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Cuphead E3 Trailer (XB1, PC)

This was clearly the most striking of the ID@XBOX showcase (ignoring stuff we've known about like Below). Mobile games are fine to boost up the library and give indie devs a chance to make some money, but stuff like this with a very unique and defined look and design deserve a spotlight.
 
I saw this in the reel, and was like WTF IS THAT WANT!!!

Man.. been watching the teaser on a loop. The style is so great! Give me some dancing crows with cigars in their mouths!! Give me a scarry Bluto like villian! Bosko style animation!!

I want to singa!!!
 
This thing blew me away. I mean it just looks like a fuckin' cartoon from the 1930s! AWESOME! Can't wait to see more gameplay.
 
Probably the most interesting indie game I saw today, outside of No Man's Sky. Can't wait to see more of the game; amazing art style.
 
This game is the most interesting game we saw in the visual aspect of the whole E3.
That's what we need to do in video games, not running after reality and 51580968109 fps.

See this shit
cuphead.jpg
 
One of the most delightful parts of MS's conference was this game. Using that artstyle feels so fresh. Epic Mickey tried something similiar but they didn't get even near to what these guy are seemingly getting. Happy to see a PC version too.
 
This is one the best looking i've ever seen, and i'm serious. I love the art style and the animations, day one.
 
The_Afroman said:
I saw this in the reel, and was like WTF IS THAT WANT!!!

Man.. been watching the teaser on a loop. The style is so great! Give me some dancing crows with cigars in their mouths!! Give me a scarry Bluto like villian! Bosko style animation!!

I want to singa!!!
Click to expand...

Remachinate said:
So this is a horror game right?
Click to expand...

Almost a horror game! haha
We are striving to have a good amount of nightmare fuel (like the early Bimbo cartoons) throughout the game. When we planned the flower attack that you see in the trailer, the placeholder design was just a bland 'generic laser'. Then, we just asked: "How can we turn this attack into something creepy?".
 
Poetic.Injustice said:
Extremely impressive, Any chance you could get some old characters in which have gone into public domain?
Click to expand...

Public domain is such a complex thing that we are afraid of it AND we really like the idea of having our own original designs (even if they have nods to the golden age). I am pretty sure even if some cartoons are in public domain, certain popular characters have had their copyright extended. Hopefully that doesn't make you too sad!
 
studioMDHR said:
Public domain is such a complex thing that we are afraid of it AND we really like the idea of having our own original designs (even if they have nods to the golden age). I am pretty sure even if some cartoons are in public domain, certain popular characters have had their copyright extended. Hopefully that doesn't make you too sad!
Click to expand...

You're correct. Even if some (or most) of the Betty Boop cartoons are in public domain the character is still under copyright. I just hope you guys can include some

Red Hot Mamma to it *wink wink
 
at first, I was like wtf is that but I rewatched the trailer and think this looks awesome. Does the game have a release date?
 
studioMDHR said:
Almost a horror game! haha
We are striving to have a good amount of nightmare fuel (like the early Bimbo cartoons) throughout the game. When we planned the flower attack that you see in the trailer, the placeholder design was just a bland 'generic laser'. Then, we just asked: "How can we turn this attack into something creepy?".
Click to expand...

keep up the great work!

just wondering, is this all hand animated or is there a way to simplify the process?
 
studioMDHR said:
Almost a horror game! haha
We are striving to have a good amount of nightmare fuel (like the early Bimbo cartoons) throughout the game. When we planned the flower attack that you see in the trailer, the placeholder design was just a bland 'generic laser'. Then, we just asked: "How can we turn this attack into something creepy?".
Click to expand...

You've perfectly captured how vaguely unsettling those old-timey cartoons could be, kudos.
 
efyu_lemonardo said:
keep up the great work!

just wondering, is this all hand animated or is there a way to simplify the process?
Click to expand...

All hand animated, it's the only way to make it look like it does, and there are no real shortcuts! :) A basic summary of the process is like this:
  • Rough animation (pencil/paper/light table)
  • Clean up rough animation (on paper)
  • On a separate piece of paper, ink the frame by hand
  • Scan and use Photoshop to clean up any unwanted mistakes (big ink blobs, etc.)
  • Color each frame in Photoshop
  • Crop + shrink to final sprite size
 
studioMDHR said:
All hand animated, it's the only way to make it look like it does, and there are no real shortcuts! :) A basic summary of the process is like this:
  • Rough animation (pencil/paper/light table)
  • Clean up rough animation (on paper)
  • On a separate piece of paper, ink the frame by hand
  • Scan and use Photoshop to clean up any unwanted mistakes (big ink blobs, etc.)
  • Color each frame in Photoshop
  • Crop + shrink to final sprite size
Click to expand...

Your game looks incredible, can't wait to give this a try!
 
studioMDHR said:
All hand animated, it's the only way to make it look like it does, and there are no real shortcuts! :) A basic summary of the process is like this:
  • Rough animation (pencil/paper/light table)
  • Clean up rough animation (on paper)
  • On a separate piece of paper, ink the frame by hand
  • Scan and use Photoshop to clean up any unwanted mistakes (big ink blobs, etc.)
  • Color each frame in Photoshop
  • Crop + shrink to final sprite size
Click to expand...

Amazing! Thanks for sharing with us. Can't wait to play this :)
 
Woah, I thought this was a fighting game. Pleasantly surprised this is a run n gun platformer!


Will get on Steam.
 
studioMDHR said:
All hand animated, it's the only way to make it look like it does, and there are no real shortcuts! :) A basic summary of the process is like this:
  • Rough animation (pencil/paper/light table)
  • Clean up rough animation (on paper)
  • On a separate piece of paper, ink the frame by hand
  • Scan and use Photoshop to clean up any unwanted mistakes (big ink blobs, etc.)
  • Color each frame in Photoshop
  • Crop + shrink to final sprite size
Click to expand...

well, shit. you must have a movie's equivalent of frames/cells, if not more, in this game.

If that isn't bad enough, how quickly can you iterate with this process? I was hoping you were at least using many different layers for each animation, allowing you to change or add small details as you see fit, and that maybe some of the simpler animations were done with the aid of a computer..

edit: Just hoping you guys don't burn yourselves out!
 
studioMDHR said:
Almost a horror game! haha
We are striving to have a good amount of nightmare fuel (like the early Bimbo cartoons) throughout the game. When we planned the flower attack that you see in the trailer, the placeholder design was just a bland 'generic laser'. Then, we just asked: "How can we turn this attack into something creepy?".
Click to expand...

Yes! Good! Take the creepy and run with it. The art style lends itself so well to spooky and unnerving ideas. Great job so far with the game otherwise, as soon as I saw the footage at the Microsoft conference I realized that this was a game that I never knew always wanted, and I'm so excited for it now. Good luck with development!
 
"Have you seen Cuphead" is my new "Have you seen Titanfall?"

I could not be more excited for this game. Hope the PC version is day and date.
 
efyu_lemonardo said:
well, shit. you must have a movie's equivalent of frames/cells, if not more, in this game.

If that isn't bad enough, how quickly can you iterate with this process? I was hoping you were at least using many different layers for each animation, allowing you to change or add small details as you see fit, and that maybe some of the simpler animations were done with the aid of a computer..

edit: Just hoping you guys don't burn yourselves out!
Click to expand...

Yeah, the piles of paper (and unused art) are slowly turning into a mountain. The amount of pencils and inking pens that will die in this process is also wild.

And don't worry, we won't burn out, we'll just die the day after the game is released...haha.

99% of everything is as pain-staking as the old days; it's almost always a brand new frame. There are a few little areas we can "cheat" though - for example: if a character has an idle animation and we want him to sometimes blink, we only need to draw the blink frames (eyes only) and place them on top of the idle animation.
 
eso76 said:
GGhhh...
This is only boss battles right ? Kinda like Megaman Power Battles arcade ?
This is such a cockblocker..
Click to expand...
Yeah, the boss battle emphasis is really hurting my interest in this.
I wish they'd tone down or disable the RGB shift shader. It's such an ugly Unity stock filter. The animations look so nice without that, but I appreciate it looks more 'next gen' with a ton of filters.
 
studioMDHR said:
There are a few little areas we can "cheat" though - for example: if a character has an idle animation and we want him to sometimes blink, we only need to draw the blink frames (eyes only) and place them on top of the idle animation.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'd thought you did this whenever possible, not just because it saves time and work, but because it also allows you to later play around with the relative timing of the different layers, or add small details on top of existing animations in places you want to have a more polished look.

Did you look into doing any of the simpler animations with flash or other (more professional) tools? For example, in the Captain Silver clip, the swinging movement of the barrel along with the left right movement, or the up down movement of the boat, etc?
 
Without a doubt one of the best looking games I have ever seen. They nailed it.

If there's something I love, it's cartoons of this era. Hand-drawn, hand-animated. Glorious.
 
studioMDHR said:
Yeah, the piles of paper (and unused art) are slowly turning into a mountain. The amount of pencils and inking pens that will die in this process is also wild.

And don't worry, we won't burn out, we'll just die the day after the game is released...haha.
Click to expand...

You do realize, however, that you're quickly becoming the hit of the show, right? People are definitely talking about it, and momentum is picking up fast. That's gotta feel good...
 
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