Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by FrankenGraphics »

Seeing that title screen, i immediately think of russian space posters from the 50s and 60s. They would often pair two (or more) faces against a space/rocket backdrop. Note how they are in harmony with each other, in one team, in unison. The artists were very conscious about position and direction. The hint i get from your title screen is that the two ships/pilots are in opposition, and that it's therefore maybe a 2 player versus game.

I'm attaching a zip with some selected moodboard pictures.

I would align the top and bottom bars/lines so they were in parallel with the text in "two" and "ships".
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_russian_space_posters.zip
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na_th_an
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by na_th_an »

I agree. If the multiplayer is coopeartive, the composition should show the faces looking at the same direction, as there's an objective to pursuit together.
team_disposable
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by team_disposable »

These are great points, thanks! I wasn't directly thinking of soviet propaganda but I wanted a poster like feel to it, and to give the ships some personality by showing the pilots.

The game is single player, and currently involves having two ships, which you can swap between at any time. If you lose a ship, it's out. Once you lose both ships, game over. The intention is to give the player a nice risk/reward mechanic - do you charge up both ships equally, or just one and use it all the time with the risk you might gradius yourself back to nothing, or do you play it super safe and keep a powered up ship in reserve?

How does the attached look?

I've experimented a bit with some gridding as well, to break up the black space. If anyone particularly hates it, please let me know.
title_screen_facing_forwards_with_grid.png
title_screen_facing_forwards_with_grid.png (8.44 KiB) Viewed 15272 times
title_screen_facing_forwards.png
title_screen_facing_forwards.png (6.99 KiB) Viewed 15272 times
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dougeff
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by dougeff »

The grid looks cool. I wonder how this would look on an NTSC CRT TV.
nesdoug.com -- blog/tutorial on programming for the NES
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by FrankenGraphics »

I think the grid is a good idea. It also helps frame the rest which otherwise can feel a bit 'floating'.

Maybe you could experiment with making the heads bigger and place them closer to their ships? You can also use black for shadows in faces, hair (especially those two) and ship details more than you have currently.

If the graphics for the ships are used in some option / fluff splash screen detailing their capabilities, you might want to reconsider not using them for the title screen. Maybe a darker silhoute from the side (black is your friend, it conserves tile space)?

^ Not strong opinions, just a bit of brain storming.
calima
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by calima »

The bad kerning around the i in sharpicus pokes my eye.
team_disposable
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by team_disposable »

oh I see that now, thanks calima.

These ships are specifically for the title screen. I'll experiment with further detail and the portraits and see where I get to.

This is all great feedback, cheers!
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by FrankenGraphics »

Did a small edit (mostly palette related). Care to see? Just fun to poke around a bit. If you see something you like, you can keep it, or disregard it wholly.
team_disposable
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by team_disposable »

Yeah, go for it! This is a mock up in tiled so I haven't done anything with palettes yet. I have to admit I'm a bit obsessed with palette number two in the yy-chr software.

I've fixed the kerning to prevent further occular injuries
title_screen_facing_forwards_with_grid.png
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by FrankenGraphics »

It's not much, just a bit more colour to tone down the ships and bring the text forward from the rest of the background. A few pixel edits here and there. I maintained the tile count (in case you need the rest of the tile space for something else). Managed to pick one loose and repurpose it. Else, it's pretty much the same.
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team_disposable
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by team_disposable »

Ah, that's really nice!

I can see that colour toning you where doing with those excellent backgrounds you posted a while ago. The shading of the ships and portraits also look awesome - I see what you were talking about when you said use black - i didn't think two tone hair would make so much of a difference.

What I'll probably do is take it and try and learn from it, if that's alright - so the final edition of it will look worse then yours, but at least at least I will hopefully have developed a little bit. Progress! :)
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by FrankenGraphics »

Thanks! :) You're welcome to use it however you'd like. Learning, using, altering... it's your design. I just toyed around a bit.

Just another quick edit. This was done to make the left and right edges a bit more safe (as i did with the small print before), but the extra hair colour/sun light and left-aligned title was a bonus. The head pairing could be done anyways.

Edit: Spelling.
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Last edited by FrankenGraphics on Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
team_disposable
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by team_disposable »

Yes, that head pairing is a really good idea! It's actually also given me an idea for a completely different composition, which I may do a quick mock up of.

These are all ace, thanks.
qalle
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by qalle »

This is my favorite of the title screens posted so far. I like the palette, how the bright white ships stand out and the lack of unnecessary detail. (I think the grid just makes the screen more confusing.)

However, I'm not sure what the objects in the cockpits are. At first, I thought they were big heads with sad faces, noses between the eyes and dark red hair and hands on the dashboard.
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team_disposable
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Re: Progress Thread - scrolling shoot'em up

Post by team_disposable »

I've been practicing portraits today- here's the latest title screen:
title_screen_facing_forwards_with_grid - new-chars-3.png
Any comments appreciated. No palettes yet, as this is just a tiled mockup.
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