Here's what I am currently working on :P

A logo for the M.C.E Project =]

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/0TAUUGE.png" border="0" /><img src="http://i.imgur.com/j9k5XE7.jpg" border="0" />

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> InkScape is great for vector stuff and such but you won't have as much freedom or control as using something like GIMP or Paint.net for pixel art =]

Creating detailed sprites isn't inkscapes forte, but it is great for producing higher resolution images (imagine trying to create a 128x128 sprite pixel by pixel...)

Well in all honesty you wouldn't usually unless tiling tiles or using filters within Paint.net to help with that =]

I agree though with the use of Inkscape for higher res images, it makes more sense in most cases :P

<center><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/3d7bc2352a5040a40d61708c0b568d34/tumblr_msrzaepjv01shqmdyo1_500.png" border="0"></center>

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Hello everyone, I'm new to the forums, I think that I had an account a very long time ago but I have since lost the info and the e-mail I used to use, so here I am and this is my first post :P

I recently worked with two friends on a small game for Ludum Dare, the two friends are: Joshua Boomhower, Evan Leider (and myself Patrick Griffiths) it was a rushed game that we ended up spending around 20-24hrs on, due to the time difference... We have decided to take the game further and add more content, more of the story which we were unable to add in the Ludum Dare build. We want to add more character and humour to the game well, there is not much humour in the game if any currently, but it's something we will be working on!

A little brief of the story:

There is an Evil corporation that is about to begin mass producing robots that they intend to use to take over the world. They've secretly built tons of facilities all around the planet in many locations to ensure their victory. To combat this the government has put together a team of the best scientists and tasked them with building a robot that could aid them in their mission to save the world. The robot that they initially create is the first of the X series Espionage bots... Considered to be a failure... Whilst the scientists put through for the destruction of our little hero, his A.I kicks in after being slammed down in the storage room, he escapes the compound to begin his mission, half cocked and on his way our player will have to help guide our little bot to success or face the worlds population being dominated by an evil corporation. Our little hero's goal is to obtain and destroy the memory chip containing the schematics for the evil bots. (the story will be updated with much more detail and such later down the line but this should give you a rough idea of what's going on in the game=])

Screenshots:

http://mcegame.tumblr.com/post/60618422932

Just to keep the post tidy I will link to them for now, until i can make more forum friendly versions of them =]

Web Build:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71526571/LD27/index.html

Website:

(Currently being worked on =])

Here is our Tumblr for now

http://mcegame.tumblr.com

Here is the Ludum Dare page too

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=25488

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What We Have Planned:

• Well first off, we would like to involve the story in the game a lot more from the get go, with the Ludum Dare we just couldn't incorporate it into the game properly at all, we simply didn't have the time, but... Now we do!!
• We want to add some humour and life to the main character, although he is a robot who's to say his AI cannot simulate emotions and show off his 'glowing personality' lol
• We will be adding many more puzzles and gameplay elements to the game but also gradually introducing the player to them, with this current web build you kind of get thrown into a level with all of the mechanics we created and unless you go over the tutorial level you will not have a clue. We will be incorporating the tutorial into the introduction to the game via a cutscene and limited gameplay as the character is introduced to his mission and the game world.
• Along with more puzzles we have a good few AI planned too!!
• The graphics are going to be completely recreated from the ground up, and you will see in the introductory level how and why our player has a wheel instead of his two legs...
• We're currently using Construct 2 for the game and we used that for the Ludum Dare but Josh is currently going over some Unity related stuff so that he can get acquainted with that engine, and once the new native 2D tools are released in this next Unity update we will be making the switch over to that, but until then we will continue prototyping the game within Construct 2.

Software Used:

• Construct 2 - https://www.scirra.com/construct2 Everything related to work within Construct 2 was done by Josh
• Paint.net - http://www.getpaint.net/index.html This was used for all of the initial sprite creation and static sprites like the level tiles and such
• Graphics Gale - http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/ Once the graphics were concepted within Paint.net the still default posed sprites where then taken into Graphics Gale to be animated for the game
• LMMS - http://lmms.sourceforge.net/home.php Everything audio related for the project was done by Evan and he will also be working with us to take the game a little further.

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Credits so far:

Josh Boomhower

Evan Leider

Patrick Griffiths

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<font color="red">Small Updates:</font>

Here is a preview of the current graphical updates so far, now that I have the time to increase the detail and such I will! I know they're not perfect and they actually need a fair amount of cleaning up but these are a work in progress and also just a preview :D

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/KY4qf2C.png" border="0">

Well, I hope that you've enjoyed checking this Devlog out so far, I promise to bring more updates as often and as fast as I can... At least, as fast as life will allow :P (I know many of you should get that:P)

Kind Regards

Patrick Griffiths

This looks amazing! It plays well too... I really enjoy these types of games, I'd really like to see it once you've added more :P Keep up the good work!

Kind Regards

Patrick

Here is a screenshot of the art for my latest project =]

The project is a collaborative work of Me, EncryptedCow and SpacialPumpkin from these forums =]

<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/0d6c859925fa2eebf5bd9981a6308f63/tumblr_msamoy3LdB1snc5u9o1_1280.png" border="0" />

I am likely going to create a thread for the project here on the forums but I just thought that I would share a screenshot for now :P

I have been in the process of setting up exactly this =\ lol looks like someone beat me to it, not that my bundles would be any less worth doing now =]

I just hope that I can get mine off the ground before tons and tons of bundles like ti start cropping up :P

InkScape is great for vector stuff and such but you won't have as much freedom or control as using something like GIMP or Paint.net for pixel art =]

Well, I would agree with people commenting about Pickle and Pyxel I hope that's right, I use them from time to time but they tend to be a little buggy and crash on me, however they are a good place to start.

I would like to offer a more efficient workflow though! I would recommend Paint.net and Graphics Gale. Both of which are FREE!

I say Paint.net as it faster and better for working with still or static pixel art, like tiles and other such level assets. Where as Graphics Gale would be your go to for the animation of characters which offers a real time preview of the animations. Although there is another application you could use which is also completely FREE, I believe it's called AeSpriter.

Here, I wrote a tutorial a while back and haven't had too much time to finish off the second part to it but it covers the different applications you could use for pixel art, or at least the most popular ones.

https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/582/creating-isometric-pixel-art-from-scratch-part-1-creating-templates/page-3

It will give you links as well as a rough idea for the application too... I hope this helps shed some light on where you may begin =]

Kind Regards

Patriick

The best free application that I can remember and would recommend is LMMS

http://lmms.sourceforge.net

Reaper is affordable and pretty damn good!

http://www.cockos.com/reaper/

As you can see on the purchase page there are two licenses, you would most likely qualify for the discounted rate of $60 which you can still use for commercial use! Read the panel to the left on the licensing page =]

Fruity Loops is another that I have used a lot but I no longer have access to it =\ it's not too expensive from what I remember, I will be purchasing a license of my own soon enough I think :P

Kind Regards

Patriick

I'd most likely attend if I can at the time :P It's not too far for me! =]

Sulli

Thanks for that =] Sadly this notification system failed yet again =\ lol

+1 from em too, you have my vote!! =]