Scale of bricks to door is just wrong looking as is the scale of the panels within the door.

The bubble pattern on the tiles kinda reminds me of reflections from a pool, like the floor is covered by water.

I like your color choices! One issue that's a quick fix is the tops of the walls and columns have the darkest color in your palette right next to the brightest which makes them stand out. I would try and use one of your middle-range colors for the top outlines on the walls or maybe overlay them a pixel or two more so that the shine along the edge or the brick doesn't show through.

If you just want a gradient and not necessarily texture, a more classic dither pattern would work pretty well when the contrast between the colors isn't so dramatic.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I meant these parts:

I just think the contrast is too strong right where the tiles meet and makes the tops of the wall look odd.

@tyrant: Ah, I thought as much. Thank you!

@inphy: You fool! A stake through the chest doesn't work against horned-lion-Dracula!



PS: Any jokes about indecent exposure will be answered with excessive violence.

Edited by CELS - 03 May 2014 at 3:39pm

The exposure of-"PS: Any jokes about indecent exposure will be answered with excessive violence."
...nevermind then.

Looks cool so far, will it be another reference to some angelic smackdown action that leaves me telling to myself I've to look up what it's about but then don't?

There're a few things bothering me a little bit so I just point them out:

The shadow on the bottom part starts to much on the top (dependend on where the light comes from this actually can make sense, sorry) and it's general wierd that it's the only wall with a shadow, if I don't miss something...

The trees and the thing they're in doesn't reflect in the bottom.

And I'm confused about the iso-pattern, if it's classic 3/4 rpg view, it's from a hight where squares don't translate to iso-diamonds, I think, at least if I've done my homework right... That said this is of course assuming they're squares.

Edited by king_bobston - 05 May 2014 at 7:26am

Thanks, guys!

I will get back to the shadows, the patterns, the tiles in time. To be honest, I think I've got the cart in front of the horse again. I figured the perspective would be pretty straight forward, but it turns out I've just gone ahead and broken convention and done something no one else is doing, without putting much thought into it.



The thing is, I think a lot of RPG's are designed to be optimal for gameplay involving combat, where you want to attack goblins in every nook and cranny of the map, so it's important that you have a good view. But the idea for this game is basically to do a point & click mystery adventure with no combat at all. Kind of like a mix between "Gone Home" and Alone in the dark. So the ability to get a good view of every part of the room is entirely secondary to making everything pretty.

I don't want to use a standard RPG view, because it would obscure too much of the details I want on the walls and objects. And I don't think I have the skills to do the standard isometric view, really.

But I don't fully understand the consquences and limitations of sticking to the perspective I've chosen. And I have no idea how to draw a cube at an angle, for example.

Help?

EDIT: I mean, can I just keep using this perspective? Or is it too disorientating and weird?

Edit: bobston, it's not some angelic smackdown. I'm rather torn about whether to make this about my personal nightmares and the things I find most scary, or whether to dedicate this to the Cthulhu mythos, which would probably make it more interesting. But the whole idea is that I want to make this creepy, without relying on stuff like chopped up bodies, poorly lit rooms, sawblades, beartraps or big insects. Now, pixel art isn't really the best medium to create something scary, it's more suited for platform games with chocolate fountains and gingerbread houses, but... oh well. I'll give it a go.

Edited by CELS - 07 May 2014 at 7:09am

Thank you, SuperTurnip, for the words of consolation in both regards.

Can you think of any scary pixel art game though? SuperBrothers was certainly creepy, in no small part thanks to the sounds and music. Other than that, I am at a loss.



Doors still WIP. Left out shadows and reflections for now.


Edited by CELS - 07 May 2014 at 1:07pm

Thank you. I'll just keep pixelling then.

Last Door looks pretty scary. Now let's see if I can find a way to use these tiles for a scary mock-up, somehow.



Now, the middle part is supposed to be one floor down. I've tried to show this with colour, but I'm worried it's not enough.

Edited by CELS - 08 May 2014 at 5:24pm

Thank you. How's this?

I'm just worried that it'll get confusing in terms of light direction when both edges have identical highlights and dark lines.





Edited by CELS - 10 May 2014 at 2:36pm

That's a fair point, thanks.

Speaking of dark and light, I've been playing a bit with colours and contrast. Here's three versions: if anyone can tell me which one they prefer, or even suggest a fourth direction, it would be very helpful indeed.









Edited by CELS - 11 May 2014 at 5:47pm

It's definitely possible to combine lighting with pixel art. There's a bunch of people that have experimented with normal maps, but you're not going to be able to do that in something like RPG maker, you'll need something like Unity3D instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0H4vza9knM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6AzfJGtNC8

I'm not going to criticize your ideas for simulating lighting, because as you say, it's just a quick test. But for your actual piece, it might be good to create reflections of the characters on the floor. It might add some consistency.

Tables are pretty much the only things without reflections now.

Real nice looking, especially liking those ivys on the walls. There's a ton of colours for something that doesn't look like it. I think the palette could be unified and be made a bit flexible. Checker says 101, but i think lot of it comes from the fade? Would seem an interesting game though, and iwould most likely play it in that case.