[Cancelled]World of Chaos Deluxe: Extended

[Kriven]

Is it possible to redefine the keys for, say, a controller?

[Koh]

Is it possible to redefine the keys for, say, a controller?

Probably not at the moment, but even if I were to try to add code for that, I have no way of testing it, since I lack a controller. I could also try to add Numpad support, but again, I have no way of testing that, since my laptop does not have a Numpad.

How about the full story? I've typed this all up a couple of days ago, and didn't want to post it until I had another video to show, which I do! But story first....

Story
The world is living in fear, because demons known as the Chaos Elementals, that each have power with a specific natural element, have begun terrorizing the world and creating mass destruction. Many warriors from around the world have fallen attempting to fight the threat to peace.

However, Koh's village is home to descendants of a special group of warriors that each have something they naturally excel at during battle, that only they can do. For Koh, this was the ability to use his sword like a boomerang, and have it return to him like none other, and is able to charge elements into his blade as he acquires those powers. Normally, before anyone can leave the village, they must undergo the Village Trial at a minimum age of 15, which will determine if they've kept up their training and can handle themselves in the outside world. However, due to this threat, and how the elders noticed Koh's constantly increasing level of skill with his unique technique, they decided to send him through it early (he's 12 years old in this game). He flies through the test with ease, and they deem him strong enough to use his technique to stop the Chaos Elementals.

Instead of traveling all over the world by foot, since that would take a long time, the elders have decided to allow Koh to use the Teleporters to navigate to the lairs of all the Chaos Elementals directly. However, due to the chaos Elementals' power, the teleporter is only able to send Koh to either just inside the front door, or in the general vicinity of the areas. From there on out, Koh is on his own, and has the world resting on his shoulders. A heavy burden for a 12 year old, but he'll be alright! And so, his journey starts in the lair of the nearest Chaos Elemental, King Fritz, Lord of the Slimes, who controls the element of Water.
---
And with that, have a new video, which shows the boss fight at the Sand Tower. Of course I made him a bit stronger since the video, since this was my "underachiever" test file, meaning I completely ignored all the optional routes in favor of the lowest stats to try and balance enemies.

[Koh]

Below is a video showcasing the elemental charging system, with the element of Water. Also a couple of other changes and updates~

[Koh]

Here is a new video to showcase the Wind Element. As you can see, not every elemental charge will be a pure-offensive based charge attack.

[Gors]

that looks pretty good, I was surprised with the music too. It sounds good, too bad it delays before looping. If you could fix that, it'd be perfect.

[Koh]

that looks pretty good, I was surprised with the music too. It sounds good, too bad it delays before looping. If you could fix that, it'd be perfect.

As I mentioned before, while the base music is RPG Maker's RTP, I passed the MIDI's through soundfonts for high quality MP3's, hence the enhanced music pack .

Another elemental showoff...you'll be starting with this element. As you can see, Fire is pretty random with it's projectiles, so it's not super reliable. But as with all the other charges, damage is boosted higher than the slash attack, so it could be useful just a bit, but not as much as the later elements.

[Koh]

I was thinking about giving the graphics a res-lift. I haven't completed all the sprites, naturally, as I haven't fully decided yet, but here's a sample:



What do you guys think. For better or for worse?

[Previous]

You overuse anti-aliasing, making the ourlines really thick and look banded. ALso, the light source seems to be between object and viewer (pillow shading) in some of them, mostly the slime. Generally, they could use more contrast and try to sacrifice some detail for readability. Try to make the light source more obvious and use far less anti-aliasing pixels.
The slime blob enemy should be less round, add some more gravity impact. The health bottle could use a broader bottom, too.
Of course, the stars need more work on their shape but well, stars are hard



Personally, I liked the low-res style, though, except for a few smaller issues

[Thumbtacks]

I actually like the low-res style. I think all that you need to work on is the colors. Contrast and Hue-shifting and all that stuff they talk about.

Another thing is, The way Gamemaker handles its resolution, it blurs the colors between the sprites. Is it possible for you to post a version where the resolution is set to 1x?

I've got the same problem in my game, Figuring out how to upscale the graphics without causing blur. Obviously resizing each sprite manually is out of the question >_>

Though if I figure out the method, I'll pass it on to you

[Koh]

You overuse anti-aliasing, making the ourlines really thick and look banded. ALso, the light source seems to be between object and viewer (pillow shading) in some of them, mostly the slime. Generally, they could use more contrast and try to sacrifice some detail for readability. Try to make the light source more obvious and use far less anti-aliasing pixels.
The slime blob enemy should be less round, add some more gravity impact. The health bottle could use a broader bottom, too.
Of course, the stars need more work on their shape but well, stars are hard



Personally, I liked the low-res style, though, except for a few smaller issues

Thanks for the critiquing; I've never actually been critiqued much on my hi-res stuff, and now that you mentioned pillow shading, it's actually becoming a lot more visible...I'll try fixing these up and posting a new version for you to look at .

I actually like the low-res style. I think all that you need to work on is the colors. Contrast and Hue-shifting and all that stuff they talk about.

Another thing is, The way Gamemaker handles its resolution, it blurs the colors between the sprites. Is it possible for you to post a version where the resolution is set to 1x?

I've got the same problem in my game, Figuring out how to upscale the graphics without causing blur. Obviously resizing each sprite manually is out of the question >_>

Though if I figure out the method, I'll pass it on to you

Yeah the palette probably needs major tweaking...

You can change the Window Scale by pressing Z on that line. In the version that'll come in time, I made it more obvious, as it states "Change Window Scale (it's x[scale])."

Someone over on 64 Digits actually mentioned a good idea I should consider; I could have the Hi-Res/Low-Res as an option on the options menu. It's not necessarily hard to program (though it IS a ton of lines, since it has to go through and check for every sprite existing, and then replacing them if they do), and it could appease both sides....

[Koh]

I've decided to go ahead and make it an option that's either set to High or Low (High by default) in the options menu, so that way people can have it either way. I'm in the middle of redoing all the maps, and updating all of the code. And I've tried fixing up the sprites a bit. Old on the left, new on the right:

[Gors]

the sprites are still too pillowshaded/banded, they don't look tridimensional but rather 'bumpy' like plastic stickers. When increasing resolution of sprites, you shouldn't zoom it twice and smooth the same details, but redo them to make use of the extra space. I'll make an edit when I have the time.

[Koh]

the sprites are still too pillowshaded/banded, they don't look tridimensional but rather 'bumpy' like plastic stickers. When increasing resolution of sprites, you shouldn't zoom it twice and smooth the same details, but redo them to make use of the extra space. I'll make an edit when I have the time.

But isn't that the entire point of higher resolution, to show more detail on the same thing ? Because of the added space, I was able to give more shape to Koh and his mugshot, as well as obtaining more room for expressions .
I scale the old sprites x2 as a reference, but I draw the higher resolution sprites from scratch next to it, shaving off a pixel from each side (so although the sprite is contained in a 32x32 box, the limit of the higher resolution sprite is 30x30), and then making use of the extra space, like expressions, better body shapes, refined detail, etc. I don't really see the over-pillowshading and stuff, but I guess this is why I'm not a graphics major XD.

[Hoeloe]

But isn't that the entire point of higher resolution, to show more detail on the same thing ?

In a way, yes, but not by just scaling up the smaller sprite and smoothing it out. Small sprites have details sacrificed for readability. By making the sprite bigger, you make that sacrifice unnecessary, so smaller details can be added back in (e.g. pockets on jackets, clothing folds, eyebrows, etc.). It gives a very different impression than just scaling it up and smoothing it out.

[Gors]

i made a sprite of the main character. Notice that I reworked the sprite completely, and it fits more with the original sprite's proportions. I see that you tried to use the bigger size to work on a more correct proportion, but then the rest of the things wouldn't fit that well.

I also changed some of the colors so he doesn't look pale.