Ghost Song

Okay, I've spent the last few weeks redesigning the main character from scratch. This is something I'd been wanting to do for a while, but had been fence sitting a bit due to the combination of the old art not being all that bad, and the fact that I knew such a task would be a lot of work.

My main complaint with the old character were that A) it was a bit dated in terms of my own art style/skills and B) I wanted to distinguish the design a little bit.

Now, I realize I can't please everyone, but the new design is something I feel better about. I realize it's still  fairly non descript, but this is part of what it takes to meet the criteria for the game's story. I've accessorized it with a cloth cape of sorts that adds some movement to the animations and makes them more interesting. It moves with the character and blows upwards as the character falls and so forth.



It's now 90% implemented into the game, with what remaining being primarily specific story related animations. The new character is animated considerably better than the old character, in my opinion, and I'm happier now with how the game looks and moves.

Still lookin good.

Energy dash


Game's primary colors are purples, blues, and greens


These bug tunnels are not safe, you don't know what's going to come out of the darkness. I don't advise staying long.

My time is split between this and another obligation for a bit longer, but soon it'll be the mad dash to finish the alpha version and get some real feedback from trusted members of the community. (should they be interested in being testers, of course)

The design is crystal clear, the path is crystal clear, I know exactly what I have to do, it's just a matter of grinding the rest of it out.

WOW - looks amazing!!!! Love it Matt!

thanks, and there's a standing "thanks" for everyone if I'm lucky enough to get compliments.

Just more fun with lighting tricks. In this case, there's a mild light radius around the player, with the shadows set to overlay. This darkens dramatically the mids and lows of all the art under it and leaves highlights less affected.

The result is pretty dynamic, because things further from the light radius will be seen mainly as highlights, and if you go close, the entirety of the object is visible.

The wreckage and terrain below is mostly seen by their highlights.


Now that I'm closer, I can see things better.


Look at the same debris when I'm rather far, and it's very shadowy.

This isn't a difficult trick to pull off, ( It's basically just a black actor with a soft, alphaed hole in it) but it can be very effective and produced a really convincing, subtle lighting effect for very little work.

All the noise you see in some of these images is a static effect that is intentional. It animates and has a more interesting effect in motion than perhaps it does in stills. It is also stronger in some areas than others.

I am really looking forward to play this game it looks absolutely fantastic 

looks very nice

Thanks guys. I'm still trying to figure out how to take/edit videos with respectable quality, but I managed to make one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-qul0R60Gg

Here I'll introduce the game and some of its basic gameplay mechanics. The quality of the video isn't as great as I'd like but if you set it to 480p it looks passable.

Ive used fraps and dxtory , both create excellent videos and video quality, but both do cost. Ive tried a few other free methods and some are ok, but dont create the same quality as the above two.

(another issue i have is the res of the video you create, and when uploaded to youtube, it can turn out a bit average depending how youtube treats/converts/uploads etc, it.)

Still looking great anyhow, look forward to giving it a play eventually!

Very amazing style and graphycs, compliments

looks great and promising, looking forward for this. 

Looks awesome, loving the animations too.

Lookin' awesome still! Can't wait till it's finished. The lighting effects are super nice and nifty.

Looks outstanding! I look forward to giving it a play!

You made the list!
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