StarDestroyer.Net BBS

After a dream I had last night, this is what I have so far:

Motorcycle Magic 1: Invasion of the Wire-fu Mages

it's an adventure RPG (old school 2d adventure game w/ RPG combat system/leveling/stats)

hard rockin' dumb-as-nails protagonist with weird alien pet (which he seems to think is a dog)

intricate hat system (for protagonist and pet)


I guess I'll be trying to do it using Java since I really don't know anything else well. Now I just have to figure out a script and stuff...

Art be easy! Especially if you're happy with a rather minimalist sort of look you get from a lot of indy games. Something clean and flash-ized, especially if you enjoy the kind of austereness of a game like Knytt Stories. What's that game that's getting so much good press right now. Bind? Weave? Something like that. The one with the ugly big-headed dude who can mess with time to solve puzzles, it's big on the X-box live thing.

Anyway, I'd say that making the art is easy as fuck if you know what you want and are willing to stick to a single art direction. If you want something as lush and detailed as Symphony of the Night's pixel art, that's hard and will take a while, but if you don't mind very simple graphics then it's possible to get a really crisp and clean look that says "I'm Indy and Artsy" with a minimum of effort.

Backgrounds are the hardest, since they take way so much time to make all of them. If you can make simple backgrounds then you can save a lot of time that can then be put into making well animated and interesting pixel characters.

Artwork is easy, but it's tedious. Programming a new feature is usually pretty fun, but making ten animated sprites is not, because you're just doing the same thing over and over. If I need genuine sprites I try to make a 3D model and animate that, and then spritify it. It saves a shitload of time, and usually looks pretty good (I didn't make those last sprites, though (only the fish) ). It's so much quicker to animate using a skeleton, and you can interpolate between frames, so a six frame running cycle can rather easily be turned into a 16 frame Symphony of the Night quality sprite. Then you only have to do some pixel touch ups, instead of drawing the whole thing from scratch.

Yeah, or you could just ask an art guy to do it. Honestly, if you intend to make a game that will be even half-decent and such, finding someone to create you some sprites wouldn't be hard at all. Honestly, you're better off having a very stark aesthetic, and sticking to a very minimalist look, or just asking someone. It's those middleground approaches that really look the worst of all, with a mix of meh and awful art and none of it looks like it belongs in the same package.

People who do pixel art will not consider a few sprites a big deal at all. Depending on the size and art quality of the sprite it might take some time, but for a little indy game you rarely need professional-quality stuff. You can make some very cool and interesting designs without it taking a goddamn year to make.