[Giel]

Im remaking my 40612 MZX game entry, Aquatic Marine. It'll be called 'AQ Neo'. Here's a screenshot of the title screen I did.

NOTE: The planet image you see there is copied from Megaman 6.

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This post has been edited by Giel: 17 January 2010 - 04:19 PM

[Lachesis]

Cool, you just saved me the effort of digging out my MM6 cart and my NES to see if it was ripped off

edit: You know that you can change the colors by pressing Alt+E in the editor, right?

This post has been edited by Lachesis: 17 January 2010 - 04:33 PM

[Val]

Do you mean for the title of this thread to be "AM Neo," or do you mean for the screenshot to say "AQ Neo?" Either away, something's afoot.

Please make that "planet" either completely yellow or completely brown. The blocky contrast is hideous. And actually, why not just not steal from Mega Man at all? And while you're at it, take some notes from good-looking title screens, learn how to center your text and juxtapose the elements in your image in a meaningful manner, get rid of that red char in the upper-left, touch up your color choice, add a more interesting background…………。

[Giel]

Guy, on Jan 17 2010, 10:43 AM, said:

Do you mean for the title of this thread to be "AM Neo," or do you mean for the screenshot to say "AQ Neo?" Either away, something's afoot.

Please make that "planet" either completely yellow or completely brown. The blocky contrast is hideous. And actually, why not just not steal from Mega Man at all? And while you're at it, take some notes from good-looking title screens, learn how to center your text and juxtapose the elements in your image in a meaningful manner, get rid of that red char in the upper-left, touch up your color choice, add a more interesting background…………。

The "AQ" I typed was a mistake. I meant to type "AM".

And yes, Ill get rid of the blocky contrast and the red char.

[Val]

Alright good

[CJA]

Why not just make like a gradient of colors like this: # # # # #

Put that on your moon and smoke it

No, seriously, do something like this

This post has been edited by CJA: 18 January 2010 - 02:31 AM

[Lachesis]

CJA, on Jan 17 2010, 08:30 PM, said:

Why not just make like a gradient of colors like this: # # # # #

Put that on your moon and smoke it

No, seriously, do something like this

That's why I asked if he knew how to use the palette editor D:

[ThDPro]

This is why I never start with the title screen when I'm making a game.

[ThDPro]

God my connection blows. You know how it is though: you press the post reply and then your connection dies, and when it comes back, you've posted twice. Erg.
Sorry about the double post.

This post has been edited by ThDPro: 18 January 2010 - 05:39 PM

[Exophase]

ThDPro, on Jan 18 2010, 12:36 PM, said:

This is why I never start with the title screen when I'm making a game.

That's sage advice right there.

Another good one would be not posting things about your game until you have a lot done.

[Seventh Shade]

Exophase, on Jan 18 2010, 01:45 PM, said:

Another good one would be not posting things about your game until you have a lot done.

Where's the fun in that? At the very least, it lets you get some of your ideas out there so people can either offer advice or tell you why your idea isn't any good.

[KKairos]

Yeah, but letting lots of people in on the game before it's anywhere near done exacerbates the "journal-curse" that often accompanies the more obvious demo-curse.

Yes, I know, AFT, hahaha. It's still going.

[Exophase]

Seventh Shade, on Jan 18 2010, 08:23 PM, said:

Where's the fun in that? At the very least, it lets you get some of your ideas out there so people can either offer advice or tell you why your idea isn't any good.

It has its uses, but the more you give in to instant gratification from user feedback the less you're liable to be motivated to keep working on the game. It might seem that responses/anticipation would encourage you, but it really places extra stress and expectations on your shoulders, whether you realize this consciously or not.

When I think of big releases in solo-driven independent games and other software like emulators, I can think of a lot more that seemingly came out of nowhere than those that had a lot of prior exposure.

But I think really the biggest reason I suggest this is because I don't like hype, and I think it's better not to get people's hopes up when you don't have a lot to show for yourself.

[djtiesto]

Exo - I sort-of agree with you... as a lot of my MZX projects seemingly "came out of nowhere", I was never much for hyping till after release (then, I wouldn't shut up about it). But nowadays, I feel like the prototyping stage is VERY important, and it's good to release a demo, just to get comments and suggestions. If I never released that Kikan demo, the gameplay would have been ohhhhh soooooo sloooooow.

[Dr Lancer-X]

There's a big difference between posting a demo for a game that's well underway and posting a journal for a game you've just started and have a title screen for. The difference is that the latter game is much less likely to be finished. The demo curse is rubbish. Bernard the Bard and Demon Earth both had demos.

[RyanThunder]

I like the idea of journals. But since this is MegaZeux and not a professional gaming industry, it's better to have a journal to receive criticism than to build hype. If you build hype, expectations will be very high for your game, like Exophase mentioned.

They allow more than one point-of-view for a particular title screen, board, engine, or whatever. Different people's opinions can be good deciding factors on something in your game, and make you realize things like "Hey, maybe that isn't so bad after all" or "Oh shit...this really is bad, isn't it?" just as long as the opinions are that of people who give constructive criticism and not merciless trolls.


Anyway...hmm...let's see. Well, Giel, that blocky contrast certainly sticks out like a sore thumb. Use rounded chars to make that contrast look nicer, or better yet, just make the moon a solid color.

[Exophase]

Lancer-X, on Jan 18 2010, 11:29 PM, said:

There's a big difference between posting a demo for a game that's well underway and posting a journal for a game you've just started and have a title screen for. The difference is that the latter game is much less likely to be finished. The demo curse is rubbish. Bernard the Bard and Demon Earth both had demos.

It's statistically accurate given that most demos are of games that barely have any content, but you're right, correlation does not imply causation.

Nonetheless, games can do fine with limited private prototyping and testing for feedback and quality assurance. You shouldn't design a game too much around public feedback; tweak afterwards, maybe, but you don't want to veer towards a design by committee approach.

A few core level headed people who have a good feel for what makes a good game will probably give you most of the sensible input that a public release would with much less detracting noise. ie, I'd feel more confident testing a game against say, Lancer-X, Terryn, Quasar, and Tixus, than throwing it out into the wild.

[T-Bone]

I was trying to avoid demos myself. I think its better to just try to stick it to the end and get it done. You don't want your feeling of accomplishment to come by making a demo. I'm worried that might happen with my own works....

( ignore the fact that I may be uploading a shit load of demos in the next couple of weeks LoL )

I also agree with Exo about how hyping up a game that is only in its beginning stages may not be a good idea. You really do end up just creating too much expectations for yourself and I've been there far too many times, years ago. I use to rely on that hype to motivate me through getting something started... never getting something done. You got to take that personal interest in it yourself to get it done.

I often feel my own ideas are weak, so I tend to work with what people are familiar with and try to emulate that. This isn't a great approach at all. It also then doesn't become your own work. Its good to hear feedback, but yes, like exo said, don't let it drive the whole direction of your game's development.

PS:

If you want i could help you with your titlescreen there...

This post has been edited by T-Bone: 19 January 2010 - 05:03 PM

[ThDPro]

Yeah, I'm working on a game that's easily and far and away the best thing I've ever don with mzx, but I'll only release a demo (specifically for feedback) once it's done. I don't want to feel like I've done my part until it's actually done.

[Seventh Shade]

Pardon my backseat modding but maybe this discussion should be cut into the main megazeux chat. You know, just in case Giel wants to use this for something.

This post has been edited by Seventh Shade: 19 January 2010 - 11:41 PM

[T-Bone]

I think its good that he hears whats said here though. No?

[RyanThunder]

Giel what happened to the CR2-0 remake?

[Jester]

RyanThunder, on Jan 21 2010, 08:41 AM, said:

Giel what happened to the CR2-0 remake?

That was A-Guymzx's project. It's non-canon.

[RyanThunder]

Jester, on Jan 21 2010, 01:50 AM, said:

That was A-Guymzx's project. It's non-canon.

Are you sure? I thought it was normal canon like the Moestar saga. And what about the upcoming Giggity-gan story?

Anyway, Giel, do you have any updates on this project yet?

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 21 January 2010 - 07:25 AM