Lamplight City

Started by Grundislav, Mon 26/09/2016 00:43:54

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KyriakosCH

Quote from: Blondbraid on Sat 17/06/2017 18:55:39
The last screenshot looks great, love the details on the wallpaper!
However, is it just me, or does the shadow in the right corner look weird, like it was cut off?

Maybe it is just wallpaper there, covering a dent in the wall :=
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Snarky

Gorgeously rendered. That portrait at the bottom center looks quite important (and presumably you see more of it when you're downstairs). I smell a puzzle!

Grundislav

Quote from: Snarky on Sat 17/06/2017 21:16:27
That portrait at the bottom center looks quite important (and presumably you see more of it when you're downstairs). I smell a puzzle!

Thanks for pointing that out. I've gone back and made it less important looking :)

selmiak

nice background, looks really amazing. I was wondering why there is no ceiling lamp, even when turned off...

Grundislav

So after a LOT of consideration, deliberation, etc. I decided it was time to make a tough decision.

As many people pointed out in this thread and elsewhere, the character sprites are not the same resolution as the backgrounds. The reason for this was because when I started the project, I didn't feel confident enough in my skills to do sprites at a higher resolution than 320x200. I tried out a few times and wasn't pleased with the results. As a solution, it was suggested that I do what I did and draw the sprites at 320x200 resolution, then scale them up using a nearest neighbor filter. I thought it worked, and hoped that the animation quality would mask the difference, which I didn't find to be too jarring.

However, as time has gone on, it has become apparent that more and more people started noticing the mismatch. I was extremely resistant to redo all the sprites I'd done so far, because I have roughly 800 frames of animation in the game already. But the truth is, it's noticeable, and it's detracting from the game. So, I decided I'm going to bite the bullet and just redo all my sprites in the correct resolution so they match the backgrounds.

I did a test and redid Miles, then a few other characters, and for the first time I was pleased with the results. You can see the comparison here:


It's going to be a lot of work, but I think it will benefit the game in the end, because I really do want it to look the best it can. I'll update the screenshots in this post once I get everything taken care of.

arj0n


dactylopus

Glad you finally came to a decision.  That's a huge commitment, and it makes a huge difference.

The new updated sprite looks fantastic, and I am even more excited about this project than before.

Rocchinator

@Grundislav Amazing new sprite and a great decition now it looks better than ever very glad you made it. Looks Excellent!. Keep the good work. I`m so exited about this game

Stupot

The new sprite does look much better. I'm not someone who generally cares much about matching resolutions (some people really over-react about it) and would've bought the game anyway. But now you've made the change the improvement is plain to see.

Lamplight Siddeh!

Riaise

The new sprite does fit a lot better with the backgrounds. I'm sure all your hard work will be worth it in the end, because it looks like it'll make a huge difference to the overall quality of the game. :)

arj0n

Quote from: Riaise on Thu 22/06/2017 11:33:05
The new sprite does fit a lot better with the backgrounds. I'm sure all your hard work will be worth it in the end, because it looks like it'll make a huge difference to the overall quality of the game. :)
+1

Snarky

It looks nice, but just on a sprite-by-sprite basis I wouldn't necessarily think the upgrade is worth the extra work.

However, I suppose it also gives you freedom to do more stuff with scaling, means you don't have to worry about pixel-grid mismatches when two characters interact, etc. Anyway, good luck making the game in a way you're happy with!

Danvzare

Personally, I prefer the old low-res sprites. Funnily enough, they matched the backgrounds better than that hi-res sprite appears to do.
Plus, I liked the unique style, since I don't think I've ever seen such incredibly and purposefully mismatched pixels since the boss fights in old SNES JRPGs (you know, the ones where they just got a normal enemy sprite and scaled it up).

But it's your project, and if you feel you need to redo over 800 sprites, then I wish you all the luck in the world.

Cassiebsg

Love the new sprite. (nod)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Andail

Remaking such a vast collection of sprites is a huge and daunting undertaking, and I wish you the best of luck.

Scavenger

Have you considered just reducing the resolution of the backgrounds? It'd be about a metric ton less work, and it'd look just as good. Touching up backgrounds you've shrunk is a lot easier than reanimating loads of sprites at a higher resolution.

Grundislav

#116
Quote from: Scavenger on Sat 24/06/2017 13:44:05
Have you considered just reducing the resolution of the backgrounds? It'd be about a metric ton less work, and it'd look just as good. Touching up backgrounds you've shrunk is a lot easier than reanimating loads of sprites at a higher resolution.

Yes, I tried that first, and I wasn't happy with the results, as the amount of detail lost was just too much. If I'm going 640x400, I'm going to make the full commitment!

I have updated the screenshots on the first page with the new sprites.

dactylopus

Quote from: Grundislav on Sat 24/06/2017 14:11:13
I have updated the screenshots on the first page with the new sprites.
They look so good!  This game went from a maybe yes to a solid yes in an instant.

Trample Pie

I love the new sprites. When I was showing my sister your game (she never plays games) the low res sprites were the first thing she noticed.

It's a huge amount of work but I definitely think it's worth it!

Grundislav

#119
I have now sneakily gone through and updated all screenshots in this thread to reflect the higher resolution sprites.

And here is a sample of a handful of characters redone at higher resolution.


I realize the last 2 on the right are a bit funky below knee level. That's because they both always stand behind counters so I got lazy :D

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