So I've decided to continue to put Tales of Leisure on hold until I can get the graphics looking how I'd like them to be. That means an artist who is not me should be employed. Meanwhile, I've started work on the next project: Old School Hero. While at first glance it may appear to be just a Mega Man clone, I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing. The 8-bit Megaman series is one of my favorites and I've always wanted to take a shot at designing levels in that style. I'm hoping I can live up to the expectations fans of Megaman have for solid, challenging gameplay and they find it worthwhile to pick up while waiting for Megaman 11. Also, the music must be awesome.
Here's some early video showing off the weapons and items. Notice the barren, uninteresting red tiles. The levels will not be like this in the final game. Here are screens of some pixel art I've been working on for the magma level.
Obviously, all still works in progress. They're will be more to show soon!