Graphics, the most important part of the game (no one likes staring at a black screen). Except, I don’t need to worry about this, my graphics are already the bomb. I’ll be skipping this section. Whoa, hold your horses, just because you have ultra mega graphics that doesn’t mean your game is graphically appealing. Ultra mega graphic man there’s a lot more to graphics then the sprites themself. You’ll have to make sure you included these visual elements if you truly want ultra mega graphics.
What about your lighting? Betcha didn’t think of that. With Game Maker 8's ability to handle transparency you can add lights to your game. Along with flashy lights you can lighten up your game with other transparency effects like smoke, mist, lens flare, shadows (these can make your game seem 3D) and any other effects a smart cookie like you can conjure up. Those transparency effects are fun to make, but stop being a hog. Share that fun. Let the player customize the game’s graphics. The player wants to have fun customizing his characters, backgrounds, and even the music. Gamers will love you for this. Good graphics can still be an eyesore when they don’t like each other. Don’t let your futuristic Jedi looking graphics be ruined by bright, bubbly, Pokemon like graphic, and in case you didn’t know, Pokemon and Jedi’s hate each other. It’s true. You should see how Skywalker and Pikachu battle each other when no one's looking. Anyhow make sure all of your graphics fall under the same theme. And the funnest graphics to make – Particle systems. Just be careful they’re dangerous. To many of them well freeze slow computers. If you overuse your particles, then beware, slower computers won't be able to play your game. You will either have to allow the player to reduce the frequency of particles, or an ever better option, reduce them yourself if the fps(frames per seconds) goes below a certain number. Until these special affects are added to your graphics then, I’m sorry to say it but, you don’t have ultra mega graphics, and as no game on YoYoGames has all of these special effects, you could be the first to break into a new era of 2d graphics, if you make your game has ultra mega graphics, so try to implement as many of these ideas as possible.View other blogs by Mr. Me at http://sites.google.com/site/mrme444/game-maker-tips
Welcome to 64Digits, in case I forgot to say that. Good guide, talks a little more about details and general suggestions than I thought it might. But the second graphic in particular has a good point that I doubt everyone here uses, and that's to graphically enhance the atmosphere.
My game will have ultra mega graphics :-)
Nice, guide btw, I'll check out your other blogs.I like Cesque's comment.
All of those effects were possible before GM8 and it's .PNG support.
Well Cesque, I like your comment, but I can't say I agree. Unfortunately people are so whorish about graphics that they DO care about how much love you put into each and every pixel. I'd really like to just skimp on graphics and get away with it, because the gameplay is fun.
But that will never happen. Well not with my style at least. People with retro games though. Bastards.Graphics are one of the less important aspects of the game.
People tend to forget that graphics should be representative of an idea. Ninja Gaiden and Mirror's Edge achieve this well. High-def graphics doesn't necessarily mean good art design. Good art design is where it's at.
Graphics are pretty important. I mean, visuals let you know what the hell you're doing. So yeah, like Juju said, you need good art design so that things are clear and coherent. Plus it's pretty mandatory if you want atmosphere in a game, which is usually the thing that makes good games great for me.