itch.io

Hey all,

I am developing Novaboard, a pixel art editor that works using web tech. Current version works on the web, but future versions will work offline.

The app usage is growing slowly and I am not sure how to make it grow faster.

The app has a fair number of features, and to my eyes looks ok, but I don’t think it captures the users.

App: https://marcel0ll.itch.io/novaboard

I am not sure if the new features I am offering are not useful at all or if I am just bad at marketing in general.

That is why I am seeking honest feedback from others, as I might have become blind to my own app’s problems, or that nobody has the need of another pixelart editor as Aseprite, Piskel, Resprite, Pixquare and similar have already saturated the market (even if offering new features)

Amazing concept and visuals!

cool app! But please use consistent icons, right now some are emojis and some are images

Hello all, a few months ago, I announced I was building Novaboard. Well, I am still building it and looking for feedback on its overall feeling and usefulness.

The app is still 100% free!

I have added many features targeted at indie game devs and pixel artists, and would like to make it even more useful for this audience.

What Novaboard does:

• Runs in your browser, saves all files locally
• Can import/export in various formats: .ase, .gal, .psd, .ora, .nova, .piskel, …
• Novaboard has a concept of workspaces, where many files live together and can reference each other as clips
• Each file can have multiple export configs, which allows exporting each slice independently or all at once
• Full animation timeline that allows tweening position/scale/rotation for clips
• Clipping layers that mask to the layer below, great for shading and recoloring
• Layer effects and adjustment layers for non-destructive workflows: outline, crt, glow, invert, gradient map
• And much more: image slicer, mp4/gif export, sprite stack previewer, tile mode, onion skinning, branch history, custom brushes, isometric drawing tool, color ramp generator, and a goto-anything prompt for layers/frames/tags/files.

Roadmap

My focus now is on polishing and developing a desktop version of the app to sell here on Itch and Steam. The web version will be kept free and fully featured for now.

If you try the app, don’t forget to rate it. A rating helps a lot.

Cool game! Early rounds, attack speed, and multi-shot are a must, which feels unbalanced as early levels of AOE don’t do that much damage.

It feels unfair that the enemies’ spawner also moves down, so in later rounds, enemies spawn almost attacking you already.

Overall, it ends up feeling a little grindy; there should be some bosses. Or some sort of different mechanic, so it stops being so repetitive at times

That UI should appear when clicking on any board or creating a new one

Thank you for trying and letting me know you had trouble.

I tried to create a visual space where you could have multiple files open and quickly jump between them to edit. So a board is just a file already open in an “artboard”. Whenever you create a new one or open an image, it should automatically focus, and then the editor tools should show on the screen.

You should have seen something like the images below:

Hello all, I am marcel0ll and I am building a pixel art editor that runs directly on the browser. The concept started basically as “Aseprite on the browser”, but I want the app to grow out of this simple premise and provide unique features.

For example, I believe I can build real-time multi-user features so that people can create art together. It could be either built into a desktop version of the app, so you could host/join, or be a premium feature for the web version.

The app already has all the basic features, but there are still rough edges that need polishing.

So what feedback am I looking for?

1. I am looking to polish the experience of the app for pixel-artists. So what would make the app better for creating pixel art and sprites for game dev?

2. Do you have any ideas on features that are lacking in other pixel art software that you would like to see in a new app?

3. Any feedback is welcome!

This is the link for the app on itch:

https://marcel0ll.itch.io/novaboard

Oh, I am surely a hobbyist game developer, and the “large spike” is just large for my own context and experience.

I did not market Quacktory much, just a few posts on Twitter, and that is it, but for my latest pixel-art editor project, I am spending some money and time trying to promote it, but even so, without a lot of feedback from users. I know some people are using it, but almost no one has made any kind of contact telling me about their experiences and what they like/dislike, making it hard to iterate in the right direction.

I did not consider all those tags for Quacktory, and they might have helped.

Thank you all for the feedback.

I see. So we should focus on marketing the projects elsewhere and bring users here. Inside itch, what would be the best way to interact/market to new users?

Hey, some friends and I have posted a few projects here on itch, and on all of them, we saw a similar pattern in analytics.

A large spike as soon as we post it, and then after a week or two, it stops getting impressions and views/plays.

How should I read this?

Should I understand that the project was not good enough? that our marketing is lacking? And how should we improve?

Hey, thank you! If possible, could you rate the app?

Yes, there is a big chance of having a downloadable version in the near future.

But for now, I will keep it web-only, as it is faster to iterate on new ideas and find good workflows for pixel artists and game devs, which will help differentiate from Aseprite and similar apps.

Hey all, version 0.3.0 is out now!

The full changelog can be found here

But the gist of it is:

Update v0.3.0

• Improved canvas resize modal
• fixed duplicate frame bug
• added new layer effects system
• perceptual color correction options

I am planning what to work on for the following updates. I will probably add import/export from the GraphicsGale format, and I am thinking of adding a sprite stack visualizer/preview option.

If anyone has suggestions for next features, let me know!

Fixed in version 0.3.0, which is out right now!

Hey, thank you for letting me know. I am working on an update for tomorrow, and I will include a fix.

If possible, could you rate the app here? It helps a lot.

Thank you for checking it out! It still has a lot of room for improvement, so any feedback is welcome.

Hello all!

I am currently building Novaboard, a pixel art editor that runs directly on the browser. I am looking for general feedback about the app and its usefulness for artists and indie game developers.

Currently, the app is 100% free.

What Novaboard can do

1. Free and runs directly in your browser - no download or account required
2. Opens Aseprite (.ase) and PSD files - edit existing assets without buying software
3. Infinite canvas with multiple boards - work on several sprites in one workspace
4. Full animation timeline - frames, playback, and live preview for sprite animations
5. Visual history with branches - undo/redo with full timeline, never lose a version
6. Exports to sprite sheets, GIF, APNG, and timelapse - ready for your game engine or social media
7. Auto-saves locally - your work persists even if you close the browser

Thank you!

Really enjoyed playing the game! Congratulations!

Hey, first of all, thank you for playing. It should have opened the map. Could you please share the browser/os you were using when it you had the crash and if you see any errors on the browser console?

Other than that, until the crash, did you enjoy the game?

You should be able to rotate while in “preview”, after you build it you cannot rotate anymore; you would have to deconstruct it and build it again.

To deconstruct, hold “run”, which is shift or L3 and then hit the building 3 times and the building item should drop again.

If it does not work let me know, I will check nevertheless if I can make it more intuitive.

There are few points which are not clear to everyone, like how to craft, how to use the planter or the drill.

I will be working on clearing those out on the next update. Could you please further explain the problem you saw with conveyor belts?

Please, pause (P for web, Esc if you downloaded it) and start over for now. I am working on a fix for it. Thank you for the report!

Nice concept, but I feel that you should have more possible actions for the user, maybe the user could have a set of dies and use one or more per attack. Or even have different sized dice for different actions. Heal a d4, special attack a d20. I missed some kind of visual feedback when the enemies dies. And was hard to know how much damage I was going to do.

Hey, nice concept to add flap like movement to an extended level. I missed being able to walk on slopes and the sprite be angled, also there is a segment where you can walk on the spikes which was unexpected. Also I think you could increase contrast of the trees so that you can better see that they are hollow and you can pass throught.

Hey, I could not play on PC. I don’t have a controller atm, and literally pressing “A” does nothing.

10/10 best SFX and music I heard today

Great game!

Great chill game!