I am really liking A3 for sword designs. I don't have the sword vocabulary to describe it, but something about the blade curving around the handle a little bit and how the base is really wide looks visually striking. Plus maybe i'm over thinking it but being able to tell where the base of the sword is at a glance since it's so much bigger than the rest of the sprite can help with readability in combat? I dunno, I don't play many platformers but I do play my fair share of action roguelikes and something that always bothers me is when things like active hitboxes or the player sprite get covered by various upgrades or combat effects when you're late game fighting 300 enemies at once. Like you were saying with the silhouette being able to pick up on things like that at a glance seems important. Just discovered this series and project, keep it up!
Oh, that's really useful feedback - making sure the active hitboxes are extremely clear at a glance will definitely be important, and the sword silhouette is a huge part of that!
When I started learning game dev, your shorts started popping up for me. In your shorts one of the most prominent features is Isadora, so when I saw this video, I knew I had to watch it. The character is fun to watch as you demonstrate and she instantly felt so iconic, to the level that I had to check if she was a character from a game or show or movie that I was already supposed to know. It comes through quite clearly in your content just how detail-oriented and perhaps perfectionist you are, and I can say, at least for me, this character design was one area that greatly paid off from your diligence. I don't normally go for singleplayer games, but I've wishlisted Isadora's Edge on Steam and look forward to picking it up when it releases (or on sale if my budget mandates). Thanks for your insight into indie game dev - your videos are both helpful and enjoyable. Best of luck!
Ok, I finally found the time to watch the entire devlog, time for some opinions. Starting with the old design: in my opinion, it looks very good. While pixel art might not be as refined as the direction you're taking now, the character itself looks cool. Personally, I really liked her white-blonde hair and the outfit, I personally saw it as a darkblue coat with white fur and a golden button, somewhat old-looking but in a good way, fitting the atmosphere of "toxic forest where you fight monsters and the boss is the Plague Doctor." The new look for Isadora (I'm not sure if I wrote her name correctly) seems more futuristic, more science fiction than fantasy. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just what I think. Regarding the blue hair, I'm not entirely convinced. It look good, but she don't look like the same character, so it's hard for me to think of her current appearance as a redesign, more like a different character. I like the hairstyle; it looks somewhat rebellious. I imagine her hair looks like that because she cut it with a sword, having to change her appearance not to be recognized or something like that. I think a good solution would be to make the old design a separate character, draw her more faithfully to the original in the new style and make her a sister or friend, who went on the adventure before Isadora and inspired her. The concept of a protagonist following in the footsteps of an older sibling/friend and imitating them in their own way is cool in my opinion.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I was sort of going for a sci-fi vibe with the story, so it's really useful to hear that it reads like that! As for the colors and stuff, that's really good info - the older sister of Isadora makes a lot of sense. Also gives me inspiration for maybe a way to change the outfit color somehow - maybe you can get "skins" for Isadora by completing certain achievements, or finding them hidden somewhere, and then those skins can swap the outfit palette for a little bit of fun character customization, and then the original color scheme could be one of those as well. Or maybe a hidden enemy that is Isadora's old design, maybe a faithful recreation could be done similar to how Link is always fighting "Dark Link" in Zelda... Hmm - a lot of cool ideas coming to mind from your feedback!
You're right, it has been a while! Glad to see you back, and hope the game's coming along well; though this seems to have been recorded a rather long time ago, haha. I quite like the idea of maybe being able to swap between different swords or armors, so that you can customize your playstyle a bit (do you want to be able to backdash? Counter? Slam attack?) Either way, excited to see where this goes
Yeah, this footage is from a while back - just started going through the backlog, so I'm expecting to be able to consistently release updates this year, which I'm really excited about! The armor switching is actually a really cool idea - customizable play styles are super engaging! Maybe even a badge system that would augment the kind of abilities you get from the armor? Hmmm, lots of ideas...
Brand new viewer here so forgive me if any of my feedback doesn't match with the game concept as this video is my only exposure so far. With that said, I really like the design you are going forward with! I feel like it captures a very energetic and exciting design for a main character, my only feedback though is that it almost feels a little generic, don't get me wrong, it's a very nice design, but I think it needs some extra spark to make it really stand out when put next to other indie pixel art characters, the scarf has great potential to be that thing when the animations are done and as you said it adds some nice secondary movement to the actions, but maybe something related to her backstory like a family heirloom piece of jewelry or armor, or maybe making the sword design have a bit more detail to it, just something to really make the character memorable and stand out. As for gameplay/powerup stuff, I think that the idea of a spot dodge with a reward for timed dodges is a great idea! Having a risk/reward mechanic like that to combat is always fun, it both makes combat more active for the player but also adds an extra level of satisfaction to player skill progression outside of the actual in game character progression where you get more skill expression as a player that I find usually draws me into a game more and makes me want to keep playing! But overall I loved the video and I am definitely going to be checking back in with your channel as your presentation and editing made the whole thing very fun and easy to watch!
Hey, thanks for checking out the video! Really great feedback, I'm super excited for how the scarf can play into all the different animations, hopefully that gives Isadora the extra little flair she needs, haha! And noted on the spot dodge, right now I'm thinking I'll probably go with some form of healing as the reward for a great dodge, but maybe a damage boost is more fair - ah, I just need to playtest it, heh
Have you considered making a character capable of changing between stances to give them different varying degrees of utility, pros and cons depending on the stance they're currently in? It's commonly done in fighting games.
Oooh, that's a cool idea! Activating different "modes" with drawbacks and benefits is a cool way to let players express their skill level - I'll definitely being make a note of that, thank you!
YEEEEEEESS NEW INBOUND SHOVEL VIDEO!!!!! (btw I think E is the best) (btw on 11:29 I like 1C, 2E, 3B and 4B the most) (and for the swords I like B2, B4 and C1 the most)
Haha yeah - had some issues that came up with releasing new videos, so I had to decide between skipping over a bunch of stuff, or releasing some videos that were filmed a while back - we should get back up to date soon though!
You definitely need a light blue, or silver variant for swords.
Great idea!
Well look what happener
I am really liking A3 for sword designs. I don't have the sword vocabulary to describe it, but something about the blade curving around the handle a little bit and how the base is really wide looks visually striking. Plus maybe i'm over thinking it but being able to tell where the base of the sword is at a glance since it's so much bigger than the rest of the sprite can help with readability in combat? I dunno, I don't play many platformers but I do play my fair share of action roguelikes and something that always bothers me is when things like active hitboxes or the player sprite get covered by various upgrades or combat effects when you're late game fighting 300 enemies at once. Like you were saying with the silhouette being able to pick up on things like that at a glance seems important. Just discovered this series and project, keep it up!
Oh, that's really useful feedback - making sure the active hitboxes are extremely clear at a glance will definitely be important, and the sword silhouette is a huge part of that!
When I started learning game dev, your shorts started popping up for me. In your shorts one of the most prominent features is Isadora, so when I saw this video, I knew I had to watch it. The character is fun to watch as you demonstrate and she instantly felt so iconic, to the level that I had to check if she was a character from a game or show or movie that I was already supposed to know. It comes through quite clearly in your content just how detail-oriented and perhaps perfectionist you are, and I can say, at least for me, this character design was one area that greatly paid off from your diligence.
I don't normally go for singleplayer games, but I've wishlisted Isadora's Edge on Steam and look forward to picking it up when it releases (or on sale if my budget mandates). Thanks for your insight into indie game dev - your videos are both helpful and enjoyable. Best of luck!
Ok, I finally found the time to watch the entire devlog, time for some opinions.
Starting with the old design: in my opinion, it looks very good. While pixel art might not be as refined as the direction you're taking now, the character itself looks cool. Personally, I really liked her white-blonde hair and the outfit, I personally saw it as a darkblue coat with white fur and a golden button, somewhat old-looking but in a good way, fitting the atmosphere of "toxic forest where you fight monsters and the boss is the Plague Doctor."
The new look for Isadora (I'm not sure if I wrote her name correctly) seems more futuristic, more science fiction than fantasy. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just what I think. Regarding the blue hair, I'm not entirely convinced. It look good, but she don't look like the same character, so it's hard for me to think of her current appearance as a redesign, more like a different character. I like the hairstyle; it looks somewhat rebellious. I imagine her hair looks like that because she cut it with a sword, having to change her appearance not to be recognized or something like that.
I think a good solution would be to make the old design a separate character, draw her more faithfully to the original in the new style and make her a sister or friend, who went on the adventure before Isadora and inspired her. The concept of a protagonist following in the footsteps of an older sibling/friend and imitating them in their own way is cool in my opinion.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I was sort of going for a sci-fi vibe with the story, so it's really useful to hear that it reads like that!
As for the colors and stuff, that's really good info - the older sister of Isadora makes a lot of sense. Also gives me inspiration for maybe a way to change the outfit color somehow - maybe you can get "skins" for Isadora by completing certain achievements, or finding them hidden somewhere, and then those skins can swap the outfit palette for a little bit of fun character customization, and then the original color scheme could be one of those as well.
Or maybe a hidden enemy that is Isadora's old design, maybe a faithful recreation could be done similar to how Link is always fighting "Dark Link" in Zelda... Hmm - a lot of cool ideas coming to mind from your feedback!
SKINS PLZ 🙏 @InboundShovel
(i was going to mention that in a newer video but decided to look for an old comment instead)
You're right, it has been a while! Glad to see you back, and hope the game's coming along well; though this seems to have been recorded a rather long time ago, haha. I quite like the idea of maybe being able to swap between different swords or armors, so that you can customize your playstyle a bit (do you want to be able to backdash? Counter? Slam attack?) Either way, excited to see where this goes
Yeah, this footage is from a while back - just started going through the backlog, so I'm expecting to be able to consistently release updates this year, which I'm really excited about!
The armor switching is actually a really cool idea - customizable play styles are super engaging! Maybe even a badge system that would augment the kind of abilities you get from the armor? Hmmm, lots of ideas...
Brand new viewer here so forgive me if any of my feedback doesn't match with the game concept as this video is my only exposure so far. With that said, I really like the design you are going forward with! I feel like it captures a very energetic and exciting design for a main character, my only feedback though is that it almost feels a little generic, don't get me wrong, it's a very nice design, but I think it needs some extra spark to make it really stand out when put next to other indie pixel art characters, the scarf has great potential to be that thing when the animations are done and as you said it adds some nice secondary movement to the actions, but maybe something related to her backstory like a family heirloom piece of jewelry or armor, or maybe making the sword design have a bit more detail to it, just something to really make the character memorable and stand out. As for gameplay/powerup stuff, I think that the idea of a spot dodge with a reward for timed dodges is a great idea! Having a risk/reward mechanic like that to combat is always fun, it both makes combat more active for the player but also adds an extra level of satisfaction to player skill progression outside of the actual in game character progression where you get more skill expression as a player that I find usually draws me into a game more and makes me want to keep playing! But overall I loved the video and I am definitely going to be checking back in with your channel as your presentation and editing made the whole thing very fun and easy to watch!
Hey, thanks for checking out the video!
Really great feedback, I'm super excited for how the scarf can play into all the different animations, hopefully that gives Isadora the extra little flair she needs, haha!
And noted on the spot dodge, right now I'm thinking I'll probably go with some form of healing as the reward for a great dodge, but maybe a damage boost is more fair - ah, I just need to playtest it, heh
Have you considered making a character capable of changing between stances to give them different varying degrees of utility, pros and cons depending on the stance they're currently in?
It's commonly done in fighting games.
Oooh, that's a cool idea! Activating different "modes" with drawbacks and benefits is a cool way to let players express their skill level - I'll definitely being make a note of that, thank you!
AHHH new Isadora is so cool!! Also armor upgrades HYPE!!! Looking forward to the new videos!
ARMOR UPGRADES
YEEEEEEESS NEW INBOUND SHOVEL VIDEO!!!!! (btw I think E is the best) (btw on 11:29 I like 1C, 2E, 3B and 4B the most) (and for the swords I like B2, B4 and C1 the most)
I'm definitely going to practice your artist's artstyle, it looks awesome
I CHOOSE ALL ALTERNATIVE CHOICES!
Jk, love to see where the game is going. Can't wait to purchase a copy for all the computers I own.
Awww shit that's gonna be a lot of character sprites heh heh heh
heeey welcome back long time no see , glad you are ok , and good luck with the game
Thank you! :D
I like row 2 b
I'm a bit confused. A year after the last video you come back with "Hey! It's Monday!", and I go "did I miss a ton of videos here?"
Haha yeah - had some issues that came up with releasing new videos, so I had to decide between skipping over a bunch of stuff, or releasing some videos that were filmed a while back - we should get back up to date soon though!
Shouldn't the double jump be on the cape and the backdash be on the boots instead?
Awesome 😎 man, im a big fan of isadoras edge if you ever need a 2d animator lemme know
Will you add any of the regretted designs as like a unlock-able for 100% or something like that?
e and 4
What's a good program for doing pixel art?
Aseprite is my favorite one. It has a really nice workflow for me
✌️ *PromoSM*