GR#119 - Project Deadbird - Gameart, Sprites, Icons, Conceptart

[Hyrule_SwordsMan]

Great art, I think you have talent and I like what you do.

About the HUD, I would deff add some contrast in those blue and red bars. Maybe using both black and white, or some hue variation instead would get a nice result. I think the same goes for the rest of the HUD. The "dark purple" part is too boring. Don't forget that color is as much important as shape. Maybe you have a really interesting shape, but  not more than 6 colors in a huge surface. I recommend you adding some details on some other colors, conserving the saturation so it doesn't pop out very much.

(oh, now you're gonna animate that avatar huh? hehe har)

I was waiting for this one to reactivate.


This project seems more like just an art project than an actual game dev project. It'll take months of development to bring this game about. And look at how little time you have. Not to be a doomsayer, but how far have you ever gotten into creating a fully-featured game like this?

With all the final art being produced there needs to already be a thoroughly planned out design doc in existence, yet last I remembered some of the game's fundamentals were still up in the air, nowhere near ready for being recorded in the DD. Others here have much more valid experience with game dev, commercial even (just see their lamentations in the Off-Topic thread right now to identify a few). Maybe they can advise.



Your latest stuff. I agreem the HUD is big, I was surprised.

I assume it spans the width of your targeted resolution, which would be 320px X 240px. How is it going to work? What happens when the game world is overlapped by the protrusions on top of the HUD? When art crosses over into game art there's a painful need for functionality above all else, and right now it looks like a form-over-function situation goin' on here.
What does need to pop out and doesn't, are the weapons icons. Agreed, I like their pallets, so maybe you shouldn't edit them, maybe what you have to do is pushing a bit down the strength of the rest of the hud. When I see your HUD I first see the red bar, then the arm of the guy, then the rest of the purple hud and just after everything i can barely see the weapons. I think that should work differently, you may work a bit more on that. Should the guy in the middle have that much protagonism on your HUD?
Well, let's see some improvements :]

cheers and good luck from Argentina




Top left of HUD, is that a closed eye waiting to open? Perhaps a toggle switch for some type of game mode, like invincibility for the player?

[Hyrule_SwordsMan]

What St0ven says is true, Ryumaru. Have in mind that if you are using such a cool and full of details HUD, the rest of the windows should have at least the same ammount of details, or more; so the player won't focus all his attention on something that is really secondary.
Maybe you should try something more modest.

hey man if youre making games i think its not really so much important to get caught up in the end product look/feel right away. usually youll go through several iterations to get many aspects of your game looking the way you want it (or the way your boss wants it). if the HUD is giving you some trouble, use a simple, sensible layout at first, being minimalistic, and then move on to the rest of your game. things like HUD design may very well be influenced by the progression of your game's content, so sometimes its best not to commit to these things too soon. Spend that time on content content content!

[Ryumaru]

So as this thread has proven I am deplorable at animation, but my cousin and I have been throwing around some game ideas and we found game maker for mac so I've been a bit inspired. Mac still doesn't have a great pixel app. I just wan my mspaint :[

The game maker sprite editor doesn't have a function to save as a .gif so all I have is this measly, horrible sprite strip  ._.

Besides the general lack of quality I liked how the other animations served as a run, but could still be used as a walk animation- this one doesn't have the same effect. Some day I will increase the frame rate on these but I am at least at the point where I know adding frames doesn't do shit until the key frames are passable. Any and all critique welcome

[Mathias]

I gotchyer back, homey: (animation a bit slow for easier appraisal)



Two things - Animating sprites that detailed is going to be true work! I assume you'll be matching this detail level for all other sprites. And, my biggest crit is the head looking copy/pasted across frames; doesn't change.

I like it a lot, though.

[Atnas]

First three frames are great, fourth needs work!

The main problem I see is his back leg is a bit too thick in the final frame. I also think it should move upwards a bit more, you'll notice its as if he's only occupying one half of the shadow he's making, because he's not spread out enough along the Y axis. In that last frame his front foot is strangely positioned as well, I don't think it should be angled like that, try his toes touching the ground and his heel raised without being angled as much towards the camera. And finally the arms are much more drastic in their angles than the second frame. Try to mirror the positions of the second frame and it will look much more natural. Glad to see this getting revived by the way. c:

[Ryumaru]

Tell me what you think of this guys. Mathias, I tried to do some sub pixeling to A) reduce the effect of the 1 pixel head bob and B) slightly edit the face configuration so it doesn't look as copypasted.
Atnas: I tried to fix through your suggestions; the final frame is a bit less extreme:

[Ryumaru]

Just dumping some weapon concepts. Mostly reworks of earlier designs as these are the weapons you get earliest in game.



carved bone knife. Second one indicates what can be created with higher intelligence stat ( utilization of serrated edges for more damage) third indicates what can be created with both higher intelligence and higher creativity( focus on aesthetics, desire for symmetry.



Boss weapons utilizing remains specific to the bosses you defeat. first one is utilizes large fangs and the fur of a beast, second comes from the skull and hand bones from the guy I posted in creativity thread. I'm fine with these designs specifically being more aesthetic or for the cool factor, as these are rewards and as such should be special.