In-game graphics
As announced, I made a large sprint this week to bring the artwork closer to completion. I think it’s about halfway done now, but I’m getting more and more experience with this, so the second half should go a lot faster.
Here are some screenshots of the game as it looks now. (Ignore the framerates. The screenshot messes up the counter.)
I chose muted and desaturated colours scheme for the static stuff (shelves, refridgerators, floor, walls). There are two reasons for this. First, the products in a typical grocery store all clamour for your attention by having brighter, bolder colours than the products next to them, which doesn’t give an aesthethically pleasing result. Second, this allows me to keep the bright colours for things that actually have some gameplay value (carts, powerups, weapons).
The look of the buttons is new as well, matching the cartoon style of the title screen. You might also have noticed the new fuel gauge in the top left corner. If you’re using fuel, it shows rising bubbles.
All textures for the static geometry reside in one big image called the “texture atlas”. This is a common technique to avoid expensive switching between textures. To give you an idea, below is the texture atlas for the first four levels.
There’s still some room, but I still have to do the checkout lane and cash registers, and would like to keep some space in reserve.
As mentioned before, there will be three different ‘chains’ of grocery stores, each with a different look. So far, I’ve only done the first, but I have some notes and sketches for the other two. There are only a few different obstacles in each, so the levels will look a bit repetitive – but if anyone notices, I’ve failed at making the gameplay engaging enough. Also, I simply don’t have the time to draw more; the game will have to be finished at some point!
Update: I totally forgot to mention the shadows! Ehm … look, there are shadows! They really anchor the objects to the world!
Another update: I also forgot to mention the wheels! Ehm … look, the carts have wheels now! They turn with the movement and everything!