Inter Level Score Screen WIP

Here we are, the beta is almost a week gone and life seems to go on more or less as usual.

This week we have been trimming our future plans a bit in order to make sure that the game will be as good as possible. Kill your darlings as it were. Luckily we were always aware that we would most likely be forced to cut some content and we had already more or less decided what would be cut if we did not have enough time.

Although I did start to make a dog that we decided to scrap it was only two hours lost and not a huge loss, and actually quite fun, I might just finish it on my spare time even if it won’t be in the game.

Other than that I made some small things like fixing up a reception desk and doing a some variation of old props.

But this week I have also been given something a little bit more chewy from my usual diet of couches and desks. I was to make a stage cleared screen. It is basically what it says on the tin screen that pops up between levels where you are told your score and the like.

I think that we can be honest enough to say that our concept of the “escape” game is in some ways a bit reminiscent of Hotline Miami, so I tried to learn something from them. After you finish a level in hotline Miami you walk back through the carnage you created and it makes you think about what you just done.

So I wanted to catch some of the same feeling in this image.

As I mentioned the screen appears between levels, in more ways than one actually. After you finish a level you get on an elevator and ride in order to get to the next level.

Our main menu was inspired by an old elevators button panel. So I took the menu screen (made by our lead artist Rebecka) and used it as the base for the background. I made a whole elevator in the same colors and made it pretty small since one of the things that sets us apart from the other “Escape” versions is that we use pixel art, something that is very nice especially if you (like me) barely touched a pen or brush with artistic intent before setting foot on Gotland.

I just did a quick gesture and filled it in with the coat color of the main character and then the black outline followed by the shading on the coat and lastly the highlights. I did some small adjustments to the position of the arms and one of the legs and now I think it is a real good start. It gives the feeling that everything really stopped for a while.

I also think it helps that the picture is quite small and isolated. (the score and such will cover the left part of the screen)

Today we also had a bit of a discussion about the color of the pants and some thoughts about animating it in some way, either just shaking the elevator a bit or maybe adding some smoke form the cigarette but we will probably come back to that tomorrow.

Anyway sorry for the lack of pictures, but now it’s back to work so, see you later.

//Max Norldund