Thyrian Defenders - 50

Well, it's Friday again, and time to talk TD. I've been spending most of my time working on the graphical assets to go on our steam page. This is the point we really have to decide on the game's image as far as marketing goes. Even if a game is pixel art, the box art and marketing assets are usually some kind of high res illustration, often in a generic anime or cartoon style. I understand this makes it more accessible to the mainstream, but it's always disappointing to me. I often see the game with amazing pixel art, then when it's released they market it with cheesy cartoon illustrations and it kind of kills the vision the game graphics inspired in my head. Furthermore, I don't want to spoil anybody's connection to the amazing pixel art world of TD with some off putting art style. So I'm sticking with pixels and keeping the materials clean and simple. Marketing folks might say I'm wrong to not give our game the Saturday morning cartoon treatment, but I think shmups are a niche genre that won't bring in a lot of the mainstream no matter how it's presented, and it's better to focus on the hardcore audience. Moreover, you often see shmups presented with very detailed mechanical designs of spaceships, and aircraft. Even the titles are often strange, seemingly made up words. I hope to carry some of that tradition but also stand out as unique.

The first four images are more screenshots taken from my test footage. I'm still trying to curate the perfect handful of screens to put on the steam page. Organically capturing the perfect moments during gameplay that best show off the graphics and features of the game in a captivating situation is a bit tedious.

In addition to the static graphical assets I've also been working on a trailer. I've had to record extensive footage to capture the many locations, characters, and features in the game. I am now in the process of editing it all into one action packed minute.

The last two animated images are some new and improved destruction effects. The more permanent destruction you see in the level the more satisfying. So, the tanks now leave behind a heap of burnt out debris. As for the ice block, I recently added the white rings to give it more impact. Before, with just the particles it was difficult to even see the animation at all. Some of these have baddies frozen in them, that's why you see the ship inside. These are some examples of how we are polishing the game's visuals.

Lots going on, more to come!