MAPLE FOREST!! Fox-faces return!!

Hello everyone!
Welcome to the thread for one of my current projects, a small and cute game taking strong cues from Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and The Legend of Zelda. The game is called:

- MAPLE FOREST -
An adventure game like Zelda, with a strong focus on building relationships with the NPCs in your home-town and in other towns on your adventure, like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. Light farming/planting flowers/fishing/etc planned, along with the more traditional Zelda gameplay of exploring the overworld and finding items in caves and dungeons and such. Some screenshots and videos!:















Random old stuff:
He's quick! =)


Weird stone head in a field. RPG staple, for sure!
Dungeon Entrance!

Forest music!



Forest Map!

Cozy town =)
Thanks for taking a look guys. Hope you like my game!
 
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Never really understood the gameboy aesthetic, but this still looks great.
Thanks, Siolfor! The Gameboy aesthetic is nostalgic to a lot of people (me included!), but that's not the reason this game is using it. The Gameboy only displayed four colors on screen, and could only use *three* colors per sprite. Because of that, and the low resolution, doing graphics like these is a fun exercise in pixel art, more like working out small puzzles than classical drawing. Like I said, I'm mostly working on this project as a way to cool down after long (exhausting) sessions of working on Soul Healer. The other good thing about this art style is that I can complete a whole tileset like the one above in an hour to an hour and a half, compared to the eight (or more!) hours I spend per set when doing art like Soul Healer's.

Basically, I went with this art style because it's fun and relaxing to draw, and it won't take too much of my time away from my main project. My main goal is still to get Soul Healer into everyone's hands and hearts, after all! ^ ^

Edit:
Looks great and very true to the gameboy vibe.
Thanks, Jack! As far as I know, this could run on a Gameboy. Probably. I'm not really an expert on it, but I am using the tiny four-color palette the Gameboy was famous for, and I am respecting the sprite color limits. The view is also Gameboy resolution, plus or minus a few pixels. Glad you like the look of it! ^ ^
 
M

McWolke

Guest
i love the Gameboy Graphics! and your concept sounds fun

...and could only use *three* colors per sprite.
...
and I am respecting the sprite color limits.
but these tiles have all 4 colors?

and did the gameboy really had this limit? never heard of it..
anyway, your Game looks really cool! i love the style of the bridge.. reminds me of.. something.
 
i love the Gameboy Graphics! and your concept sounds fun


but these tiles have all 4 colors?

and did the gameboy really had this limit? never heard of it..
anyway, your Game looks really cool! i love the style of the bridge.. reminds me of.. something.
Thanks, @McWolke! :)
Yes, the GB had this limit - tiles can use all four colors (like your example), but any sprite for enemies, objects, etc could only use three. Iirc, the reason for this is that the fourth unused color is used by the GB for transparency. Pretty cool how much games could do with such tight restrictions! =)
 
M

McWolke

Guest
Thanks, @McWolke! :)
Yes, the GB had this limit - tiles can use all four colors (like your example), but any sprite for enemies, objects, etc could only use three. Iirc, the reason for this is that the fourth unused color is used by the GB for transparency. Pretty cool how much games could do with such tight restrictions! =)
whoa, that makes sense! thanks for educating me :)
 
How long have you been doing pixel art for? And are you available for slave labour?
I've been drawing forever, but I don't practice as much as I should. ):
I am unavailable for slave or paid labor, unfortunately! I have like ten games in my head I want to make - I'll be busy with my own projects forever, hahah! X'D
looks cool. it might be nice if you could change the color palette in options (between a few different versions of gameboy and/or custom looks, so everyone can find their "ideally nostalgic" setting.
will there be turnips?
Yeah, I was thinking that too, @FROGANUS. It should be easy to allow players to change the hue, saturation, and contrast of the game using shaders. I'll add it sooner or later, probably. =D
I said updates would be once a week, but here's a little something extra for this week:

ZZzzzZZzzzzz
Always get a good night's rest after a hard days work!
Thanks again for the comments and likes, guys. Glad you like how the game looks so far. =)
 
B

Boogery Boogers

Guest
I've been drawing forever, but I don't practice as much as I should. ):
I am unavailable for slave or paid labor, unfortunately! I have like ten games in my head I want to make - I'll be busy with my own projects forever, hahah! X'D

Yeah, I was thinking that too, @FROGANUS. It should be easy to allow players to change the hue, saturation, and contrast of the game using shaders. I'll add it sooner or later, probably. =D
I said updates would be once a week, but here's a little something extra for this week:

ZZzzzZZzzzzz
Always get a good night's rest after a hard days work!
Thanks again for the comments and likes, guys. Glad you like how the game looks so far. =)
That gif lol. He sure looks happy. :D
 
That gif lol. He sure looks happy. :D
Sleeping is his favorite hobby. Takes after his good-for-nothing creator. X'D
God damn it, Rich. What do you think you're doing?!
FARMING IS MY TURF!

This actually looks really cute, great work.
(if there's turnips, I'll have to hurt you)
Thanks, Lukan! =D
And sorry...owing to their nice, obvious shape, and bright white color, turnips are perfect for this kind of art. They're one of the first things I planned on adding, haha. X'D

That said, this is more "Animal Crossing with a bit extra to do (light battling, light foraging, light farming) than Harvest Moon. Won't actually cross into your territory too much, hehe. ^ ^

I showed you a screenshot of Soul Healer awhile back, actually, with the house with the small garden. I plan on having a tiny bit of farming in that game, too. Nothing deep at all, though! =)
 
Ah, there's no demo yet, &, sorry. I need to update this soon actually - I missed last week. I got addicted to working on my main project and messing around with charcoal, heheh. ^ ^"

Thanks, though! =)
 

RujiK

Member
As a big fan of the GB and GBC, I give the graphics 5 stars.

Honestly for a "Side project" this still sounds really ambitious. Sure, the graphics will be relatively easy to make, but the town + adventuring aspect sounds ambitious enough for a full game.

Anyway though, good luck! Hope this gets finished.
 
As a big fan of the GB and GBC, I give the graphics 5 stars.

Honestly for a "Side project" this still sounds really ambitious. Sure, the graphics will be relatively easy to make, but the town + adventuring aspect sounds ambitious enough for a full game.

Anyway though, good luck! Hope this gets finished.
Well, I already have most of the code I need finished because of my main game, heheh. This is a very "lite" RPG. Just something I open when I'm bored, though. No rush on this one. =)
 
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Whoa, it's been awhile. Started working on this again, though!


I'm working on making movement as satisfying and tactile as possible right now. I'm pretty excited about it! I think it's going to be really fun just running around soon! =D

Music is borrowed from Link's Awakening for now. Will update over the weekend. More physics and dodge rolling next.
 

cidwel

Member
oh this is adorable! Love the pallete and the sprites! Seems a project fun enough to make and play! Keep up the good work pal, this seems to have the same quality and love as SH!
 

Joe Ellis

Member
I've only just seen this, it looks really good, I like the way the fox moves especially when he's fast, that adds a different thing to the classic gameboy pokemon vibe, which is also really cool, youv nailed the color palette
 

Bentley

Member
Whoa, it's been awhile. Started working on this again, though!


I'm working on making movement as satisfying and tactile as possible right now. I'm pretty excited about it! I think it's going to be really fun just running around soon! =D

Music is borrowed from Link's Awakening for now. Will update over the weekend. More physics and dodge rolling next.
LOVE that sprint. It just looks so powerful.
 
He attacs, he protects but most important, he awooos
Yes. He's a good, brave boy. =D

Yay! So cute and charming! :D
Thanks, kupo! That's the idea! I'm having fun with this. The GB style lends itself really well to cute clean styles like this. I'm learning a bit for my main game while working on this!

I have never touched a GameBoy before, but I do like the aesthetic. The images have an authentic feel to them.
Thanks, Sorcerer! I'm not being super strict about it, but I'm trying to keep it legit *looking* at least. Following color restrictions, but I'll be cheating with sprite count and stuff. =)

LOVE that sprint. It just looks so powerful.
Thank you, yess. The main thing I'm going for with this is excellent, weighty game feel. The spirit word for this game would be something like KINETIC, hahah. The next update is going to be good. I'm adding attacks out of dashing and rolling. It's gonna be soooo satisfying. =D

Don't think the GB had anything so darn precious. I love watching him flail his little sword. Like I could just mash the attack button for hours!
Yeah, I'm proud of the swish effect. I messed with it for like an hour to make it look good both for single attacks and for button mashing. I'm actually *really* happy with it. I was having fun just mashing attack everywhere after I finished it, which is a good sign.

Edit: Made a slime. Ahhh, cute!
 
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I'm sort of tempted and inspired here to make some GB music after seeing your latest progress.
Me too. I started writing dungeon music yesterday, hahah! You should do it too, for sure. Lots of fun! O:

Collab! Collab!
I'm too much of a control freak/glory hog for that. A little unfortunate, since I like my buddies here, and gamedev is lonely. Nothing brings me more satisfaction than looking at my game and going "oh... I made all of this?", though! =D
 
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L

Lonewolff

Guest
I'm too much of a control freak/glory hog for that. A little unfortunate, since I like my buddies here, and gamedev is lonely. Nothing brings me more satisfaction than looking at my game and going "oh... I made all of this?", though! =D
Don't worry I am exactly the same. Can't see myself working in a team either.
 
I haven't written much music lately, so I need a good excuse to write something. I haven't really explored much retro music so it will be fun to get back into it. I'll probably dabble with some trackers again then go back to writing midis and running them throughless accurate vsts :p
Heh yeah, I'm a bit the same. I keep saying I will team up for each game jam then I decide to go it alone because I worry I will be too much a bastard to work with.
 
Ah, crap. I started thinking "what would this look like in color?" and I kind of like it:


It's more work though, which I was trying to avoid with this game for the art. What do you guys think? Is it a big jump up, or is the monochrome look cool looking anyway?
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
Ah, crap. I started thinking "what would this look like in color?" and I kind of like it:


It's more work though, which I was trying to avoid with this game for the art. What do you guys think? Is it a big jump up, or is the monochrome look cool looking anyway?
both look great!
In a way colour is nice, but it does loose the monochrome charm.
perhaps try to tie it into the game? based on location, or some game mechanic?
You could pull a link to the past, and have time travel, but have the past be all monochrome or smthing.
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
Oooh, how about having just some objects coloured? Would that work?
Like, for example, have objects you interact with be coloured?
That may just look worse overall though...
 
@GMWolf: Those are interesting ideas, yeah. I think I'll probably keep this game simple, though. I dunno, I'll do more testing. I think the time travel sort of thing is probably a better bet than singling out objects though, unless I make the default palette grey, which I don't want to do.

@Joe Ellis: No, trying a bigger scene is the next step, I guess. I'm just messing around at work right now, hahah. I'll have to think about this a bit.
 

O.Stogden

Member
Every game already has colour!

Not a fan of the gameboy, but I prefer seeing this game in the monochrome format. It does make it stand out, and if it's easier work for you, then it means you get extra time to spend on the rest of the game. Win-win I think!
 

WarpDogsVG

Member
Damn, these animations are absolutely stellar. Love the look of it

That said, I can easily see the Zelda influences but don't necessarily see the Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon inspirations. How is that part coming along?
 
Definitely loses it's charm a wee bit in colour.
Every game already has colour!

Not a fan of the gameboy, but I prefer seeing this game in the monochrome format. It does make it stand out, and if it's easier work for you, then it means you get extra time to spend on the rest of the game. Win-win I think!
I do like the look of the monochrome green, and I do think it helps it stand out a bit. And it *is* easier to work in, and will probably teach me some stuff about working with values better. I'll stick with the green for now. Later on down the line I can write a tool to change colors pretty easily, probably.

Damn, these animations are absolutely stellar. Love the look of it

That said, I can easily see the Zelda influences but don't necessarily see the Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon inspirations. How is that part coming along?
Thank you! I'm glad you like the animations! More extra juicy stuff coming soon on that front. =)

Nothing is really done for the game systems-wise yet. I'm just working on basic things like movement and collision and stuff right now. The game is probably going to skew more Zelda less Animal Crossing than I originally planned, though; I'm falling in love with how the game feels, which is making me want to focus on action and movement more. =D
 

Pfap

Member
The color does look good, but you can't add everything... well, you can try there's a term for that though "feature creep" lol.
I'm being tongue in cheek, but I think the Gameboy look and feel is interesting and this is the first time I'm seeing it used in a nostalgic way.
Are there other examples of games that recreate this aesthetic? So, I like the look without color; maybe you'll start a trend?
 
L

Lonewolff

Guest
perhaps try to tie it into the game? based on location, or some game mechanic?
Sounds good, as long it wasn't in some sort of 'hand holding' way. In the sense that "here's a yellow thing, so I obviously need to do something with it".

Need to keep the self discovery aspect.
 
Thanks for the comments, kind words, and suggestions, guys. I've decided to definitely go with the greyscale for now. It's turning out to be extremely good value study practice for me. I'm working on my dungeon's entrance now, and it's really driving some stuff home for me, value-wise. I have a really bad habit of having way too little contrast in my color work....having to work with just four colors is forcing me to think in new ways about how I render things. I'll post the dungeon entrance tomorrow. Not quite done yet, but I'm liking it so far. Thanks again for the likes/comments, everyone. Really encouraging, so I appreciate it. =)
 
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