There's plenty of interesting things to talk about in regard to our game CYBATRON. There's mistakes we made and a large number of improvements we could still implement post-jam to have the game explain itself much better. None of the humorous content we had been thinking of even made it into the game.

But I am not going to talk about any of those actually interesting things, I'm gonna talk about the graphics.

A Change in Art Direction

Ludum Dare 42 was a little different for us, visually. Our previous entries are generally x2 or x3 scaled pixelart. Even if they weren’t scaled up, it was still quite clearly pixelart. This time, @daanvanyperen asked me at one point: “Why don’t you try something like your digital paintings?” All right, out of the comfort zone we go! (In regard to game art, anyway.)

As I got started on the graphics, I figured I'd start clean and eventually get to painting over things, but I quickly realized I quite enjoyed the clean style. I only ended up using my Wacom tablet for quick little sketches of buildings to figure out the general design of things.

(I lost a few sketches when I neglected to save the file, so I don't actually have any left that look like the assets I ended up making. D'oh!)

Cyberpunk: It's All The Rage Right Now

80's music, a new Bladerunner, Cyberpunk 2077, the current fad of neon magenta and cyan lighting... Cyberpunk seemed a pretty obvious pick. We'd also brainstormed past Kowloon Walled City, which is where the height of my building assets came from at least. There was more cyberpunk that we wanted to include originally. Tiles that merge together with cables and wires connecting them, etc. In the end, we ran out of time for that.

The Good

I think we achieved a high level of polish for our game. I had taken the monday off from work (first time I did that for a Ludum Dare) while @daanvanyperen did have to go to work (probably also a first time) so I had 8 to 10 hours of doodling extra. I had consciously postponed work on some assets so I could spend the monday doing those, and the extra time paid off.

The game also has a fairly uniform style to it. I tried to art direct myself by shooting down ideas that, while they might look nice on their own, would not fit with the rest of the game. That internal direction worked 90% of the time.

The Bad and The Ugly

There are a bunch of things, graphically, that could do with improvements. Some of might be nitpicking, but I do indeed pick nits.

1. Go Away, Escher

The height of the blocks causing an optical illusion that a block closer to the foreground looks like it's below the other blocks. Reducing the height of the blocks should probably do the trick.

2. Ticks Are Off The Mark

The tick mark on the resource icons hovering over the buildings when they are active does not fit the style of the game. A five minute fix, but it didn't stand out to me until after the jam ended.

3. I Cast Magic Missile, Not Shadow

A more uniform use of shadows. The buildings draw shadows on the tile below, but not on themselves in a bunch of sprites. The casino in the image below was the last building sprite I made ion the last day of the jam; I got careless.

4. Anchor What?!

We have a tile that doesn't allow blocks to be moved away from it. It started with reinforced edges. That didn't look good. Then I reiterated and reiterated. I reached a point where more time spent on it just wasn't worth it. We needed a quick symbol fix. Either a lock or an anchor? Those don't seem very cyberpunky. I clearly saw the anchor in my mind, I went for it. Don't judge me.

5. A Farmtastic Failure

Yes. Yes, that is a farm. It really is. It supplies food to the residential buildings, enabling the population to live there. It started as a regular greenhouse; that looked too present-day. Then it turned into a hazy cylindrical glass chamber; cylindrical did not suit the angular style of the game. @daanvanyperen asked for a biodome, but round shapes still don't suit the style. Righto, some green-tinted glass boxes it is.

6. Where's The Cyber, Punk?

This is probably my biggest gripe with the graphics I ended up making. It may be kind-of reminiscent of cyberpunk, but it definitely doesn't scream cyberpunk. As I mentioned above, there was more we wanted to do with it, and as a result our game merely became cyberpunkish. It's a good thing we put it in the name of the game.

In Conclusion...

We ended up with a pretty good looking game that could have looked better. But of course, the could look better part is always true in a game jam. While I directed my art well, there's more details to keep in mind that I neglected. Step back and try to be objective.

If you made it this far down, thanks for reading. There will be a graphics timelapse video somewhere in the next few weeks. If you like these kinds of things, keep an eye on my YouTube or Twitter.