graphics may need some work

starts to look like a game – but it is not really yet 😉

updated graphics. back to coding for a bit

i present to you the armies of griselda (ogre, skeleton, pit lord) and ragnhild (druid, warrior, wizzard).

after two team entries (LD28 and LD29 with LeafThief whose great game from LD30 can be found here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=3923) it was time for a solo entry this time.

my goal was to focus on artwork as much as possible. coming from the programming/game design corner of the business, i knew that i had those two areas covered and it was time to improve my drawing skills. usually i use simple 2d/3d objects for my prototypes but this time i wanted to improve on the visual end of the game.

after i got the initial game design done and prototyped (see gif below) i started up pro motion and watched/read a couple of pixel art tutorials.

i decided on a style with not too many pixels/character because i thought that this might minimize the margin for error 😉

at first i created the two main characters (see image below) and afterwards i worked on the smaller army characters.

I did a livestream of this process at http://www.twitch.tv/ddrei/c/4993048 – the video shows that i am not really fast but i am quite happy with the result.

here are the smaller characters:

what went well (in my opinion)

• the graphics sure are an improvement to my usual programmer art “style”
• i read up on a bit of music theory cause i did not want to create something completely random. in combination with http://distractionware.com/blog/2013/08/bosca-ceoil/ that worked out well i think.
• the scope of the game was exactly as i planned. not too big, not too small.
• time management was good. i did get enough sleep, watched a movie and played some games during all the creation process. it was my most relaxed game jam in years (maybe due to the fact that i did not code all the time :p)

what did not work so well

• i completely forgot about sounds. i do not know why but i just realized it after i handed in the game.
• the overall art direction is not good. the characters themselves may be “ok” but when i look at the whole game i do not see a homogenous image. next time i try to use a reduced color palette for example.
• the tutorial was done too quick and does not feel very good. also the artwork does not fit into the picture.
• i was too scared of animations this time. i will work on that next time though!

all in all i am very pleased with the result and to quite some motivation out of it. i hope you enjoy the game at least a tiny bit!

you can check it out at http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=23131

please let me know what you did like and also what you did not like in the comments. see you next time! <3

if you are interested in my other game develop activities you can follow me on twitter: @iossif

Tags: LD30, slay, zone

visualization of my path choosing mechanic starts to look better. this might actually work

only could squeeze in two hours of work today. will extend for a day and try to get it finished for the jam deadline.

the navigation part is working in its most basic form. tomorrow: content, more variation, more shiny 😉

you heard it here first. more infos soon 😉

managed to code 3 levels and a game manager that links them together randomly before i head to bed. since i use placeholder programmer art, i better post a link to the “playable” early version instead of gifs :p

warning: not much game feedback yet and possible bugs.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2440694/webglbuild/index.html

My 3rd idea turned out to be better than i thought. Will move the project into the jam and finish more levels tomorrow

A beta with 2 levels is available as webgl

=>  https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2440694/LD35/index.html

Screenshot:

did not have too much time this weekend (real life... yuk) but i got something done!

enjoy SGFactory