Why would Mega Man need an upgradable suit anyway?
Me too! I mean, we already have X regarding the armor gimmick. And besides, it's gonna take a lot of sprite parts to build an armor unless you do the Xtreme approach where you show the complete armor set.
It will be really hard to translate those details into the sprite though. And as for the armor subject, I liked the ones from Megaman 6/7 a lot, so as long as they are treated that way, and not like the X series where you have to collect each piece (I don't think that would fit on an 8bit Megaman for some reason) then all is good.
All good valid questions. Why would he even need an upgradable suit? Perhaps he doesn't. Thats why you're here folks to help discuss the potentials for the game. Remember I'm still brainstorming the specifics, nothing is finalised yet. I think if anything this armour will be a kind of reward/upgrade once you've proven yourself through most of the game. One thing Mega Man has never been able to do is fly. Rush Jet could provide that to an extent and he could rocket himself a little higher with the Rush Jet Adaptor. But he's never truly flown.
I'm currently liking the direction my brain is focusing on around Duo. To be Galaxy's Champion, Mega Man is going to have to end up with the same powers as Duo, the same resistance to the evil energy. The Champions Armour will grant him that once he's proven himself worthy of it. This will give him Duos strength and ability to fly.
I think ultimately, the simplest design is the greatest. We shouldn't try to move away from Mega Man's classic look. You do indeed need to consider how his sprite should look. I don't want to stray from altering the classic blue sprite too much. We don't want any reminders of any other spin-offs. This is the classic Blue Bombers time to shine, no references to X or anything else would be welcome. We need to show some originality and respect here.
Which is why I agree what Koidrake says and stick to the type of armour look that 6/7 gave us. They seemed to only ever change the torso, shoulders, arms and back. The helmet and legs usually go untouched.
Take a look at the sprites for these power ups too, it shows how keeping his armour simple doesn't end up changing the classic look all that much. We need to think carefully about that when designing.
Posted on: June 28, 2012, 11:57:34 AM
Although art design has been my main focus so far for the game. I've also been considering the full potential of the soundtrack. I've done some research and discovered an awesome cartridge thats been made for the Gameboy, a custom made software called LSDJ. (Little Sound DJ) programmed by Johan Kotlinski. Its basically a four-track tracker that gives you access to the Gameboy's sound chip. People have made some awesome chip music with this software and I've managed to bring on board for this project two artists who are expert users of the program: AndaruGo and Saskrotch.
They both have YouTube Channels where they show off their talents, andaruGO even has a tutorial on how to use LSDJ:
http://www.youtube.com/user/andarugohttp://www.youtube.com/user/saskrotchHere's some examples of the tunes they've done.
[youtube]Re_PxMPRUn0[/youtube] [youtube]S_M8KKBDb1Y[/youtube]
[youtube]AIjbyUS2MX4[/youtube]
So far Saskrotch has managed to tone down his remix of Bubble Man's stage and provide a usable version for "Mega Man World". Now I'm definately going to do a Bubble Man stage for the last 4 Robot Masters. Here's where you can hear the track:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6320154/BubbleManLoop.wav