I don't even know when the release date is at this point haha. As you'll see with this major update, I got side tracked from doing what I really wanted to work on. Remember - it's a one-man game. Aside from my commission artists, I do all the work. I don't have writers, or coders, or anything. A game of this scale takes time ha!
Someone asked about the DPad opacity - yeah it can be changed in the options menu between 10 and 40% transparent.
Was there any other questions?
Time for the update.....
Big graphical update.
This was very stressful, but worth it. Let's see if you agree.
Weekly update for week ending: June 15th 2012
At the start of the week, I was chatting away to Yoel, the OW artist for the game. I was getting some characters off him and he mentioned he was interested in doing some tile work. Yoel had previously done about 2 or 3 buildings for the game already, he is a talented (tile) artist, but his main role was character outfits, hairstyles, and facial animations.
I said to him "Listen man. You have the freedom to change what you want."
I sent him the resources, and right away he replied "Wow, there is a lot of mistakes on these tiles! The base is good, but the lighting, shading, and details are just done wrong".
I got pretty excited. I was dying to see what he would change, remake, and revamp. He was also the artist behind the recent grass and "dirt path" tile upgrades. Adding more of his own tiles would only be complementary to the new ground tiles.
To use the phrase "this guy went to town" would be an understatement.
He touched everything. From trees, to bushes, to street objects, to full on buildings.
Check these out:
The intro scene shown before.
A screenshot I posted on my facebook for my friends only a few days ago compared to the area now.
Really is a major facelift. The graphics are still 480 by 320, but seem crisper and cleaner, thanks to the new style, better lighting, and better shading.
We are still going strong. Next week, we plan on keeping up the assault. Sp keep your eyes peeled.
So what did you do Neo??
Updating the resources was very time consuming. Some were straight copy and paste onto the tilesets for the game, and others forced me to remap the areas because of the changes. A big example of this is how curbs are now done.
Code wise, I felt inspired to do justice to his work. I began adding in little animations for things. Very minor details like when the player steps on the shrubs. Adjusting the clouds system. I also worked on something that's a secret for now lol.
I've been working on the battle system too. Adding little touches, speeding it up to make it faster, and more.
I've also been having great fun building the game world right now. Adding the people, adding more easter eggs for people to find and notice, and in some cases, breaking the forth wall (you'll see what I mean when you talk to some NPCs lol).
Then, of course, these punks took up my time. Had to teach them a lesson
.
That's it for this week. Hope you like all the graphic changes as much as I do. I think ZENFORMS: Protectors looks fantastic now. Even better!
Enjoy!
06-16-2012, 07:30 PM
Linear Mode
