Was messing around with color palettes today,
The game I'm working on doesn't look bad, per-se, but I feel as though it's a bit boring. Rarely do I step outside my boundaries and come with a decent palette. I tend to just play it safe.
I'll hold myself back this time for time's sake, however color palettes are definitely something I want to spend more time on in the future.
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Oh dang the bottom palette looks striking, not sure if I could handle it looking like that for the whole game, but it is pretty. Reminds me of some NES games.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I don't know if the bottom was a choice you considered or just an example but that would hurt my eyes after sometime @_@
DeleteThe bottom is wonderful, and looks like a ruined or forgotten lab. It looks like it would be good for a level, but not the entire game.
DeleteThe bottom palette really pops out! I like it!
ReplyDeleteThe difference in color make me think that the power just cut out. Can see the char look from side to side then have to find and kill the nasty that is draining energy from the generator.
ReplyDeleteI understand your concern. Still looks good to me though. Can't wait to get hands on with it
ReplyDeleteDefinitional do picture 2 in future endeavors. Somebodies been studying
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely go for the bottom style. I think it makes it stick out from your other games (and countless others set in a laboratory of sorts).
ReplyDeleteDefinitely don't be afraid to test out different palettes because it could really help with how unique your game looks. And those compliments aren't very common for H Games so go full throttle!
The bottom one adds atmosphere. Will certainly change the mood as your character gets raped.
ReplyDeleteWell, I like it. Monotone levels would really get boring after a while. I also like dark levels
ReplyDeleteYou can make different levels with different color schemes, like black and purple or black and blue. Better than endless grey :D
But besides the colors you could make some catchy backgrounds with many details. I know it would take a lot time but it would nice if you could spend some time on it.
I found a nice game which explains my arguments better
http://eye.swfchan.com/flash.asp?id=150356&n=last+night.swf
And sorry for my bad english ^^
The game does have parallax backgrounds, not all the backgrounds are 32x32 tiles.
DeleteI already do that, actually. I tend to shift from a hot color to a cool color, with shadow colors being shared to keep the palette more cohesive, and to cut down on redundant colors. The reason that the original tiles are somewhat subdued is that I wanted them to fit into any area, which meant that I didn't really have the freedom to make them too extreme, Though I might make them more saturated, and add a bit of blue, and in other tiles that could share the palette.
ReplyDeleteAs for GM's editor, it's fine. I've tried every other pixel editor I could find, and I didn't like any of them. I like GM's simplicity. The only common feature that GM lacks is onion skinning and layers, neither of which I use due to the nature of my workflow. The only thing that was objectively bad about it was the fact that it used to have memory leaks, however that doesn't happen any-more.
Pixel art more or less comes down the pencil tool and using a tablet anyway, so beyond that it just comes to whatever you're comfortable with.
Why not both? Power On/Off perhaps? Or Day/Night?
ReplyDeletei can definitely see day/night...that second one looks like a sunset.
DeleteAh, you mean contrasting colors right next to each other. I've been experimenting with that as well,
ReplyDeletehttp://gyazo.com/cff593c521170ffbf032b2f5e871fb0f
I may try something like that with some yellow in the highlights.
Maybe when you gone past a segment or beat a boss you can switch the palletes around to give a sense of time when backtracking
ReplyDeleteDifferent palettes are awesome for setting atmosphere. A palette with intense colours, such as the bottom example, can give a sense of tension in difficult parts of the game, while a palette with plainer colours can give a sense of relief after completing a difficult part.
ReplyDeletehave you tried ASEprite? very simple and low-ram usage which works nicely paired with SAI.
ReplyDeleteKy, an "easy™" way to make a game's palette seem less boring is to give it some form of dynamic bloom lighting. Don't fuck around with shadows, you don't have time to mess around with that shit, but you can use particles and overlaying colors to give your game some kind of varying lighting. I point to Hammerwatch as my example to look at. Something that gives the rest of the level a transparent black overlay except for in areas with designated light sources, like a masking effect.
ReplyDeleteBut like Grim Fandango, if you want to put EVERYTHING you want to put in this game, it's going to take another two years. But while Tim Schafer had Lucasarts kicking him in the ass to quit nitpicking and follow the deadline, you don't have that. I know it pains you to put out a game you know you could have done more with, but the whole point of this game was to crank something out in a few months so you have enough food in your cupboard to survive through another game production. Stick to the original goals man; if you don't have time to implement it, let that inspiration carry over to the next game.
I like the top one.
ReplyDeleteLeedle Leedle Leedle Lee
ReplyDeleteThe bottom palette would be cooler if you darken some areas a little more, then add a rotating red alert light every few "feet".
ReplyDeleteAny new updates to let us know you're alive?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I actually think the second palette looks more dramatic.
ReplyDelete