Presentation & Graphics

The focus this week was on adding new assets and visual effects to make the game look nicer and add emphasis to some aspects of the gameplay.

The game's new appearance, with added assets and post-processing

I incorporated a new tileset by Rekkimaru (2021) to make the dungeon more detailed, and used Unity's post-processing to capture more of the eerie, sinister aesthetic that I envisaged when creating the concept for this game.  I lowered the "temperature" of the visuals, making bluer, colder colours more prominent, used some slight colour grading to strengthen this effect by lowering the vibrancy of some colours, and also added a slight vignette to the screen as a finishing touch.

I upgraded the old barrier asset to become a full gate.  I used this gate asset by SavvyCow (2019), and modified it to make it fit more appropriately with the new tileset that I added.

The original gate asset

The modified gate asset, adapted to work with the new tileset that was added

I also experimented considerably with Unity's particle system to add new effects which hopefully make different parts of the gameplay clearer.

I added these calming, drifting particles to the checkpoint to try and emphasise that it is a safe place for the player to stand.  The checkpoint also has new tiles which came from a tileset by Noktis (2021), and had their colour altered by me.  

When the tiles turn deadly, a burst of particles emphasises the animation and makes more obvious when the tile has finished its transition to deadliness.

I also made the death animation a bit more dramatic than it was previously by adding a large burst of red particles.

Finally, I turned an animated torch gif by Rekkimaru (2021) into an animated tile which I placed throughout the dungeon to give it a little more life.

Feedback

It would be nicer if the death animation wasn't so abrupt.  The character kind of just stops and turns into a skeleton which is cool, but would be nicer if he fell over

I think the skeleton collapsing into a pile of bones would be a great addition to the death animation and will definitely look at incorporating this.  I'll either make some new frames of animation, or maybe experiment with the physics system to simulate the bones collapsing.

References

Noktis (2021), Pixel Art Top-Down Yellow Dungeon Tileset. itch.io, https://noktis.itch.io/pixel-art-yellow-dungeon

Rekkimaru (2021), Dungeon RPG Tileset. itch.io,  https://rekkimaru.itch.io/dungeon-rpg-tileset

SavvyCow (2019), 16x16 Sand Dungeon Tileset. itch.io, https://savvycow.itch.io/dungen-tileset-16x16