Thanks for finding this! The menu is actually changing today for that very reason. Too anime and not as much painted. Took a full night's sleep to realize it, but it'll mesh soon, hopefully today!
The funny thing about her clothes... I was totally for the skirt originally, but when she gets shrunk to gameplay size, its hard to distinguish different aspects of her body. Unfortunately, she's a little more complicated then angry birds, and that detail is lost at a smaller size. Another thing was trying to create a female hero that didn't fit the typical body shape. At the small size, it almost seemed necessary to create obvious female characteristics, busty, hippy and so forth. The skirt made her too ambigous, and with the menu screens, we can reinforce the idea that she's female without having to turn her into barbie. Just from this one issue I learned a LOT about game design. To counter her possible ambiguity at sprite size, we're including three screens (menu, loading, pause) that'll feature her full size. The menu, which is a medium shot, the pause screen will be close up of face, and the load will be a full body battle pose.
Here's the initial sketch of the pause or load screen. We want people to have an intimate look at our heroine, who remains stoically beautiful despite her weathered, hardened appearance.
More so on the last image. This is a development thread, so the initial sketches were conceptual, and we're working towards a final product. We had comments regarding the texture of our title menu (too photoshoppy), so I was checking for more comments regarding the last one posted by Basil (which should be a nearly finished image).
uptimistik said: man, i really dont' dig the overpowering grey...colors are powerful emoters.
I wanna thank everyone for their suggestions regarding the art direction, but please be informed, the art is locked down and will continue it's current course. As for Uptimistik's comment, I'm not sure I understand nor agree. Are you suggesting that before color films were released for instance, that all of those black and white movies had limited emotional appeal because of the absence of color? How about a little game you might have heard of called 'Limbo', was that also devoid of emotional appeal? I ask because I am interested to hear your take on the matter; I am not criticizing your comment in any way. Is this your own personal opinion, or one that you believe most of the app downloading public share? @tshirtbooth, I'm glad somebody has spotted the little homages to Castlevania ! Look out for more 'complete' artwork to follow, thanks for all the interest in this project
uptimistik said: The tones are too dark and close. Looks more dead than alive. I am speaking about the video on the other page and the stone artwork. The title screen looks awesome. Limbo had some much more defined contrasts to add life to the environment.
Ok, I think I understand your point now. It's not a question of color, but one of tonal values and contrasts. Thanks for clearing that up. As for stones, I guess they look dead because they are stones, which are inherently lifeless objects. Also, bear in mind that the video was still in a relatively early stage, and we had yet to add the various elements such as enemies, and Seras with her full range of animations. Also missing are sound effects and the music track, which no doubt will help to add more 'life' to the scene. Thanks again for your input, and look out for more artwork to come soon
We do appreciate the thought out criticisms, certainly more helpful than "that sux" or other vague commentary. As Basil has said, once Seras is in the gameplay, the black/white tones will stand in stark contrast to the yellows and reds that'll be present. Part of the videos' "dullness" may be my fault. I was recording at Iphone size, and when it blows up the detail is lost. There has also been some modification of the tones since that video was released, and the contrasts should be brighter now. I didn't want to release another video until we had actual gameplay, but I'll also make sure to have an Ipad video. When seen on a retina Iphone, its fairly spectacular.
The right boot appears to be a little too big for her leg (Sorry, I'm being picky). Not sure if that's really what you're going for but the left boot appears to be perfectly fitted
BTW I'm curious, how many sequences are those to complete the animation?
Really love the graphics work on this one. Geoffrey
On the boot, I looked into it, and it turns out that its my screen capture software. The reason the boot looks bigger than leg is that the back of the knee has a moonlight highlight, which is obvious when seen on an iphone. When I do the official trailer, I'll make sure to use a bigger vid and better screen capture Thanks though, these are the comments that help us perfect this thing. As for the animation, it has 11 frames running at 12 fps.
Hopefully we'll have the final pause menu up for you all to see tonight!
I got a question for you. We've been implying that there's wind in the game by having blowing hair, but we were considering adding some sort of additional evidence. I threw together a rough mockup with snow flurries, and I'm hoping you'll let us know if we should entertain the idea of snow, rain, etc, or just have the vid as it was. Also, you'll notice that the moon is going back to white, and soon it'll have moon features, as well as stars.
We're almost ready to roll out! We're submitting on Monday, and hope to have an HD trailer for you within the next couple days. For now, here's our icon as seen on an Iphone!
Comments
I think this art style really plays to his strengths too, so I'm expecting it to look amazingly good!
Keep up with the updates!
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
Now stop hogging all his time so he can get on with some stuff for me
My 2¢
I like the skirt better, not enough heroes with skirts.
The big boots are great.
The menu: It looks a bit to much photoshop instead of hand painted art as the sketches. To be specific: the highlights on the jacket are ugly.
The perspective in the video is very nice.
Looking forward to seeing more!
Lump Apps and My Assets
Thanks for finding this! The menu is actually changing today for that very reason. Too anime and not as much painted. Took a full night's sleep to realize it, but it'll mesh soon, hopefully today!
The funny thing about her clothes... I was totally for the skirt originally, but when she gets shrunk to gameplay size, its hard to distinguish different aspects of her body. Unfortunately, she's a little more complicated then angry birds, and that detail is lost at a smaller size. Another thing was trying to create a female hero that didn't fit the typical body shape. At the small size, it almost seemed necessary to create obvious female characteristics, busty, hippy and so forth. The skirt made her too ambigous, and with the menu screens, we can reinforce the idea that she's female without having to turn her into barbie. Just from this one issue I learned a LOT about game design. To counter her possible ambiguity at sprite size, we're including three screens (menu, loading, pause) that'll feature her full size. The menu, which is a medium shot, the pause screen will be close up of face, and the load will be a full body battle pose.
@Beefy - Sorry! We're getting there! :P
@Ludwig better?
@tshirtbooth, I'm glad somebody has spotted the little homages to Castlevania
Thanks again for your input, and look out for more artwork to come soon
We do appreciate the thought out criticisms, certainly more helpful than "that sux" or other vague commentary. As Basil has said, once Seras is in the gameplay, the black/white tones will stand in stark contrast to the yellows and reds that'll be present. Part of the videos' "dullness" may be my fault. I was recording at Iphone size, and when it blows up the detail is lost. There has also been some modification of the tones since that video was released, and the contrasts should be brighter now. I didn't want to release another video until we had actual gameplay, but I'll also make sure to have an Ipad video. When seen on a retina Iphone, its fairly spectacular.
The right boot appears to be a little too big for her leg (Sorry, I'm being picky). Not sure if that's really what you're going for but the left boot appears to be perfectly fitted
BTW I'm curious, how many sequences are those to complete the animation?
Really love the graphics work on this one.
Geoffrey
@Codemates
On the boot, I looked into it, and it turns out that its my screen capture software. The reason the boot looks bigger than leg is that the back of the knee has a moonlight highlight, which is obvious when seen on an iphone. When I do the official trailer, I'll make sure to use a bigger vid and better screen capture
Hopefully we'll have the final pause menu up for you all to see tonight!
SOTN meets punk rock?
I could see the music being a mix between ambient goth, metal and industrial.
Art seems like a midpoint between American comic and Anime -
You might make your character more definitely female?
(more eye shadow and less pronounced nose for a girl.
Also, emphasize lips more. )
Did I mention, I can do a rather good vampire voice, etc. ;-)
also "Manley Hero", "Robot / Alien", "Mad Scientist"...
I got a question for you. We've been implying that there's wind in the game by having blowing hair, but we were considering adding some sort of additional evidence. I threw together a rough mockup with snow flurries, and I'm hoping you'll let us know if we should entertain the idea of snow, rain, etc, or just have the vid as it was. Also, you'll notice that the moon is going back to white, and soon it'll have moon features, as well as stars.
Yay or nay on snow/rain etc?