Messages

[CatPunter]

CatPunter - it's been over 8 months since this thread was posted to. Please review the forum rules before digging up any more threads! Thanks.

Gurok - are you interested in posting an update? Let me know!

Please update with two in-game screenshots.

I'd say just stick w/ the hi-res! It suits your style better anyway

I have never liked the "retro" modes that are just reduced quality backgrounds because I don't consider them "pixel art" as each pixel wasn't placed by hand.

I may be a tad more discerning than most but to use photoshop (or something like it) to reduce images just feels like a gimmick to me. I don't dislike it (I'm all about that retro feel) but I think if you want to achieve something magical with this concept I would, personally, take the time to re-pixel-ize the backgrounds individually. So the transition from hi to low-res would be striking and really show the love!

Just my thoughts!

Lovely!

I have wondered for some time... The squiggly pixel outlines on the characters? Do you draw the animations without them and then just randomly add/remove some pixels from each frame to achieve this effect? Or do you just draw the outlines for each frame (not concerned w/ consistency) and let them workout naturally that way? It's a nice effect that isn't too over-the-top. Sometimes this squiggly animation style goes way too far and it's jarring on the eyes but this just has character.

I'm torn on this...

Blender's native Mantaflow does use, as I understand it, the FLIP model but this add-on is supposed to be much better (faster and easier to use).

I'm just not sure it's nearly $100 better!

Hobbes!

I think it's off to a great start.

The first thing that stood out to me was that the number of color shifts in the foreground (the green ground) coupled w/ the sizing of the trees further back, suggests to me that it goes back quite a ways and isn't just a hill to the character's left. I think, if that's the case, the colors are too saturated and don't convey that distance as well! I'd suggest desaturating a bit more (not to the extent that the background elements are, of course, but just a bit to convey the distance a tad better).

Sad to hear. Let me know (PM) if you get it sorted and we can reopen the thread!

[Dainipponjin]

Dainipponjin - please review the forum rules before posting!

KiraHaraReturns - send me a PM if you want to post an update and I'll unlock it until you're ready!

this is great stuff Darth. Such a fluffy towel! Is the NES Controller rendered in blender render or cycles?

Definitely cycles! I don't remember the sample count but it's probably around 600. I find little difference in render quality between 600 and 1000. Just takes longer.

...But I never seem to create any finished scenes.

I am all too familiar with that! Still impressive in its unfinished state. The metals are particularly pretty!

While I'm nowhere near your levels, I did learn how to use Blender purely to render...

Still pretty impressive! Did you have fun making it?

It's a pleasing style to look at.

I have three things:

First; there are some consistency issues between the two provided images that I think should be hammered out before going into production with the game though! The first image has a "border" of sorts (the white circle) and the ground sort of "falls" out of the circle. It's quite pleasant (nothing wrong with it) but the next screen doesn't have that. Personally I find the second more appealing but I think, unless the first is a cut-scene style and the second is gameplay, I think it would be jarring to have the style bounce back and forth like that while playing the game. It could be done well if only certain screens, that have something in common, use the border style and the rest don't. Like maybe if part of the game takes place in a dream-state... then the BGs could have that border effect and the non-dream states would be the other style. That could be quite neat if done correctly.

Next; the "speckles" or noise in the images... I'm not sure it helps. This is totally subjective of course but it pulls my eyes off the beauty of the colors/composition and kind of makes it hard to focus.

Lastly; this is just nit-picky but the reflection (of the dock and land on the water) is completely inaccurate! I'd highly recommend taking a few extra minutes to address that. Most probably wouldn't notice it but it jumped out to me and kind of ruins an otherwise beautiful piece of work!

With some polish I think this style would be really great in a game! Good luck!

I am quite smitten w/ Blender myself.

I still cannot understand how it's free but I'm not complaining.

I mentioned it in another thread here (can't seem to find it) but once you get over the interface hurdle, which is substantial, it's an amazing and powerful program.

Here are a few examples of things I was able to do really quickly:






(still very WIP)

[cheeba]

Hi Puddin'!

This might be a record. Almost 12 years between posts.

cheeba you haven't logged in to the forums in almost 11 years but if you want to post an update do let me know!

Arcangel pretty please check the dates on threads before posting to them, k thanks!

[Jojo_the_monkey]

Jojo_the_monkey please review the forum rules!

Trap let me know if/when you want to post an update and I'll unlock this!

I feel like abusing my moderator powers and forcing you to post more screenshots (only because I really want to see more of this)!

In all seriousness; this looks/sounds great!

I have long wanted to make an AGS Privateer and this sounds just like it!

Keep up the good work!

Similarly, if you, "Try to make a game for American culture," which involves a lot of actual text and storytelling is a big focus of the game (such as an RPG, an adventure game, or a VN) and you are not fluent in both English and the culture of America or the West, then you could be shooting yourself in the foot.

Very much this!

I worked on a project (years ago) that had areas set in parts of the world I have never been. Researching those backgrounds (just the backgrounds) was a HUGE undertaking. Sewer grates look different, road signs are different, traffic lights are different, the shapes of the curbs are different, the way the lines (if there are lines) are painted on the roads is different... I mean it's amazing how similar, yet different, the world can be and I realized that any native of the area would probably know that the background wasn't created by a fellow native simply based on tiny little details that would be very easy to get wrong (even with a lot of research).

To answer the question posed though, I am not sure if I could even define a "universal" culture.

That being said; the way America is these days (and in recent years) I'm not sure I'd want "universal" culture to reflect it!

No problem! I'll just lock the thread. When you're ready just let me know and we'll open it back up.

Please read the forum rules and update your post accordingly, thanks!

[sawyer]

sawyer please review the forum rules!

Davort if you're still working on this and want to post an update send me a PM and I'll unlock it!

I love the idea!

A few years back (like 10) I started working on a game based on the board game (in to some extent the 1985 movie) Clue that I was intending to make procedural (sort of).

The game-play was going to be centered around the murder of Mr. Body and you could pick any of the characters to play (Ms. Scarlet, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, Col. Mustard, Mrs. White or Prof. Plum). The only thing you would know for sure was that the character you picked wasn't the murderer. You would then play to track down the actual murderer. I had plans to make each character have 10 different reasons for killing Mr. Body (10 different back-stories). So each time you played the game you'd have a random weapon that would be picked, a random room where the murder took place, and a random character (not your own) that commits the murder and a random (1 in 10) motive for the murder. So really it would be unlikely you'd ever play the same game twice given all the variability.

I even toyed w/ the possibility that the player could be the murderer and then the game-play would center around trying to not get caught while simultaneously trying to frame somebody else for the murder but the mechanic (the how to program it to make it work) seemed too far beyond me.

In the end (despite creating all the character art and several backgrounds) the project was too much to tackle at the time and it joined the 10,000 others on the "dead projects" pile.

Say it isn't so and YAY !!

I am having a hard time imagining the GiP without this thread poppin' up occasionally!

A very large congratulations (to you and your team) on the game's completion!

I look forward to playing it.

With a sad, but proud, heart I turn the key...