Balloon Fight (remake)

[Souly]

I always enjoyed balloon fight as a kid.
And ATM, I'm bored so I pixeled this and made a horribly coded game maker game to try and go with it.

Yes, I have so many "other" projects going on.
They may get made at some point, but my programmer contacts aren't all that reliable. 






My craptastic gameplay example video.

[huZba]

Your guy is kind of ordinary. The original is cute and funny even though it's a bit hard to tell what it is. Also think about the proportions in the original balloon guy, including his balloons. Also the shape of the balloons in the original is very specific.

I like the character you have on the right, but it's also very much like most of your characters, so i think it would be better to explore some new things. Also bigger balloons...or smaller guy. There's a reason why the original had red balloons. They are your lifeline, the most important thing in the game. Use color and proportion to reflect this kind of ideas in your game and they'll work better. Try and give the essence of ballooniness for your balloons.  They're shiny, rubbery and bouncy. Think of ways to convey that.

[Souly]

About the balloons being bigger, I was hoping to have more then 2 balloons.


He got thinner, and his original colors back.
And now when you loose your balloons, you can land on the ground, but you have to pump up new balloons like the enemies did in the original.

[Souly]

Tried a re-design.
Not sure if I like it though, even though I think the new balloon is better.

[saimo]

even though I think the new balloon is better.

The first thing that comes to mind is that dithering for such surface does not work.
Also, I'm not sure about the lighting: there are hightlights on both sides of the balloon and then shadow in between, which looks inconsistent.

saimo

[Feron]

you never ever seem to use any kind of reference, and until you do a lot of your work is going to be flawed.



thats one of the closest to what i imagine your lighting conditions are...

balloons: shiny, smooth, no-dither!!, lots of AA, bright colors, hardly any shadow,

i'd say that right now, the green character and red balloon don't match,  maybe pick a pallette and use it for both to get a unified character/item set.

[Voodoofusion]

Tried a re-design.
Not sure if I like it though, even though I think the new balloon is better.

Yeah I don't like this particular re-design of the character. Too Master Chief-esque, doesn't seem to really fit. Maybe try giving him a bigger head for a cartoony look? Just a thought. I like the original design of the character in the pic of him pumping up the balloon. Maybe work with that one and see what you come up with.

[Mathias]

Ha, yeah he does look like master chief, chibi form or something. I actually think the redesign is quite nice, but not for this game. This game is too cutesy and needs a tamer style, like he had before. Souly, revert to yer older design and put fancier garb on him or something. New balloon is better.

[Tuna Unleashed]

IMO the old one was great aside from the cynical look on his face and the balloon.

[Tobe]

Though balloon fight is never my favorite game, I personally love to see a remake. Along the line with Dig Dug, Ice climber and well... a few others. Even if its just a graphical revamp.

Anyway, the sprite wise, I agree with what huZba mentioned- the character seems to be a little too normal. I hope you don't mind that I did another version of the character myself here...


This 1st is the original, while the rest are different tryout with different size and color restriction.
I try to give him more character with his proportion and a red nose (the original had a large nose). Something that the player can remember him with. Hope it helps