Awesome to read this, "I guess they just helped me" is probably the best I'll get My final advice is stop focusing on the rubbish apps that slip through Apple's net, they are not your benchmark, focus on what makes games like Mario World so good. And try and be better than that.
Oh, and one more thing (in a Columbo stylie) : Rogelio I have only just realised (which is my failing, not yours) that your intention is to get a pixel art look, much like Pocket Planes. The absolute ESSENTIAL thing when doing a pixel art look is to have consistency in the size of the pixels for every art asset. Not just a consistency in art style (as has been mentioned), but a consistent pixel scale. By having no consistency it just looks like you've upscaled a load of tiny thumbnails of differing sizes. Understand this and your graphics (which as I said from the start are fundamentally not that bad) will start to look great. That is probably the smartest thing you've said so far. By taking time on these little effects you could end up with a pretty polished game. The final polish stage when everything seems complete (and you want to rush it out) is the time you need to be really self-critical and take even more care. Strive to make it so good that Apple feature it, not just pass it. All the best.
But PLEASE release a beta version and get some testers to try it out and give you valuable feedback. Again it worries me that you even tried sending it to Apple when basics such as the left/right button were wonky and not aligned properly. PLEASE (just like many other devs here do) get it tested before you send the next version out. Its not meant to be a mob mentality, its just that you didnt appear to listen. I LOVE platformers so i want your game to be a success as i'll buy it. But listen to feedback from people who have released games or us general players Funny you mention Retrogamebox. I had such high hopes for that but despite the 'we'll release a game every month for it' nothing ever happened, waste of money buying that.
Great to see you've picked up the ball and are fixing the last bits of the game. It is the LAST bit of polish, tweaking and debugging that makes the game - and takes a long time and is the actual WORK. This is what separates hobbyists from developers. And, don't forget Shigeru Miyamoto: "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is forever bad."
So true, this is the reason our next game isn't out now. Got some surprising negative feedback that made sense, so we're going back to the drawing board. (Well not quite that far back) You shouldn't be ashamed to ever say to yourself (and the world) "You know, Person X, Y and Z are saying it's not quite as good as I thought. I should adjust."
Thank you! I really appreciate your support, and everyone elses on TA. I'm actually currently working on a small dual-stick shooter. It's just something I'm spending a couple of months on, something simpler and more casual than Alien Space. The idea is to do something simple and then get back to work on my new engine tech, which is a pretty large project in itself.
Hilarious that this thread turned into an intervention. And kind of incredible and awesome that it seems to end well.
I think you were on to something AlienSpace I have been drawing but have problems with trying to make that Mario type bright graphic with shading type like I wanted. Basically I guess even though I didnt want to I will stick with a retro type look. I think my main charactor is solid but anything else I draw for some reason doesnt match up as well as him. I only have pixel art skills and they are very limited. So for a sense of uniformity in my game, even thought I really dont want to Iam going with a very basic style so that everything matches. Even if the gameplay is solid, its going to be a tough sell unless the game becomes the king of all retro platformers. The only good thing that will come out of it is lee way as far as processing power,i.e. I wont have to worry about stuff like slowdown's and things of that nature. Hopefully there are enough retro gamers and new age gamers who like retro type graphics. That means no matter how good the game is I know now its not going to be featured by apple.My best hopes is word of mouth and reviews by the 30 and over generation who focus on fun gameplay rather than graphic's alone then I might have a shot in the gaming market. All I need is enough sales to hire a quality artist who is solid, then I can make another platformer with that iphone quality look.
I wouldn't call that lucky. I'd call it a blatant attempt at copyright infringement at worst, and at best selling garbage under the guise of comitting property infringement. Look at all the team xtreme titles to get the full picture. 2 games being sold as Mario ripoffs. Something like 4 more as duck hunt ripoffs.
You probably wonder why everything is blurry in your game and other pixel art games are always nice and sharp - this can be achieved with the mag filter. Given you're upscaling you need to change that to 'nearest' get this effect: Code: glTexParameterx(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST); (alternatively just author it all as pixel art and render 1:1) (Edit: this only applies to the earlier screenshots - the one above does look sharp)
Retro doesn't necessarily mean "low detail" and it definitely doesn't mean "not getting featured." Plenty of games with retro graphics have been featured in the App Store, but they were all top-notch retro graphics. You need to keep pouring over the tutorials and shade your art. You also need to put something in the background. That screenshot is a good start, but you need to keep looking for ways to improve your graphics ad give them more polish. Keep at it!
Okay, well since no one else is stepping up, I guess I'll have to. This game looks really bad. I never like to be the bearer of bad news, but I have to tell you straight up that this game just looks bad. For one thing, you stole Mario graphics. ie: the background and the coins. For another thing, you took one of the most copied games in the world (Copter) and didn't even bother to do anything new. You pretty much just shoved your graphics in and said "ta-da!" Now I don't just want to sit here and rag on you. I want to help you. Because you can actually program games, you have the potential to be successful. You have to realize that art just isn't your thing. If you outsource it, you can combine the power of a great artist with your great programming skills and make a kick-butt game! But remember, even if you have good art doesn't mean your game will sell. You also need originality. Make a good game that YOU thought up. Not a copy of another game that did well. Yes, copter is a popular game. So why would anyone want a copter clone? NO ONE. And who wants a game called Beautiful Bird's Flying Adventure? The name is long and boring. So please, heed my advice. Don't submit this to the App Store and embarrass yourself. Find a good artist, go back to the drawing board, and come up with an awesome game. I hope to see you making some amazing titles soon. Oh, and try to sharpen your English-speaking skills. That's not really game-related, but you want to look professional if you're going to be a developer.
That bird looks like a 6 year old tried to draw tiny wings on ms paint, and whats with the 3d spike things? don't put 3d things in a 2d game, also I'm guessing you got the spike things off google images? that's illegal. nice to see you moved on from super meebo, which got rejected because of the bad graphics, yet you think this game will get accepted? the graphics are exactly the same.
The character looks, like pixel art, but everything else looks like ms paint. good to know the hud is better looking, but needs to be either less pixelated or more.
Indeed. My game, Alien Space Retro, was featured several times and in different sections of the US App Store. Even now it's still featured in many countries in 2 different App Store sections. It's not about the style, it's about the quality, polish, and fun of the game.
Yes Iam going over it to add shade overall and especially to the main charactor. I will do as best I can to make the game look good, but dont expect me to become an excellent artist overnight lol.
Actually it turns out the blur was just my iPhone scaling the screenshot up - the one above does look sharp and is a step in the right direction. The advice on the MAG filter still stands though when upscaling things. I'll get my coat By the way, you can't have that logo in the game showing "Pixel Power Inc." unless that really is an incorporated registered company that belongs to you.
i know some guys - look at Caveman / Caveman HD. i paid the guys some upfront cash - advance on royalties, but now every sale they are making money via royalty share. they are very happy. if your game is solid, good and has potential to sell you will find an artist to help you. there are a tonne of websites you can ask artists to make a big.. but, you would be looking at something like (at a minimum) 10% royalty share, $1000-$2500 upfront get a budding student who wants to make his name known, and you'll have a match made in heaven. do not expect to get all the work and give nothing (upfront) in return, these guys need to pay for their living as well.
