Pingouin & Raptor Mahjong: Backgounds time!

Finally it's time to make backgrounds!
There's 2 for the main menu and 6 for the in-game part.
I want to make some geek, cute and fun Japanese scenery XD

As I already mentioned, I have in mind all the issues we faced two years ago for Hungry Cat Mahjong.
Regarding backgrounds, the first pictures I made were too bright and colorful (you can see them here)
It couldn't work because the tiles needed to be enhanced for they are the main gameplay element, and they were drowned into the pictures.
In the end, a generic frame in a single hue was placed upon each picture to darken it.

This time, I try to make those pictures fit as background elements immediately. The 2 main screens are the easiest to make as I know exactly what will figure on them. Some hue changes and we're almost done! (Yes I did forget Pingouin & Raptor on the Tokyo Tower picture -_-)
But for the others... First attempt proves me that it will not be so easy, and I'll probably have to use the same trick with a generic frame on top of those pictures.

Next: more backgrounds \o/

Pingouin & Raptor Mahjong, step 3

Today is HUD and in-game elements.

With the result screen and in-game tutorial I can finally make up my mind on the generic text frame: beige is fitting well.

The victory (or defeat) scroll is standing out too much, I will have to find something more neutral like a pattern or a brush stroke.

Now the HUD: 

I use the usual lacquered boxes for the pause and melt icons, and I find out that the blue background color is too similar to the fish can icon. Information must stand out and it's time to test different colors! Maybe the red background that I so hardly try to use will match?! There's something to dig there :D

Tiles:

Well I worked a lot on those tiles with Tuesday Quest two years ago. We had to find the right size, angle, depth and pattern (a sardine can ^^) to make the game fun to play on small screens. For Pingouin & Raptor I wanted toy-like colorful bright plastic tiles. I used one of my very first tile test to get the new version. And then I quickly draw a few different sets of Pingouin & Raptor for the mock-up.

In the end I have the whole set of screens ready, a few improvements and I will be able to start the UI assets production. 

Next: backgrounds and a lot of cute Pingouin & Raptor ^^

Pingouin & Raptor Mahjong, step 2

Now that I have some kind of artistic direction on the main menu, I can start working on the other screens.

Theme and level selection are quite easy to make: I can't move or re-size the buttons so I just change the wood boards into scrolls. Colors are different depending of the theme or the difficulty; I will stuck to those used in Hungry Cat Mahjong.
I still ponder if the scroll on top of the screen (which contains only information) and the blue generic (clickable) buttons are too similar and therefore might confuse the player, both are wood boards in Hungry Cat Mahjong and it's working well, so...
Now the tutorial screen gives me more of a challenge: the big scroll in the center is re-sizable depending of the screen and used in several different cases. The red frame is quite impressive, and I like how it matches with the  background and other elements, but well, it's red...In the end I chose the beige one, more neutral.
With the "next" button I encounter the same issue than on the main menu, but this time, I obviously cannot use red for the icon. Green's working well though.
The victory/defeat screen to come will help me make up my mind! Well I certainly hope so.

Hungry Cat Mahjong Reskin with Pingouin & Raptor

Not so long ago, I worked with Tuesday Quest to make their very first game on Android phones, Hungry Cat Mahjong .
Since then, we often talked about a Pingouin & Raptor game but lacked the time and resources to make it. (As I'm working a full time job and they focused their 3 next games on little greeny goblins)

The solution was to reskin one of their games, it would not need more programming, and some new game design only if they felt like it.

And so, I started to work on Pingouin & Raptor : Mahjong! A new adventure begins ^^

First step is to create some mock-ups to define a new art direction. The asian theme used in Hungry Cat Mahjong is working fine with Pingouin & Raptor and we can keep the fish (Pingouin likes them a lot ">,)

The first mock-up I made was way too serious and I tried a lot of things to make it funnier and colorful while keeping a Japanese print style. I was very inspired by Ôkami ^^ (obviously...)
For the "Play" button, I chose an asian scroll, then proposed different versions of it. Finally I've gone back to the first version with more colours and a bamboo pattern ^^
I still have doubts on the icon buttons: even thought I like how they look like laquered boxes, the red colour could be interpreted as agressive or negative. It may change with the next mock-ups to come ^^

Stay tuned!

Fruits'n Goblins!!!

Pingouin & Raptor squattent le tout dernier jeu de Tuesday Quest !
Il s'agît de Fruits'n Goblins et c'est drôlement rigolo !
(Le raptor en tout cas, s'amuse beaucoup !)

Pour jouer gratuitement sur Android, c'est par ici : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tuesdayquest.gogoblins

Mauvaises habitudes...

Pingouin et Raptor sont de retour après une longue absence. En attendant de commencer les hiraganas, le pingouin dévoile un terrible secret...