Hi all, I'm almost ready to release a beta of the game I've been working on for the past year (part time). Its called Trials of Werlin and here are a few links. I guess you could say I'm trying to build some 'hype' and also wondering what you guys/gals think so far? Its kind of a 'chips challenge' type of puzzle game with a few twists. Everyone here has been an immense help to me and my project. Thanks to Everyone here and thanks to Steve P for starting this great community.

Title Screen (http://www.bantamcity.com/images/ScreenShotTitle_2.jpg)
Screen Shot 1 (http://www.bantamcity.com/images/ScreenShotLevel6.jpg)
Screen Shot 2 (http://www.bantamcity.com/images/ScreenShotLevel21.jpg)
Screen Shot 3 (http://www.bantamcity.com/images/ScreenShotLevel21_2.jpg)

Feel free to post any comments on the screen shots. I would love to hear everyone's input. Thanks Again
BC

Based on these screenshots, I think I have a good idea of what the game play is about, so that's Good. However, if you're making an updated version of Chip's Challenge, you probably need to work on the graphics. As it currently stands, I don't think I'd bother downloading your game because it doesn't appear to offer much over the original CC. At the very least, I think the game's sprites need more dimensionality--even though you're making a 2D game, I think most people expect games that at least look like they're 3D, so your sprites need to be more 3D-ish. Also, I'd try to vary the floor and wall tiles so that they aren't repeated across the screen. Finally, your water, fire, etc. should be animated (you may already have this in the game, but the screenshots don't imply it).

Is this your first "finished" game? If it is then congratulations, you've done some nice work here. Just finishing something to a point where it's playable and has interface menus is pretty impressive.

I must say however, that I tend to concur with Kretchen. The screenshots of this game just don’t inspire me to download. No only are they somewhat blurry and drab, there is an odd mixing of perspectives. Your characters are flat, like a side scroller. Your blocks have a 3d top view, your switches are some unknown 3rd perspective. I suppose the key is similar to the blocks, but the net effect is extremely inconsistent.

Now believe me I know what it's like not to have available art resources. To know your art needs work and not really be able to do to much about it. However, I do think that fixing the various perspectives and making the stones a little crisper is going to help a lot.

I think the graphics are pretty nice. I know how difficult it is to actually tie all the lose ends up at the end of a project!

I think the perspective problem comes from the switch more than any of the other objects.
You need to be able to see the top of the switch (as you can with the walls) to keep the perspective consistent.

Thank You for your comments and suggestions, these are just the sort of comments I was looking for. I will try to take all these things in consideration:

kerchen - its not really an updated version of CC, but the gameplay is similar . The fire,water, and other traps are animated (hard to tell from the screen shot i put up i guess). I think you are right about the dimensionality too. I'll also look into varying the floor tiles.

Dan - Thank You, yes this is my first 'finished' game. :) yay! I completely agree with what you said about the perspective. In fact, most people that have tested it make a similar comment. The problem is, I'm not really a great artist and don't know exactly what needs to be changed to make the perspective more consistant. Do the player sprites need shadows? Do all the angles on all the graphics need to be redrawn? If anyone can tell me exactly which sprites bother them the most, I'll try to redraw them as best I can, or get some outside help.

Carrot - Yes it has been hard to tie up all the loose ends. So you think its mainly the switches that need to be redrawn? hmmm... I'll have to try to change the perspective of them to match the walls... I guess everything should used the walls perspective as a guide considering they are the easiest to work from.

Thank You again for all your comments. If anyone has more comments good/bad, I would love to hear them.

I guess I've gotten so used to the way everything looks in my game that I can't easily see the perspective flaws. :confused: I know something is not right, but I may need outside input (fresh eyes) to tell me how to fix it. I've asked a couple graphic design buddies of mine, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. Can anyone explain which perspectives they think need to be changed? Thanks
~BC

I'm at work right now, but when I get home I will make some images and explenations that will help you correct some of the problems i'm seeing.

First it looks like your game is coming along really well. I think we all know how hard it is to buckle down and get a project finished. I do have a few suggestions on the gfx though. First you shouldn't make the hud overlay so busy, tone it down a bit so the color shifts of the green marble looking stuff isn't so big. Another thing is the hud should pop out over the game screen and right now it has the same values as the entire screen making it look as if it were apart of the level, try another color that is more saturated...but not to much. Also your characters get a little lost with the level, you can solve this by just outlining them in black...an old game trick but it still works, it doesn’t have to be black it can be a darker color of the color you want to bring out on that sprite. For the level tiles there pretty busy as well and would look much better if the detail was taken down a bit and same thing with outlining them to help them pop and be more defined. These are just some thoughts though. Keep up the good work!

Looks cool, has a kind of a weird depth to it.

i like the way the 2-d clashes with the 3-d, very artsey.

i hope the last levels are much darker than this tho

also i think that the fire and water should be more "filling"
the water should fill the whole tile
(of course this may create the need for a 'water edge' tile, that may not be worth the time)

good luck

Firstly, well done to get so far!

As for the graphics, yes, the perspective/shadow is wrong. The way your forced-perspective 3D blocks appear, with the darker part of the blocks on the lower part of the block graphic makes it seem that the light/sun source is on top of the screen. Yet the shadows are on the top and left of the blocks, implying that the sun is on the bottom right, which is not compatible with the above.

Hope you can understand what I've written!

Ok here's a little edit. I found out that a large part of your blurryness comes from the fact that you saved the screenshots as JPG. Ugg.. big nono, jpg uses a wave based compression algorithem and it can be very lossy. I really blurs things like pixelart. Use a png or gif instead (but not bmp they are way too huge).

Anyway, here's the edit. I did a few things, I drew a switch in your game's perspective. I used the dodge,burn, and smudge tools in photoshop to spice up your wizard sprite and make it look a little more like the rest of the art. I also quicky drew a wizard in the same perspective as the blocks, it's a matter of preference if you want to draw your sprites that way, it's definitly a little more tricky to draw in that perspective. I would reccomend touching up your sprites with the dodge and burn tools to give them a little softer look, like the rest of the art.

The edit (http://www.rainfallstudios.com/kablesart/ScreenShotLevel6.gif)

Oh and I did want to mention, you've gotten some pretty blunt criticism in this thread and you've taken it very well. I respect that.

Dan - wow! When you said you were going to send an image and an explanation, I wasn't expecting you to put so much work in! I appreciate the effort alot! After you said the images looked blurry I realized this must have been because they were in jpg form because the images are fairly sharp on-screen. I like the perspective you drew of the character. The reason I drew the character sprites at almost a perfect side-view is because in one of my game books it says that the players eye will be able to make up the difference (and its easier to draw). I'm not sure if this is actually true now that I see your sample. (looks good) But I see what everyone is talking about now. The character sprite you drew looks like it 'fits in' better. The only problem is, those character sprites took me forever to draw the first time, so I'll have to think long and hard on whether or not I can do it in a respectable amount of time. As for the switch and other objects, thanks for the sample, I'll try to fix it asap.
Well.. I understand when you ask someone to look at your work and make comments, you will definitely get critisism. I would rather have all the constructive critisism in the world 'right now' rather than after I release my game and suffer with poor feedback/sales.

Thanks again Everyone
P.S. Most of the comments were about the perspective... Does anyone have any comments about other aspects of the screenshots? (style of art, a feeling of fun, etc...)

If I were you id check out some art forums. Ask around and ask somebody to come on board to do your sprite work. The game engine looks neat.