Freedom Planet (v. 1.4)

[Core]

Agreed. I prefer the blue one, but I think something in-between could look better.

[W.A.C.]

Out of all these mockups:

I like the blue one the most personally. While the pink one has more contrast, I feel the contrast is good enough in the blue one to work well. I would even go as far as to say I feel there might be too much emphasis on contrast with the first one. I feel the blue one strikes a good balance between contrast and cohesion. Also, it's worth mentioning the art in that stage looks noticeably better than the art from the demo. o_O The brightest colors in the purple mockup also seems too dark.

[Duckboy]

Yes the blue background is better. Contrast!

[LarkSS]

Contrast is exactly why I don't like the blue one. It feels monochrome with so much of the same color on-screen. That purplish screenshot looks pretty nice though.

[Serephim]

he should just throw another color into the mix.

Then he could probably use whatever he wanted and have the background not potentially clash with itself.

The issue is I think the background colors should be naturally diluting themselves with grey or another color as they go into the background, but they're all practically the same color.

I feel like blue works much better on the eyes than the purple. I cant really see what the background is, but i assume its caveground, a pillar, a statue and a dome-like skybox? The illusion of distance starts to die off around the statue > skybox. Im not sure what hes going for though, so i dunno.

The last one with the orb in it looks best.

Edit: nope, i take it back. I still like blue the best. But i cant really give an accurate opinion without seeing how the stage is.

The blue one gives the feeling of a really large area lit up by the ceiling, which is kind of destroyed in the last image and the purple one.

[Falk]

Regarding 'diluting', that's a natural function of particles in the air, and I was wondering how it'd look if the far background was purple, and anything in between (i.e. the stalagmite layer) was something in between purple and blue, to suggest that the air in the cave has hints of purple smog from something.

Then again the game is supposed to nail the retro look with a limited color palette so I dunno. D:

[FanGameRevolver]

I like the blue, it looks nicer in that hue, and doesn't blend with the main character. Maybe the foreground could change colors though, to make it stand out from the background too?

[Strife]

Yeah, those are valid points. I'll play around with the colors some more.

This is an idea I had to replace the speedup box. When you jump through the ring of stars, it breaks and you get the speedup powerup. Consequentially, this would make it easier for enemies to get the powerup since they don't have to attack in order to trigger it; They only need to move through it.

I'm still not sure about the graphics for it, though... I'll need to come up with an effect that gives it an extra "punch" when you cross through it. In any case, I'm thinking that if I can replace all of the item boxes except for the flower petal, then that's one more Sonic element out the window. It might not even be that complicated if I can just make them look and feel differently (as they currently have the little icon that floats up like in the Genesis games).

[GSF]

How about making the stars change color and start gathering towards the center...

Then, once it compresses enough, make the stars shoot out again to their default open position.

Kind of a rubber band effect of sorts.

[SonicWind]

Wow, you're really determined to make FP as different from the Sonic series as you can while still showing tribute to it. That is still your plan, right?

If so, it just might work. Actually, it's working quite well already.

Also, gsoft's idea sounds good.

[TailsSena]

I was thinking maybe have the stars scatter, but Oh noes that'd be like rings! Can't have that!

...Wuagh...

[Strife]

You better believe it. There are some Sonicy things that I refuse to change at this point (such as the art style, the presence of a timer, etc), but other things are fair game to me if it helps breathe more life in the universe I've created.

Also, I think the stars look kinda stupid with the resizing... Something like this might be better:

[GSF]

The presence of a timer is not Sonic exclusive, it's not like Sega can sue you for using that, unlike *ahem* other companies and their rectangles.

Spheres look neater. You could make them switch color and also make them spin faster when the player passes through them.

[Shadow_Striker]

other companies and their rectangles.

Apple and Samsung, am I right?

Anyway, I like the spheres idea. As for those backgrounds, I like the blue one more. The pink one doesn't really fit nicely in my opinion (too much contrast) and the purple one is too dark. The blue one seems to fit the stage nicely and is easier in the eyes. It doesn't have too much contrast but I feel it's enough.

[flame6753]

Imo freedom planet was the most impressive game at SAGE by far. Good job.

[Strife]

Thank you, Flame!

Item box revamp time:

One of my friends gave me the idea of changing the shield item boxes to treasure chests, which I think would be a pretty neat idea. I could give each chest a theme/design that corresponds to the element of the shield inside, such as with the two above. I could either give the shield to the player right when they open it or have the chest spit out 5 keystones of its element (though it may result in the player not getting the shield afterall if they already have a stash of keystones saved up).

On a different note, Dr. Brevon's name has been changed to Lord Brevon. The doctorate didn't make sense anyway, seeing how he's a military general rather than a scientist. Also, troopers.

[NonnieGrey]

The bunch of crystals makes me think more of a bunch of balloons at first glance. Are they supposed to be so round?

I'd probably have to see it in action, but I get the feeling that the treasure boxes would start getting confusing. There's not really much indication of what you'll get out of them apart from a slightly-different color scheme and design. Then again, I'd also have to see the other three before I can truly start criticizing that.

My vote as to the contents of said boxes has to go to "whole shield" for that measure of certainty. Or... would it be possible to go both ways? Lilac gets "whole shield" and Carol gets "five keystones"? Since Carol can switch shields, she could pretty much have the one from the box on reserve if she had picked up too many of the other colors to give the boxed stones precedence. But... that's just me rambling silly ideas.

[SonicWind]

Doct-er, Lord Brevon and his troopers are looking great! Also, the troopers look quite threatening with those weapons. I see you've given them a bit of a Raymanish design.

[Strife]

SonicWind - Yeah, you could put it that way. xD Plus it'll save me a lot of headaches since I don't have to worry about extra limbs, and I'd want them to be one of the more expressive enemy types in the game.

So I changed the shield item boxes to be self-demonstrating. I think it makes them look rather unique, and what's cool about it is that instead of collecting them, you can take cover behind them and they'll reflect elemental attacks on their own without you needing to collect them yourself. xD So, for example, I could place a fireball-shooting enemy on the same platform as a fire crystal, and as long as you're standing on the opposite side of the crystal, you're protected from the fireballs.

The crystal on the far right is the new Invincibility powerup. In the final game, I want to make it so that collecting one keystone of every color gives you invincibility instead of a random shield. Since it would require delicate planning/luck, maybe I could make the keystone version of the powerup last longer than the one you get from item crystals.

[SonicWind]

You come up with some pretty good ideas!

The new item boxes are, again, looking great.

[GSF]

Self-actuating shield pickups that can be used from their fixed positions? Goddamn it Strife, that's fucking awesome.

So if the player decides to shatter the shield crystal instead, that would leave behind the gem pickups - Brilliant.

[Chaos-Fusion]

Somewhat late feedback regarding Lilac's redesign but whatever, it looks much better than the original design and kudo's to the artist who did the concept art. Also I'm a bit late at giving feedback for the SAGE demo but meh, I'll do that later on when it's all fresh in my mind.

[NBlast]

Few days ago I watched NickonAquaMagna's let's play of the Freedom Planet demo and then I played it by myself...

THIS. IS. AWESOME.

Your game is just adorable and so enjoyable. Music, graphics, animations - just great. It have some sort of old-PSX feel of games. I registered on this forums just to thank you for your effort and give you some feedback. I have two suggestions.

1) During the playthought I noticed one thing that can be spot also on mentioned video that I saw.

Around 1:25 - you can see Lilac jumping on the floating platform. There is a small problem. If you jump from lower platform to higher, you will land on the higher. But sometimes you feel that you jumped to low to reach the platform above but game is interpreting it as a correct land and it "teleports" you at the top of it.

This may be disorienting. During my playthought I was 100% sure that I will not land on it but game always putted me up. This was so unexpected that I accidentally fall down below. This can be used to, but I believe that it can be adjusted somehow. OR (this is proposition) you can make a new animation of character as she grabs a platform with her hands and then just she climbs up quickly, if your jump wasn't enoght to reach the higher place.

2) Did you considered adding your game to the Steam Greenlight?

http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/

This is interesting initiative. The purpose it to "players choose which games they want to see on Steam". You are adding videos, gameplay and screenshots with a game's description. Then you just count on player's up-votes with may help game to get on Steam shop. This may be interesting idea as well as a way of promotion.

Anyway. Good luck with the game. It definitely will rock!

PS Sorry for my English and mistakes that may occur.

PPS About the self-demonstrating shield "containers". Maybe it's a good idea, to expand the "demonstration shield" to the large "safe-zone" sphere/aura. Larger enough to protect the whole character when she is standing it in. It disappears if character will take a shield with her.

[Strife]

Glad you like the game, NBlast! I'm aware of the quirk with the floating platforms, but thanks for mentioning it anyway. As far as Greenlight goes, I'm going to wait until I have more content to show off and when I'm confident that I'll have little trouble getting Greenlighted.

Carol now has a special Wild Kick ability. Holding the C button lets her attack with rapid-fire kicks as long as she has the Energy for it. She does not gain Energy by running fast like Lilac, but it regenerates slowly over time and by collecting crystals.

On a similar note, Lilac can now perform a weak kick by attacking while crouched down.

As for this particular stage, it'll be a practice dojo where the player can try out small time challenges. Upon entering the stage, they would be presented with a list of small maps to try out where the goal is to hit all of the targets as quickly as possible. Since I plan to have obstacles load dynamically in order to keep the stage small, this would also open up the possibility of a Dojo Editor where you can make your own maps/challenges.

[SonicFan2010]

Will Carol accompany Lilac as "Tails" accompaies Sonic?