2D Game- Inari and Oni-girl

NESFlint

*Edited 27th February 2018
Alpha stage gameplay video here https://youtu.be/IowOtCaxNpo

For my final major project of University (Hertfordshire,) and hopefully to continue beyond uni, I'll be working on Inari and Oni-girl, an arcade-style Superhero themed 2D beat-em-up in which the player controls two characters at once using their unique abilities. 



^Style mockup.
The vibe I'm going for is a mix of the 60s Batman serials with Mario and Luigi superstar saga, and a style similar to the Shantae series. The gameplay however is more inspired by the likes of Metal Slug 3's linear format with branching paths, and the dual character mechanic is inspired by Mario and Luigi RPGs again, though more reminiscent of the Donkey Kong Country games. 

The player controls Inari, the kitsune archer who launches a variety of magically-enhanced arrows, and Oni-girl, a strong demongirl who wields a club.

Previously the project focused on a Milk bar setting- since then I've changed its focus to be more "iconic" for a first game/ prototype for the intended game- setting it within the city in a straightforward stage to defeat a large boss at the end.

Since I didn't update this thread for a long time, here's some of the development I didn't show.


I've upped the saturation on Inari's costume to make her more visible on-scree, And her arrows are now a bright pink plane to emphasize that they are magical-based. I may choose to change the skirt length shorter aswell.


Onigal's Black skirt was swapped out for some baggy trousers with a flame pattern. The Club's also been streamlined into a straight club that is in practice, easier to animate than a rounded club.

I'm also intending to up the saturation on the club itself to be the same blue from Inari's clothes- as such their weapons are the colour of the other character.
__
The Stage's boss villain is now "Dr Floreau" rather than the Minotaur from before, he is a botanical mad scientist that focuses on combining Vegetation with robotics. In this level, he's driving a large combine harvester through the city. (for some reason it always spawns in the game backwards.) And covering the city in giant corn spires. 


The cannon on the top will launch blocks of corn that can be destroyed by the player. (yes they will explode into popcorn.)

This prototype is being made in UE4 for university, however once I've finished the course- I intend to look into other engines for continuing this project.

NESFlint

I've felt that my lead characters could do with some costume development so here's some concept art for Oni-girl and Inari:

Trying out themes like the Sukeban Archetype, the same dress as Inari, and a minimalist Martial artist look.

Inari's had less variation as I've got a clearer archetype in mind- Priestess archer.

I've since narrowed down the character designs and I'm holding a poll, based on sets of the characters together, looking at how some costumes go together either with contrast or in similarities:

http://www.strawpoll.me/14126890  <one can vote here.

NESFlint

I did some style tests for the players, looking into different outlines. Then I tested some of them against a test background that took a while to make.
Was also an exercise in making coherent backgrounds that match the style.

littleclaude

Really nice start, looking forward to how this shapes up. Not sure about blue outline on the Minotaur 

NESFlint

I've been trying to work out the character swapping mechanic  in UE4 Paper 2D, so far I've only figured out setting up a boolean on a component to help with switching the characters, but I can't get them both on screen moving together: I thought that if I could trick the game into multiplayer it might help- currently I can't get the two characters to be different though, or move together.





In this bit, I've noticed I can change the default character but I can't change the default for a second character.