Interface test and animations

[Bernie]

I want to finish a game, but they always end up way too big and become way too much work. So I've decided to really keep it small and minimal this time, about 15-20 rooms max.

Anyway; I think crits for sprite animations are best done when seeing them in action, so I've uploaded a small test, ~720 kb big.

http://www.faind.com/bernie/interface1.zip

I'd apprecciate feedback on:

sprites: colors, animation...
background: too blurry, overall composition, clashing with sprites...
interface: is it useful enough, too bland or clunky...

I don't want to spend too much time on backgrounds, so I'm keeping the details to a minimum and try to get some 'atmosphere' across with colors. The BG in the interface test took about 20 minutes, and I want to do the rest of them like that.

Also, here's a screenshot if you don't want to download it:


There's another character in the game test, it kinda didn't make it into the screenie, heh:


Thanks for any comments, suggestions and crits!

[Phemar]

Well you certainly know how to draw. I really like the colors, they suit the scene fine. Your characters and animations are fine, just speed them up a little. They really walk painfully slow right now.
The GUI was nice, I enjoy a break from the old Sierra.

Hope to see more real soon!

[Gregjazz]

I really enjoyed the background. Great use of color saturation.
I found the walking speed to be just about perfect (playing fullscreen, not in a window).

I think the bright green buttons, buckle, and collars on the player sprite really work well, lending originality to the character.
However, the redhead character looks a bit generic, and his outfit looks familiar for some odd reason.

Aldric's transparency was a good idea, but I don't think it's obvious enough that he's a spirit. He seems more like a lumpy green dog with wings. Maybe it's intended, but he blends into the background too much for my liking.

Other than those minor crits, I really like the direction you're heading.

[Chicky]

the graphics are beautiful, the game plays flawlessly and really was easy to use gui.

I would say its near perfect

[Pet Terry]

Oh man, what a great atmosphere you've got there! Nothing to critic really, walking speed was just finem interface worked well and graphics, animation and music are great.

Can't wait to play this game if you ever finish it.

[Daz]

i love the dragon thing that follows you it has stuch a great movement to it and the other animation are pretty darn good aswell,

really nice work keep it up,

-Daz

[Bernie]

Thanks for the comments.

Geoffkhan: I think I already have a few ideas of what I could add to the redhead guy. Not sure why hid outfit looks familiar to you though, I didn't use any references for him.
Any ideas what I could do with the dragon? Changing colors would be easy (maybe blue?), but I'm not sure if it's enough of a change. Maybe I can do something with the animations?

By the way, I forgot to mention that the music is not original, it's from a game midi collection I downloaded.

Thanks for trying it out!

[Andail]

Absolutely stunning! It looks so professional!
This might be the best in-production game I've seen this year

[Dart]

The interface is great.
The graphics are great.
The animations are great.

Finish the game, please.

[mätzyboy]

As already stated by others: very good looking!

One crit on the GUI. Afer choosing to use something, for example the glasses, and having tried to use it at something/someone, for example NoName, the action continues to be "use glasses on", which is good since you might want to use the thing on something else. However, when you want to do something else, for example talk, clicking on that button yields a "walk to" action. Would be great if the action was set to the action indicated by the button you click, instead of the standard "walk to".

Do you get it? Did I explain it confusing? If so, just ask...

Excellent work!

[Ryz]

Beautiful graphics, congratulations.
I agree with Geoff it's not very obvious Aldric is transparant, you might want to make his coloring more bland/washed out..
I noticed the same thing Matzyboy explained: after using an object clicking on anything else besides walk to makes you switch to walk to anyway.. I don't think it does need a change though for a simple double click solves it.

[MrColossal]

The dragon: Maybe if the pulsing from opaque to transparent was more dramatic, or if he never got to completely opaque

knowwhatimean?

otherwise it's very beautiful and the walk cycles are really nice

[Darth Mandarb]

The Good ...
- walkcycles are excellent (and flying cycles I guess).
- backgrounds are top-notch.
- the scaling is subtle and very nicely done.

The Bad ...
- Aldric's nose seems to get cut off?Ã,  I couldn't tell really might just be me.
- at first I didn't realize Aldric was transparent at all

The Ugly ...
- nothing.Ã,  It just seemed appropriate to put 'The Ugly' next.

All-in-all I would say excellent!

The Bad were very minor things, and The Good were actually VERY good!Ã,  My guess is that because Aldric's base color is green, and the background is very green-ish that might explain why it was hard to see his transparency.Ã,  In other BGs with more [other] colors, this'll be more obvious I'm thinking.

Great job.

[buddha]

Very nice! The Background looks great and has a cool atmosphere. The main character looks great, the other I have to agree looks great but a bit generic (he looks like a guy from a random japanese anime rpg game which probably is why you could call him 'generic'. He looks a little out of place compared to the rest of the game art. Still it's a great sprite  8)

The interface is ok but I have one minor thingy: maybe you could give the left side a little makeover as there is a lot of unused space left under the 'action buttons'. Aside from that I think your game looks awsome. I hope you finish it!

Good luck

[big brother]

Geoffkhan: I think I already have a few ideas of what I could add to the redhead guy. Not sure why hid outfit looks familiar to you though, I didn't use any references for him.
Any ideas what I could do with the dragon? Changing colors would be easy (maybe blue?), but I'm not sure if it's enough of a change. Maybe I can do something with the animations?

Rather than going blue with Aldric, I would try a more rust-color. You could still leave some green in it, but the redness would complement the green in the backgrounds. Think pale.

About the redhead character: his outfit just looked familiar because it struck me as generic. With the sleeveless shirt and headband, he could be the guy from Contra (or Metal Slug?), some RPG, or a fighting game.

To clarify further, when I look at your main character, maybe his design isn't totally original with the witch's hat and all, but you've added enough to make him yours. Now if someone else posts a character with long red hair and a green buckle on a hat, I will think of your sprite. The headband guy is forgettable.

[Bernie]

Thanks for even more replies!

A lot of good points have been made:

MrColossal: Good idea, I'll make the transparency fading more noticable.

mätzboy and Ryz: Good point about the 'use' thing, I'll change it, it really shouldn't be that way.

buddha: I'm gonna add some details to that guys clothes, that'll hopefully fix the bland look. Also, I wanted some space down there because I'll need more buttons later on - one of them will call a spell book window.

Darth Mandarb: I'm not sure what you mean with 'nose cut off', maybe could you explain it some more?

big brother: Rust color sounds good... I'll try that. Hmm... the headband guy definately needs more work - I'll tinker with him some more!

EDIT - I think I have the right outfit for him now, what with him being with the city guards anyway:

[pixelcat]

I had a chance to check this out last night, and thought it was really great.  Only thing I thought was off is the animation of the wings... not sure what it is... too slow maybe?  Really good characters/animation, and I like the colours and layout of the interface.  Excellent stuff.

[big brother]

I like the new outfit much better. It doesn't look like he escaped from a Rambo-style game anymore.

[Bernie]

Thank you. I've already animated him in his new outfit, and gave the dragon a color overhaul:

[Daz]

and i thought you couldn't improve it any more

great work, keep it coming

-Daz