Should I go for pixel art?

[damicore]

That 2x one is sweet

 

[circ]

Blue/green hued is definitely better and easier on the eyes. Maybe mix it up for the rest, pixel UI but clip-art illustrator for ships and the rest?

 

[Destroid]

Massive improvement, it's looking pretty damn good.

 

[tiagocc0]

Maybe mix it up for the rest, pixel UI but clip-art illustrator for ships and the rest?

I'm sorry I didn't understand this part, could you explain?

 

[circ]

Ya, I was thinking, keep the pixel interface elements - the bar at the bottom and sidebar, and keep the grid and ships like they are in the first example - to give it a partial boardgame look. I don't know, maybe that mix of older pixel look and boardgame would look interesting.

 

[tiagocc0]

Ya, I was thinking, keep the pixel interface elements - the bar at the bottom and sidebar, and keep the grid and ships like they are in the first example - to give it a partial boardgame look. I don't know, maybe that mix of older pixel look and boardgame would look interesting.

I see, that's a good idea, I'm kind of doing it right for the background since I'm using opacity for one of the layers so it's already mixed.
But I will take a look later to see if I can improve something else, if something not pixel art looks better in the context I will definitely use it!

 

[villain of the story]

This is just great:

You've got something there. Stick to it.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I prefer the crispy colours of the second mockup. I don't like the colours in latter ones.

 

[Zed]

I like it. the background hexes look sweet. I like the little dialogue pop-up as well.

now, two things:
*never use pure whites in pixelart. instead of 255/255/255 make it 240/240/240 or something. it's a subtle but important change. I myself is very sensitive to it and I know many others are as well. basically the only place to use pure whites is in metallic highlights, but even then you'll probably want a hint of blue.
*no need to upscale fonts. readability > style. fonts like profontwindows (my favorite) or other programmer's fonts have sizes up to 22. terminal can size up to 14. everything looks better if it's 1x1pixels.

here's an edit I made, replacing pure white with 230/230/230. maybe you can see the difference. I also added a 1px shadow to the left-hand text to increase readability just to see how it would look.

 

[tiagocc0]

I prefer the crispy colours of the second mockup. I don't like the colours in latter ones.

I like it too, after I export everything to C and QML I willl try to make an option so people can choose one of two styles, being this last one I made and one based on the second mockup!

I like it. the background hexes look sweet. I like the little dialogue pop-up as well.

now, two things:
*never use pure whites in pixelart. instead of 255/255/255 make it 240/240/240 or something. it's a subtle but important change. I myself is very sensitive to it and I know many others are as well. basically the only place to use pure whites is in metallic highlights, but even then you'll probably want a hint of blue.
*no need to upscale fonts. readability > style. fonts like profontwindows (my favorite) or other programmer's fonts have sizes up to 22. terminal can size up to 14. everything looks better if it's 1x1pixels.

here's an edit I made, replacing pure white with 230/230/230. maybe you can see the difference. I also added a 1px shadow to the left-hand text to increase readability just to see how it would look.
View attachment 1089

Thanks Zed, I will change the white, I'm studying the best way to display fonts on QML, the current way is horrible..

 

[tiagocc0]

I really like the font I'm using at size 8, but it does looks ugly in 2x2 pixels
I'm trying profontwindows right now

 

[tiagocc0]

Update on the main thread, new mockup screen using a new font where I need to display bigger texts.
A few changes on the design.

 

[tiagocc0]

Hurray, I was able to modify the Qt5 beta source code to include a custom text element in qml that allows text without anti-aliasing!
I will release the code of this modification as is required by the license of Qt,

 

[Zed]

I like it a lot!

There's only one more critique I can give without knowing how the game actually plays like, and that's the menu on the left. I like the yellow-orange because it spices things up a bit, but I'm thinking the content of the menu is brought forward a little more with a less exaggerated color (edit on right):

 

[tiagocc0]

Thanks Zed! I will test with this color!

 

[zeitgeist]

Personally I wouldn't use a drop shadow on a pixel font, I'd rather use an outlined font instead, like this or this for example. And check these out (scene fonts), there's a lot of Amiga fonts with different colors and gradients and whatnot for inspiration.

 

[tiagocc0]

Personally I wouldn't use a drop shadow on a pixel font, I'd rather use an outlined font instead, like this or this for example. And check these out (scene fonts), there's a lot of Amiga fonts with different colors and gradients and whatnot for inspiration.

Interesting I will take a look.

 

[tiagocc0]

Here's a little bit about the new engine with the new combat screen:
http://www.purpleorangegames.com/StarLifeAlpha_0_5.m4v

I will try to release the next alpha version this weekend, there are still lots of things to fix.

EDIT: A better resolution video here:
http://www.purpleorangegames.com/StarLifeAlpha_0_5_High.m4v

 

[Zed]

could you export the video in an aryan file format, please?
nothing on my computer can play m4v. I tried VLC but it crashes.

 

[circ]

Tried renaming container to mp4? Or get PotPlayer.

 

[tiagocc0]

could you export the video in an aryan file format, please?
nothing on my computer can play m4v. I tried VLC but it crashes.

That's strange, I played it on VLC. M4v is actually mp4.
EDIT: I also tried the stream option on VLC giving the url above and it worked too. I will try to upload it to vimeo.

 

[tiagocc0]

Here you go: https://vimeo.com/54759001

 

[Zed]

looks very good.
I'd make the green movement grid (as in, when you choose where your ship should go) a little more subtle. liiiiike... 30% transparency.

 

[tiagocc0]

looks very good.
I'd make the green movement grid (as in, when you choose where your ship should go) a little more subtle. liiiiike... 30% transparency.

Okay, I made it fade away along with the distance, but I may have to make it more transparent, when near the ship it still looks very bright.

 

[Zed]

if the movement grid is based on the max amount of movement on that very turn, I think it should actually be more prominent around the edges.