Game & Map Screenshots 10

Couple of updated images from my current game project. Feedback is always welcome! <3

Hi everyone feedbacks are welcome !

Back again. This time a cave map. I think it looks kinda bland.

@TakeHomeTheCup for me, the biggest thing that stands out is how much open space there is. it doesn't really feel like a cave other than the tiles used...i would consider making the pathways and areas a bit less wide, and also more irregularities with the bordering walls.

@TakeHomeTheCup If you hadn't told me that this was a cave I would never have known. It's not just the amount of wide open space and regularity of everything, it is also that if this is a cave, then you cannot have heaps on stones on your upper level. That is supposed to be the roof of your cave, not an open space. I think caves in particular can benefit from using the ceiling tile which is a black 'void', so giving the impression that the rock just goes up and up.

Maybe that is not clear from how I've worded it. Here is an example of what I mean. Sorry it's so big, but I can't quickly find a smaller one.

@Kes isn't black or darker stone color a wee bit nicer to the eyes? (Or is that me with the color of the forum's edges who kinda find this looking from an image editing program?)

@VisitorsFromDreams - Always impressed by your work, it's so cute!
@Dusttt - I really like the overall atmosphere, gives me a classic feel. I'd change the font in your battle screen, but that's just me.
@zimzim - I love the aesthetic and overall room design, but I feel like the character size in relation to the room is a little off.

WIP of a new battle background, still gotta fix the tiling though.

@Lorenze I've discussed with my team about that actually. I have an art advisor in my team (yes, I'm so bad with art that I need an advisor!), and he said that it's most likely fine since the character sprite is chibi, and that chibi by nature is super-deformed. He said that it's a valid stylistic choice, where the environment doesn't always necessarily need to fit the character sprite. However, I'd love to hear others' opinion on this justification.

@Marquise* It is also a function of not being able to show this with lighting and screen tinting which changes things enormously. With those I find black a bit too much, and using the stone colour leaves the problem that the 'void' is trying to solve i.e. how to you imply visually that that is not 'ground' in some sense.

You are awesome :) always a joy to see your screenshots. great color palette, especially the "gentle black" or w/e.
my only concern would be small square resolution but I suppose it is unavoidable if you're using ace..
it's also just a bit weird for me to see enemies above the background border (the black triangle thingie) - it just feels wrong somehow, although I understand it's hard to fit everything in such a little space (maybe make the borders smaller?)
Lovely SV battle sprites and mapping (although I can't imagine how long this map took you to make?). the UI looks a bit too SciFi for a fantasy setting, I think

looks very interesting, were you inspired by OFF?

@Dankovsky Please note that people are asked not to quote images in their replies, but to use the @ plus username to indicate who they are replying to.
Thanks.

Some windowskin progress...again, 2 damn years and this thing still bugs me a lot.
The idea is to use the windows generated instead of custom backgrounds, that's something that not many people can pull and still look good.

I do what I can! My game is actually made in MV, the game runs at 3x the Gameboys resolution (and all exploration assets were done at 16x16 and blown up 300%), the battle sprites are also designed within those same limitations. Breaking the engine to work at such a small resolution wasnt easy ha ha. Basically the game is made to replicate the original Gameboy Color hardware almost one for one, or as close as you can with the engine. Its been an interesting challenge trying to design around so little space.

I can understand why people might not like the sprites sitting ontop of the backgrounds (it looks better in motion as both background layers move in opposite directions, but the frame is at that height so as to not have the battle commands on the colored backgrounds which makes them unreadable. Hopefully as development goes on I can tidy it up a bit. Thanks for the feedback! :D



Your one to talk, your game is looking slick as! Love it!

Heya, I was thinking about starting my new project soon, but I just have the title screen ready. There are no "new game" etc. stuff on the image yet, though. Any suggestions for improvements? Is there something you like about it and something that would need fixing? All critique will be greatly appreciated.

@Labyrinthine I can't see any image in your post.

@Kes
Sorry, I had a problem. Can you see it now by updating the page?

Personally, I could see the image before. It just looks a little smaller now. Maybe it's a browser-related thing?
As for the title screen itself, the stained-glass aesthetic of the picture next to the title is interesting. The font for the title is a touch hard to read, at first glance I wasn't sure if the first letter was an H or an N. (Could also just be a me thing though.)
Personally I'd switch out the clouds background for maybe a glimpse of the world the game takes place in, once I'd gotten some maps made (or even make a map specifically for the title screen), just so the player can get an idea of what kind of world it is.
Just my 2¢ though.

Thanks! Might be editing the font a bit then. Does anyone else think the font should be simpler, or that I should change the first letter "N"? The game has an apocalyptic thing going on, hence the red sky. Would adding some destroyed environment background from the world help? Or would it make the image look too full?
Edit: The "new game" box or something like that probably goes below the Nerubis text, maybe not on the very center but on the line with the "N" of Nerubis. Any ideas about this?

@Dankovsky Thank you for your feedback my friend told me the same i will change the UI. It doesnt take time to map this because i worked a lot on the tileset so it is easy to map so i can save time.

@TakeHomeTheCup
Try to add as much details as you can in the cave map, especially on the walls. Make them look irregular, no two side-by side of similar cracks or vegetation on the wall for example. You could also edit the size of different objects somehow, like rocks with various sizes, and avoid square forms on the map. You could make the corners of the walls with more varying depressions. This should make it look more natural.
Hopefully this helps at least a bit. Also, remember. Mapping is not everything! Just try to do your best but don't waste all the time just polishing the maps forever. Some people never complete their games because of this.