3 screen shots & short game info

What are you making it with?

MMF2 for the time being, but the screen loading time is unfortunately a bit too slow with it since all the graphics are hi-res and non-blurred. The ideal thing would be if I could hire someone like Jamie so we can move to C++ as soon as possible.

I also don't really like the main character graphics. I think it's both mullet thing Headgrinder mentioned, the shape of the head and facial expression.

I leave the forum for a year, I come back and what is this I don't even. 

Looks like it's time to break out the emergency bribe wallet!

I also don't really like the main character graphics. I think it's both mullet thing Headgrinder mentioned, the shape of the head and facial expression.

As much as I try to avoid doing placeholders and changing stuff (it's inefficient), character graphics is something I end up modifying over time during a game project. Saira went through tons of revisions, and in KnyttWaDF I've probably modified the character ~10 times since the screen shot you were watching.

Right now, she's looks like in the attachment, though this may also change over time.

I've probably modified the character ~10 times since the screen shot you were watching.

I like this! New version is a lot better, but I look forward to seeing the version in the finished product.

So basically, I need to update my avatar. Is that what you're saying?

I really do like the looks of this new character btw.

Yeah, basically, I modified her from a hybrid raster-vector with bones, to a vector-only model for more crisp anti-aliasing. I toned down the cartoony features (though I need to keep some proportions wrong for e.g. the eyes to be visible at all, or the character to be able to move in certain ways). Then I decided that she should accessorice just for the sake of being a bit more unique since she was quite nifflas-game-generic previously. I guess she turned into a crustie reggae girl instead.

Even though I may do more modifications to the main character, I'm probably "locking" the basic style and proportions at this point, so I can begin to create more characters.

If you want an avatar LP, here's a more detailed render of the character.

Edit: Removed attachment

Very nice.

The animation also was nice I suppose, but this certainly is a great image!

Thanks.

I'm liking this one so very much better! 

So do I

I have to admit she needed a overhaul, I just didn't realize it right away. Characters in The Great Work will probably have the kind of look she used to have before all the recent changes since I'm not going to spend the extra work redesigning them all, while characters in the new game will be designed with the new look.

from the initial character design I didn't even think that it was supposed to be a female.

Paula:

At this point I'm just making small silly updates that probably won't show in the game resolution. Well, as long as I keep the daily quota (10 rooms a day makes the game... uhm, finished two-thousand-and-twelv...ay?) I should have some time to spend on silly modifications too. I'm not an expert when it comes to character design - if I attempt to just draw a human face it looks terrible - but if I start with something crappy and just keep updating it over a period of time, it eventually becomes quite nice.

Edit: Removed part of the post and making a new topic about it.

The rasta look is perfect.

By no means i mean disrespect with this post. I've come here as an Independant Artist as Niflas himself, to share some ideas...

i'm not a big fan of photo backgrounds, mostly because they always look rushed and since the lighting never matches between pictures. And you always have the problem of needing to be an extremely photorealistic painter if you want to change something other than colors.

So, I made these 5 minutes mockups in Painter, to show how easily you can turn an photograph into an abstract painting. Since you already had the work to crop the photos from their backgrounds, you can add the effect to every and each object separately. Using maybe different materials for each layer of objects. Maybe making the background with big strokes and showing lots of canvas, and as you move to the foreground smalles brushstrokes with more precision.

And as you can see by the pictures, this is a very unique visual that others game don't have... Braid has a painted look, but its not abstract as this. Limbo has black foreground, but its not smooth as this.

Painter doesn't just "Turn your photo into a painting" like photoshop does, it actually paints the picture following the curves and colors. as if it was brush stroking every part of it... And you can paint on top of it anytime. Either using colors you choose or simply the colors from the photo (no need to eye-drop it, it detects the color by position).

Using simple things like animated masks you can easily make effects like Waterfalls (the water falling as it if was being brushed by someone)... Lakes and a Sea of fresh ink (shining as its still wet). Grass moving as if someone was painting it on the spot... and various effects.

Sure. I know the answer to this probably will be:
"the game has its style, its my style and its too late to change it"... But, I thought I would drop this little food for ideas.

I'm a big fan of within and knytt, and I decided that it would be fair to share this idea with you.
I think this can easily improve the graphical quality of your titles and speed up your development pipeline, while allowing you to express yourself and create moods (a thing we all know you're a master of). I was disapointed with Night Sky because of the gradient backgrounds.
And i'm prettu sure this style of painted backgrounds can easily improve the reaction to your titles as far as graphics go. If with 5 minutes I can do something decent with a small PNG. Imagine someone being able to work with layers and having more time?

The possibilities are endless.