Finding my style

After watching countless devlogs and starting (then quickly dropping) so many attempts, I finally want to dive into developing my own game. Not with the goal of making money, but mainly to pick up new skills and grow along the way.

One idea I had was a Metroidvania inspired by the first Die Hard movie. Probably a bit too ambitious for a beginner—but at the very least, it’s a fun framework to learn the basics: game design, character controls, implementing abilities, using items, and so on.

I’m not sure if I might be biting off more than I can chew—but on top of having a lot to learn, I also went ahead and created a YouTube and TikTok channel to document my progress.

Since I don’t really enjoy prototyping with placeholders or simple shapes, I decided to tackle the art style first.

At first, I went with pixel art:

But later I switched to a slightly more detailed look:

Oh my god, I hate hearing myself speak English. I’m from Germany and don’t really get the chance to practice it much in everyday life. Maybe making these videos will help me improve those skills, too. ;-)

I first painted the more detailed hero in Photoshop and really liked the look. Then I redrew him in Aseprite.

The upside of Aseprite: animating is much easier thanks to the timeline. In Photoshop, that process feels super clunky.
The downside of Aseprite: since it’s a pixel-based tool, the look isn’t quite as smooth as in Photoshop.

I’m still undecided which software I’ll stick with...

Until next time

Salty Pug