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That's the point. Not every location is this dark though; half of the game is extremely bright and light-hearted, the other half being dark and claustrophobic. As the character spends more time in the dark, her eyes adapt and she can see better, making it not so dark, but that shot was taken with the flashlight on, so her night vision isn't so good.
OK, new Sabriel screen. This is part mock, part screen. Everything here works except the player's battlers, which at the moment I'm having trouble lining up. Other than that:
Obviously the player battlers are the same and are just quick scetches at the moment, and the enemies are placeholders, but you get the idea.
making the screen darker for building atmosphere is all well and good, but there's a fine line between "moody" and "annoying", and i think you may have crossed it. what little i can see looks great, though. i think the differences between the characters is intentional, and could work pretty well. stuff like the dad's facelessness, the little girl's odd, out-of-place cuteness, etc. could easily be visual cues. (sidenote i really like the sound of your project death by moogles and i've gotta get around to a thoughtful response for it at some point)
@GameBoy: I forgot to take into account the possibility of brightness settings conflicting with the darkness. I'm very glad that you brought this up, and I'm going to spend some time thinking up a work-around. Do you have any ideas to lead me in the right direction? The different styles are completely intentional. Other than a subtle shadow not featured in that screenshot, NPCs are meant to blend into the background.
@Moe: Well, like I noted, it's only this dark when Yoko, that adorable little protagonist there, can't see in the dark. Even if she can see in the dark, when she turns the flashlight on, it focuses all of that darkness to areas outside of the light. So, essentially, she can see better without the flashlight. However, NPCs and other characters are only visible when the light from the flashlight is on them, making the flashlight the most crucial tool in the game. It's a safety mechanism of sorts - simply turn the flashlight off and all of the monsters disappear. It also creates a sense of suspense, because there are monsters all around you, but you can't see them. There's no telling what'll be standing around you when you turn the flashlight on. Of course, some monsters are docile and take the place of NPCs, so you have to turn the flashlight on to interact with them.
Do you have any suggestions on making it more moody and less annoying? With that in mind, I think it's necessary that I note that the light from the flashlight twitches and grows slightly, though rapidly, so at sometimes you can see areas not visible in this screenshot.
EDIT:
@fox5: Is there anything in particular on which you'd like some criticism?
And thanks for the love, Moe.
EDITA:
I did some balancing on the screen tone and would like some criticism regarding the new look. The edits to the darkness screen tone are now much more murky with a slightly brown tint, rather than being purely dark. I took the change as an advantage to demonstrate exactly how the system works.
1. This is Yoko standing in her room with her flashlight in her hand.
2. By holding Space for a moment, Yoko is transported from the real world to the Tantalus.
*Note that her father's horror is not visible. I'd also like to specify that the giant thorns burst from the ground as soon as the transportation is complete, but my print screen didn't quite catch them in action.
3. By pressing Shift, Yoko activates her current tool, which would be her flashlight.
Horrors that live within the Tantalus are only visible in the eyes of Yoko's flashlight.
i know its not a screenshot...but this is more or less a hype thread so...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iVpHtFNW5I
It looks good wyatt, but oh please god don't use rtp charsets on that background.
yes i DID post this in the youtube linkdump thread but no one ever fucking looks there so...
@Wyatt: I'm very disturbed by those chat messages D: I dunno though, does the window need to be that long? Depends if you're going to do a HUD or not. I think having it the full length of the screen distracts the eye a little.
@Necrile: Battle system looks good. Very Chrono Triggery. Is it evented, scripted or a bit of both? Because I seem to recall most of Flower was evented before. Good to see you're making progress with it.
OK so another screen from Sabriel. Finished the battle system with a bit of help from MicKo, and finished colouring the battler of Sabriel. For those who know the story of Sabriel, those are Dead Hands on the right. All custom art, so it's going to take a while to make enemys and characters :/
Might make a thread soon if anyones intrested. Comments?
Sharktooth, I think that you either need to make the Chat System like, thinner, or make it so that it disappears when you're idle or the log isn't being flooded by talking, because it's true that it taking up the entire bottom seems a little off, and yeah.
necrile correct me if I'm wrong but are the HP's out of 13 or 15 :?: how does that divide into 3 hearts, and wouldn't it be easier to just make their HP out of 3?
Overall the premise is pretty interesting. It seems slightly unfair to have 4 v. 1 battles but I suppose you could balance it. Only complaint would be mapping, the caves are pretty bland and need work.
@fox5: I recognize that battle system :3 Battlers look pretty original, and everything is pleasing to the eye, though the battleback might be too dark.
