Dance & Dragons - A pixel art, retro Rhythm game!
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Dance & Dragons is The combination of DDR ( dance dance revolution )
and DnD ( Dungeons & dragons ).
This originally was posted on 3DHit, I'm a third year 2D animation student (at Hertfordshire Uni) with a passion for making game Ideas and quirky characters to go in those hence aforementioned games. 
You can see the original 3DHit Post Here --> http://www.3dhit.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=29023&p=352515And My general work thread of Doodles and work done over the summer, in spare time, for fun here ---> http://www.3dhit.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=29055
I love playing on DDR and was disappointment that no developer was making a game that used the simple mechanics of a dance mat with their game, apart from Crypt of the Necrodancer which had it as an optional feature.
I want to combine story with entertaining and wild fantasy characters with the entertainment and fittness of dance mat, making this a fun party game for the avid adventurer!
( and perhaps even his team if a co-op mode comes around~ )
Here you can see The development process into the characters, stages, music choices and more!
top
- Dance assistant Crom ( Suppose to be named Grom but his mother missed
the tick part of the G off his name...) When asked about his second name
he will reply "Crom" again, as he doesn't have a last name. SO He is
known As Crom Crom! A friendly Ork Who's big and bulky but full of heart
and passion for dancing. the other orks think he's weird.
bottom-
possible stages, Croms tutorial, a medium stage then a boss stage with a
fun villain, at this point hadn't started any villain work,,, UNTIL.....
I drew some
really cool Magician knight sketches, inspired by over the top villains
of grand scale with big capes, Like Zurg from Toy Stories animated
Buzz light year spinoff TV show, eccentric funny yet Intimidating at times
too. He has big rayman hands. ease of animation and more DRAMA in his
poses. he is magical after all.
and Paul. his assistant. just Paul. In fact, Next step...
and Paul. his assistant. just Paul. In fact, Next step...
I drew them up! don't they look just lovely in pixel art? I went into more thought
about their names, apart from Paul. hes a constant thing and a fan favorite, I'm sure of it. yes.
Animated all
these tavern people in a full day of work. Phew. They have an idle and
two frames of cheer as they are just background elements and wont be
focused on a whole lot of time. Still made sure they looked good though.
NEXT stages!
These three
stages are what I developed at the end of second year Rearing for more. I
created other games concepts here too that will be sorely missed, I
will probably put them up here still though at a later date and the work
will resurface as inspiration. The disco ball knight is a particularly
interesting example at the bottom as his magic slows or speeds up the notes the player has to hit.
All the tavern
expansion was done in a day from about 11 till 8 with breaks, changed
the lighting and added the animations... and the finished still product
looked like this! ta da!
After the representations I received a lot of cool feedback, suggesting to:
- make the table stand out in this level.
- Focus on more characters from the side view rather than top view
- Pay attention to focus, I need to carefully make the viewers eye go where I want
- Focus on more characters from the side view rather than top view
- Pay attention to focus, I need to carefully make the viewers eye go where I want
- make the game for mobile
- maybe changed
the dance arrow layout as apparently Konami have a patent on this
layout? (I'm not too sure about that one, Ill have to look into that.
Although Personally I don't think its a problem as I'm styling the arrows
life bar and action panels to my game. )
Still all great
feedback, I'm glad the audience seemed to like the game as well. I have
gotten a lot of promising comments about excitement towards the game!
Its really raising my spirits and I'm grateful for the support!
If anyone has any more feedback or comments about my work please Speak up in the comments below 
Until the next Post!
- IceBridget
Replies
More updates!
More to come soon! Got to put up character designs next! And other pixel stuff like cut scenes.
Ive also been doing loads of Freelance work for other groups. So ill be uploading that to a personal 2D thread probably.
Let me know what you guys think of the current work or any additions!
back again with more updates!
First, Lute string appearance!
BEFORE...... and ...... AFTER
need to make it either A- stand out more or B- make it less busy easy to read. will figure that out when I have the video demo...
second, CUT SCENES
I Now have to pick between two different looks, sharp shadows or a faded stone look.
Sharp promotes more of a pixel look, however makes the image a little more complex to look at.
Smooth blurs the background making it easier on the eyes but does draw less attention to pixel work on the bricks.
More coming soon Like character sheets! oooooooh the thing that I like doing best. Ive been doing so many for other groups that I got no time to work on my own, and I only have a few coloured sketches, but it isn't enough! must do more, which I will do.
Until next update, see ya!
Going to update a lot the the stuff from my 3D hit page to here, havent been updating this as much as I should be ^__^
Character sheets incoming!
Posting these up here as documentation of characters and their expressions too.
Character designs for the Tavern Manager
Sylvia Sawdon, a retired barbarian very strong, minimalist in expression and tries to stay calm and mute. she is quite sarcastic most the time. The current Tavern Bard Paul is in love with her but she constantly rejects his petty advances, even going so far as to kick him out of the tavern several times for being a bad performer.
Animations for the frontal view if the player fails to click on a food! ( During Dining room dash )
NOW onto CODING!
Something at the start of this project I coudnt do.
Yes coding, Its like asking a baker to learn plumbing, or a mathematician to learn figure skating.
very different skills that although not impossible, still very hard to master.
Especially in a timed... Graded... environment...
I originally tried to do the coding in flash, and I later moved on to work with the Stepmania Engine to assist in the making of my game.
But while i was in flash, I managed to Tween my arrows to the song at exact Intervals.
If flash don't lag, my game will be in sync....
A smart person would work out how to code a proper BPM tracker.
that would be someone who knows coding... ME on the other hand, well I know animation, so my solution is to animate the music and notes as closely as possible together hoping flash likes my final project and approves to push out enough playing power to sync everything.
That's the last update for now on coding while I was using flash and actionscrip, but I really have to say thank you for the continued support of the lecturers and students, I couldn't have done it without the constant in class feedback and ideas which I'm gradually transferring into my game, so thank you guys!
more to come on this very soon!