Pixelween: Icons of Horror 9/27-10/13 - GAME OVER -

Started by Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens, Mon 27/09/2010 09:12:54

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Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

Alright gang, welcome to another edition of Pixelween, this edition starring your favorite (or most familiar) horror icons in their very own game!

That's right!  It's your job to create a convincing 2d game mockup for Ashley J. Williams, or perhaps you want to give Pinhead and the Cenobites free roam of Earth to capture souls at their leisure?  The choice is yours, but with a couple of limitations:

1.  Player/npc/enemy sprites may not exceed 32 colors (all numbers are excluding transparency).  This goes for everyone.

2.  Backgrounds may have any number of colors.

3.  Objects, pickups, powerups, and the like may not exceed 16 colors.

4.  There must be a visible game user interface of some kind.

5.  Should be an 'action shot' of the game as though it were being played, so don't just submit a title screen (though you can do one of those as well)!

*6.  In spoiler tags, please add a reference or the name of the characters/movie your game mockup is about.

*7.  Any game genre can be used, though the topic must be horror/horror-comedy.  This includes FPS,action,adventure,shooter,puzzle game-what the hell!  

Just to be clear, the color restrictions apply to each item individually, ie, different sprites can have different colors.



Good luck, fright fans!

THRILL ME.


Eggie

#1
You set the best Sprite Jam topics, Progz. That's why I'm happy you win every third one.




EDIT:

Explanations and such: The movie's House By The Cemetery by Lucio Fulci, the two characters are the main protagonist and his wife (whose names I'm afraid escape me), the UI up top is how close the main guy's son (who I actually remember is called Bob) is to getting gotted by the horrifically evil Dr Freudstein and the inventory items to the right are a file on Freudstein's diabolical research, a dead bat and an axe.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

Thanks!  That's a cool UI.  Could you add a spoiler with the name of the movie/characters you're doing a mockup for?  Not every one will get these, so it's a good way to keep them in the loop.

abstauber

Yeah, great topic! I'm not sure if I can meet the deadline though (with background, GUI, characters and stuff)... but I'll try :)

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

If enough people are interested in this and need more time I'm sure I can extend the deadline to accommodate. :)

abstauber

Don't worry. I start with a "borrowed" background and continue crying afterwards :D

Ponch

Quote from: ProgZmax on Wed 29/09/2010 12:33:32
If enough people are interested in this and need more time I'm sure I can extend the deadline to accommodate. :)

I have something I hope to work on this weekend or the next. I think I can get it in before the deadline. But we'll see, I guess.

Good topic, by the way.

- Ponch

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

I think it would be the first sprite jam you've entered so by all means do so!

Ponch

Quote from: ProgZmax on Thu 30/09/2010 16:12:28
I think it would be the first sprite jam you've entered so by all means do so!
Clearly you've forgotten all about my Snoopy fish from a while back. Tsk tsk.

- Ponch

Ponch

Excuse the double post, but I wanted to assure proper bumpage (and modifying the previous post seemed a bit out of place anyway).

So, without further ado, here is my submission for Pixelween!

Required Game Play Screen

This stunning action shot shows Prick* (yeah, that's right, i drug the Barn Runner universe into this. I apologize for nothing!) navigating the sewers of the city, fighting his way through hordes of the (SPOILER) that make this stinky place their home. It's old school, side scrolling, mutant blasting goodness!

Bonus Menu Screen

And here is the menu for this (as yet) non-existent yet totally awesome game. For some reason, it features Debbie instead of Prick. And for some curious and shockingly unexplored reason, she's all dolled up like Pam Grier from the height of 70s blaxploitation awesomeness. Can you dig it? (I knew that you could).

And so there you have it, my entry for Pixelween (and only the second AGS contest I've ever entered). Will I get my heart broken by yet another brutal snubbing? Hell yes I will. But I don't care, baby. Because thanks to this little side project, I had an excuse to watch two of my favorite movies: Coffy and the movie that this game's monsters are taken from...

Spoiler
C.H.U.D.
[close]

One of my favorite low budget yet cool concept movies from the early 80s.

Let the overwhelming indifference to my efforts begin! :D

- Ponch
_________
* In order to meet the required color limitations, Prick is wearing an unusually subdued shirt in this game. (I did what I had to do, but it just feels wrong somehow).

GreenBoy



I'm not a huge horror fan but I am a fan of the game Scot Pilgrim vs the World.  Originally I thought it would be cool to have a Van Helsing type character beating up all the traditional monsters from film and fiction such as the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula etc, I only got to do Frankenstein though... :(

I'm very happy with it, I feel it has a style that I'm quite comfy with.   ;D

Now I want to make it into a real game.

Ponch

Quote from: GreenBoy on Wed 06/10/2010 09:52:08
Originally I thought it would be cool to have a Van Helsing type character beating up all the traditional monsters from film and fiction such as the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula etc, I only got to do Frankenstein though... :(

I think this needs to be made into a real game as soon as possible. Also, I like Frank's shirt. ;)

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

Ponch- Prick looks like he's using a hell of a lot fewer than 32 colors to me.

*Just to be clear, the color restrictions apply to each item individually, ie, different sprites can have different colors.

Also, these are fairly brilliant so far, but there need to be MORE.

Ponch

Quote from: ProgZmax on Thu 07/10/2010 00:41:40
Ponch- Prick looks like he's using a hell of a lot fewer than 32 colors to me.

True. He's using eleven or twelve colors, I think. But I never made a fill pattern for any of his shirts that uses less than forty colors. If the game were ever to be made, I'd probably use this nice vomit-y green one I made way back when but never used. But I had to play by the rules... this time. (Fight the power!)

- Ponch

GreenBoy


SpacePirateCaine

Is it bad that before reading GreenBoy's explanation I thought that the protagonist in his entry was Peter Molyneux? All it needs is a downtrodden zombie Milo.
Check out MonstroCity! | Level 0 NPCs on YouTube! | Life's far too short to be pessimistic.

Armageddon

#16
I'm so entering this, I think I got here a little late though. :(

EDIT: A little W.I.P. menu screen.


Ponch

Quote from: Armageddon on Fri 08/10/2010 16:34:18
I'm so entering this, I think I got here a little late though. :(

You still have a few days. You can still make the deadline for pixel-y spookiness! :)

abstauber

Argh, my time management went to hell. Could I get an extension please?

Look I drew you a GUI!



Pleease?

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

EXTENSION GRANTED: You have 1 more day.  MORE ENTRIES.

Ponch

Holy poop! Actual game play screen! (Not a mock up!)



Pixelween has inspired the first official Barn Runner Halloween game EVAR!!!1!

abstauber

#21
Phew, finally :)






Sprites, GUI and text only




Spoiler
It's The Devil's Rejects
[close]

Actually I'd really like to see a game based on that movie. But on the other hand I've never played/liked  Manhunt either - there seems to be a difference between watching and acting ;)

Edit: Oh, forgot about the stats.
Spoiler

Otis: 28 colors
Baby: 32 colors
Cpt. Spaulding: 29 colors
[close]
Guts Coin: 44 colors
Background: 39 colors

Khris

Not even halfway finished, but I'm also working on something else and ran out of time :(



Background: 10 cols, 41 8x8 tiles
Sprites: 15 cols
Total: 21 cols

Shouldn't be hard to guess.
Spoiler
   Dawn of the Dead (2004)
[close]

Dualnames

Quote from: Ponch on Tue 12/10/2010 19:49:31
Holy poop! Actual game play screen! (Not a mock up!)

Pixelween has inspired the first official Barn Runner Halloween game EVAR!!!1!

I thought I'd never say that in my life...

But I think I just jizzed in my pants. :D
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Matti


abstauber

@Dualnames:
Your post should count as an entry too :P

R4L

Quote from: Armageddon on Fri 08/10/2010 16:34:18
I'm so entering this, I think I got here a little late though. :(

EDIT: A little W.I.P. menu screen.



Currently playing the NES game of this movie. Excellent stuff.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

#27
Hell yeah, Captain Spaulding!


Oh no, it's time to choose a winner, and yet I have 3 favorites:

A.  Green Boy's Van Helsing vs. movie monsters game!  Very slick presentation.  It's clear what's going on in the game, the colors are pleasing without going overboard, and Frankenstein is a fresh, hulking variation on the original.  Way to go!

B.   Fully Automatic Mojo!  A C.H.U.D. reference and Prick combine to form a game of almost epic Voltronian goodness.  The visuals don't seem hurt by the color restrictions and Ponch's clean style makes the gameplay areas clear and pleasant to look at.  I would have liked to see an entirely new ui from the typical Sierra interface, though.

C.  Devil's Rejects!  I'll start by saying that while I hate Rob Zombie and his movies, I absolutely love the character of Captain Spaulding and, having met Sid Haig, I'd really like to see the guy get better roles because he's an awesome person.  The colors here fit the scene well and Spaulding himself is instantly recognizable.  My only comment would be the verbcoin seems a bit crowded.


And the runner ups:

a.  House By the Cemetery!  I think the top bar that shows Dr. Freudstein is the most clever and interesting of all the entries, though the side bar seems a bit oversized and the 'action shot' isn't very exciting.  I think a bit more effort would yield a really interesting game approach, though!

b.  Sweet Home (title screen)!  This has a very pleasing, retro look, but doesn't conform to the 'needs to be an action shot from the game' rule.

c.  Dawn of the Dead (the remake)!  I like the clear health bars, character designs and minimalist background artwork.  What bothers me a bit is the enemies look more like hungry hungry hippies or bums than zombies, which sucks some of the menace out of the action shot.  Also, a lack of blood and guts in the scenery just makes such an apocalyptic scenario seem a bit sterile.  This is another entry that could really shine with more effort put forth, and with gamepad support could easily be made in ags now...so make it!



As I enjoyed the top 3 entries equally and for different reasons, I decided to leave it up to fate (ie, a 1d3) to decide the ULTIMATE WINNER OF PIXELWEEN.

That winner is:

GREENBOY!


However, as I love Halloween I have prepared something special for everyone who entered.



Some of the most dangerous artifacts in horror history have been placed into my care, and now I place them in yours:




Green Boy!  Take this PHANTASM SPHERE from another dimension and guard it well.  The Tall Man could come after it at any time, so beware!





Ponch!  I entrust to you none other than the NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS!  Beware the Deadites who are drawn to this evil tome!



Abstauber!  You have the awesome task of protecting the LAMENT CONFIGURATION, gateway to Hell!  Pinhead and his Cenobite brethren
are sure to be hot on your trail, so good luck!


And for the rest of you brave souls, I present:




HAUNTED PUMPKINS!  Nasty creatures are sure to come knocking at your firewall for these, so guard them well!



And now it is up to YOU.

Armageddon


kconan

  Cool contest and awesome submissions!  I think Greenboy's Frankenstein was my favorite monster character, and I love the idea of the "hero" yelling at the heroine for crying in Eggie's entry.

Ponch

Gasp! A winner is me?!? Well, almost, at any rate. Rest assured, ProgZ,I shall treasure this pixelated trophy and lord it over all my non-trophy winning friends for years to come. It's going on the mantle next to my  fourth grade spelling bee ribbon and that "You have won second place in a beauty contest" Monopoly card.

Also, I love the idea that an adventure game version of the Devil's Rejects came this close to existing.

Lastly, I see that Dualnames finds CHUDs as exciting as I do! Yay!


abstauber

#31
Hey, third place. Not bad, not bad at all :) And these beautiful animated trophies really make up for the quite high entry terms. Great work everyone.
My favourite sprite was Andre from Khris' entry - spot on Super Famicon style.
Also I keep my fingers crossed that one day Eggie decides making a game for us.

@ProgZ
You actually met Sid Haig?! Man, sometimes I wish to live in the US too.

@Ponch:
Since the first Barn Runner I've played, I wonder why you are working with this particular 100% saturated palette. It sure creates a nice "high-res MS-DOS 16 colors retro feeling" and I've never seen that somewhere else. (That's not covered in your interview ;) )


Dualnames

@Abstauber: :P you sneaky! next time :D
@Ponch: Ponch I have my texas shotgun loaded. And a ticket. Just in case. :D
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Ponch

Quote from: abstauber on Thu 14/10/2010 08:39:39
@Ponch:
Since the first Barn Runner I've played, I wonder why you are working with this particular 100% saturated palette. It sure creates a nice "high-res MS-DOS 16 colors retro feeling" and I've never seen that somewhere else. (That's not covered in your interview ;) )

The Barn Runner look came about from the old Colorforms toy, strangely enough. At least, that's what I was thinking about way back in 2003, when I was first kicking around the ideas for Barn Runner. Eventually, sometime around March, I think, I created my first build with Game Maker (heresy!).


Pictured: Barn Runner Prototype 3 "Robot Riot" (The prehistory of gaming mediocrity)

The first few builds were side scrolling shooters. I didn't want the super old school 8 bit sprites. I wanted hand drawn sprites like Street Fighter II (or, in a moment of startling honesty, the rather obscure shooter Wetlands, which was the game foremost in my mind when I started this series.*)

I wanted those sprites to be easy to animate (and so easier for me to find any errors in animation!) while I built the first game, so I decided on solid color with no shading. Thus, Prick's gray trenchcoat is only one shade of gray, with no darker bits of gray to give it wrinkles or a feeling of dimension, or any of those fancy things.

After a while, I really came to like the flat, saturated placeholder look of my sprites and I decided to keep it. By this point, I had several very nicely (in my opinion) done backgrounds that looked rather like airbrushed paintings that I had scanned in on my flatbed (which I had, because they were*). But I chucked them and used the same "line art flood filled with a simple colors" technique I was using on the sprites. I think this gives the city locations a very plastic, artificial feeling. Other then the occasional gradient, I try to stick to this aesthetic as much as possible for any locations in Arcology 19. The BGCZ locations, on the other hand, are a different matter.

To set those places apart from the city as quickly as possible, I decided to use a "photographic texture badly applied" to really sell the "over-reality" of the last green place on Earth. Tree trunks use actual photos of tree bark. Grassy fields use pictures of grass. And so forth. I don't know how successful this second approach was, but I know it certainly jumps out at me every time Prick steps out of his car somewhere in the BGCZ.

I hope that answers your question.

Congrats on your trophy, by the way. :)

And sorry, Dualnames. But in Texas, the CHUD hunting season is over in the spring. You'll have to wait until next year, dude.


- Ponch
----------
* And now the truth is out!
** Mostly, I was just giddy at the chance to dig my ancient airbrush out of storage. (I used to make extra money on the side airbrushing t-shirts and license plates back in the day. Ah, the 80s!.)

abstauber

@Ponch
Wait a minute.. is Prick killing Johnny 5?!
But yeah, that was most insightful. I already assumed you did your design choices on purpose on not on lazyness ;)

Oh and of course congrats on your Necronomicon :)


Not to mention GreenBoy, this years master of horror!

Ponch

Quote from: abstauber on Fri 15/10/2010 08:36:14
I already assumed you did your design choices on purpose on not on lazyness ;)

Now, to be fair, I'm also terribly, terribly lazy. ;)

GreenBoy

I feel so honoured.   :'(  (why isn't there a smiling and crying emoticon?)

Actually I'm super surprised I won this bad boy, the other entries were fantastic.  That trophy is going straight into my signature.  I'm eating a hotdog to celebrate.

So what do I do now?  I start the next competition ae?  Guess I better get my thinking cap on.

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