【Transiruby #2】Nostalgic but new! Introducing beautifully drawn pixel art!
The graphics of 『Transiruby』have number of vibrant colors, and pixel art gives it a retro vibe. Still, the gradation and light effects are adequate, collectively making it nostalgic but not so old-fashioned taste to it. In this article, we will introduce the opening stage of the game.
Dimensional Continent Surface
This is the first area Siruby begins their search. The crumbling steel beam and the overgrown grass on the ground make the setting stand out and feel like it's obsolete, but the massive structure in the background appears to be still operatable.
Underground Forest Area
In contrast to the ground surface, big trees are naturally aligned and cover the area. Signs of an ancient civilization are scattered around with the steel beams and pipes blending with the stone statue, stone pillars, etc.
Gigantic Elevator
In Transiruby, many top-to-bottom movements and means of transportation are arranged, including jump ramps and elevator lifts like this.
Underwater
The shaking and swaying in the underwater background is an example of Parallax scrolling (a unique scrolling technique in graphics, wherein background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in 2D video games). The BGM (background music) is muffled, giving it an excellent underground water ambiance.
A few words from the developer
KIMURA(SKIPMORE) Many exploration action games often have settings of caves and buildings, so I personally wanted to create an adventure with blue skies seen, so I designed Transiruby so that half of the areas in the game are『outside』!
～～～～～
Afterword
And on that note, what do you think about the information presented in this Transiruby #2 article?
That’s the end of this article! More information on games from Flyhigh Works are available to read up on Flyhigh Times. Please feel free to check it out!
The first step for level design for Transiruby was to make sure that the terrain was noticeable and easy to grasp, so adjustments were applied to the art style. Trusting the terrain is essential in exploration games. However, isn’t it pretty stressful to miss a jump and slip or fall from not stepping on an object that doesn’t look like it’s able to be stepped on…? That’s what I thought in this case.
Pseudo Diffusion Filter
The background textures (interior background) and foreground (stepable terrain) are changed effectively to make the terrain easier to see. In Transiruby, the pseudo diffusion filter used in the background displays sharp pixels and gives the images a sense of different textures with depth.
●フィルターなし Without Filter
The pixels look sharp but lack depth.
●単純なぼかし Simple Gradation The character and background are easy to see, but if the eyesight is shifted to the background, the focal point is out of focus (the background can be seen but becomes blurred), so it’s uncomfortable. Also, the sharpness of the pixels is lost.
●擬似ディフュージョンフィルター Pseudo Diffusion Filter The sharpness of the pixels is improved, the terrain is easier to grasp, and the image has more depth. Also, there is now a sense of atmosphere. This pseudo diffusion filter can change its values in real-time and is used to create effects in the stage (for example) “when coming from a dark place then suddenly to a bright place, it’s momentarily radiant!” or something like that.
▲The background is momentarily overexposed when entering the Boss Area, as seen on the left (screenshot).
Light Lines
Light lines (light lines bordering the terrain) are applied to make the stepable terrain easier to grasp. It's a pretty direct and symbolic presentation, but the effect is extraordinary.
ライトラインなし Without Light Line ライトラインあり With Light Line
▲With the Light Line, it’s easier to see the terrain that the character can step on.
Diagonal Object
Behind the stepable terrain, the arrangement of objects in the world view represents the screen’s increased density. These (diagonal objects) are distinct in backgrounds and scroll together with the terrain, so Players can understand that the character can’t step on them. In Transiruby, rules were made so that non-stepable objects have “without light lines,” “are diagonal,” and “are bumpy.”
…And so by deciding the visual rules of "stepable and non-stepable terrain" with the art style gradation like this, there are fewer worries about how the terrain and footholds look in the level design.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Transiruby is now popularly available on Steam! Console ports are steadily in progress!
This track is called “The Illusion of a Submerged City” from Area 4 in Transiruby. Since the track is used in the PV (Promo Video), I decided to release the entire track publicly.
Anyway, the concept was to compose a “ refreshing BGM (background music) that fits an all-directional side-scrolling shooter…!” As with Area 3, I thought it would be nice if it were a vocal track while composing a melody.
When I was a kid, many games I played often had a final stage with eerie backgrounds and BGM (for example, a built-in stage with an H.R. Giger-like designed castle while purple mists float by...), so I thought, “It would be nice to have a refreshing game with a final stage that has blue skies and grassy fields or something like that.” This track has the concept of “refreshment,” and Transiruby’s last stage is close to what I have always wanted to do before. Also, I wanted to make the final impression of Transiruby refreshing so that Players would forget the cramped-up parts of the game, so instead, Players will think, “This game was fun~!”. Haha!
With that, Transiruby is available on STEAM and has overall received “very positive” reviews! (※As of February 2022)
Thank you so much to everyone who has played Transiruby and has taken the time to write a review! And, of course, we are currently working hard on its console ports!
Ver 1.0.3 released!
Bug fixes
-Fixed some tranchips in area 3 kept appearing on the map. -Fixed some Russian words. -Fixed the bullets in flying mode in area 4 disappear in the air. -Fixed sometimes the operation explanation of the flight form does not disappear. -Fixed sometimes SE volume of EP acquisition may not be normal. -Fixed sometimes the numbers and titles of achievements overlap in Russian.
Secrets of the mysterious alphabet letters in the background
Mysterious alphabet letters in the background that looks readable but are unreadable
In Transiruby’s background, there are a lot of places that have writings in the background that look like alphabet letters.
"謎の文字" : Mysterious Letters
As a matter of fact, I made the pixel art fonts regular-shaped alphabet letters for my personal use, and I planned to make them readable somehow….
＼The resolution is lacking, so I gave up／
In this situation, guessing the previous/following alphabet letters and their context can barely be done with just 3x3 pixels. However, the fonts are more visible at a simpler level with 3x5 pixels, so I wondered if that would be hard to read. Then I considered if I wanted to use decorative 6x6 pixels.
By the way, evidence of my attempt to make the decorative pixel art fonts remains in Area 1
▲Evidence of the alphabet letters and “NOA” written.
“NOA” refers to the time when I was considering making Trasiruby with a “Noah’s Ark motif,” and the name of the other dimension was “Noah,” so the game’s (tentative) title was “Planet Noah” instead of Transiruby….so that’s why NOA is still there.
The mysterious alphabet letters below were put in just for amusement.
Did you get it?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Transiruby is now popularly available on Steam! Console ports are steadily in progress!
Ver 1.0.1 released!
Addition of supported languages -The following languages have been added. Korean Traditional Russian Vietnamese
Enhanced performance -Added some character movement in the epilogue, such as passing IDs -Added staging of items in shooting mode
Bug fixes -Fixed terrain in some areas (Area2, Area4) that caused clogging. -Fixed an area where it was possible to skip sequences. (Area2) -Added support for keyboard UI in some actions. -Fixed a bug that caused enemies to disappear in rare cases. -Fixed an unintended terrain behavior (water surface judgment) -Some changes to the way bosses are attacked
FLYHIGH EXPRESS 2021.12.09 is coming!
FLYHIGH EXPRESS 2021.12.09 is coming! (JPT 21:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcefcH9kmf8
maybe there will be some information about Transiruby...? Stay tune, and remember to turn on the subtitle!
Translation: "Summarized what I thought about side view maps Part 2"
TRANSIRUBY #4
Start and Goal
This is not limited to exploration-type games, a start and goal factor must be determined when creating a map. The start is literally the point on the map, the goal is the end point on the map or the so-called boss room or the gate to the next area. Since TRANSIRUBY has about 200 screens of the map seamlessly connected, it was obvious that if this layout fails, the level design won't be able to follow through. By the way, this layout in FAIRUNE ORIGIN (originally a Flash version of FAIRUNE) failed even though it only had 12 screens. For those who are interested, the remake version is included in the FAIRUNE COLLECTION compilation, so if you can play it, you can see the path that was taken : "failure → improvement → overdoing". Based on those past experiences to an extent, this is why I decided to aim for alignment with the composition in TRANSIRUBY.
Map construction
In the case of side view games, many players move to the right. Hence, the safest starting point is on the left (1). Next is the base of the starting point. Its style is to return to the starting point every time you somehow clear an event, in many situations it's convenient to place the starting point & base (something like the protagonist's house or town) near the center of the map (2). This type of map is mainly divided into North, South, East, and West, so it feels more like a stage clear type than an exploration-type. In the case of TRANSIRUBY, I wanted to make a "search + move ahead map", so I placed the starting point in the upper left and made the surrounding area a tutorial stage. The tutorial stage is a type of map where you steadily move ahead, then you arrive at the base. After arriving at a base, continuing to explore around that base then aiming for the next base is this style (3).
Translation: ① Start at the left layout ② Start ＆ center base layout ③ TRANSIRUBY's layout スタート Start ゴール Goal ボス Boss イベント Event 拠点 Base
▲Varied from the actual map construction
As a matter of fact, the entire map in TRANSIRUBY is a square so it's difficult to make a map that goes to the right. Since the ratio of the game screens is 16:9, if you divide the map by the number of screens, it will roughly be 10 x 20 screens, 10 screens only in the horizontal direction, which is about (World) 1-1 of FAMICOM's SUPER MARIO. Now I wonder if it would have been sufficient to have 20 screens (20 x 10) on the side of the square, but there are also features created by making it square, so I can't say whether it's good or bad, such as a feeling.（By the way, the whole map of TRANSIRUBY is not 200 screens、its 200 screens × 4 Areas + α ！）
Be lost, or not be lost
One of the dilemmas of making an exploration-type game is to "be lost, or not be lost". In reference to my works, I made a choice in FAIRUNE to "be lost", in KAMIKO it was "not be lost"....Looking back at it now, "FAIRUNE was tiresome, KAMIKO was insufficient" are my honest impressions as someone who made them. When I was making them I thought "This is fun !", but everytime after their releases I reflect. That's why TRANSIRUBY has multifunctional radar in preparation !
▲Radar specifications are in development
All the items and gate locations are displayed on the radar. However, the terrain is not displayed, so please explore for the routes there….there's a way. I'm currently considering how useful this radar will be, maybe as a creator I think it could be convenient to an extent and (at the same time) be moderately inconvenient so I have to find the right feeling, I'll do my best to adjust it! Well, the reason why the terrain isn't displayed...its mainly a resolution issue. I'll continue to talk much more about maps !
《To be continued》
Transiruby DEMO is available now!
Hello, everyone, our new title, Transiruby, its DEMO is available now!
Please try it and don't forget to throw it to your Wishlist!
Transiruby DEMO Streaming play by Mika Drop(VTuber)
Hello, everyone, Thanks for noticing our new title, Transiruby.
we are going to do streaming about Transiruby, played by Mika Drop, a VTuber of Beatus Creation in Japan.
