Hi,
I should be working on MIA now, I know... and I am (don't worry, Foz) and I hope to bring you something MIA-related soon.
But for now, let me show you something different. It's not adventure related but still I would appreciate your feedback.
I was asked to do graphics for a mobile phone game (Moon Patrol remake)and I accepted. Yes, it's paid.
Now, I have no experience in pixel art but I gave it a try:
Original size
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/mpmockup-merged2.png)
2x
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/mpmockup-merged2x.png)
It is not yet finished, sky could use some shading, the vehicle too and there are no enemies yet but what do you think? Would you like to play a game looking like this on your phone? Is there anything wrong with the picture?
Tear it apart, please, it' s going to be (hopefuly) a commercial product.
jaz
EDIT: New splash on the second page.
EDIT EDIT: more updates on second page
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/galaga-enemies2.png)
yup, its better than the original game, which was also uber. I think they look good.
what program are going to use to crate this game? becvause i would really like to create my own game for my phone ;)
It's going to be a mobile java (J2ME) game. This probably requires quite a profound knowledge of coding but hey, I am just graphics artist. It will probably take some time untill someone makes AGS like tool for mobile phones users.
because i thought of making an adventuregame in mobile phone, now that would Kick Ass
While it is a cool feature, it can get quite annoying, blackman.
Quote from: blackman890 on Tue 21/09/2004 19:05:39
because i thought of making an adventuregame in mobile phone, now that would Kick Ass
no, that would suck.
i personally have no beefs about the graphics you've made.. i might try and add to it later.
good luck and all with this game going commercial.
Quote from: stu on Tue 21/09/2004 19:11:39
Quote from: blackman890 on Tue 21/09/2004 19:05:39
because i thought of making an adventuregame in mobile phone, now that would Kick Ass
no, that would suck.
yeah you are propaply right :/
(sorry to continue the offtopic bit :P) it doesn't 'suck'
i have scummvm on my phone, with sam n max, foa, mi1 / 2 and dott and for bus journeys, it's crazy fun, for any longer (like, trying to finish a game in on sitting) it's not so good.
Quote from: stu on Tue 21/09/2004 19:11:39
good luck and all with this game going commercial.
why? he gets payed even if it doesnt sell well :D
Hah! I used to love that game way back in the day!!
It's a (basically) mindless game that is perfectly suited for mobile gaming on a cell phone!
Who commissioned you to do this if you don't mind me asking? I mean, since you've got no pixel experience ... was it a friend or something? (just being nosey cause I'd love to be involved with stuff like that)
The screen looks pretty good to me. I would try to throw a real subtle gradient to the skyline.
What are the specs on something like this?
Is 128x128 the resolution of cell screens? What color depth? How much freedom (animation) do you have?
[/questions]
Well,i just had this idea that it could be a cool mobile game.So i made a barebone version of gfx and posted it on gamemaking site.I asked if someone could code it.As freeware.Well,i was contacted and offered this job.That's it.
As for resolution, 128 x 128 happens to be resolution of Nokia Series 40 cellphones which are most common colour screen mobile handsets. These phones work with 4096 colours. The game will be probably ported to other phones as well (Siemens, Motorola) which have different display size so some tweaks are in order. Some devices work with 256 colour palette only thus I'm trying to keep number of colours down. Most mobile java games are up to 100kB due to limitations of certain handsets so I am also restricted to 40kB limit for all the GFX. As for animations there will be some minor background ones (flag wawing etc.) but not much. The vehicle and aliens will be fully animated as in Moon Patrol. No paralax scrolling tho, it would be too a tough job for mobile java so far.
Blackman: there is a mobile adventure game on the market already, don't know the exact name but it's based on X-Files .
Well, some update, I would like to hear some CnC:
Emamples of explosions:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Animationmockup.gif)
Nev vehicle design plus some enemies:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/aienm.png)
Splash screen (still very much work in progress)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/splash01.png)
What do you think? Be harsh as customers will be for sure...
Nice!
Explosion is from Pyromania, right? The standard video game explosion. ;) Too much black. Why not use rastering as an alternative to alpha? If, say, 255 pink is your transparency, do a 1 pixel grid on the blackest parts to make it seem transparent.
I like the vehicle of your splash screen much better than the in-game one.
Also, will this game be for 1 specific mobile phone? If so, you should experiment with sub-pixel anti-aliasing for extra sharpness. Things like the splash screen can defenitely benefit from that (though it'll be difficult if you're painting it pixel by pixel).
Don't listen to me though - it's very nice stuff. My only real criticism would be the moon surface. It's okay, but not as nice as the mountains in the background; like it's a different style. Too much obvious tiling, but when it scrolls that would be less visible, I guess.
Really nice, I played moon patrol on Apple 2 and I loved it. The only thing that I'm concerned about was: would the game be rendered much more difficult after the car was redrawn to be THAT big?
Good work here. 8)
the first one:
i don't like the black outlines on the explosions, also the explosion in the air is a little weird
the second one
humm the car was a little small just befour but now it is to big
but i like the alien ships
also i find the tires like flying in the air, they are hardly touching the ground
the third one:
dammn i love this one
now some advice
add something in the sky:
*maybe a galaxy
*the earth
*a metor
*or a gas cloud
I strongly recommend darkening the mountains because at the moment I can barely see the pit that the bombs will make and the moon car will have to jump over, which as we all know is the point of the game.
I loved moon patrol on the commodore, it was the epitome of "OH MAN! I coulda made it... Just one more game!!" for hours and hours
Quote from: MrColossal on Thu 07/10/2004 02:39:09
I strongly recommend darkening the mountains because at the moment I can barely see the pit that the bombs will make and the moon car will have to jump over, which as we all know is the point of the game.
And lightening the rocks/land perhaps, though they may look better with the current dark colour, making them a brighter colour may help in visualising them.
Hey, thanks for your replies.
James Kay: hmm, Pyromania ;) I will probably have to change the explosion anyway since I'm not too happy with it. Rastering seems like way to go, thanks. This game will be ported to various devices with different screen size so I'm keeping it simple and I want as much GFX to be reusable as possible.
blackman890: The vehicle is that big due to aforementioned planned ports, the same will be used for series 60 phones with 176x208 resolution. The design will be probably changed a bit since only when I was designing the splash screen I got the grip on how it should look like.
Mr. Colossal, Gilbot: some darkening of background is in order as well as lightening the ground a bit so that the contrast is a bit tad higher, it's necessary for gameplay.
New splash: (shading on the alien is off but it just looked better this way... maybe I'll keep it)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/splash-final.png)
Nice work, very profesional. I have this game for my ti 83+. Will there be anything new about it, and in the screen shot I noticed there was no mines, will they be included?
New level: Alien Jungle:
Background:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/APjungleBG2.png)
Game mockup:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/APjunglemockup2.png)
Both pics before desaturation of BG (it's way too distracting as it is now)
What do you think?
And yes, a sketch of level 3, Alien City:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/APsketch-city.png)
BTW: LostTraveler-the mines will be included, don't wory,as well as some bonuses.
Jaz, as normal, the new stuff is great
i can't wait to play this game.. oh... wait, i don't have a cellphone :P :'(
OK, things are shaping up well and I got one more job. This time it's a remake (kind of) of Galaga shooter for Pocket PC and Series 60 Symbian enabled cellphones.
I just started with this one and after first day I come up with this so far:
Some enemies (there is suppossed to be 15 diferent types):
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/galaga-enemies2.png)
And for those who don't know Galaga some veeeery quickly done game mockup so that you can imagine what the game is about (this won't be used in final version):
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/gaa-mockup.png)
plus some makeshift explosion:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/buganim.gif)
It would be great to implement some particle effect to the game similar to ones that can be found here:
http://www.wondertouch.com/default.asp
but the proggy is expensive as hell and I would have to do a kickass job to justify spending $400 for Particle Illusion... but it would be nice :-)
Well, we'll see...
And some progress:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/genemies.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/APtiles.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/APvolcano-mockup.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/APvolcano.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/APcity.png)
Damn, nice stuff!
Moon Patrol:
The jungle background is way too detailed and colourful. It'll clash with the action in the foreground. Replay some old arcade games and you'll see they often use monochrome colours for backgrounds. Partly due to technical restraints but also because the foreground is much more important. I'd say remove the colours and make it all a dark green. Focus on shapes, in stead of colours.
Galaga:
Very nice stuff! Where would you use particles? For explosions? You could always fake that, depending on how much texture memory you have left. Again I see you went for the ZeroGa explosion from Pyromania. You see this explosion everywhere!! You should really try to create your own, either my rendering an explosion on a 3D package or doing the old fashioned way - pixel by pixel!Ã, ;D
I'd also suggest making those blue enemies *slightly* lighter to set them off from the spacy background. Mobile screens are small enough - you should make it as easy as possible for people to see/play.
Still,. nice stuff. These are nitpicks.
Blackman: I command you to buy a cellphone at once!!!
James Kay: You're probably right about jungle being way too colourfull. I will see how this one will play and maybe tweak it a bit. Not too sure wheter use green hues only but maybe some desaturation with a bit of green colouring could work.
Galaga: yes, particles could be used for explosions, fire traces and other stuff. It has been done in Sky Force. Not that nifty particle effects as those seen in Particle Illusion but it looks great in action. But i'll prolly have to pixel my way through :D
http://www.midlet-review.com/index?content=review&id=274&rel=symbian#Screenshoot12
As for explosion: it's NOT the one from Pyromania this time I did it myself as I needed some small one for test purposes but after rendering, resizing and deleting some redundant frames it came out looking as Pyromania again ;D
Sample of original explosion can be seen on the game mockup.
BTW: your tips help me a lot, do you pixel professionally or are you somehow involved in real gamemaking?
Quote from: jaz on Tue 12/10/2004 08:05:41BTW: your tips help me a lot, do you pixel professionally or are you somehow involved in real gamemaking?
Pixel-art is my love, my mistress, my hobby, my wife, my life. Sad, isn't it? And I'm glad my comments are helpful, as they are only my personal perspective - you are free to ignore me every time because it already looks like you know what you're doing - it's all very lovely stuff.
As an answer to your second question, I am also part of the "real" industry, whatever that means, but sadly don't get much opportunity to do pixel stuff.Ã, >:(