-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Hollow Knight - Beautifully animated 2D 'vania - On Kickstarter
- Thread starter Jobbs
- Start date
Wow! Thanks so much mao2. We'll be making sure all the extra bits are really great.
In the meantime, here are some gifs of a few early-area enemies:
Wow! Thanks so much mao2. We'll be making sure all the extra bits are really great.
In the meantime, here are some gifs of a few early-area enemies:
Very nice! But out of curiosity, do you think it's possible to add shadowing to make the characters less flat? A bit like in the Wind Waker :
Very nice! But out of curiosity, do you think it's possible to add shadowing to make the characters less flat? A bit like in the Wind Waker :
I agree this would be cool. It's definitely not impossible, but I imagine it was more a question of time/energy -- animating is time consuming -- and so sometimes you make a choice like "go with all flats" because you find that it both fits within the art style and is easier to produce.
jack_package_200
Banned
Backing.
I didn't back Ghost Song at the time, so as a way of repenting I have backed this. It would bring great shame to my family to not help bring more wonderful looking metroidvanias into the world.
Atmosphere and art style are impeccable and the gameplay/level design looks like it hits all the right notes so far. Look forward to seeing more
Atmosphere and art style are impeccable and the gameplay/level design looks like it hits all the right notes so far. Look forward to seeing more
Very nice! But out of curiosity, do you think it's possible to add shadowing to make the characters less flat? A bit like in the Wind Waker :
It's definitely something we'd look into. for the bigger enemies definitely, they seem to expect more detail/shading. Jobbs is right that the flat approach is probably more related to efficiency.
ultimately we'll have to weigh up whether to have more enemies in a flat style or a few less but all enemies shaded. my rough guess (given the time available) would be 1/5 less enemies, but all enemies have a shadow pass.
i should note. these are pretty raw sprites and everything does end up looking quite a bit different with all the lighting/treatments on top and within the scenes.
I think a shadows pass would add a lot.
I think they should cut that pledge up with me!
HellBlazer
Member
Maybe talk with Friken in the indie dev thread, he had a pretty cool method for dynamic lighting on 2D sprites. I'm not sure if it's applicable to any engine though.
ViciousAnchovy
Member
I haven't backed any games before, but the art style, animation and the soundtrack together already seem like they'll justify the price for me as long as the gameplay isn't completely underwhelming; and, frankly, I can be pretty damn lenient when it comes to metroidvania games.
thebaroness
Member
aw man, this looks incredible! Thanks for making this thread, I probably wouldn't have seen this game otherwise. I love the 2D style.
This is looking really cool, I love the world design and the backdrops especially. Like a few others I'm not such a huge fan of the simplified, thickly-outlined characters (they immediately reminded me of the knights from Castle Crashers, and they seem a little at odds with the beautifully detailed backdrops) but it'd certainly something I could overlook if everything else was on-point.
Could see myself dropping a few bucks on this for sure.
Could see myself dropping a few bucks on this for sure.
I don't like bugs so I was initially turned off by the premise but the trailer almost convinced me to back which would be a first. I really like the art style and the characters look great, especially the Mantis Lords and Dark Knight. The former have this sort of dignified look to them and the latter looks so goofy I can't help but smile.
The only thing holding me back is that there's no console or portable version announced yet. Fingers crossed that the kickstarter campaign gains traction and you announce some stretch goals. Will probably end up backing either way but it sure would be nice to play this on Wii U, 3DS or Vita.
BTW, props to whoever came up with the name. Hollow Knight made me instantly think of bug related stuff.
The only thing holding me back is that there's no console or portable version announced yet. Fingers crossed that the kickstarter campaign gains traction and you announce some stretch goals. Will probably end up backing either way but it sure would be nice to play this on Wii U, 3DS or Vita.
BTW, props to whoever came up with the name. Hollow Knight made me instantly think of bug related stuff.
Haha! Thanks a bunch Atmej. I'm not usually a fan of bugs either, but then I'm not even sure if the Hollow Knight is a bug! For the rest of the buggy cast I've tried to find a nice mix of elegance with humour.
We're right with you on console releases! I'd love it for my Vita (OLED screen!), and the coder is pretty Wii U obsessed. Fingers crossed!
Glad you like the name by the way! We almost changed it because of the similarity to Shovel Knight (another kickstarter game that we adore!). It almost became Hollow Bug, then Hollow Bugs, but we eventually realised they weren't quite right.
Just posted these in a small Kickstarter update, but thought I'd share them here as well:
Tryant's Fist!
Not too uncommon a power really (there are a bunch more unique ones to show soon), but still quite fun to use!
nailed it. if floor's gonna break, that's the way to do it. you guys have a strong sense of how stuff "should" look.
Bumping the thread because there's a new video and the concept is prety nice - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10MQdIqalZg
I love when games do this kind of stuff - introducing challenges and special levels by building them into the world, instead of a menu from which the player can select them (it's alright Rebirth, I still love you).
I love when games do this kind of stuff - introducing challenges and special levels by building them into the world, instead of a menu from which the player can select them (it's alright Rebirth, I still love you).
Stratostar
Member
Looks boring as shit. No thanks.
Love you to Stratostar
Also Jobbs, are you making Gifs of Hollow Knight? Amazing! Here're some more:
I actually made some art for floating cities and houses in the BG of the Elderbug's Dream Well area. Then I totally forgot to include them in the build!
Triggerhappytel
Member
This is so beautiful, but I'm trying to lay off Kickstarter backings at the moment. I'm watching it, and if it needs a little boost at the end I'll see what I can do. Current funding trends suggest it will be very close.
Ricky Ricardo
Member
Love you to Stratostar
Also Jobbs, are you making Gifs of Hollow Knight? Amazing! Here're some more:
I actually made some art for floating cities and houses in the BG of the Elderbug's Dream Well area. Then I totally forgot to include them in the build!
Please tell me you guys are going to include some Steam Cards in this game to exploit this beautiful art style
If we make it onto Steam Ricky, it's a deal!
Maybe shoot us a vote?: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=344329253
First Gameplay Demonstration incoming! It's got action, exploration, narration and a giant fly:
Hollow Knight Gameplay Demonstration
Also! Barely anyone has watched it. We don't know why! All of this promotion media stuff is so new to us. Its nuts. But we're still having a blast.
Hollow Knight Gameplay Demonstration
Also! Barely anyone has watched it. We don't know why! All of this promotion media stuff is so new to us. Its nuts. But we're still having a blast.
Wow, this looks pretty great. Will support your kickstarter as soon as I get home from work
Oh geebs! Thanks a bunch guys. It really helps. We promise, if we're successful with the KS, we'll deliver an awesome game.
Hollow Knight just got Greenlit!
Thanks a whole bunch everyone who chipped in and gave it a yes vote! I really appreciate it.
Check this little Greenlight graph:
It went nuts! I think? I really have no idea about all these graphs. This may actually be pretty normal. But that line looks great whatever the case.
If only the Kickstarter had the same momentum! We're hoping it picks up through the end.
If anyone here would be willing to help us out, please do jump over to the Kickstarter and consider backing us. It'd be a real shame to have been Greenlit, but not be able to provide the actual game.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11662585/hollow-knight
Thanks a whole bunch everyone who chipped in and gave it a yes vote! I really appreciate it.
Check this little Greenlight graph:
It went nuts! I think? I really have no idea about all these graphs. This may actually be pretty normal. But that line looks great whatever the case.
If only the Kickstarter had the same momentum! We're hoping it picks up through the end.
If anyone here would be willing to help us out, please do jump over to the Kickstarter and consider backing us. It'd be a real shame to have been Greenlit, but not be able to provide the actual game.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11662585/hollow-knight
HellBlazer
Member
I think it's doing pretty well really, especially in comparison with some other recent indie Kickstarters. It slowed down a bit in the past few days, but it stayed fairly consistant for a long time there, way longer than you usually see. It will probably go up more slowly for the next week or so, then I'm pretty confident the final days push will put you over the line. I (and probably many others) will be there to increase my pledge if need be.
Thanks HellBlazer! We really appreciate it.
And I don't want to come across as too down. We're actually really excited. We've had a ball with the campaign so far and we still have a heap of energy to ride through to the finish.
And you're definitely right that these things hit a bit of a trench before that last week-ish surge. We've so much stuff still to show and we think it's all really exciting, so with any luck everything will time out well and we can blast through the finish line!
MDSVeritas
Member
Holy crap, this game looks excellent! I may have to go in for some backing. As someone currently studying game programming and churning out little prototypes, stuff like this is the kind of work I'd love to be doing sometime down the line, if nothing else I hope the kickstarter and beyond go well for you!
Jessie.Bristol
Member
I think the art style looks fantastic as well as how it all animates.
I think you nailed the animation and atmosphere.
hotnheavyload
Banned
Looks beautiful, well done