The GameDev Lounge 00000011

[puggsoy]

My only problem with this is, that I need to make sure, that players won't lose cute Cappani in those colors. I tried very hard to shift the hues here and there to avoid that from happening. What you guys think   ? I'm okay with these colors, but I'm not sure, if everyone else does okay with these colors too.

Just on this point specifically, I think you're OK. The fact that Cappani is centred on the screen means she's kinda hard to lose, and (at least from what you've shown) she's the most active thing on the screen. Of course, if you do find a way to make her stand out more it can't hurt.

One thing which did stand out is how different the effects are to Cappani's animations. The rotating of the collectibles looks a bit too... smooth? I'm not sure how to describe it, but the animation style just seems out of place. Hopefully you can tell what I mean.

Also, I feel like you're laying it a bit heavy with the dust puffs. It makes sense when you bounce mid-air with her hat(?), what with mushrooms and spores. But seeing those huge puffs every time she lands is a bit strange. They're pretty big and move so far away. I would suggest a smaller, subtler dust disturbance when she lands, and leave the more pronounced ones for her parachute ability.

[Hiro-sofT]

Thanks for the posts and for taking your time to help me you two .

I thought that those totems on the BG were platforms at first. Try making the colors dimmer on what is not interactable, your eye should be able to immediately see it.

Yeah, thats what I was afraid too . That the totems are just looking too much like a FG object. I tried to dim it down, but like with everything in the tileset, I'm always afraid to make anything too dark . I will try to find a solution and fitting palette for the decoration stuff, once I'm back home. Is this just the totems now or is the rest of the decorations also a problem (like the trees)?

Also another way to avoid the landscape from being only orange is to counter it with another color for the sky, here are some examples.

These look good , but I will properly go with something like the redish or the more purple ones. I want too add a sunset BG for this level set later, to fit the rest of the levels coloration and mood. Blue and green wouldn't fit that much in a sunset background.

Also, despite being autumn palette, some trees could have a different leaf palette, some of the most stunning autumn forest photos do have some yellow or green trees for contrast.

Ahh... this is actually a nice hint . I will see, what I can do about that.

i hope to see a very intrincate level design

I will do my best to design both, enjoyable and challenging levels. In the first levels I want to make it, that the player learns the basics, so they can get used to the controls and main actions of the character. Later, I will introduce different kinds of challenges and concepts of levels, whose elements are also being first introduced in their first level and later reappear in future levels in harder ways or combined with other concepts.

To make it short: First there will be simple learning and trying (without tutorials) and later there will be harder problems, which will require the basics to get through .

I also want to put in each world a challenging bonus level, which will be using the elements of the world and combine these into one, hard level. Those will be not needed to clear the game, but to 100% it . I will keep an eye on making the levels fair, because fairness should be the highest priority in a level. I will try to avoid a difficult starting difficulty, even if I know, that it's not my biggest strength to make easy levels .

The rotating of the collectibles looks a bit too... smooth?

the animation style just seems out of place. Hopefully you can tell what I mean.

I understand what you mean . The thing about this is that, unlike the collectables, Cappanis animations aren't rotated. The reason why the collectables are smooth is because I technically rotate them (they actually don't have animations). I also use stretch and rotation effects on other objects like bubbles (the gif is older, but the streching is still pretty much the same). The thing is, I don't know if I should drop some of the rotation frames and make it more choppy or if I should redo it and make new animations.

With new animations, it's no problem for the clover, but for the candy, chocolate and other items, I don't know how the animation should look like . Is it a big problem actually, if something is too smooth like the collectables? Because it would also mean, that I would need to change the bubbles and also the falling titlescreen stuff (all of which are using rotations). I mean, it's noticeable, yeah, but does it make the rest look bad that way ?

But seeing those huge puffs every time she lands is a bit strange. They're pretty big and move so far away. I would suggest a smaller, subtler dust disturbance when she lands, and leave the more pronounced ones for her parachute ability.

I see. The thing is, that I want to use the spores (puffs) as an attack for the player. In terms of gameplay, I don't know, if the spores size and reach sould be dropped then. I can hardly tell that now, since I haven't programmed the enemies yet .

I mean, I would change that instantly, if the spores would only be a visually thing, but they will become part of the gameplay. If the range is too short and the size to small to hit something, than it could be a bit frustrating for the player. That's why I'm currently not so sure about that .


Again, thanks for your help . I will think more about these things at home and take care of the palette problem. Maybe I can programm finally some more player actions tonight, like actually giving her the ability to lose extra tries and getting hurt.

[Gors]

I think that the clover rotation is too distracting, but the other items can stay the same. The clovers rotate so fast, they look like propellers. i couldn't read they were clovers.

If they're supposed to be 4 leaf clovers, I suggest using a more readable design, such as



which is readable by anyone.

[puggsoy]

I understand that rotating them programmatically is more convenient, but I do still think it looks out of place. It's not as much of a problem on the title screen, since that's sort of separate. There's a lot of stretching and rotating going on, and even though Cappani animates in a different style it doesn't seem to clash as much. In the game play, I only see the items rotating weirdly and it really sticks out. Right now there's only Cappani but I expect there to be enemies and many other animated parts of the game, and it could clash really badly.
It might just be me though, and if it's too much work to animate them by hand (which I can totally expect it would be) then it's not a big issue. It really depends whether you think it's worth it or not.

I do agree with Gors that I had no idea they were clovers though, so you may want to go with a more obvious design. As for the spores, I wasn't aware they were used to combat so that makes more sense.

[Gors]

Also another thing, i think you should make her face visible at all times. Most of the frames have her whole face covered by the mushroom cap and that gets on the way to be honest. Being able to see the face helps knowing which side the character is facing, and can add more character.

[Hiro-sofT]

Well, I did some progress on my indie game:

I hope, that I at least improved the whole thing a little . Basically, what changed from last time, is:

• I remaked all items and their animations, added new versions of them (like 2ups, which are not seen here in this little gif)
  
• I changed the FG palette and added some other palette variations of existing stuff (like the trees and bushes)
  
• I changed most of the frames from Cappani to have her face visible, added a landing frame for her and added a sprint function for Cappani (just double tap a direction button to run)
  
• I programmed animations for the virtual buttons
  
• I also added a new transition effect, when you enter doors/the level
  

Still couldn't programm the hurt and actual extra try losing stuff...


Maybe I should start my own thread for this? I'm posting to much stuff about that game here otherwise...

EDIT:
Here a picture without the movement:

Spoiler

[Gors]

I really like Cappani's sprites now, it's way more appealing

the spore effect looks weird as it expands, because it takes on a square shape as if it's inside a box

also I agree, you should start a new thread for your game! it looks v promising, and also helps people follow your work better. Did you start a devblog too?

[Hiro-sofT]

the spore effect looks weird as it expands, because it takes on a square shape as if it's inside a box

Now, by looking at it closely, I have to agree . It's currently is squished inside a 32x32 graphic, which seems too small to fit the animation. I will make the actual graphic size maybe a little bit bigger (by 8 pixels), so that the dust effect can actually expand.

also I agree, you should start a new thread for your game!

I will do that , as soon as I get most of the basic information down (like the story and other important descriptions). Most of that, I already have done, but some of still needs fine-tuning .
I opened a new thread here .

Did you start a devblog too?

What do you exactly mean with devblog ? If you mean a site exclusive about the development of this game, than I haven't. I only posted the progress on a other forum and occasionally post about it on my facebook . My twitter is pretty much dead . I had plans for a homepage of myself with all kinds of stuff about me and my projects, but I lost interest in that quickly...

[Gors]

if you really want to invest in this game, even if as a hobby, it's great to make a specific twitter for it, and advertise what you do.

https://twitter.com/vierlegend

For example, this is my project's twitter. With right exposure you can actually gather a lot of interest within weeks of posting!

[Hiro-sofT]

Since this would be too little to write an update about in my thread, i figured, why not posting it here for others to see?

[iyenal]

It's been a while that I don't posted about my game projects, so I will catch up :
I made a logo render for my new picross game on mobile devices :

I have to do some shader fixes but it's a nice render for now. Do you like the depth of field effect ?
And what I could modify/add ?

Also a new shader I done for Unity, I am pretty happy of the result :


And a new Sonic fan game, I think I will name it Eggman Shuttle :


Please share with me your thoughts on all these projects. And forgive me for this long post.

[Kold-Virus]

I like the look of that Eggman Shuttle game!! The ambiance reminds me of the virtual game in Sonic... Colors I think it is?

I also have a few projects in development. Sorcia (which has its own thread) is still on the cards, just on a bit of a break. I'm working on 2 other games (just planning, not development: for it I'm bringing back an old OC of mine I created almost 12 year ago!) and I'm working on reviving a secret old project of mine.

[iyenal]

I like the look of that Eggman Shuttle game!! The ambiance reminds me of the virtual game in Sonic... Colors I think it is?

Thanks for the encouragement ! True it's inspired from Sonic Colors(, the best game ever !)

[Kold-Virus]

You're not wrong there: Colors is the best "modern" Sonic game.

[iyenal]

So if this project shows interest, I will update here :
A Shuttle menu beta :

And new ennemies :

+ and spinners :


The shaders are good ?