Just some ideas I've been messing with.

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Cendeu
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:29 am

Just some ideas I've been messing with.

Post by Cendeu »

Hey everyone! I'm really new to the game, having played it on and off for maybe... 2 years now. I've always been into game design and pixel art as hobbies, so when playing games I'm always thinking of ways to make them better or more user-friendly. I was bored one day, so I screenshotted Drakkar, brought the picture up in GraphicsGale and messed around with it.


Here is a picture of what I've messed with so far.

So far I've made a few changes:
  • No more hearts for health! Enemy health is shown as a bar behind their name. Friendlies and Neutrals would have Blue/Grey healthbars, but none were in the picture to show. Added a little dithering for a clean looking bar texture.
  • Your Health/Energy is shown as a bar and a number, instead of either-or. This especially has always bothered me. Bars in video games allow a quick glance to show you how you're doing. Numbers allow exact amounts to be used for precise spell casts. It's imperative to have both, in my opinion. I made it look a bit nicer by adding a drop shadow to the bars (since they're bars instead of boxes now).
  • Removed the "chain-like" background behind the macro bar. In my opinion, that made everything look a bit too cluttered. It's a personal preference, but I think it looks nice. I also cleaned up the upper side of it, and removed a pixel of height from the button showing which bar you have active.
  • Various small pixel-art changes. Right now these just include adding a black border around the bag/belt/etc buttons, and "finishing" the top of the graphic above the character portrait (around the top jewel).
These changes are fairly small, mostly cosmetic. The only one that would require much work might be the enemy health bars, since the currently "heart" system only shows you their general health level "full, near full, half, almost dead, etc". The bar could show this as well (if it filled up in "ticks" rather than a full 1-100% range), but Ideally it would show the full range. If they stuck to showing health "ticks", an easy graphic can be made to have "chunks" of the health bar (it'd take me 10 minutes to whip something up).

I have more changes I'd like to add to the picture for fun. Little things like:
  • Instead of a 31st bag slot for gold, make gold have it's own section at the bottom of the bag with a "remove stack" amount to make stacks of gold (for dropping, etc). I think it would look nice to have gold a bit bigger and separate than the rest of the items. You would still be able to drop stacks of gold.
  • Changing the background textures. This is another personal preference thing. The "spraypaint-like" background definitely looks older and fits the origins of the game, but I'd love to be able to change the background to your liking. Both the grey background around the game and the Tan scroll-like background behind the extra windows. An option to change these between various graphics would be a change everyone would be happy with.
  • Change the "small icons" of items. Currently it seems to me that every item has a Large icon and a Small icon. The large icon is seen when holding it in your hand or in your bag/belt/pouch. The Small icon is seen in the Target-box when someone else is holding an item. The Small icons have a gradient background and don't fill up the boxes that they're shown above. An unnoticable detail to most, but hey, I'm bored enough to make newer, cleaner icons without too much blurriness or gradients.
  • Fix the bottom of the scroll. That may just be my computer messing up, though.
One other change I think would be interesting would be "Memory". This would require tons of coding and changes with the game itself, but in this mock-up I'm making won't take much work (so I may add it in eventually). Basically, instead of Black Squares where you can't see, put a faded tile instead. You won't be able to see items or anything on the ground, but you'll still see the entire layout of the area. The places you can't actually see will be heavily faded to show you can't see what's happening there.

Anyway, if anyone has any comments or suggestions, speak up! More discussion is always great. Also, if any Sysop thinks they could use some random pixel art for the game, let me know. I have plenty of free time and love pixel art.

Saveri
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:18 pm

Re: Just some ideas I've been messing with.

Post by Saveri »

I would love to see some fresh paint on the old house, so to speak.

I recommend that you check out forum posts of some of the graphic stuff done in the past by Darge and others too, that may give you more ideas. It may also point you in the right direction for who to speak with.

Wolverine2
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 4:54 pm

Re: Just some ideas I've been messing with.

Post by Wolverine2 »

The memory feature, although "cool" I dislike the idea of in Drakkar. Part of the fun is being ported around NOT knowing what level you're on or even if you are in the same area. Makes the game feel much larger than it is. Plus there's a ton of areas that are actually right next to eachother behind walls you never think would be. If you want to know the layout, go look at a user map. There's plenty out there. Being an older player, I still enjoy walking around old parts forgetting where I am and where to go. It's what makes Drakkar different.

Aside from that I really like the new monster health bars, and it looks a lot clearer than just having a heart that you can barely tell what notch the monster is on. Little improvements like that for a better experience graphically are nice, but the exploration and forgetfulness of some seems to be what keeps us around, feeling like we're exploring a brand new dungeon, when in fact it's the same one from years ago that we just forgot all about.

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