Jmurph's site

8 Bit style Walker WIP

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:55:57 +0000

Was playing around with Forum Account's excellent sidescroller library and decided I needed a proper player sprite. Inspired by the old NES Castlevania games I did this:

The player walk animation is 8 frames as opposed to the 4 Castlevania used and I tried to minimize the odd posture while still maintaining the "feel".

And here is a bad guy:

Shorter walk animation (6 frames) but still three times as many as the old NES sprites.

Both use a 16 color palette (15+clear), so would actually be more SNES level.

C&C welcome.

Spelunky

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:30:57 +0000

http://spelunkyworld.com/

Try it. It's fun.

Basically it's a low res pixel based platformer that uses randomly spawning levels and area level feelings (IE messafes indicating a special room feature) ala a roguelike. I found the controls a tad awkward, but overall a very fun game, especially considering it was made with Game Maker.

Slightly Shorter

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:35:02 +0000

Playing around with a new approach, I shortened the stride and the overall dimensions. I hope he doesn't look like a midget!

Editing The Base- 6 Frames

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:34:26 +0000

After some criticism of the walking animation, I did some tweaking with a 6 frame cycle. I think it looks a bit smoother in the overall cycle, but obviously is an early WIP and has a way to go.

I have tried to keep to an isometric perspective grid so the the walk looks right for the view.

The New Man

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:18 +0000

Hulio G has been working on the sprite animations for me, and I think the results speak for themselves. Behold! I give you man walking!

Designing a Craft System and Interface

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:59:31 +0000

Well, since my last topic on Inventory display didn't go anywhere, let's get some thoughts on craft systems. Generally speaking, craft systems allow players to turn game objects into other (generally more useful) objects. Implementation can vary widely and I would like to see some opinions on what works, and doesn't work, in craft system design as well as interface. After all, the best craft system in the world is useless if hidden behind a horrible interface.

Ultima Online had a simple craft system that was enjoyable. For most crafts you had a required tool, material, and possibly external object such as a heat source. Crafting generally consisted of double clicking the tool, then clicking the material which would then either complete the task (such as heat on ore produces ingots or scissors on cloth produces bandages) open up a selection if multiple items could be produced by the action (say when forging ingots- you could make a variety of weapons and armor). The advantage was it was quick and simple, the downside is that it didn't really allow for much customization (though you could change colors certain thing afterwards with a dye tub).

Star Wars Galaxies has what looks like a neat system where you can gather all sorts of different raw materials that have different intrinsic properties that are used to craft components to build items. Since there are no "best" properties, different materials are better or worse for different applications. Additionally, there is a process for experimentation that apparently allows the crafter to modify the crafting even further. It all sounds very detailed, but I have never played so I have no idea if in practice it allows alot of variety, or just creates a tedious process.

Minecraft has an interesting approach to crafting. Like most games you gather raw materials to craft items. What is interesting about MC's approach is that items are formed based on the correct materials being laid out in a certain pattern on a crafting grid. The size of the grid also varies based on whether the crafter is utilizing a crafting table or not. Without it, he only gets a 2x2 grid, making only simple crafts such as torches, shears, and a craft table possible. It's also interesting in that raw ore is processed by placing it inside a smelter with fuel and waiting for the ore to transform into ingots. Cooking is done the same way (no ovens in MC :)).

Towards a less "list"y Inventory

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:09:23 +0000

In most RPGs, the inventory system looks more like Baldur's Gate or Diablo and less like a vertical list. Since skins give us greater freedom in our interface style, I was wondering if anyone has attempted a less list looking inventory system. I was imagining that a beginining might be using a grid system where every item has an x and y position (maybe even a secondary map?) obtained based on where the item is drag and dropped in the inventory pane and the inventory displays based on that position as opposed to a list. It could be even be exapanded to allow for various item sizes so that an object con occupy more cels (say a large item).

Test Screen Shot

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:21:32 +0000

Here is an indoor test shot with pants, shirt and a knife equipped. The counter has been clicked and it's name is displayed (mobs and objs have this behavior).

Obviously, both the GUI and the world need some work, but it gives some idea of how things are shaping up.

As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

WIP Isometric Woman

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:11:55 +0000

To go along with my isometric man. Hopefully, this reads female, even though all I've really done is lighten some of the head contrast, narrow the shoulders a tad and start the hips wider earlier with a higher leg dividing line. Well, that and of course chest. I want to keep it fairly close to the male silhouette so I can reuse overlays with minimal rework.

Edit: More corrections based on comments.

For now, I will probably forgo walking animations and just have them slide around facing left or right :-)

WIP Isometric Man

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:53:37 +0000

A WIP of my isometric man. I am trying to make some original graphics, but animating isometric figures is tough! I will probably keep it a 4 frame walk, though, since that minimizes the frames of equipment overlays to draw.