Level art mockups

I was originally working on a longer post detailing development efforts post-SAGE, but there's some details that still haven't been finalized yet... so instead, here's a different kind of preview for the next level!

Whenever I start working on the art for a new level, I'll sketch out a mockup first to get a feel for the palette and mood. The tileset, BG, and decorations will all be very rough at first, since the smaller details can be figured out once the big picture is done. For example, here's the mockup for Antarctic Alcove:

And here's how it appears in the demo:

The colors for this level got shifted around as purple was added as a negative space color, while green became tiles / decorations. I'd say it's a pretty nice improvement.

The mockup for Big Beginning was a bit different, since we hadn't quite figured out the art style for the environments yet- but the palette & mood for the BG persisted.

Once we had figured out that tile infills should be negative space (which draws visual focus to the parts of the screen that involve gameplay), I started working on some decorations and BG tiles.

And here's the in-game result! The BG tiles got a bit lighter since they were visually distracting. Overall, I really like the look of this level.

The underground town level (tentatively named Dark Descent) had some very rough art in particular, but I was sold on the palette instantly. Since the initial mockup was so... light, I had to record a gif to get a better feel for how all of the elements fit together.

And here's how that room looks right now!

(Note: the closest parallax BG later was shifted downwards so that there'd be progression in the background of the level as you got further in.)

I'd include a mockup vs current for the factory level, but the BG tiles & decorations for that level aren't quite done yet, so it wouldn't be a very good comparison.

So... now that the mockups have been explained, here's the mockup for the level I'm currently working on!

It's not a whole lot right now, but I'm pretty happy with the palette- both on its own, and how it fits into the game as a whole. I'll be revealing more about this level closer to the end of the year.