AuthorTopic: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...  (Read 182292 times)

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #210 on: February 04, 2010, 08:53:38 am
Well, I finally worked all the bugs in the menus out - should work flawlessly at all resolutions. I also did a bunch of polish work, cursors, animations, that sort of thing.
http://www.hedfiles.net/AEupdate.zip 13.85MB
Updated in this version:
Movement keys changed to WASD
Updated menus
Volume control
Enhanced flash effects on the weapons and explosions

Next up on the list:
Correct movement animations for the main character.
First enemy type: The RollyPollyBot.
Correct spawning behaviour
Visible In-game HUD with health, score, and heat monitors.
Intro, Main menu.

In that order... I think.
Thoughts?

Offline Conzeit

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #211 on: February 04, 2010, 06:24:30 pm
man, in motion it looks mighty great....specially the paralax in the background gains a whole lot more life

The gun and the shots also look great, I think the explosion might be a bit much for this? I think u should go for something that keeps the same size the bullet had....might get confusing in practice with all those explosions.

Also, are you settling with fullscreen or windowed? fullscreen the fuzzy parts are more visible and all the shifting pixelsl in the gorilla's fur gets a bit distracting, and I still think the gorilla looks cluttered, it's more visible up close like that.

If you're planning to fix the animations, I really really reccomend you make the shoulders quite moveable, a gorilla has a LOT of movement there, not only when he walks but when he jumps and when he does anything.

Gameplaywise, is the gorilla going to stomp the enemies he lands on? because if he's not it might be annoying to jump and not be able to aim downwards.

keep it up, amazing progress!

Offline Jad

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #212 on: February 04, 2010, 10:03:07 pm
I feel that the bullets have too much .. form and definition? I want to see them as BLURS OF POWER that just zoom into their target for DEADLY DAMAGE DESTRUCTIONS

the sorta zigzaggy quality they have .. If I were to hand-animate a bullet flying somewhere I wouldn't draw it with that kind of shape. It .. slows it down and makes it feel strobey - something that can be offset by just streamlining the bullet more with the direction it's travelling ...

I think? I'm trying to describe a stomach feeling here @ D @;
' _ '

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #213 on: February 04, 2010, 10:39:07 pm
Conceit: Well, that gun is one of the very best weapons in the game - It's meant to feel EXTREMELY powerful, and a little bit of confusion isn't too much to ask for that level of firepower if you ask me. :P As for the resolution, the target platform is the PSP.  So Normal mode on a standard 1650x1080 wide-screen is about the pixel density I'm looking for. I agree that the monkey needs work. I'll definitely be putting in some shoulder movement, and probably toning down some of the detail on him.  Less furry sparkle, and I need to re-do his face to be completely animated. As it stands it's...not. :D Also, when in mid-air, you'll have the option of double-jumping, or doing a ground pound that throws up some AOE damage.
Jad: MOTION BLUR! Yes! Good call. I'll put that in tonight.

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #214 on: February 05, 2010, 08:00:46 am
Well, I lied. I wound up fleshing out the animated background, taking some of Indigo's Crits and trying to separate the foreground and background more - I went warmer in tone than what he did, but it did end up fairly close.
http://www.hedfiles.net/AEupdate2.zip 13.25MB
Updated in this version:
Updated menus with Bugs
New weapon fire - with motion blur.
Fleshed out all the animated foliage.
Added bugs around the flowers
Update the flags.


Next up on the list:
Correct movement animations for the main character.
First enemy type: The RollyPollyBot.
Correct spawning behaviour
Visible In-game HUD with health, score, and heat monitors.
Intro, Main menu.

This time I promise. :D
Any thoughts?

Offline sculptedpixel

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #215 on: February 06, 2010, 08:56:06 am
NICE UPDATE!  ;D  I really dig the fireflies in the menu.  The - butterflies?  - magenta/purple flying thingies in level - I think they work pretty well but I think you have too many in each little flock.  Everything else looks good, looks like it's coming along.  Nice!

re:  I asked you what AA, you said Blackman at twice res then re-sized - what do you do the scaling in, max (ie, video post) or photoshop or?  Thanks!
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Offline Indigo

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #216 on: February 06, 2010, 10:50:14 am
You know, in all honesty I think the small canvas size is holding the quality of this game back.  games at this res in full screen look good when they've been pixel-pushed - but to make high-res graphics, scale them down, then scale it up again to be full screen - where is the sense in that?  I feel you may as well do a high-res game with this art.  I think it feels much too messy/jaggy at such a small res.  Would it be too much to ask you to throw together a mockup with high-res assets so I can evaluate?

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #217 on: February 06, 2010, 08:40:39 pm
sculptedpixel: Thanks. Good call on the butterflies. they are indeed overboard. The newest update fixes that, and also makes the little buggers stay around the flowers. For the re-scale, I use a batch action in photoshop. I export all my outputs from MAX into a "convert" directory, then tell Photoshop to do it's thing on everything in that directory. Pretty quick, actually!
Indigo: Well, like I said, this is designed for the PSP. Those various viewing modes are for PC users only. As for putting together a highres version? That's unlikely. I'd pretty much have to re-do a hue amount of work, and I really doubt it would look as good when I finished. I've been carefully tailoring the level of detail for the half-res end result.

This is the latest version!
http://www.hedfiles.net/AEupdate3.zip 13.25MB

Known issues:
There's nothing to shoot at quite yet.
The GunApe doesn't animate properly when jumping, runnning backwards, or doing anything other than standing still or running forwards.
The Menu options "Credits" and "How to Play" do nothing.

Updated in this version:
Fixed the butterfly motion and behaviour.
New camera system, has some ease-in-ease-out. Much easier on the eyes.
New intro
If you stand idle for too long, a GO! prompt pops up!
Fixed a bunch of haze effect problems.

Currently working on: The GunApe's animations, model.

Next up on the list:
First enemy type: The RollyPollyBot.
Correct spawning behaviour
Visible In-game HUD with health, score, and heat monitors.
Intro, Main menu.

Any thoughts?

Offline twodayslate

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #218 on: February 06, 2010, 08:55:51 pm
I really like when you shoot the bugs they disappear. You probably won't notice this in game but it is the little things that add up! Good job!

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #219 on: February 08, 2010, 08:22:37 am
Twodayslate: Thanks. It's my hope that eventually, *all* the bugs will disappear when you shoot them :D

http://www.hedfiles.net/AEUpdate5.exe
Known issues:
The GunApe doesn't animate properly when jumping, running backwards, or doing anything other than standing still or running forwards.
The Menu options "Credits" and "How to Play" do nothing.
Some framerate issues - odd, since they don't seem to be related directly to the new enemies...

Updated in this version:
Fixed the butterfly motion and behaviour.
New camera system, has some ease-in-ease-out. Much easier on the eyes.
New intro
If you stand idle for too long, a GO! prompt pops up!
Fixed a bunch of haze effect problems.
First Enemy type, the rollypollyBOT has been implemented!
Player health has been added
Lots of other tweaks...

Currently working on: The GunApe's animations, model. Sorta stalled on the new face model. I get the feeling that's gonna take a while to get right.

Next up on the list:
Complete the visible In-game HUD with health, score, and heat monitors.
Intro, Main menu.

Any thoughts?
« Last Edit: February 08, 2010, 08:57:58 am by Howard Day »