UnderwareDESIGN

Simple map with slopes/collision:


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/DBA1.png)

yay,  finally :)

Draco & Bunnys Adventure 

Level editor in DB pro, the actual game in Playbasic reads the data created...


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/DBA2.png)

The tileset is looking slick !


(Note to Empty:  erm GUI library ? :) )

QuoteThe tileset is looking slick !

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Thanks, it's very hard to manage all the rocks especially when your doing the  light to dark areas, they all must be universal and blend correctly X_X

Certian areas must always "hook" onto other areas seamlessly.


It's much easier to make levels now since i've added a Drag-and-copy kind of thing when selecting tiles...

The only thing I don't get is when I create a 1200+ x 1200+ tile level and DB pro starts chugging, despite I clip the tile drawing range :P Then again, nothings easy when your using Db pro :P

That looks pretty cool. :)

Quote(Note to Empty: erm GUI library ? :) )

:P

Just some enemies that are raycasting (No it's not a magic spell   :)  just kidding )...


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/DBA3.png)

Not sure i follow the latest pic..  Do you have any demos ?

latest pic, and walking animation/eye candy


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/DraAdv.png)

(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/WalkAlmostDone.gif)

Cool...  Just a heads up.  Since it's going rather well, could you have a demo  or at least some more screens ready by the 18/19th (at the latest) of oct  ??..

Yeah, that'd be good

man, I always love lookin at your progress.  You have a great sense of motion and good art form.  I'm sure if you REALLY wanted to get into this pixel art thing you would be uber pro in no time flat.

on the animation:
I especially like how you took the time to rotate the torso back and forth.  Gives some good depth for a flat-shading style.  Your tiles are also very nicely done.  They tile pretty seamlessly.  There are some things i see wrong with the animation as well as some color theory issues - if you want me to, I can give you a few pointers on how to fix some stuff up a bit.

I'll take any crits ya got.
But- I already know what your doing to say- His arms don't move back and forth, working on it :) also I cleaned some stuff up:

(http://xs49.xs.to/pics/05403/WalkAlmostDone2.gif)
Full animation (I'm not too crazy about it :():
(http://xs49.xs.to/pics/05405/DracoWalkingBeta.gif)
New Snazzy Logo, used PSP 7 + Photoshop:
(http://xs49.xs.to/pics/05405/TitleLogo.png)

Some tree tops:
(http://xs50.xs.to/pics/05414/Foresttops.png)

Quick forest mock-up:
(http://xs50.xs.to/pics/05414/ForestMockUp.png)

Great Job...hmm i guess when I will post my Tic Tac Toe game it's gonna stink really bad huh...lol You do miracles with your artwork, cograts! :)

QuoteGreat Job...hmm i guess when I will post my Tic Tac Toe game it's gonna stink really bad huh...lol You do miracles with your artwork, cograts! :)

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Thanks, and tic tac toe isn't a bad start...
I haven't gotten as much done as i'd like, collage Art classes nipping at my toes and such...
Latest screenie (with those darn fangled parallax layers in):

(http://xs51.xs.to/pics/05423/DraLatest1.png)

All layers filled:
(http://xs51.xs.to/pics/05423/DraLatest2.png)

Now were talking.. Awesome job.. That all fits together great !

Small Demo 1:

All you can really do is walk around and look at the eye candy in this one, as I don't have the time anymore to work on this really   :(  Oh well...

*Nevermind the bouncing slimes, as they're just a test...
*Use Up, down arrows to cruise around
*use left/right arrows to...well...move left/right
*Space is jump
*The walking animation is wanky, I know X_X

http://www.wirefiles.com/show.php/1674_DraADVAlpha1.zip (http://www.wirefiles.com/show.php/1674_DraADVAlpha1.zip)

That is simply Excellent !!   It'd be a real shame for you not to continue on with this project !

yeah! it just looks fantastic draco dude. the parallax stuf is awesome and the color is so fresh and bright. very origional.  i'd be happy to help with the animation and mabey a few other charaters if you want.

I'll see what I can do, but I really want to make this game special/ live up to it's potential. This one-man army gig is going terribly slow!
I have tons of ideas for this game, but it really frustrates me that it takes me so long to implement stuff, since first I have to draw the sprites (which are the most complicated sprites I've drawn yet), then I have to rip the images with code, then actually code whatever specific object/enemy I had in mind.
I guess I'll try my best not to quit, since I really want to see how far I can take this project. I wanted to see what kind of crazy things I could throw in graphically (especially with PBFX, such as lighting, water reflection/distortion).

What I'm most concerned about is the lack of music, as I have barely any musical talent, despite reading a musical thoery book from cover to cover.  <_< I'm thinking about asking this one person I know who'd be excellent, but I don't think he'd do it for free.




BlinkOK:
I'd like some help BlinkOK if you are any good at animation. I basically need a good 8-frame running animation template that I can just draw on top of. Each of Draco's Frames measures 82 x 102 pixels.

QuoteI'll see what I can do, but I really want to make this game special/ live up to it's potential. This one-man army gig is going terribly slow!   I have tons of ideas for this game, but it really frustrates me that it takes me so long to implement stuff,

 Yes sadly, All coders experience this, regardless of skill.   How do you think we feel ? :)

  Keeping focused on your goal(s) can be extremely hard when all you see is adversity.  So sometimes we have to realign our goals to suit our abilities.    
   

Quotesince first I have to draw the sprites (which are the most complicated sprites I've drawn yet), then I have to rip the images with code, then actually code whatever specific object/enemy I had in mind.

 To be honest, I think your building the project backwards for the most part.  While you've certainly got the design / art skills / ideas, but like it or lump it, we can't really avoid actually sitting down and coding the 'game engine'.  

 I'd much prefer to see you build a working 'game engine' with just stick men gfx, than invest so much time and effort into the art work, to only get discouraged from your coding duties after the honeymoon period has worn off.

 While I know you've written your own map editing solution, but have you written a character editor ? -   Just something that lets you create your game characters externally, that can then be loaded into game engine with a generic function, none of this custom stuff.   It'll have stuff to store the animations/speed ( location of the frames on the frames/ sprite settings etc).. Through to the characters attributes.   It doesn't have to be pretty, since your the only person who will ever use it.  

 These type of helper tools can remove a lot the mundane,repetitive tasks that we face while making our games.  And if your clever, you'll build your tools so they can be used in more than one game.  Further accelerating the creation process.

QuoteI guess I'll try my best not to quit, since I really want to see how far I can take this project. I wanted to see what kind of crazy things I could throw in graphically (especially with PBFX, such as lighting, water reflection/distortion).

 Effects are great and all, don't get me wrong.   But I have this awful feeling we'll be having the same conversation a month or so after FX's release.  So i'd be using this time to knuckle down and get the boring game mechanic's under your belt before then.  
 

QuoteWhat I'm most concerned about is the lack of music, as I have barely any musical talent, despite reading a musical thoery book from cover to cover.  I'm thinking about asking this one person I know who'd be excellent, but I don't think he'd do it for free.

  Sadly, getting music made now can be a bad idea.  Some temp loops/tunes would be more than adequate .  What usually  happens is you tire of the music long the game is complete.  and musicians really don't like being asked to replace tracks coz your bored of them...  Not that'd i've ever done that.. :)

   I just want to reaffirm that you've achieved so much already. It would be a shame to let this go to waste now.

yeah, I thought It'd be nice to have the enemies just colliding automatically without having to copy/paste code all over the place. Right now everything is hard-wired in. I'm looking up how to plug typed arrays into a Psub.

*edit*

Blink,

oh dear the anims are gone.  Could you send me the existing anim(s).  It'd be nice to use them in some PB demos..

As promised here is some critique for ya...

This will only focus on the main character today - tomorrow (hopefully) i'll get into color theory dealing with your background.

so without further ado....

(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/fixit.png)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/fixit.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/fixit.png)

Well, first things first.  Lets talk anatomy.  Now i know that the style you were going for was cartoony, and that's fine.  But since i dont know how intensionally you did everything, I will show you the hard-core correct way, then you can vary off that path as much as you choose to.  In my version i've fixed the following; the head was too big, legs too stubby, pectorial muscels too saggy, you locked all of your limbs so i gave them a little bend, gave him a prince/knight like posture, and a few other minor things.  I'm sure that you catch on pretty quick, so i'm not going to spend any more time dealing with anatomy.  (PS i was just too lazy to draw that crazy hair due you have on that guy)

Alright - now lets talk artsy.  The first thing i noticed about your sprite is the retona burning amount of saturation...almost %100 saturation i think.  Generally speaking, things aren't ever that high in saturation except for controlled situations.  The basic color theory about game design goes as follows; background = low contrast, low saturation.... sprites = high contrast, high saturation.  I'll talk more about that later, but basically its just to make sure the user can always know the difference between his sprite and everything else cluttered around the screen without losing him constantly.  Now although i say sprites are supposed to have high saturation doesn't mean that it can be retna burning and still be okay.  Just lower the hue to be a bit more grey and you'll be fine.  In my version i raised the contrast, lowered the saturation a tad, and added an outline.

The second thing I noticed was your whomping 42 color count.  Thats just crazy.  I lowered the color count to 12 colors plus transparency.  if you notice, even though i have about a fourth the amount of colors you have- mine looks more detailed and shaded.  If you smart with colors, you can achieve this without too much hassle.  Also it makes replacing colors if you need to not nearly as hard.

the last thing that i did to make your character pop out from the background was add an outline.  if you look closely at the outline, its not a continuous black line.  In some areas where light would be hitting, i used a technique called "selout" or "selective outlining".  Learn about it here and any other pixel term you dont understand: (Selective Outlining (http://www.pixel-arts.org/pixipedia/index.php?title=Selective_Outlining))  As you can see - sometimes on different colored backgrounds (like you might find throughout various levels in a game) makes it hard to see the sprite distinctly unless it has an outline.  The outline is optional, and not all games use it, but i think you can benifit from it in your case.

Also notice how before i shaded the sprite, i 'blobbed' things in roughly.  This is how i will be animating the whole sprite.  Its generally not a good idea to animate a fully shaded sprite this complex - so instead, you do all of the frames in a simple manner and then shade each one individually.  this will make your animation look more fluid and non-mechanical.  This leads us to our next section - animation.

(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/animshow.png)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animshow.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animshow.png)
here we have alot of useful information.  Basically there are 3 steps in creating animation cycles. in step 1 you create base frames; or in this case - the 4 generic running poses that we all know.  In step 2 you create the 'tween' frames; or all of the ocward stuff the body does while moving from one generic pose to another.  In the last step you shade it.  I didn't complete step 3, but you'll get the idea.

Usually people get overwhelmed on the mechanics of how a run animation works, but in reality you dont need to know much.  Just by laying out the basic building blocks of base frames, all we have to do is look at the base frames before and after a tween in order to create a good seemless motion.  Alot of useful info is typed up in the pic itself, so i'll just let it do the talking.

Here is what my step 1 looked like when i was done with it, along with my step 2.
(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/animdemo1.gif) (http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/animdemo2.gif)
 
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animdemo1.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animdemo1.gif)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animdemo2.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animdemo2.gif)

Its amazing to note the big difference it makes when you add the tween frames in.  Through the tweens opens the door to adding so much character and even emotion into the animation of your run to help 'define' who the character is.

in closing, here is a final comparison to see how much difference these techniques have made in the overall product.  Might be useful for ya.
(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/animdemo3.gif)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animdemo3.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/animdemo3.gif)

One last thing i'd like to say before i go to bed is just a quick thing about what defines a walk vs a run.  In games its much better to have the character always running because it makes the game feel more fast-pased and dramatic.  But what defines a walk vs run.  Certainly a run is NOT a sped up verson of a walk, right?  Heres a quick answer for you; When you walk, there is always at least 1 foot planted on the ground.  When you run, there are moments when both feet aren't even in contact with the ground.  Study the animation i made to see more clearly what i mean.

I have already started on the second half of my little critique session and i hope to have it up by tomorrow.  I hope this was helpful to you in some way shape or form.

Wow, thanks that helps x10. Wow, my anatomy is kind-of embrassing actually  :blink: working on it now...

very cool calypson dude. informative and very understandable. i'm keen to see  more

Calypson,

 Nice, once your done perhaps you could build up a generic running anim tutorial and post  it in the tutorials board.

thanks, I'm glad i could help a little.

Kevin:
Yeah, sure.  I'll see if i can find the time to do it.  It might take a while for it to actually get done, but i'll try.

some stuff I forgot to mention...

general info about animating moving things:
the first instinct of an amateur animator is just to copy+paste+move and occationally rotate 90 degrees.  And the first instinct of a more advanced amateur is to copy+paste+move and edit a little here and there.  This is an alright technique to use, but only under certain conditions.  If the part your animating rotates at all (Like the arms do), your better off redrawing it instead of the copy+paste method.  But if it moves in a different way, its okay to copy+paste+move+edit+touchup.  for example.  In the animation i posted above, I completely shaded the torso.  I did not redraw the torso for each frame.  Instead, i just squished and expanded horrizontally a copy+pasted torso to give the effect that it is twisting on the y axis.  Even the base torso to begin with (seen in the first pic i posted) was a copy+pasted verson of the profile view i drew.  I just edited it to appear as if it has been seen on the 3/4 view.  and the shoulder pad was also just copy+paste+moved (and also flipped horrizontally on the forward stroke of the arm).  But as i said - in order to have a flowy animation, all rotating parts should be redrawn each time.

Something that i should have also included in my animation was to have the character leaning into the run a little bit to keep him balanced.  Also little things could have been added to even further progress the animation.  things such as the shoulder pads could have bobbed up and down in due to his bodies rise and fall.

I know i was supposed to mention something else, but i can't seem to remember what it was... oh well, maybe i'll remember later on today

Calypson,

QuoteYeah, sure. I'll see if i can find the time to do it. It might take a while for it to actually get done, but i'll try.

Cool, although I didn't mean that you should go out of your way a write a whole new tut on walk anims.   Just quickly edit up what you posted above (perhaps making it more generic), would be a help to a lot of artists.

Hello,

I find this tutorial from Calypson very helpful. I hope I can see more of his work in the future because I find 2D art more demanding as 3D art (you need a better talent for drawing).

Have a nice day,

Tomaz

I have a little comment to make about also considering the game context while drawing the sprites.

For example as a stand alone animation, Calypson's character looks much better, especially the fluid animation (it is spot on in fact). However, I feel that he has strayed out from the subject matter. While Draco's character was a medieval knight in shining armour, it ended up as a futuristic space marine in Calypson's hands.

So if it was for me, I'd still choose the original character if the theme of the game was a knight running around in a forest.

Having said this, I wish both of you guys to keep up the good work that you are doing!

QuoteI have a little comment to make about also considering the game context while drawing the sprites.

For example as a stand alone animation, Calypson's character looks much better, especially the fluid animation (it is spot on in fact). However, I feel that he has strayed out from the subject matter. While Draco's character was a medieval knight in shining armour, it ended up as a futuristic space marine in Calypson's hands.

So if it was for me, I'd still choose the original character if the theme of the game was a knight running around in a forest.

Having said this, I wish both of you guys to keep up the good work that you are doing!

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Hey thanks.

Anyways, I reworked my guy and came up with this:
(http://xs54.xs.to/pics/05451/DracoRedone.png)

Stumpy Monster:

(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/Stump.gif)

Nice !

haha! very cool

QuoteWhat I'm most concerned about is the lack of music, as I have barely any musical talent, despite reading a musical thoery book from cover to cover.  I'm thinking about asking this one person I know who'd be excellent, but I don't think he'd do it for free.

Listen, I don't want to be pessimistic, but you are right. BUT... I thikn i can load up some free music I got from my Dark Basic Media, and I am sure this game is for fun and a little MIDI music won't kill the Company if you use them. Do you mind If I can load some on the forum? I mea is it possible, and would you want them? Always glad to help

Sal

QuoteListen, I don't want to be pessimistic, but you are right. BUT... I thikn i can load up some free music I got from my Dark Basic Media, and I am sure this game is for fun and a little MIDI music won't kill the Company if you use them. Do you mind If I can load some on the forum? I mea is it possible, and would you want them? Always glad to help

Sal

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Nah, it's ok. I'll figure something out. I'm doing to have complete OGG tracks one way or another. And i'll utilize my super synth in some way. I'm really worrying about the gameplay at this point. I don't want it to be another run-of-the-mill platformer, yet I'm stumped for ideas at this point.

I wish I could help,  :(  :unsure: but I am almsot done with my tic tac toe game and you'll see how much I stink. Calypson's animation tip was great and  I hope he makes his generic tutorial, I could really use some help...and I would like to be able to help others and make like you know, a PB team that could win Compos and stuff. But you have my admiration for you game. Keep up the good work!

:) Sal

I downloaded the demo but I'm a little concerned about the frame rate. On another forum you posted you were getting frame rates around 200-300 or so, but on my machine:

Windows XP
DirectX 9
2.9ghz HP Pavillion (yah I know, but still...)

The demo can't be running more than 15-20 fps, at the most. So I just wanted to give you a heads up you should test the app with lower spec machines so you don't require something toooo extreme to run it.

Looking good though, lose the idea of making music and finish the game! Use blocks for graphics and beeps for sounds if you have to, plug the candy in later!!!!

You have a 3d card by chance?  :rolleyes: Probably what's killing it...I'm not doing anything too extreme I'd imagine.

QuoteYou have a 3d card by chance?  :rolleyes: Probably what's killing it...I'm not doing anything too extreme I'd imagine.

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On board Intel Extreme Graphics. Which is supposed to be the most popular installed graphics board in the world today. ;)

There's the problem, I don't think those are so hot when your trying to do tons of 2d stuff. I have a Geforce FX 5600.

QuoteThere's the problem, I don't think those are so hot when your trying to do tons of 2d stuff. I have a Geforce FX 5600.

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hmm.. well, not really, here's the "bigger" problem. Those onboard graphics cards are very popular and represent the exact target customer who is probably going to want to play our Playbasic games. And they won't have a "Geforce FX 5600".

And the people that DO have these high end cards are not going to pay anything for a 2D game, unless it is simply amazing. (Mutant Storm anyone?) :)

If you plan on making money developing "casual games for the 2D market" you should start testing your apps on a much lower spec machine.

Hi!

Fps  of 15-20 with onboard graphic cards sounds bad!
For business I use also hp pavillion ( with intel extreme graphics)
Must check this.

stef

I've just tested it on an AMD 2000 with Intel extreme (that machine is currently my internet access point :) ) and runs quite smoothly...

"and runs quite smoothly..." The AMD 2000 ghz if I'm not mistaken is more efficient than the celeron in the low end HP Pavillions. So I could see where a better processor could also incease performance. But I doubt you're getting anywhere near the 200-300 fps he's getting on his Geforce.

If the next update includes the ability to display fps and take a screen shot we could post our results more accurately.  ;)

But my point is, not that Playbasic or his program is at fault, EVERY game I play on my low end test machine runs in the 15-30fps when there is a ton of rendering going on.

My suggestion is to test on low and high end machines. The thing is, when you test on your box and you're getting 200-300fps, you think... WOW! I can add alot more eye candy, parallax, etc, but occasionally we forget that this may not be possible on lower end machines without sacrificing frame rate. Personally I always shoot for 30-60fps regardless of the spec. No need to requre anything over that really.

Ummm, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a GeForceFX not help at all? Doesn't PlayBasic do all it's rendering via software? If so, a better video card really doesn't make a difference.

I'd say it's more down to the CPU ... and now that I think about it, if it's an HP, it's probably come pre-loaded with a bunch of crap! :)  Are you sure there are no heavy applications running in the background bogging down your system?


SiN

QuoteUmmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a GeForceFX not help at all? Doesn't PlayBasic do all it's rendering via software? If so, a better video card really doesn't make a difference.

I'd say it's more down to the CPU ... and now that I think about it, if it's an HP, it's probably come pre-loaded with a bunch of crap! :)  Are you sure there are no heavy applications running in the background bogging down your system?
SiN

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I'm green to PB but not to programming or dealing with my computer. Everything is pretty much stripped down. This was the dev's quotes from MonkeyNuts:

"And as for FPS hits:
No 9 layer Parallaxing BG: 321 FPS, this includes everything but the BG.
w/ 9 layer Parallaxing BG: 212 FPS
Only a loss of 109 FPS.
On a Pentium 4: 2.4 Gigahertz processor. I suppose the hardware doesn't really do anything but I've got a Geforce FX 5200 in there too.
I've tried to keep the visuals as quick as possible, going to try locking the buffer before drawing the BG."

I also thought that PB rendering was done 100% via software for compatibility?? I guess the bigger question is would a 2.4ghz P4 be that much faster than a 2.9ghz Celeron? I'm thinking yes. :)

But if for some reason PB is taking advantage of hardware then that would make sense why it is rendering at such high frame rates. Over 200 fps? Jeesh I would love to see frame rates like that from my own efforts!

Still, I seriously doubt a P4 2.4 ghz is a low end casual gamer's configuration??

Take a look at Wal-Mart's computers...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp...0%3A3944%3A3951 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=3951&path=0%3A3944%3A3951)

Their low end pc's do not have P4's and are in the 1.9 to 2.4 ghz range.

Hey Draco, any chance of an exe update (already have the graphics) that displays frame rate? Thanks..

Hi!

Hm?!
My business machines are also P4, 2.4GHz (Intel Extreme Graphics), but these machines are 2 years old.

Made some tests:

Software 3D render Engine Tech Demo (=high end graphics example by Kevin) FPS is shown as about 70 (depends on view)
download (http://underwaredesign.com/prod_detail.php?rnd=1570902336&id=42)


exe of "gun and ufo"( =lowest end graphics example by myself :) ;without FPS-limit) shows FPS about 400.

These, and other example worked well and fast (also Dracos adventure).

The performance is really depending only on CPU-Power.

If you want to write games for other people/computers it is absolutely clear, that you must deal with the given conditions. You must know yourself what you are doing/programming or you will have bad luck.

Greetings
stef

Great work on that demo I really like the graphics :)

That hand reaching out from the tree stump is brilliant! It would be great to see that in the game.

keep up the good work

Have you done any further work on the demo Draco, as I'd like to see a bit more ?

Steve


Ps If you are still stuck for musix, let me know what format and I'll knock u some original pieces up..

QuoteHave you done any further work on the demo Draco, as I'd like to see a bit more ?

Steve
Ps If you are still stuck for musix, let me know what format and I'll knock u some original pieces up..

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I might not work on it again, I don't feel like I can properly program it/do graphics for it/etc.

I'm looking for a sophisticated way to do animations and store data related to them.

QuoteI might not work on it again, I don't feel like I can properly program it/do graphics for it/etc.

I'm looking for a sophisticated way to do animations and store data related to them.

to draco9898

it would be a shame to stop now. you've had a lot of support and interest.

see if someone can help with the graphics.  calypson seems pretty good.

with animations, use multiple arrays().  meaning pass info from one array() to another array() depending on where the anim is at. i use different gosubs for these different arrays() also.  eg. have a main array() with all info, and when sprite is  walking along pass info into a walking array() , and when sprite hits wall/door then pass info to a turning array() etc. i found this easy to control sprite anim position in sequence and movement.

i have spent 11 months on my game. many times i came against coding obsticles and frustrating bugs. some took a month to sort out, but i am glad i stuck to it, because it's comming along nicely and smooth now.

keep up your good work. i am looking forward to seeing your next update.

   cheers stevmjon :D

I might consider working on this after the compo, I think I know exactly how to make all the sprites I want now

I'd love to see you flesh this out also.

Since this seems to be the biggest PB project I know of, I would also like to see it completed.

Whelp, I have no clue how to make it run faster, so I say just heck with the sys. specs and keep going...

Revised stump, with MUCH better pixel work as I've gotten better:


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/StmpIdle.gif)

yes - you sure are improving in pixelart. great work

Work Log-

Feb 28,2006-
*"Tightening the screws", today, just cleaning some things up...Tryed to make the parallaxing BG faster running by no longer referancing things such as GetImageWidth() and instead just storing the info in arrays...the effect is marginal...+1 fps?...
*Dimmed the forst BG alittle for better contrast...
*Added a bg for options menu and fixed some options stuff...


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/DAopts.png)

new pixelated logo


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/NewLogo.png)

...and I like that too.  :P

I just wonder if there is a link where I can download this game. I looked through the threads, but I couldn't find it. I won't mind testing it, besides it really looks like a good game. Is the story nice?

QuoteI just wonder if there is a link where I can download this game. I looked through the threads, but I couldn't find it. I won't mind testing it, besides it really looks like a good game. Is the story nice?

[snapback]10034[/snapback]

Not to my knowledge, all my old demoes are long gone..


(http://www.underwaredesign.com/screens/PlayBasic/Games/DracosTale/NewDracoWIP.png)


Redrawing graphics galore...!

New sexy Graphics-
First new Draco sprite-

deleted

Going to recycle all my old code and update things with my new animation system and pointers and such...

Looks cute..  so your now back working on this ?

Is this for the 2D game or that strategy game?

Is it done yet? (either one) ;)

(http://imagehost.ensellitis.com/images/30856994.png)

hahahah...*falls over*

fantastic evolution...

How long do you work for this image?

The first draco on the left is from two years ago..
Here's a portrait I'm working on:
(http://imagehost.ensellitis.com/images/1058044471.png)

SpikeWheel Mockup:
(http://imagehost.ensellitis.com/images/1089619682.png)

And it's alive again, but only in the incarnation of a full 1-3 level game (To show off my music and pixel "skillz"), but maybe an entire game if I can round up an entire team to dedicate to this project.

The rule of thumb I'd say in making level tiles is that the art comes before the actual 'tilebility' of the tiles

Brand new art, making even some really good pixel artists blush-
The mandatory "forest level"-Old, old, old, old Art:
See second pic*

The mandatory "forest level"-New, redone for-the-4560th-time art:
See First pic*

Concepting is fun...OR IS IT?

Someone's read their Mortimer/Arabel books - "Nevermore!" ;)

A strange form of concept storyboarding, but an interesting one nonetheless. :)