Warlock - an update on my competition entry 'The Young Prince'

Started by Matty, March 07, 2020, 20:25:20

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Derron

@ Adam
Yes "something" like this - maybe not so much "action" as in your example - makes it less "calm" as needed. Hence the idea of fading in while moving from the "raising from below to target".
More complicated -  I think at least - would be to properly "half fade in" the surrounding map tiles already. This would also mean to expose certain map details which _might_ better be hidden until you moved into that direction.


@ gets the job done
Yes, once you convinced someone to play a game the graphics/presentation etc can have flaws as they then tend to more easily "accept" something. But your goal should be to convince people first - and this is most often "by the looks" or later also "words of mouth".

Would be interesting if he started to play before or after the changes - and/or if he experienced the changes and wondered :D


bye
Ron

iWasAdam

ok, just had a quick play - much better :)

thoughts:
it needs sound effects, whoosh, bang, clang, etc

thoughts on graphics:


learn about contrast and levels - they are NOT the same as making stuff darker/lighter

a good suggestion would be to split your tiles into 4, then you can thicken the walls, have an exact place for 'things'

Generally walls are darker towards the bottom - as are things

look at the image above where the top of the wall has a very feignt dark outline to make it stand out from the floor

gradient fade on background

make sure the walls and floor dont just 'merge into one - use colour and levels/brightness/contrast to differentiate between them :)

All that saying: you've taken a big step and are doing very well :)



degac

Compliments, big enhancements in so small time!
Overall 'experience' (graphics, movement, ui coherency) is great.
If there's a problem, there's at least one solution.
www.blitzmax.org


Matty

Tiles now slide and de-alpha from below as they enter view, and slide back down and alpha to 0 as they leave the view....it is a little unusual to watch, but it works....a little more disorienting but it does look better.

Matty

And applying the same technique to the overworld map brings the details into much sharper focus, and makes the world seem larger as you explore...


degac

Nice effects, but sometimes it's 'troublesome' as it is very fast.
Maybe fading without movement has another appeal.
Don't know.

ps: making it as an option to turn on/off would be nice.
If there's a problem, there's at least one solution.
www.blitzmax.org

Derron

The animation might have to be faster/quicker to have a more "snappy" feel attached. Faster "fade ins" mean you also only need to "move in" some few pixels.

Dunno if it would be visible at all if you delay the animation for further tiles ... so it does fade in "tile after tile" (with the next tile starting before the first finishes).

Also it might be worth to check out how "far" you could look (so maybe increase radius of visible tiles).


bye
Ron

Matty

Hi again....

A quick question:

Can you tell me which of these - if either - loads quicker than the other:

http://www.mattiesgames.com/warlock0/

http://www.mattiesgames.com/warlock/

The first packs all the png images into a single javascript file as base64 encoded images. (ie one single call to the server)

The second calls each image separately.....as individual pngs.

I've found it is roughly 15 seconds for both to load (with a clear cache) - although it is kind of nice to be able to carry all the images in a single script file as text...

Just an idea I played around with...

Derron

warlock0:


warlock:



Just ensure to use spritesheets for less asset requests. If your server does proper "cache modified headers" it only transports what has been renewed or never loaded from the client.

Eg. you load "audio on" and "audio off" images, each tile on their own ...
If you put stuff in one file you can:
- save requests
- save some bytes (only one header for the images)
- save on texture switching (only different portions of a texture are drawn instead of binding the different textures when drawing)

keyword for you: texture atlas.


bye
Ron

iWasAdam

things to consider - thicken the walls :)

walls that are away from you shouldn't have torches on them

wall transparency - walls that are x > you and y > you should be drawn transparent (alpha = 0.25 should do it)

iWasAdam

take a look at Grey Aliens new game: Ancient Enemy
https://www.syntaxbomb.com/index.php/topic,7619.msg347041565/topicseen.html#new

The graphics are a lesson in how to make everything work together. Some very nice painted backgrounds and superb (simple 2 frame) animation and design. See what you can absorb from this :)

Matty

Thanks, yes I've been looking at other games.

Oh...here are a few more enemies for one of the monster factions.  Now the three current monster factions have 10 to 11 different creatures each.










And I've been updating the character avatars too...












Matty

Character selection

All characters (not all monsters) have been improved graphically...

https://youtu.be/IVQsYrtoGX8


iWasAdam

OK, I'm going to have a go at you now  :o

What's the difference between these 2 images:


answer:
the first one has had approx 3 minutes of love applied to it. The edges were cleaned up with all fringing removed, it will sit on any color background and not have fringes. The outline was slightly painted just a shade or 2 darker to further make it stand proper on any background. And finally the image was sharpened up to stop it from becoming too blurry.

The second image is the original that says - Meh!, I really can't be arsed to spend time finishing it.

No I don't know which paint application you use. but my suggestion to you is learn what it does, what an eraser is, what levels are, what sharpen and pixelate does.

These are the basics - without them you're pretty screwed!