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[ichtyander]

Hi Everyone,
we also wrote a blog post about the new hand-drawn style, please check it out
http://www.monsterboy.com/blog

The process is already going for a while and we have different people working on the animation and coloring while others keep improving the rest. Development staff is 15 people now as we really want to finish this game someday

With the new changes we're going to reach a proper character consistency starting with artwork, ingame sprites and cutscenes. At the same time each transformation gets a new level of depth by the use of unique animation and proportion which feels just great. Feedback on the new style is mostly amazing so far - just wait until you see the rest. Please look forward to it ^_^ cheers!

It sounds like you guys might be using an interesting mix of traditional animation enhanced by some more modern 2D graphics manipulation techniques, very much looking forward to seeing how it all looks like in motion.

I was generally fine with the old style, but I must admit that the new style feels closer to traditional animation, and also more vibrant and well defined than it perhaps was before. All of these new wonderfully crafted and gorgeously hand-animated games are certainly setting a high standard for such projects, and I feel like your new style is more in tune with that trend, which is a good thing IMO. Wish you all the best of luck!

 

[badflame]

I follow the saga "Wonder Boy" since its origin in 1986.

 

[eso76]

Oh, sure. Complain about the new characters so they'll start over again !
Shut up and let them release the game already!

Besides, Wonderboy and early sequels were prototypical 80s anime and this finally nails that look.
We'll have to see how they mix with the scenery (assuming that hasn't been redone too) and the animations: they were rather basic before and lacked a bit of elasticity and weight, but the hand drawn, mostly flat coloured look could make it easier/quicker to draw frames ?
But so far yeah, I think this is what the game should look like.

Btw would it be possible to include the choice of old sprites in the game or have things changed in terms of timing/frames size so the old ones wouldn't work ?

And another vote for
🦁

 

[PixyJunket]

I love the new design, it looks fairly close to the style from the Monster World Collection art.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I don't mind the new art, but... if they keep changing the sprites I'm worried at the game's progress, wouldn't animating those sprites take a huge chunk of work every time?

 

[Ghost_Messiah]

I don't mind the new art, but... if they keep changing the sprites I'm worried at the game's progress, wouldn't animating those sprites take a huge chunk of work every time?

They're over working and over iterating the game IMO. And it's taking them forever. I love their passion and commitment but can't help but think the game's lukewarm reception in previews has resulted in all these delays. I don't mind waiting if it's to make the game better but there is going to come a point where they'll just need to release what they have.

The environmental art update they did was fantastic but this latest change just seems unnecessary IMO.

 

[SAB CA]

The new style incorporates hand drawn animation, fantastic! Compared to the other Monster World that just came out, this should help the 2 games look closer related to each other. What they did there visually seemed very successful, and appealing.

It would be awesome for various versions of the sprites to still be unlocks / options in the game.

Which one of the new character designs should we reveal next time ? Anyone here who wants to vote ? ^_^

Yup, definitely Lion!

Excellent, can't wait to see the animations! I think this new version is the most faithful to the old Monster World.

The different versions of the human form, dating back to 2014::

How do people think this latest one looks like "Generic Clip Art"? LoL. The Penultimate's look, looks much more janky, and like a half-step between solid anime and pseudo-anime than the newest, but I did like the retro mega-tuft of hair.

The latest should really fit hand-drawn animation more, though. Much like the BG update, it wasn't necessary, but it definitely aims towards a higher standard than the previous art.

They're over working and over iterating the game IMO. And it's taking them forever. I love their passion and commitment but can't help but think the game's lukewarm reception in previews has resulted in all these delays. I don't mind waiting if it's to make the game better but there is going to come a point where they'll just need to release what they have.

The environmental art update they did was fantastic but this latest change just seems unnecessary IMO.

Hopefully they have a solid, realistic viewpoint on this. I definitely don't want to see this turn out like another Toki HD.

The environment update is probably what brought on this character sprite change, really. They got a softer, better-realized style, and the main characters deserve such an update in concept, probably even more-so. It'll be nice to see how these player characters balance with the new background, and the enemies and bosses which are apparently not changing style?

The fairly-constant updates and interaction really help the project still feel alive and active though, so they're appreciated.

 

[Ghost_Messiah]

Revealing hand-drawn character #2: Frog
Posted by FDG Entertainment on Friday, October 13. 2017

Dear Monster Boy fans and friends,

are you ready for the next character reveal? We've been wandering around the internet and collected votes. Some of you wanted to see the lion, others the frog. Today we show you the frog!

As you can see, the proportions of the frog are now different. With the new freedom of entirely hand-drawn animation we are not dependent on an overarching skeleton/puppet system anymore which means we can let him do really cool stunts. Swinging rings and using the tongue will now look much more dynamic. He's also looking more like a frog than before which adds a lot to the visual variety while playing Monster Boy. We hope you like the new look!

Oh and big thanks for the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the new hand-drawn look of Jin. We hope to be able to convince everyone, even those who doubt our decision, that it was the right move. Please look forward to the next character reveal, which will be the lion!

Posted on the development blog. Loving this new design more than Jin.

 

[Psxphile]

Ah, I've missed a few updates. I like the new human design! There's less of that "Super Deformed" look the previous iterations had.

I wonder if "but it's 2018!" holds that much water for a 2D game. At least one that looked like that one already did.

I'm guessing they mainly wanted to go for the same level as LizardCube or at least a visual consistency, being the standard for Wonder Boy now.

This. Seems The Dragon's Trap has lit a fire under their collective butts, nothing wrong with at least wanting to match if not surpass the competition.