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Geek Culture / Help with Roguelike graphics

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Fuzz
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Posted: 21st May 2013 17:24 Edited at: 22nd May 2013 05:28
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I've nearly finished my sci-fi post-apocalyptic roguelike but I'm having trouble with the graphics, which is pretty much the final thing to do.

I can't decide what style I should go with and I was hoping you guys could help me.



Or



I'd like to pay someone to do awesome graphics for it but I don't have a lot of money and I doubt anyone would do it for free.

What style do you like better, if at all?

One more question, do you think anyone will pay $1.50-2.00 for a roguelike with randomly generated dungeons where you can choose from 3 different sizes, 2 different styles and has over 60 items and 15 enemies, all complete with music and sound effects?

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Van B
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Posted: 21st May 2013 18:04
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I think pixelated is safer - because at least you can do your own coder art for the time being, get all the requirements in place, and then it's so much easier to convince an artist.

I mean, if you go for the detailed look, then you limit the number of enemies or items or furniture you can have - because it takes more time. A 16x16 animated sprite might take an hour or two - but a 128x128 animated sprite would take days in comparison.

I'd go for the pixelated low res look, do your best with the coder art, draw the swords and items etc as clearly as you can, draw the enemies as just single frames for the time being. Then if you go to an artist, you'll already have the content and they'll just have to go through it and replace it sprite by sprite - they'll appreciate that, having a distinct workload, having the assurance that the game is or will be finished. It'd be a lot easier to convince an artist to work for a percentage with that.

I got a fever, and the only prescription, is more memes.
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mr Handy
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Posted: 21st May 2013 20:31
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Quote: "but a 128x128 animated sprite would take days in comparison"

You can rasterize 3d animated model (also with special software). It will give you high animation quality and detail, and save time if you want a lot of animation.

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Quik
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Posted: 21st May 2013 21:12
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top one was obv better looking but i can imagine it to take quite a while

the bottom one doesnt look bad and is quite charming


so yeah... whichever you feel is more doable is what i say ^^



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Ortu
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Posted: 21st May 2013 21:27
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i prefer the top, but Van B makes some good points in favor of the lower res. if you do go with the bottom however, i think you should equalize the level of detail. there is a huge disconnect between the low res character and the sharply detailed items and monster, it feels mixmatched and out of place as is.

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xCatalyst
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Posted: 21st May 2013 22:19 Edited at: 21st May 2013 22:21
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Go with the bottom. Chances are, either way you may want to hire an artist, as Van B said, so it'd be pointless for you to go through and make detailed sprites when in retrospect, they'd be replaced anyway. Also, even if you didn't, you'd have a game with a unique style which is always cool. Everybody has a soft spot for 8-bit sprites, deep down.

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Fuzz
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 05:27
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Okay, thanks for the help guys I kind of like the top one more but as some of you said, it will take longer, so I'll go with the bottom one.

Other than the graphics, the game is pretty much done. I've got an idea for another game mode that I'll probably work on after I finish the base game and I'm happy with it.

One more question, do you think anyone will pay $1.50-2.00 for a roguelike with randomly generated dungeons where you can choose from 3 different sizes, 2 different styles and has over 60 items and 15 enemies, all complete with music and sound effects?

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Kezzla
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 08:27
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Quote: "One more question, do you think anyone will pay $1.50-2.00 for a roguelike with randomly generated dungeons where you can choose from 3 different sizes, 2 different styles and has over 60 items and 15 enemies, all complete with music and sound effects?"


I am always looking for roguelike dungeon crawlers for my phone. one of mine cost $6. (bought it after I liked the free trial)

to answer your question I think that price is good, you could maybe even go higher if the game play is addictive.

I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.
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Fuzz
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 08:55
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Thanks for the reply, Kezzla. Unity just released their Android and iOS addons for free so I'll look into that once I finish it for Windows, Mac and Linux.

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Quik
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 09:06
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2$ i'd pay DEFINITLY without a singel piece of doubt!



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Fuzz
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 09:39
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Thanks Quik I'll probably post here when I finish the game.

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mr Handy
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 11:48 Edited at: 22nd May 2013 13:51
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I'd go for the first style, as for the second there is too many lookalike indie games, too overused style.

Also talking about rasterizing animation to get smooth pixel sprite animation:


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ShellfishGames
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 19:08
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Quote: "One more question, do you think anyone will pay $1.50-2.00 for a roguelike with randomly generated dungeons where you can choose from 3 different sizes, 2 different styles and has over 60 items and 15 enemies, all complete with music and sound effects?"


I don't think those numbers are important, what really matters is whether the game is fun, engaging, well polished and visually appealing. If it is, people will certainly pay 2$ for such a game, if not more.

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Quik
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Posted: 22nd May 2013 19:13
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heck - i've payed 5-10€ for kindofgood roguelikes
more than that for very good in-depth ones



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Phaelax
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Posted: 23rd May 2013 20:40
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I'd go for the first one. The background tiles in the second version look too blurry and I'd get sick of looking at them real quick.

"You're all wrong. You're all idiots." ~Fluffy Rabbit
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ShellfishGames
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Posted: 23rd May 2013 23:43
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Completely Offtopic: I was just listening to part of the Bastion OST and realized that Phaelax' avatar was totally dancing to it. Very nice!

Regarding the graphics style - in general I'd prefer a more pixelated look, but the way it is displayed in the second screenshot it doesn't really work obviously. Very incoherent and for some reason way too blurry. If you can fix those problems, I'd say go for the second style.

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Indicium
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Posted: 24th May 2013 01:20
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Is this written in DBP? The reason the textures are blurry is because you have to disable mipmapping, IIRC, just add
Quote: "',0'"
to the end of the load image command. Could be entirely wrong about what it is and how to fix it though.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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Fuzz
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Posted: 24th May 2013 02:18
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Thanks for the replies everyone I think I'll go with the second style for now. Obviously the pictures I posted are pretty work in progress so I'll fix everything up and hope it looks okay. Maybe I'll get enough money to make a sequel and hire someone to do the graphics A man can dream, right?

Quote: "Is this written in DBP? The reason the textures are blurry is because you have to disable mipmapping, IIRC, just add
Quote: "',0'"
to the end of the load image command. Could be entirely wrong about what it is and how to fix it though. "


It's made in Unity

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Indicium
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Posted: 24th May 2013 02:20
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Quote: "It's made in Unity "


Ah sorry I always assume DBP. :-P I'd assume there's still some sort of texture filtering going on here that you don't want when you're going for a pixelated look.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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Phaelax
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Posted: 24th May 2013 03:51
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Quote: "Completely Offtopic: I was just listening to part of the Bastion OST and realized that Phaelax' avatar was totally dancing to it. Very nice!"

lol it totally does!

"You're all wrong. You're all idiots." ~Fluffy Rabbit
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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 26th May 2013 14:46 Edited at: 26th May 2013 14:47
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There are easy ways to make really good graphics without being an artist. You could use Poser for example. You could do all of your character animations in a few days. The backgrounds you just get a rust texture, or a moss texture off Google, and cut it up, and emboss the squares.

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