Alien Space Beetles jewel case mockup
Community Forums/Graphic Chat/Alien Space Beetles jewel case mockup
| ||
I have a publisher who's interested in shopping my game around to several retailers, and they requested some high res copies of the game's art so they could put together some box art to show them. So, while I was at upscaling all the art so it'd look nice at 300dpi, I decided to put together a little mockup of my own: The text should probably be re-rendered in 3D, and perhaps the publisher will have their own artist do that, but I had to work with what I've got. |
| ||
| Wow! Looks very good IMHO. |
| ||
| I like it generally - couple of things that spoil it though: 1. The ship 2. The chicken-frog thing (whatever it is) 3. The mozzie 4. The spacehopper (top right) Not sure why, they just don't seem to sit well with the other graphics. I'd also lose the "..." after "of the". Oh, one more thing about the ship. Its rear thrusters are firing but the motion blur suggests its moving sideways? |
| ||
| "Oh, one more thing about the ship. Its rear thrusters are firing but the motion blur suggests its moving sideways?" Well if you want to get technical about it... If a camera follows along with a moving object, and said object moves sideways releative to said camera, you will only get motion blur along that axis of motion. Also "a couple" means TWO. :-) But anyways... It's just a cover for a $10 game. I don't think anyone would expect the same level of quality as that found in say, a $30 game:  Seriously though, it was 15 minutes of work, and that's actual art from the game, so the stuff you have an issue with isn't gonna change, unless the publisher has their artist draw a whole new cover which bears no resemblance to the actual game like that Mega Man one. :-) |
| ||
| Is Megaman laying an egg there? o.O |
| ||
| Damn, I knew I forgot something on the cover! The bird was supposed to be firing an egg at the player ship. |
| ||
| The asteroids look a bit like walnuts :P |
| ||
 The perspective is messed up, and those cannons look like they're made out of wood! |
| ||
| Jeez, I was only joking, hence the smiley. It has to be said sswift, you're really bad at taking crits, even when you ask for them. :/ If you just want people to say how awesome your work is, I'd suggest finding another site. |
| ||
| I'd lose the chicken thingy, space ship, and the floating turds. Maybe even the "..." and "-" from the text. A bag of money seems kinda out of place and chickens aren't beetles either. I like the shade of orange you've used on the planet tho. |
| ||
| You seem to be under the impression that I took your criticisms a lot more seriously than I actually did. But anyway, to address your points: 1. That's not a smiley, that's a tongue sticking out. I suppose it could be interpreted as playfully sticking out your tongue, but it could also be a wrinkled nose tongue sticking out. :-) 2. I fail to see how pointing out that GFK is mistaken about the motion blur being wrong, or that the art is intended stylized, makes me bad at taking criticism. 3. I didn't ask for cricisism. If I were BAD at taking cricitsm I'd have said something like "You guys are are mean! Why are you nitpicking such tiny details!" But I didn't. I thought it was pretty clear I wasn't taking GFK's criticism very seriously when I posted that horrid Mega Man artwork which is cearly not representative of modern game box art. Seems to me you're bad at taking criticism of your criticism. :-) But to be serious for a moment... GFK basically said he hated pretty much everything in the picture except the background. But that's all art from the actual game. So... What does he want me to do, have all the game's art redone? :-) He might as we have just said "Your game looks like shit." But I didn't take it badly because I don't expect everyone to like the look of the game, and GFK is just like that. And your comment, well, what can I say? The art's stylized. They do kinda look like walnuts. My feelings were not hurt by said comment though, if that's what you think. In summary, I don't mind when people criticize my stuff, as long as they're not mean about it. And responding to people's comments, calmly explaining the reasons behind the choices one has made, does not make one bad at taking criticism. |
| ||
| I'd lose the chicken thingy, space ship, and the floating turds. Maybe even the "..." and "-" from the text. A bag of money seems kinda out of place and chickens aren't beetles either. *Sigh* :-) Chickens may not be beetles, but that's not a chicken, and they're SPACE BEETLES, and if you stick SPACE in front of it, it can look like anything! Also, "Attack of the Aliens!" would be the most boring title ever. PS: If you think it's weird there's a bag of money, then you probably don't want to know that the player upgrades their ship by drinking pints of beer. :-) |
| ||
| People do judge a book by its cover. I will often buy a game (or book) based solely on the box graphics and brief synopsis on the back. If I saw this game on the shelf with those graphics (as is), I would buy the game. It appeals to me. Heck, it looks better than any of the art on the game boxes at Target. The only critique I have is that perhaps all the lines of text would look better at the same angle. "Alien Space Beetles" is a few degrees off from the angle used in "Attack!" Chickens may not be beetles Chickens do eat beetles ;) but that's not a chicken Wifey says it looks like a hippo with angel wings and chicken legs (I think her Geritol may have fermented). |
| ||
| I like hippos. Why not change them to hippos? Alien Space Hippos? |
| ||
| Yeh, it works. You could have them in nappies. The nappies are like a shield - as you shoot them, the nappy wears out first, then hippo pooh flies out and you have to dodge that (a bit like asteroids). Hippos that have lost their nappies have no shields, so you can shoot as normal. |
| ||
| There's beer drinking in your game? You can count me in!!! |
| ||
| sswift: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to set off puki. |
| ||
| Task: And when you drink, the little guy in the ship says "Yeee haww!" and laughs manically. :-) I'll be posting a new video of the gameplay soon. I've now licensed 12 music tracks for it. Puki: Don't you mean ASSteroids? :-) Also, I know you were being silly, but that would actually work pretty well as a game mechanic! |
| ||
| Gary: The fonts look kinda funny cause I just messed around with some perspective transformation on it to make it a bit more interesting, and they already were in italic. This isn't real box art, so it didn't really matter. I figure if the publisher does something like this for the box art, they'd re-render the text in 3D. |
| ||
| I like it. Although the ship looks a little too.. unsaturated? Most of the other graphics have good constrast, and nice bright colours. The ship doesn't fit in with that. The only other thing i'd mention is the ship looks a little small. I assume the ship is the player, so therefore it should be a little larger, and more noticable? |
| ||
| I thought it was pretty clear I wasn't taking GFK's criticism very seriously Well you should take it seriously. Others have agreed with me, yet you see fit to single me out for a public flogging. Why? GFK basically said he hated pretty much everything in the picture except the background. But that's all art from the actual game. So... What does he want me to do, have all the game's art redone? :-) He might as we have just said "Your game looks like shit." I haven't even seen this game, but game art and box art are not the same thing. But I didn't take it badly because I don't expect everyone to like the look of the game, and GFK is just like that. WTF? I'm just like what? Honest?I didn't know some parts of the artwork weren't yours. I gave you honest feedback. If I happened to pick out all the bits of artwork I thought were sub-standard (that all turned out to be yours), then instead of bleating "meh, that's what GFK's like", perhaps you should ask yourself, "what is that feedback telling me"? It should be telling you that your artwork doesn't fit. If you just want people to tell you how great it all is, then perhaps you should say that from the outset just so that we know you'd rather we just sit here fawning over you instead of telling you the truth? |
| ||
| Well you should take it seriously. I didn't mean I didn't take the criticism itself seriously. I meant I didn't take it personally. WTF? I'm just like what? Honest? Honest? Gfk, if I said your girlffriend is fat, would you label that as being honest, or being impolite? It wasn't what you said. It was the way in which you said it. Others have agreed with me, yet you see fit to single me out for a public flogging. Why? Why? Because I get the impression you don't respect me or my work. Because I can't recall the last time you had anything nice to say to me. Because it seems like you disagree with everything I have to say. Also, you were the first onto the scene with negative comments. If you were a celebrity, you would be this guy:  I haven't even seen this game, but game art and box art are not the same thing. Those are all sprites from the game. And the game's title font. And one of the backgrounds. In this case, game art, and box art ARE the same thing. I didn't know some parts of the artwork weren't yours. I gave you honest feedback. If I happened to pick out all the bits of artwork I thought were sub-standard (that all turned out to be yours), then instead of bleating "meh, that's what GFK's like", perhaps you should ask yourself, "what is that feedback telling me"? It should be telling you that your artwork doesn't fit. Everything you listed as sub-standard was created by the artist I hired... not me. So I didn't take anything you said about those bits personally. However, I chose the artist because I liked his work. It is exactly the way I wanted it to look. I wasn't looking for critiques of the art. Not only for that reason, but also because it is far too late to make any changes. The game will be released in less than a week, and my budget is completely blown. |
| ||
| Oh looky; I see a ban hammer not so far off. |
| ||
| Now why would I get banned simply for implying GFK has a brash personality? |
| ||
| On this track, I believe, you shall only be led to the same result as the last time. |
| ||
| Honest? Since you haven't seen or met her I wouldn't waste my energy labelling it as anything other than childish, bitter hatemongering.Gfk, if I said your girlffriend (sic) is fat, would you label that as being honest, or being impolite? In this case, game art, and box art ARE the same thing. I think you missed the point. Do I really want to hear people telling me they're unhappy with the art at this stage Then you should have posted it sooner, or not at all. I didn't say I was "unhappy" with it - I just didn't like bits of it.Yet again you've chosen to have an eppy over a passing comment. You seem to have completely and deliberately overlooked the bit where I said "I like it generally". Really, did you expect to post artwork in the graphics showcase and NOT get comments about it? Did you just expect everybody to tell you it was great? Or what did you actually want to get out of it? Its blindingly obvious that you aren't interested in anybody's comments unless they're 100% positive, so I guess we should just leave it there. |
| ||
| Plash: Nah. I won't risk another ban. :-) |
| ||
| Since you haven't seen or met her I wouldn't waste my energy labelling it as anything other than childish, bitter hatemongering. I think you missed the point. No, I think you did. You seem to have completely and deliberately overlooked the bit where I said "I like it generally". You said "I like it generally" and then you proceeded to make a list of 90% of the assets in the image which you didn't like. I'm supposed to be happy you hated everything but the font? Did you just expect everybody to tell you it was great? Well, considering I think the artist I hired did a great job on the sprites, yeah, I suppose I did. But aside from that I expected a little support, considering how few projects people start here actually make it to completion. But so far, all I've gotten here, with few exceptions, is complaints about the artwork and negative comments regarding the one gameplay video I posted. |
| ||
| OK - you win. Its all great. Love it. 10/10. Satisfied? I'm out. |
| ||
| I like the hippo theme better. |
| ||
| Here, I'll get banned for you guys. GFK and sswift are a bunch of bickering old farts and need to STFU and stop posting in eachothers threads. It's obvious GFK is doing well with his membership at the Victor Meldrew Club and sswift is doing well at the Victor Meldrew wifes club. Both of you are idiots. Why? Because look at this thread. If I were to agree with something it's with sswift in what he said about GFK's post. GFK pretty much hated the whole thing yet generally liked it. That's not a suprise since he is quite able to be a hypocrite. He is the most miserable, moaning bastard I've ever met on a forum. He got banned for posting vulgar swear words as his nick, then banned again then prances around dishing out warnings about behaviour on this forum. Crock of shat if you ask me. Sswift, I've noticed you keep excessively posting to out logic everyone when they post about your work. This is how these threads get like this. Both of you can kiss my ass for having me waste my time reading this shat in this thread when I was expecting to just come in here and have a read about a game. No wonder this forum has turned barren and everyone feels like they're walking on eggshells. Everyones worried about being banned for saying feck all but what I'm saying isn't feck all. I'm not the most popular guy here but I'm not afraid to tell you bunch of jokers to get a life and stop arguing like a bunch of kiddies in the playground at school. Bunch of silly sods. There you go! Bye! Idiots! |
| ||
| ..that was a nice shot.. :) |
| ||
| A+ ... On the speech, and the art at the top. :) |
| ||
| Sswift, I've noticed you keep excessively posting to out logic everyone when they post about your work. This is how these threads get like this.  |
| ||
| Here, I'll get banned for you guys. Thanks, Amon.GFK and sswift are a bunch of bickering old farts and need to STFU and stop posting in eachothers threads. It's obvious GFK is doing well with his membership at the Victor Meldrew Club and sswift is doing well at the Victor Meldrew wifes club. Both of you are idiots. Why? Because look at this thread. If I were to agree with something it's with sswift in what he said about GFK's post. GFK pretty much hated the whole thing yet generally liked it. That's not a suprise since he is quite able to be a hypocrite. He is the most miserable, moaning bastard I've ever met on a forum. He got banned for posting vulgar swear words as his nick, then banned again then prances around dishing out warnings about behaviour on this forum. Crock of shat if you ask me. Sswift, I've noticed you keep excessively posting to out logic everyone when they post about your work. This is how these threads get like this. Both of you can kiss my ass for having me waste my time reading this shat in this thread when I was expecting to just come in here and have a read about a game. No wonder this forum has turned barren and everyone feels like they're walking on eggshells. Everyones worried about being banned for saying feck all but what I'm saying isn't feck all. I'm not the most popular guy here but I'm not afraid to tell you bunch of jokers to get a life and stop arguing like a bunch of kiddies in the playground at school. Bunch of silly sods. There you go! Bye! Idiots! If you're going to change your name and hurl abuse, then you should at least change all of your post history to cover your tracks. Idiot. I'm over on Syntaxbomb if you'd like to discuss this further. |
| ||
| *scratches head* Who is Victor Meldrew? |
| ||
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Meldrew |
| ||
| Swift, Drama aside and Getting back on point, I actually like the game art assuming the game is created for a youth audience. |
| ||
| I think people will much prefer Space Hippos than Space Beetles. |
| ||
| Thanks, Amon. If you're going to change your name and hurl abuse, then you should at least change all of your post history to cover your tracks. Idiot. I'm over on Syntaxbomb if you'd like to discuss this further. haha! I went to syntaxbomb to discuss it with you but you blocked my pm's and you ended the thread you started by behaving how you were accusing me of behaving. hahah! Classic! Next time be a man and face those you want to argue with. Joker! |
| ||
| Then again, would people want to shoot hippos compared to beetles? |
| ||
| They would if they were wearing a pith helmet! Also, can we stop the arguing now please? :-) |
| ||
| hahah! Classic! Next time be a man and face those you want to argue with. Joker! What sort of man sits behind the safety of his monitor, spitting venom at people he doesn't know the first thing about?Your sort just aren't worth my time and you're certainly not worth getting banned for. Also, can we stop the arguing now please? :-) Well, got to give you 10/10 for not taking his flame bait. No point arguing, is there? |
| ||
| What sort of man sits behind the safety of his monitor, spitting venom at people he doesn't know the first thing about? A person like you. Remember what you got banned for, sitting behind your monitor spitting venom at Antony and you don't know the first thing about about him. You see you're a hypocrite. Do you understand now? Your sort just aren't worth my time and you're certainly not worth getting banned for. I thought we weren't going to label people we know nothing about? My sort? haha you're classic, Dave. You ooze hypocrisy with every statement you make. You need to think before typeing. Your sort are not worth it though and your sort are deffinitely not worth getting banned over. Sound familiar? lol! |
| ||
| sswift: When this is done, is there any chance you would consider releasing a Linux version? |
| ||
| I think maybe you should lose the "..." after the "of the". The ellipsis seems to convey a pause or trailing off. |
| ||
| I'd planned to release one, but changed my mind after discussing it with folks here: http://blitzmax.com/Community/posts.php?topic=84312 For Linux... long story, usually you'll have to create a deb or a rpm package, with the lists of dependent packages and... wel... deploying on linux is usually a nightmare. So, when you combine that with the fact that Linux has at best a 2% penetration of the desktop market, it just doesn't seem like it's worth the effort. |
| ||
| I think maybe you should lose the "..." after the "of the". The ellipsis seems to convey a pause or trailing off. It's supposed to convey a pause. :-) http://wellmedicated.com/inspiration/100-illustrated-horror-film-posters-part-1/ http://wellmedicated.com/inspiration/100-illustrated-horror-film-posters-part-2/     ATTACK... of the... ELLIPSIS! |
| ||
| Anyway, it may look better without the elipsis, but I'm really just focused on finishing up major elements like the boss fights and some of the enemy attacks at this point. Removing three dots from the title graphic is simply not going to affect whether the game sells or not, and is not some kind of major quality issue. But I do appreciate the input. Even if I feel the need to use LOGIC... to explain why I made the choices I made. :-) |
| ||
| Not arguing with you, or putting you down. Just making a couple of points... For Linux... long story, usually you'll have to create a deb or a rpm package, with the lists of dependent packages Linux users generally only expect a RAR and a list of dependencies (which should be the same for BMax) on the download page. Linux has at best a 2% penetration of the desktop market Keep in mind that in the desktop (home user) market, Linux users are more apt to be gamers than the average home Windows users, as Linux users by nature are more "tech" oriented. I am the first to agree there is not really an established market for Linux, but I have been seeing an increasing number of shareware titles for Linux (especially games) over the past year. And I have been buying all of the ones that interest me. |
| ||
| I might reconsider Linux support if I don't have to compile ten different versions for different processors, but right now, I just have far more important things to deal with. Even Macs will have to wait a bit. I have to finish the game, get a webpage up, contact portals to see if they want to distribute it, set up an advertising campaign, negotiate an in-store publishing deal, etc etc.. Getting the PC version out is my #1 priority at the moment. |
| ||
| I might reconsider Linux support if I don't have to compile ten different versions for different processors, but right now, I just have far more important things to deal with. Since when did you ever have to compile for ten different processors?Just give Linux users a tar/zip/rar. |
| ||
| Doesn't linux run on several different types of processors? |
| ||
| Linux generall runs on whatever Windows runs on. Are you thinking of MacOS (PPC/Intel)? |
| ||
| Doesn't linux run on several different types of processors? Certainly not ten. Just like versions of Windows, Linux also runs on ARM processors. |
| ||
| If you go here, there's nine different platforms listed with one being "other": http://www.linux.org/dist/ Of course I don't have to support them all, but I have no idea which ones are the most popular besides Intel and PPC. And that's still more than a single "Linux" version. I don't want to confuse users with six different download links, four of which are various flavors of Linux... Speaking of different versions, does anything compiled for 32 bit Windows work on 64bit versions? I would assume so, but I'd like to be certain, for support, in case someone says the game won't run on their version of Vista or something. I think I recall someone having a problem running my texture generator on a 64 bit OS because the freeimage library didn't have a 64bit compatable DLL or something. |
| ||
| Of course I don't have to support them all, but I have no idea which ones are the most popular besides Intel and PPC. BMax only supports Intel processors for Linux, which coincides with most distros aimed at home desktops are for Intel (not PPC). |
| ||
| I actually like the top image, its got a very retro 80's type title (cassette cover) feel to it... Which I do like. Though, I will state that if anyone does release anything in the publics eye, it will receive 'critic' review, and in a sense, should not be taken personally. Gfk has released tons of games to the wild, so in a sense, it would be a good idea to take his 'critic' posts onboard, he does know what he's doing... though, if you dont want to, theres no point in going daft about... Just suck it up, Now I'll apologise by saying I'm going a tadge off-topic swifty:- Amon, I'm pretty disappointed by your post mate, that post did suck mind, and in terms of who is right and who is wrong, that shouldnt of been posted. You know me, if someone posted that about myself, I'd have gone berserk... I'd literally blow up, you'd have done the same... Dont give Gfk jip, because you know fine well me and you would of gone down the same route. Regarding Ant/Gfk... Ant is a big boy, he's seen more flames than a fire-fighter on bonfire night, some people like him, some dont, but at the end of the day, if Gfk and Ant have a problem, then thats their business, not yours mate, and as such, I do see no point in you dishing out such abuse and using it as an excuse to why you think you are right (From the Synaxbomb thread)... I hope I'll not fall out with you over this, but, I do think your actions were wrong, and going off the former part of my post, if an author cannot take a little bit of critic, then its a bad move releasing stuff to the public.. There is literally no point in telling someone one thing, when you dont believe its true.... Whatever it is. Remember, personal taste means just that, and as such, is a thought that shouldnt be attributed to being disrespectful. Dabz |
| ||
| If you go here, there's nine different platforms listed with one being "other" And hardly any of them would be considered useful as a 'desktop'.The i386 is probably the most common. |
| ||
| WOW... What a thread. If you're going to change your name and hurl abuse, then you should at least change all of your post history to cover your tracks. Idiot. LOL! Busted.@sswift You dont usually need 10 versions, just one. a normal x86 PC. Unless you want to cover linux on Mac PPC too but whats the point, just compile for the MAC using the mac PPC version. Although if its BMax then it probably runs on linux anyway under wine. Most 2D Max games do (assuming it is a 2d game :/ might be worth testing and stating :). Oh and i like the cover, especially the texting. Not sure about the asteroids though, might look better more greyish with some craters. |
| ||
| Hm, I'm late. I'm in agreement with GfK's initial criticism. To add to it, you've got two different art styles in your cover thingy, and they really clash in a bad way. I'd say to redo the asteroids as well. Either use ugly 3D or decent looking painted stuff. The two combined just don't work. Also, you've got some ugly aliasing on the left edge of the planet. |
| ||
| BMax only supports Intel processors for Linux Oh, well in that case that makes things a bit less complicated. |
| ||
| I'm in agreement with GfK's initial criticism. To add to it, you've got two different art styles in your cover thingy, and they really clash in a bad way. I'd say to redo the asteroids as well. Either use ugly 3D or decent looking painted stuff. The two combined just don't work. You're entitled to your opinion. But your opinion is WRONG. :-) Also, you've got some ugly aliasing on the left edge of the planet. FIVE. MINUTE. JOB. |
| ||
| I apologise to sswifty and gfk. I would have thought you guys would be used to me exploding like that. I mean come one! One day I'm ok and the next I'm having a psychopathic tantrum. :) I blame the drugs..... If the apology is not enough then tell me what I need to do. If it's money related it'll have to wait till next tuesday because that's when I get my DLA. :) Tell you what, I'll buy a couple of your games. :) Or, make a donation. Next time though, this forum has no ignore user button so just pretend I'm not there. Then I'll get angry because you guys don't feed me, then I say somethign ultra and skidracer bans me. Then, you don't have to deal with me. ^^ :) |
| ||
| I was most offended and require £5,000. |
| ||
| That was Amon?! Plot twist. How do you go from Amon to Panayiotis Yianni? Good Lord. |
| ||
| Tell you what, I'll buy a couple of your games. :) Or, make a donation. There's a paypal link in my sig. :-) |
| ||
| I was most offended and require £5,000. You will be paid in sausages, and you'll like it! |
| ||
| But your opinion is WRONG. :-) So you post something and just want people to go "ooooh so pretty," then tell those providing legitimate criticism that they're wrong. Saying it took only 5 minutes isn't an excuse to go "well, I'm done, nothing's changing." If anything, stopping at five minutes should be an indication that maybe you shouldn't have posted it. Maybe you should have spent more time on it.So congratulations, you made something that is lacking in quality and good design. Good job, son, we're proud of you. Now how about you improve it instead of stopping at that? Tell you what, I'll buy a couple of your games. :) Or, make a donation. He doesn't deserve it, don't waste your time and money, Amon. |
| ||
| Amon can donate some $$ to me ;) |
| ||
| Just lock the bloody thread already, its clearly not going anywhere. |
| ||
| So you post something and just want people to go "ooooh so pretty," then tell those providing legitimate criticism that they're wrong. My god... is there anyone left on these forums who can take a joke? Jeez. I guess you failed to notice the smiley face. Now how about you improve it instead of stopping at that? How about you listen to what I've been telling people over and over again? A publisher who is interested in publishing the game asked me for some high res assets from the game so that their in house artist could use them to put together a mockup cover. This mockup cover would be used to shop the game around to places like Target and Best Buy. I threw together my own quick mockup using the same graphics to give their artist some ideas, to help ensure the cover would be exciting and convey the look of the game well. I don't care if the planet isn't properly anti-alaised, because this isn't going to be used for ANYTHING other than to give the publisher's artist some ideas for layout and how to make the art look a little snazzier with some effects like glow and motion blur. And I don't care if the aliens aren't detailed enough or you think they don't mesh well with the planets because the art you see here is actual art from the game (which I paid $1500 for) and the artist that did it has long since gone off to work for some company in Europe, and my budget is completly blown. In fact, I will be lucky if I can make my rent payment this month, nevermind hiring another artist to redo everything, which is what you're asking me to do. Allow me to be perfectly clear: Even if I WANTED to, there is NO CHANCE IN HELL of any of the art being redone at this point. And it follows that there's no point in complaining about it if there's no chance of any changes being made. Finally, even if I DID have the means to have the art redone, I wouldn't change a thing, because I LIKE IT THE WAY IT IS. I specifically told the artist to design the art in this manner. I wanted something fun, and colorful, and retro. AND something which wouldn't cost me a fortune. And that's what I got. I also wanted something functional. And that lack of detail in the aliens you're complaining about was in fact, a design decision. The reason the enemies have so little detail is not only because they're supposed to look funny, and retro, or because they were cheap to build and animate, but also because this game is geared towards casual gamers... and casual gamers have crappy video cards and will run the game at low resolutions. At 800x600, each of these aliens it only 40 pixels tall. And when you take an alien which is 40 pixels tall, and you make it fly quickly around the screen, while animating, all that extra detail you want, would be lost, or worse, would make the aliens look all muddy and blurry and crappy. The aliens above are between 3-5x the size they would appear in the game. They've been blown up to this size because the publisher needed high res box art, and this is ALL I've got. And they look less detailed than the planet here, because in the game, the planets, unlike the aliens, take up half the screen. But I had to adjust the relative scales of the two for the purpouses of composing a more interesting image. In short: I can't afford to make any changes. This is the art I've got available. The publisher is the only one who's ever going to see this besides you guys. So not only would it be pointless to make any changes to this, but you're just pissing into the wind by complaining about it, as nothing can be done at this point. I'm not being hard-headed. I'm simply being REALISTIC. |
| ||
| It looks good to me. However, here are a few changes I think would really help it. Gotcha :P |
| ||
| ..i say fire it out man and get some cash :)..ill buy your game (as I did for every game blitzers did, except match3 clones) because its makes me laugh like crazy when I hear some of characters farting when dropping eggs or something :) |
| ||
| This is all that's left to be done. It'll be out in a week: * Improve story screen. Leave bottom text onscreen at end, like in credits? * Improve win game scroll. * Implement 7 remaining enemy attacks + 2 bosses. * Distribute enemies throughout levels better. * Adjust number of shots required to kill some enemies. |
| ||
| My god... is there anyone left on these forums who can take a joke? Jeez. I guess you failed to notice the smiley face. An insulting joke is still insulting. You've essentially gone about this in the manner of "nyah nyah you're all stupid WINK" and failed to provide any sort of punchline. As a result, all you've done is insult people and told them their criticism is wrong.Why did you even post this in the first place if all you're going to do is make excuses about how you can't improve your own work? |
| ||
| ill buy your game... (except match3 clones) Good man ^5's |
| ||
| What about Alien Space-Sausages? |
| ||
| Why did you even post this in the first place if all you're going to do is make excuses about how you can't improve your own work? Because I thought folks here would like an update on how the game is going. And because I thought I would get a little support. I've seen games which are total garbage get posted here and recieve more positive feedback than this, simply because they managed to get it done. And here I have a game with professionally produced artwork, and professionally produced music, and there's nary a nice word to be said about it. Yet, every casual gamer I've shown the game to, including kids, teens, and adults, has liked the graphics a lot. And I didn't ask them to comment on the graphics. I just watched them play to get ideas for how to improve the game. At no time did anyone say they thought the graphics needed improvement, other than an expressed desire for scrolling backgrounds, which was beyond the limits of my budget. PS: The guy who did the art for this has received awards for his art on CGTalk.com, and worked on Little Big Planet. |
| ||
| My god... is there anyone left on these forums who can take a joke? Jeez. I guess you failed to notice the smiley face. OMG. That's almost exactly what I said to you about my post! What the hell's happening here? |
| ||
| If puki were to work in a game development company, I bet he'd love the creative\design department. Hey Swift, I'm not going into the art quality since you're not taking critics regarding the artwork (nor I'm willing to risk any conflict). What I do think is that you have some spots of empty space in that mockup. I think the bottom left corner and the top~middle-right corner could be used a little better. Perhaps rendering the ship closer to the view, or adding a second copy of that cloudy planet somewhere in the background would give it more balance. Just a funny thing, your mockup (and title, for that matter) reminded me of an old DOS game: http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4066/15786612.png Good luck with your sales! please do share with us how your project is doing commercially later on. |
| ||
| Hey Swift, I'm not going into the art quality since you're not taking critics (nor I'm willing to risk any conflict). What I do think is that you have some spots of empty space in that mockup. I think the bottom left corner and the top~middle-right corner could be used a little better. I think you just gave him a critic.. I don't think anything is going to help this situation. |
| ||
| I'm not going to critic the 'art' because he can't change that anymore. The only thing he is able to change is the mockup (judging from what he said, I mean), so I said what I thought about it. |
| ||
| What the hell's happening here? Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria! |
| ||
| What I do think is that you have some spots of empty space in that mockup. I think the bottom left corner and the top~middle-right corner could be used a little better. Perhaps rendering the ship closer to the view, or adding a second copy of that cloudy planet somewhere in the background would give it more balance. See now, that's the kind of critique I don't mind. Just a funny thing, your mockup (and title, for that matter) reminded me of an old DOS game:  Oddly enough, I played that game in high school, and it was one of the inspirations for this; though when I began working on Space Beetles, I thought what I was remembering was an old version of Bugatron. It was only later that I discovered the two were different games. Also, I'd forgotten what the title screen looked like. |
| ||
| sswift, you really have a lot of nerve thinking you can just waltz in here and post a mock-up of some box art. =oD |
| ||
| My issue is that you've got the 50's sci-fi title and typography (the elipses), with a 80's font, and sort of 80's/90's/2000's 2d/3d with the game looking almost isometric and other assets falling on all sorts of differing angles. It's a million times better than I could do but as a cover its confusing, its trying to be to many things and as a result no succeeding of being any of them. Taking into account you can't do anything about the artwork I would a) At least change the font to a more 50's style to suit the title b) Preferably find a way to 50's sci-fi knock off the entire cover, with a few simple screen shots on the back to show the actual game. I think a bona-fide 50's style cover (ala the movie posters you showed above), would make the game stand out more in the budget jewel case market, than what you have now. |
   |