Updating Sprites on my game
Franto
Member Posts: 779
I've been in the process of updating the graphics of my game for the past few weeks. My latest work, the remake of the basic enemies, I feel that it's satisfactory, what do you think?
http://s20.postimg.org/arsmsxyml/BB_regraph.jpg
I've already uploaded the new graphcis to the test version of the game.
http://franco.netau.net/BurstBladeHDdemo.htm
The player character graphics are mostly done. Just got to give the same polish to the remaining enemies. I plan to start working on the level graphics after that.
Comments
Love the look! Nice work!
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
@Braydon_SFX Thanks! I'm glad I waited until I had the insight to be able to make them at higher res.
Here's another, remake of the Robot Dragon, and the addition of another Elite Dragon to the game.
http://s11.postimg.org/k0x04whbn/BB_regraph2.jpg
That just leaves the Robust, Horned, and SideWinder Dragons awaiting remakes. The Air, Armored, and Boss dragons are all that are left.
More art from the game:
Looking good!
http://jamie-cross.net/posts/ ✮ Udemy: Introduction to Mobile Games Development ✮ Learn Mobile Game Development in One Day Using Gamesalad ✮ My Patreon Page
@jamie_c Thanks you.
Here is the new title graphic I'm working on for the game, the real name is Ray Burst, which makes more sense considering the other characters that will be added later on:
Now I need to turn that title screen background into a night background, so the letters stand out more.
The game will be released in about a week for Amazon, Tizen, Windows 8, and possibly Google Play. I could port to iOS if I'm able to.
Its gonna be an arena with multiple levels to choose from of different sizes and layouts. You score points by defeating dragons. Theres now a score screen as well.
The Ogre guy was a prime choice for extra characters added on game release, but I didn't get to finish his moveset, so the two characters that got picked are a melee, flying sprite with a laser epee, and the solid shell, single wielding Gunslinger.{The dual gunslinger wields laser guns, which would be redundant as theres already a ranged laser user{the princess}}. In the next game update or sequel, the ogre will be in it.
Some fixes to the menu and the font in the corner to possibly use custom font. There was a shop option for iAP, but with what little time I have on Pro, I don't want a possible error occuring during validation to the store. x ___X So I removed it for the time being. The gems are related to the iAP items, which increase things like speed or energy regeneration, and are consumable, you buy in-game gold, the iAP, to buy the gems which are consumable, but you get like 10 of each or they are very cheap for the gold you get.
A very rough build of the final game, most menu options save game are disabled. There was a shop menu, but I removed until I figure out what kind of iAP to use. The gem graphic that is the menu cursor is also an iAP item, they come in different colros and do stuff like powerup your attack or energy regeneration.
Done shading the hero portraits AND base sprites. The Gunslinger guy needs a lot more frames, especially for running. His is the most difficult system to implement as well, as he loads shells into his gun, up to 6 shells. He can either have 6 different shots, or stack the same shot up to six times, or somewhere in between. Finished updating the old sprites as well, added gloves to every frame of the knight and the hero portrait while gave them their final colors as well.
Oh nice graphics! You're a great artist!
@stahboy Thanks!
I've updated this picture as well now, just changes to Grafto and Pif to match the new art.
I had a ton of characters to choose from for this game after laying out most of my designs on a single page. This was the full list of possible playable characters for this game.
The lobster on the second row was a strong candidate for playable character. The dragon with the smoke pipe was also another strong contender for the game.
I forgot to post the latest demo, but since its in the arcade, a glitch prevents some enemy attacks from appearing. The last demo didn't have it, so I think its an html limitation. Anyway, it shows how the menu works and the scrolling character select screen with 4 characters. Also, the menu on the main screen is pretty awesome. Only the game option works at the moment, if I get iAP to work, then I'll probably add that too.
http://arcade.gamesalad.com/games/124663
Finally released a bare minimum version of the game on Fire TV, but I'll be getting it up to the true, full version in 2 weeks or less, then publishing a smartphone version soon after that.
http://www.amazon.com/Fulgryph-RayBurst/dp/B00VCN37JU/ref=sr_1_3?s=mobile-apps&ie=UTF8&qid=1428099170&sr=1-3
For example, there is only two versions of the same level available{normal zoom, and x2 zoom out}.
The art for two other levels already exist in the game, but can't be accessed, although you can see one of those levels in the "technique preview" part.
I'm testing the valley and tundra levels at the moment, which will bring the total number of levels to 5. They are arena's for the game's survival mode, but I eventually want to make a sidescroll adventure mode through seven levels in a future update after the next.
Anyway, here is some of the art for the previously mentioned levels, as well as sketches of the present roster of characters, and possible future characters{with the far right having designs for some of the bosses. Except the dragon at the top is actually playable}.
And I'll be making the gameplay trailer once all the levels are finalized. It took a lot of time refining each characters unique fighting style, that is why I'll have to leave the additional characters for the sequel possibly, rather than an update. Although the dragon bosses might be implemented.
A re-design of the character, third from the right, on the sketch in the last post.
New image for a screen in-game I did a few days ago.
Made another illustration with a dragon in it, now I got something for a menu bg or promotional image.
Some of the characters that will be in the sequel to Rayburst. I wish I could add them now, but no resources or time, would take 2 to 3 months to add them all, each with over 7 moves.
And some practice sketches for some of them.
@Franto This is a fascinating thread. It really builds excitement and interest in the game well in advance of it's release. Anxiously waiting to see the final.
Hi there I don't mean to be a pain great work so far, the font you are using is the font that was used on Diablo 1 of which I'm sure blizzard still own...didn't want you getting into any trouble.
http://diablo1.ovh.org/gfx/single-multi/menu-single.png
@PhillipCC Thanks! : ) I'm really, really hoping to have this out in a week, or at the earliest, june. I haven't had time, but I need to screen the latest build. A totally different beast from what I use to have. I refined the gameplay of each character to the point it'ss like a different type of game when you play as them. All that's left is fixing sprite errors that Phreit and Ritrika have, and adding some kind of monetization, either ads or iap, so I can get funds for the sequel that will have a lot more characters to choose from.
@JimmyMesser Thank you for point that out, it was intentional though. : P The font is a royalty free type meant to mimic the old diablo games as homage. Warcraft II and Diablo1 where games I played when I was a kid and it was back then that I realized I wanted to make games. So I used that font for a while as motivation, lol. I already swapped it out a few months ago when I updated the menu backgrounds and added a new title design as well since the font clashes with the art style anyway.
Although I gotta stop saying it will be out in a week, since something always happens that prevents me from releasing the following week.
Some screens from the latest build of the game, the menus are from the Fire TV version, but I still have to refine and organize them more:
I would need to record to get better screens. Ritrika's invisibility technique makes it easy to take better pictures, since the dragons are very tenacious and aggressive, which make it hard to get close enough to take a screen without being immolated in seconds. It's a high speed side scroller, by the time I hit the screenshot button with the others, the dragons already at the edge of the screen or defeated.
Pif's Grand Ray, #4 technique, only gets that big if you charge in it's orb stage for several seconds, tapping it will just release a small ray. She has 2 other ray-type moves, the rest are laser pulse attacks, like the vortex laser, #5 technique, shown in the other screen.
Haha awesome I was a blizzard tester back in thoughts days pretty much what got me into design. Well done for doing so much work!
Jim
@JimmyMesser Thank you! And that's awesome that you were a blizzard tester back then. Was it a very fun job, very demanding, or both?
D1 was way ahead of it's time imo, even by today's standards, it's really well done and polished.
I finished editing my above post with more screens to show off some of the game. For example, the camera smoothly pans to the direction Phreit Nor is looking at when he shoots. The other shooter in the game doesn't get that feature due to their shield ability to balance them out. Grafto the Knight can now aim his special attacks upward now, which I wasn't able to implement before. Ritrika's invisibility, high attack power, and speed is balanced out by the fact that she takes the most damage from attacks. I'm very excited about this game upcoming release. I can't wait to see how people play it.
Well don't forget to post it when it's done!
@Franto
Nice style, I like it!
The one thing that punches me in the eye is the RayBurst logo. The sharp edges of the text and smooth gradient doesn't go very well with the art style of the rest of the game, which has a more hand-painted feel to it.
@JimmyMesser Yes, definitely.
@pHghost Thank you! I see what you mean, neither logo fits well. I guess I could replace the shiny gradient with something more hand painted. What do you think about the mark behind the letters?
A quick gameplay vid of Grafto the Knight, the loop-de-loop he does is a unique feature of his gameplay, and works with any technique where he glides, except for #4 and #5:
Right now I just fixed Phreit and Ritrika's last few graphical errors. Once I finish fixing some of Phreit's mechanics, I can move forward with polishing up the menus and adding the ads.
I like the shape of it, but again, it's very 'sharp,' edges and all. Perhaps (and possibly the same process might work for the text), you can use this shape's vector as a mask, and paint into it, to give it a feel more like the rest of the graphics. Once you finish painting inside, you can slightly 'roughen up' the edges to reduce the digital sharpness.
@pHghost Great suggestion, in addition I was thinking of doing an transparent overlay and paint over it to give it more texture. I made the shape of the letters in Illustrator as a vector and then I applied the gradients with much less effort, which I guess shows. I have both photoshop and illustrator and know how to use both, which is a tremendous asset, I just gotta learn to more properly unite the graphics into a similar look despite the different methods they were made in.
New vid, showing some of the Pif's moves, with annotations now, I updated Graftor's vid as well. As soon as I can find a better video editor, I'll make proper vids explaining how each move works.
Grafto vid updated with annotations.
I get names and moves from old notes I have for comic stories. It was meant for games as well, I just didn't think I would actually make a game back then{these are all from around 2012-2013.}
I have piles of self-made reference material to work with for the game. The whole dragon's scenario is based off an early storyline involving a dragon invasion. The mastermind behind it is the dragon guy in the pic below, the design is timeless, so I probably won't do much of a redesign to him when I put him in a future update, before the sequel, I hope to have him in this game in the sidescroller mode as a boss{plus a few other dragon bosses}.
The sequel, which I talked about before, has an additional 8 characters at the minimum, I already showed 6 of them. The 7th is this Dragon below, who's design will go mostly unchanged, except for a few details, like giving him actual toes, among other things.
For the sequel, the "League of Greed" will be involved, who's minions{unpaid office interns with giant office supplies for weapons, like a pen that shoots lasers} are pictured in the gunslinger pic above. Some of the designs below are bosses from the LoG, but they need some re-designing.
@pHghost I finally got around to working on the title again. I rounded out the edges and add some things to its surface, and a third version with the look of marble stone I think. Does it look better or should I take out the shiny surface from it?
I really wish I had the time and resources to put more characters in the game now. Refining each takes days, unless I cut down the number of special moves each has.
I finally made a design for a mantis shrimp and agressive insect{bee/hornet/wasp} that fits the game's world.
I managed to get a sweet deal on internet host, like 70% off. I'm paying dirt cheap prices! So I took advantage of this and made a website for the game, I used the knowledge I had on front-end web development and a template that adhered to modern conventions, and now have a w.i.p. site that works both on desktop and smartphone.
http://www.rayburst.net
I sometimes draw the art seperately, and then comebine them into the same artwork.