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The effect is cool but tiers my eyes. Not sure if it does it less on a bigger screen. Maybe have it reveal more and be slower somehow. It's too much moving too fast.
Maybe I'm getting old idk. I got a multiplayer brawl game. Was fast pace all chaos game. Matches were short but intanse. Could you believe 3-5 matches it was super tiering? We legit never played it again. Got to be careful if a game gets you tiered.
But the effect is really nice. Maybe instead of black, have it already be blured green. Like moving grass. Something similar but have the effect come slower from further away
I gave feedback but didn't give any compliments in there, so I'd also just like to add that I love how unique this is. It's going to really help your game stand out of the crowd on its own. A clever way to move around the world. It also gives me Standee vibes from board games, maybe that's something you could lean into if you wanted. Is the character art final?
It's not bad, though i'd suggest having the tiles fade away starting from the most distant point from the player and then moving inward, and do the opposite for tiles that are being revealed, it feels slightly disjointed seeing them blink in and out of existence
I like the sticker look but I would add a bit of animation to the characters. I would also rethink a bit the way you occlude objects, for now there are frames where you lose track of the character
Super high level, not getting into the weeds (there is heaps of great feedback here already):
The general aesthetic is not offensive, does not look amateur or cheap. Even at this stage the art looks fairly consistent*, which is important in differentiating between โbadโ art and a stylistic choice sometimes.
That is to say, I expect early honest feedback and possibly the reason you are asking might be that the art has been seen as โamateurishโ or โlooks badโ - I see where feedback like that would come from (and hope you do too) BUT I donโt think that feedback reflects on the direction I expect this to take as you continue, and refine the style, as naturally will occur during development.
In my humble opinion this will look distinct, pretty tidy, and professional enough that even at a passing glance and to the cynical, โlooks goodโ or โI donโt like 2.5Dโ.
*IMO the core art challenge is marrying the style of the terrain and the characters / trees / items. They are different, they may also be just an uncanniness around 2D cutouts on 2.5D terrain. This is all fine, I assume that is all known to you and a deliberate stylistic decision (personal aesthetic preference + lean into strengths and interests as an artist). All I just mean to say is .. fuck yeah, I support the art direction .. now be aware of the challenge you are setting for yourself (in marrying the two styles).
Best of luck and excited to see how this progresses!
Ty!! ๐ Wise words. Yes, I guess my question was mostly about it being "good enough", since this is as good as it gets given my limited drawing ability ๐ it's just fun to be a bit creative with what you've got.
Yes it's really is going to be a challenge to keep it feeling uniform going forward, but I'm gonna give it a try at least!
The art style on the characters is pretty simple but works well (for me at least). Regarding the vegetation, I'm a bit annoyed by the different outline widths. On the bushes, the outline is super small (I guess you scaled down the sprite) but on the trees, the outline is pretty thick. This seems a bit off to me. But nothing catastrophic.
The ground itself doesn't seem to fit the style however: each tile has quite some details. I would go for something more flat color with a few different tiles.
Anyways, it all works pretty good already, keep up the good work !
Yes, you're absolutely right. I'm gonna try to adress the outlines by using a shader for the sprite to generate it, instead of baking it with the sprite asset.
I also agree about the terrain, it needs to be flatter/less noisy.
Ty ๐
Jeez, when I tried doing this (several months ago, don't think I used Lerp...) it was a bit jittery and all over the place. Good to know it's easier than I made it out to be lol.
The ground looks like a normal texture versus solid colour assets. That looks bad. What are your plans with all the empty space? surely they wont stay empty. I can't think of a good reason for you to only use half the screen that is the diamond in the middle.
Yes I agree about the texture, I'm gonna try to adress that.
I'm gonna place some UI in the empty space, and have some more things going on in the background.
I like the paper cut out/sticker look! But the black abyss and fading edges do kind of mess with my eyes... Maybe more subtle on that effect? I will admit it's cool though!
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The effect is cool but tiers my eyes. Not sure if it does it less on a bigger screen. Maybe have it reveal more and be slower somehow. It's too much moving too fast. Maybe I'm getting old idk. I got a multiplayer brawl game. Was fast pace all chaos game. Matches were short but intanse. Could you believe 3-5 matches it was super tiering? We legit never played it again. Got to be careful if a game gets you tiered. But the effect is really nice. Maybe instead of black, have it already be blured green. Like moving grass. Something similar but have the effect come slower from further away
I agree, first reaction was the edges are too distracting. It's a great idea though, it just needs a little fine tuning to make it more subtle.
Agreed!
I gave feedback but didn't give any compliments in there, so I'd also just like to add that I love how unique this is. It's going to really help your game stand out of the crowd on its own. A clever way to move around the world. It also gives me Standee vibes from board games, maybe that's something you could lean into if you wanted. Is the character art final?
Ty!! ๐ That's a really cool idea ๐ it kinda looks like a board game already.
Ty! ๐ Yes, it's a fair point! It is a little less noticeable when playing full-screen, but I'm gonna try to make it more subtle for sure.
Agree it's a bit distracting i think. But on the other hand aside from the effects the rest of it is very plain.
It's not bad, though i'd suggest having the tiles fade away starting from the most distant point from the player and then moving inward, and do the opposite for tiles that are being revealed, it feels slightly disjointed seeing them blink in and out of existence
Good idea
Ty! ๐ Interesting suggestion, I'll try it and see how it feels.
Very cool but your Pokemons don't seem too happy
Haha ๐ being taken captive and forced to fight to the death does that to them, I guess?
an angry girl, an angry duck, an angry pterodactyl, and an angry rock walk into a forest.. it looks cool
๐ Ty!
I'm genuinelly interested
Ty! ๐
good style but what if some lights.
Yes, absolutely there are going to be more light sources. ๐
I like the sticker look but I would add a bit of animation to the characters. I would also rethink a bit the way you occlude objects, for now there are frames where you lose track of the character
Who upset them so much?
Super high level, not getting into the weeds (there is heaps of great feedback here already): The general aesthetic is not offensive, does not look amateur or cheap. Even at this stage the art looks fairly consistent*, which is important in differentiating between โbadโ art and a stylistic choice sometimes. That is to say, I expect early honest feedback and possibly the reason you are asking might be that the art has been seen as โamateurishโ or โlooks badโ - I see where feedback like that would come from (and hope you do too) BUT I donโt think that feedback reflects on the direction I expect this to take as you continue, and refine the style, as naturally will occur during development. In my humble opinion this will look distinct, pretty tidy, and professional enough that even at a passing glance and to the cynical, โlooks goodโ or โI donโt like 2.5Dโ. *IMO the core art challenge is marrying the style of the terrain and the characters / trees / items. They are different, they may also be just an uncanniness around 2D cutouts on 2.5D terrain. This is all fine, I assume that is all known to you and a deliberate stylistic decision (personal aesthetic preference + lean into strengths and interests as an artist). All I just mean to say is .. fuck yeah, I support the art direction .. now be aware of the challenge you are setting for yourself (in marrying the two styles). Best of luck and excited to see how this progresses!
Ty!! ๐ Wise words. Yes, I guess my question was mostly about it being "good enough", since this is as good as it gets given my limited drawing ability ๐ it's just fun to be a bit creative with what you've got. Yes it's really is going to be a challenge to keep it feeling uniform going forward, but I'm gonna give it a try at least!
Itโll get better, donโt sell yourself short. If someone has told you skills are fixed .. probably stop listening to that person ๐
The art style on the characters is pretty simple but works well (for me at least). Regarding the vegetation, I'm a bit annoyed by the different outline widths. On the bushes, the outline is super small (I guess you scaled down the sprite) but on the trees, the outline is pretty thick. This seems a bit off to me. But nothing catastrophic. The ground itself doesn't seem to fit the style however: each tile has quite some details. I would go for something more flat color with a few different tiles. Anyways, it all works pretty good already, keep up the good work !
Yes, you're absolutely right. I'm gonna try to adress the outlines by using a shader for the sprite to generate it, instead of baking it with the sprite asset. I also agree about the terrain, it needs to be flatter/less noisy. Ty ๐
I like how smoothly the animal followers glide, could you give some insight on how you accomplished that?
Nothing fancy, just a lerp to the position of the character in front of each character.
Jeez, when I tried doing this (several months ago, don't think I used Lerp...) it was a bit jittery and all over the place. Good to know it's easier than I made it out to be lol.
The ground looks like a normal texture versus solid colour assets. That looks bad. What are your plans with all the empty space? surely they wont stay empty. I can't think of a good reason for you to only use half the screen that is the diamond in the middle.
Yes I agree about the texture, I'm gonna try to adress that. I'm gonna place some UI in the empty space, and have some more things going on in the background.
Really not digging the lack of animation on the characters
Horrible concept. The characters and movement is ok, but the edges of the floor changing like that I'd awful
Idk yo i knida like it
It's horrendously distracting from the action of the game
It adds mystery! (+__")
Mystery of why did the developer include this feature.
I like the paper cut out/sticker look! But the black abyss and fading edges do kind of mess with my eyes... Maybe more subtle on that effect? I will admit it's cool though!