It's been around for a good while, but I'm surprised I've never seen a game actually do more with it.
But there's also a bunch of ways TO do it. So maybe in the future, I'll make a thing for people to use to make their own things using my methods.
#Dragimon #gamedev #pixelart #indiedev
Here's one of the shops- the Jewelry shop!
It'll be a key Building in each town, as it upgrades your Dragimon!
I wanted it to look homey- ma and pa style. So added a sitting area with a TV.
#Dragimon #gamedev #pixelart #indiedev
Haven't had much to show due to what I've worked on is basically systems for dialogue- so a bunch of non-visual stuff.
BUT! Now testing out a map system inspired by LoZ.
#pixelart #indiedev #gamedev #Dragimon
It's behavior was inspired by beavers, but with lava!
And also a cat! :V
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First up, home! :V
Trying to make all the homes look homely, but also, you'll be able to walk into any door you see- assuming it's not locked.
#indiedev #indiegame #gamedev #Dragimon
First of the Fire types!
Fire types will focus on Attack, but won't be much help in Defense, depending on their secondary type.
#pixelart #indiedev #gamedev #Dragimon
One of the starters! :V
Unlike the others so far, I've actually gone in and changed its stats (Somewhat) to reflect both being a starter, and specializing in something.
#indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #Dragimon
Finally finished up the look of the first Outpost, or Checkpoint! Not sure of the name yet.
It's the checkpoint between areas where you can Recharge your Toolbelt and also some other stuff, like the computer and the Kiosk for checking in.
Like. Design as in what I use to make the objects, or the layout of say, the villages and forest?
If it's the objects, I just: Make it, place it, play, see how it looks, refine, repeat.
If it's the layout, I first draw a map with each ground piece being 1 px, then come up with a "discovery" story.
#indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #Dragimon
Player used ROCK SMASH! :V
No HM slaves here, and no need to have a specific type of Mon in your party!
All special restrictions are Toolbelt-based.
Basically, once you have the tool, you can do the thing.
#indiedev #pixelart #gamedev #Dragimon
One of the closest things that come to wearing a Mon as armor! I've always loved the thought of running around with a mon around you like a big box.
#indiedev #pixelart #gamedev #Dragimon
It's our first NPC with text! :V
And when the camera rotates or they're talked to, they rotate.
Due to the 8-directional sprites though, it'll take a while to make each NPC, especially when I ain't so gewd at 'em.
He really likes saying only one thing too.
#Dragimon #gamedev #pixelart
So a quick peek at the underworkings of the combat system.
When you use a move, that move gains exp.
Once it fills, you can then do something special with it! :V
#indiegame #gamedev #pixelart #Dragimon
A little show of the forest area! :V
This is where you'll fight your first mon after a little exploring in the town. (After a tutorial fight of course)
#indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #Dragimon
Performance:
First the village - Fairly minimal.
Then forest - Trees are the big tankers. Still good.
And then empty room - to show the lower end.
Forests wouldn't be this dense though, as trees are removed for actual traversal.
Showing Forest Area soon.
Currently, it causes no issues.
I've even tested the high end, so I have a good feeling on how high the ceiling is. Even filling a whole forest with the trees doesn't cause issues.
Gamemaker can handle quite a few draws, which people have tested with like, thousands, and this is maybe hundreds.
Oh believe me, I am aware.
When I first started sprite stacking, I ran into a few issues with performance.
Over the years though, I've found ways to optimize it using Gamemaker.
I'll make a post showing how little the performance is affected soon.
Not a big fan of the look for pixel art conversion. When I think of using voxels for pixels, I also think, "I'd probably just go full 3D at that point."
But games like Unrailed make it look good, but aren't a conversion for pixel art. Voxel for me is more a 3D style than a pixel art replacement.
I've seen Crocotile3D and it's pretty cool. A while back I had considered trying it out, and I may at some point in the future, but the great thing with this method in Gamemaker is the sprite editor is in the engine, so it's super easy to edit them.
Which is why I never took that jump. The access.
Zooming is also an issue. If you look reeeaaallly closely, at the edges of buildings, you can see jaggies. It's not smooth.
Another issue deals with how much further actual 3D can go- which is related to the 1-trick pony. I recommend going for that, than this. I just sunk deep into it. lol
One issue is actually the angle, in that you can't go up and down.
Another is it's a 1-trick pony. You're stuck at this angle- for the most part. Did some experimenting a while back and you can get some sliiiiight angle changes, but I'm talking like, 10-30 degrees.
(Con't)
Performance isn't at all an issue at this scale.
The size is actually 240x180 blown up. I also do some extra checks to avoid certain draws, which is the pop-in you see when raised.
I've actually gone much harder with it for other stuff from way back then. (con't)
#indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #Dragimon
The method is called "Spritestacking".
It's literally just stacking sprites on top of one another, then offsetting by 1 px upwards. There's some extra math, but it's repeated a lot.
Simple and quick, but has its drawbacks. I recommend NOT using it. lol
This actually reminds me.
Need to make a post about how it works.
