----20% COMPLETED----
So far I have completed all the main character's animations, as well as all weapons to be used in game.
I have also drawn/mapped out the games entire level design on graph paper.
This spans 5 full pages, including 13 sectors, and 19 planned boss battles. Sections include (in no particular order): underworld, sewer, basement, hospital, kitchen, freezer, dining room, treasury, library, courtyard, main hall, laundry shoot/room, sky/moon room(haven't decided on solid theme for this last section).
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----IN PROGRESS-----
Currently I am working on drawing out the details of each section. IE: actually drawing sprites for the terrain and obstacles in each section.
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----NEXT STEPS----
1. Finalize all weapons, armor, items, currency, experience point 'blobs', power-ups- including animation & stats
2. Create normal/typical/ect enemy sprites & attacks
3. Create big boss sprites and attack algorithms
4. Finalize placement of all items and enemies.
5. Programming (which I will break-up further when that time comes)
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----KEY GAME FEATURES----
-Level up and experience point system
-Attack vs. Defense system for enemy and player damage
-Upgradable player stats including: HP, MP, Defense, Attack, and Luck
-Special/combo moves
-Gained special abilities
-Open world, non-linear game play
-Huge list of weapons, items, and armor
-Unique boss battles
-Cute, pixel graphics =
-Much, much, more...
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So as of today I have finished the platform graphics, and some basic background elements for 12/13 sections. I was debating whether or not to continue and knock out the final sections platform graphics or move on. I was feeling a bit burnt out, and definitely did not want my work to suffer because of this. So I decided to go ahead & start importing all my graphics so far into MMF2 and put together the start of a "library" game file to make mapping out the levels much faster. As I mentioned in other devlog, i have already setup "blocks" to map out the design of each section, so it will now just be a matter of replacing these blocks with my actual graphics. Exciting stuff! Once I have imported all my graphics into MMF2, I will go back and finish up this last section of the game. From there, I will have a better idea of how everything will look and move on to pixel push out the true "background" graphics, foreground graphics for the parallax, and any missing platform/bg elements from my previous work. Ahhh I cannot wait for this part to be over with!
On the plus side, my pixel art has greatly improved as far as platform graphics go - so much so that I may need to go back & re-render out the first couple sections graphics! We will see though, hopefully everything will flow. On that same note, I have redesigned my main character - which i will post a shot of on this log. However, I am holding off on animating him until the full backgrounds are done - just to make sure I don't waste time creating something that turns out doesn't mesh. So this design is likely to change again, but the dimensions are more proportional to my level design.
So things are moving along nicely! I'd say background/platform/foreground graphics at this point are about 1/3 done - with the platform graphics at about 85-90% done.
I always like to think about my next steps... you can't reach goals without a clear plan, right?
Steps to Finish Game Graphics:
1: Finish platform elements, and import to MMF2
2: Fully map out each section using imported platform graphics
3: Draw background/foreground/missing platform graphics for each section
4: Finalize design for main character & animate
5: Draw out weapons, including icons, animations, ect.
6: Draw out armor/items including icons, animations, ect.
7: Draw out enemies, including animations, icons, ect.
8: Draw out BIG BOSSES, including animations, icons, ect.
9: Draw out FINAL BOSS and all that goes with him
10: Design in game HUD, menus (inventory, shop, ect), pause screen, start screen, save screen, ect
annnddd that should just about wrap up game graphics! man oh man, what a long list... Life-long dream to create "big game" here we go. =]
Still moving right along making all my "platform" elements. Still have quite a few more sections to draw up. Once I have finished all my platform elements, I plan to apply them to map out the actual levels in MMF2. I have already transferred all my level design using basic shapes, so it will just be a matter of replacing graphics (once they are all done) which should speed up the process.
Here is a screen shot of the sections I have done so far.
Once all my platform stuff is done, and mapped out in MMF2, I will do some final touches and fill in any gaps on my platform graphics, draw up some background and foreground parallax graphics, move on to draw out enemy sprites, finalize weapon graphics/animations, and draw out any loose odds and ends. Still a ways to go, but I am making steady progress.
I've also decided instead of drawing out "armor" to match all my main characters animations, or even worse (performance/programming wise) create different actives to take place for each armor - I am going to do simple palette swaps. In other words, different "PJ's" will be different colors, and have different effects, and defense stats. Pretty nifty idea, imo.
So after 4 frustrating days attempting to draw graphics for the "underworld/hell" section without any real direction. I could not create results I was happy with, so I decided to take a break and complete a different task.
As of today, right now, I have transferred the entire map/level design from graph paper into MMF2.
What was 13 sections translated to 46 "level" frames for the "main path" of the map.
This is going to be a very large project indeed. Long, long overdue, as I have been working in MMF since it was Klik 'n' Play. I have started many projects, (and even finished a few =P) but this will definitely be a culmination of everything I've taught myself over the years - and hopefully will teach me more.
I have contemplated creating completely 100% unique, non-repeated background graphics for this game.. I.E. instead of a 16x16 tile that repeats a million times, every square inch of the game world would be an original composition... That would be very cool indeed, and i'm sure some kind of first. I am determined to FINISH this game; so I believe I will go a more traditional route instead.
Anyways, back to the present...
Now its time to go BACK to designing background graphics. Now that I have everything mapped out on-screen and to scale, I will have a much easier time getting everything to look the way I want it to.
So here we go again, time to draw background elements, at least the very basic platform background (parallax bg may be done simultaneously -or- afterward, depending what makes the most sense at the time) section by section, "level" by "level."
I'm going for a dreamlike, "whimsical" look... hopefully I can accomplish this while remaining subtle.
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