R. Wilson Studio

Today was window day: The last window was created to fit into a brick tile, and Nerd Waffle liked it, but decided the full pane windows fit the urban look a bit better. The main event was the bat item: This was the first item I made that would potentially fit into the single inventory space as per the theme. Sadly we wouldn't quite get to the point of implementing it, but keep you eye out for future versions, and don't get hit by Bill of course: Again here's another snappy two-frame animation. I thought closing one of Bill's eyes would be a fun little touch. He's definitely a squeamish guy.

This day was busy. There was some sort of problem with the decorations. Apparently the needed to match the dimensions of the other tiles, or at least be square. That was a pretty easy fix. I also created an I-beam tile set, something that Nerd Waffle had been requesting for a couple of days at this point: These were pretty simple, but satisfying to make. I also think they add a lot top the urban setting. Hanging spikes were also requested, although I don't think these made it in: Life/Health indicators are kinda fun, even if they didn't make it into the current version: Figuring out how to represent health is always an interesting little problem to solve (I know my solutions aren't terribly original). I find it offers a lot of opportunities to add fun little details. I also started making the cover image for the game. I'm quite proud of it. It changed a bit in the process of the game's further development. For whatever reason I messed up the dimensions slightly. I t...

I wanted the run cycle to be cartoony and quick, like the jump animation, so I kept it to two simple frames, with just legs and mouth moving: If you've played the game before reading this, the Meter Maid is only a still image in the game. I'm happy that much made it in, but more importantly this is a lesson in communication and scope. Adding an enemy into the game would have been outside of Nerd Waffle's coding abilities at the time, and I did know that, but I didn't think about it, at least not very hard. I do tend to get carried away at times. In addition, I drew a bunch of little decorations to spice up the level design: I very much enjoy making details like these. They make the game feel so much more alive. We met again on this day confirm the scope as well as to outline a new roadmap. It's very important to have these meetings, as the game always has the potential to take on a life of its own. 

I spent all my time on the Meter Maid on Day 6. I made an idle animation: I love this guy. I quite enjoy making idle animations. They're often subtle, and involve staggering certain movements, which is a fun little challenge. For instance both my idle animations so far are the respective characters standing in place and breathing, so to lead I animate the belly rising and then I animate the head following slightly after, if only slightly.

The next step was pretty natural: Floating platform tiles. I suppose these aren't really floating,  as was my original intent (that was addressed later), but it's a proper tile set  now. The second tile is a cracked variant, to fit with the grungy setting. These fit together seamlessly, or at least as seamlessly as I could make them. I also created this spike tile, although it would be changed later: Next up was a real gem, the METER MAID: DAYUUUUM. HE SEXY. In all seriousness I do find his design amusing.

Jump animations are kinda weird. Most jumping sprites I've seen are either sticking the classic Mario 'one arm to the sky' pose or a full-throttle two arms up pose. Okay maybe that's not that weird. I just think it looks a little intense when you see it in still frames, but then again all animations are kinda like that. ... I digress. I kept Bill's jump short and sweet so that it would look snappy in motion: (Did I mention his name is Bill? Well, his name is Bill. Cool? Cool.) I also created the first tile that would be the basis of the first tile set: I had never done a full tile set before, and I didn't expect to enjoy it so much! It's like crafting little puzzle pieces or building blocks that you'll spend a lot of time cobbling into useful combinations. Half the fun is try to anticipate those combinations while drawing, as well as coming up with interesting variants: (Sorry these are blurry.)