice!
but another thing that also happens is that most of the details get lost, because well, one: you are too far away to see and two: because the atmosphere density sort of reduces de contraste thus killing some of the detail information.

right now, the tree that you have in the first level of the background has detail that is pushing it forward to the playing level.
Im not going to say that is is not obvious that the tree is in the background, but it definetly would be better in my oppinion if it was less noisy.

oh and btw, the cast shadows on the columns arent really like that. they arch up in the midle, and down in the edges of the columns.

[alspal]

I think you have too much happening in the 'faded dirt' area. It seems you've faded it to that brown so you didn't need to put detail in the dirt, but then you suddenly filled that area with awkwardly placed bricks.

[xerus]

Ahh, not enough happening, too much happening.... argh!

I tried a mockup going in a different direction for the backdrop tiles, I seem to recieve just as much criticism with each though...



I was thinking at first that this improved the readability of the collision layer, but I've gotten feedback that is the contrary.  The main issue I was having is that because of the palette of the marble tiles it was difficult to fade them with the sky color because they wouldn't fade enough to drop into the backdrop, so I tried the darkening approach.  If this is better/worse let me know ;p

[Jad]

The thing with the square tile-sized bricks in the middle of the dirt is that it makes your game look like cave story and/or the underside. Seriously. Also, I don't think it fits your style! Go crazy with pillars and greek-y stuff in the upper levels of the piece instead, that was much more pleasant to the eye IMO. Don't bother with the under-earth, the player isn't going to interact with anything there so there's no acute need for visual information there.

[Mike]

I think for the character you should either bring up the mouth or bring down the scar so we can see more of the face because when I looked at your character I couldn't tell if that black line was a shadow/neckline, or a mouth.



Sorry I edited a bit of the hair too...

[xerus]

The thing with the square tile-sized bricks in the middle of the dirt is that it makes your game look like cave story and/or the underside. Seriously. Also, I don't think it fits your style! Go crazy with pillars and greek-y stuff in the upper levels of the piece instead, that was much more pleasant to the eye IMO. Don't bother with the under-earth, the player isn't going to interact with anything there so there's no acute need for visual information there.

Okay so having just the brown void is fine?  That was going to be my original route, but people seemed to be against that...

Mike: Thanks for the feedback and the edit!  The character is in a pretty early phase (only that one sprite exists of him so far) so I'll most likely be working on this issue.  I kinda wanted the scarf to be super huge/covering his chin though! ;p

I will now post an image.



Ugh the readability in that one blows.



Try that, perhaps?

[Jad]

Brown void is just fine in my opinion! It's just that it's kind of an milky-grey-kind of brown that you're using, which at the same time takes visual priority (since it's quite bright and as well a large field) and creates confusion between the front and back layer since they are both rich in desaturated colours.

The solution I propose is simply making it a bit darker, to up contrast in the front layer and at the same time take away attention from the void area.

Also, i'd like to see some definition in the tree crowns, the clutter that's there right now just reminds me of big blobs of papier maché. Doesn't feel too natural and/or lush

[xerus]

Okay!  I will do more with trees and the rocky palette next time.  For now I will post this other slightly modified version:



I'm exhausted..... more tomorrow... weeee!

[TomF]

It's looking great so far, what are you using to make it?

Trees are a little noisy in the background, I would try for a little less detail on those.

[Larwick]

I don't think he should be able to stand on that brick he's currently standing on. It doesn't look like it's on the same plane as the rocky ground atall (it actually is placed behind). The bricks in the air kind of work because of the strong shadowed sides, which bring them forward - however this area is covered on the brick on the ground, and the top and left sides just merge with the background. Brown bricks would work better, or maybe a different colour alltogether - blue perhaps.