# Echolite - Update #1 - Character Movement, Basic World Building Greetings fellow Sparks! We have reached an exciting point - a launchpad, really! This post kicks off the first of many blog updates about the game I am currently developing. The game is called “Echolite” and I have high hopes that it will turn out to be an amazing first game :) --- **Main Character** As teased last week throughout my various socials, I began work with designing the main character. So far I have two different designs ready, but more will certainly be added to give the player numerous options. Everyone seems to like both in some regard, so I will try alternating the display of them!
![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1641869044415/LeDBLgD-O.png)
I also started laying the groundwork within the Godot Engine for this game. Having proper organization from the start will be the key to success from behind the scenes. --- **Basic Tiles** With the second week of development underway, I am starting to bring a bit of life to this project! This means the player needs a world to explore, and thus an array of different tiles. As someone who struggles the most with art, I ran through multiple drafts. I finally settled on these “basic” tiles to construct the world:
![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1641869184656/oCpgPxGQU.png)
In the editor, I just need a starting point, so saving the more involved map generation for later I opted for a rectangle of randomly-selected tiles. Here’s the result:
![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1641869350597/X6tqrDtfw.png)
What really helps me with the art is having the right palette. Funny enough, these colors for the basic tiles are sourced from PixilArt. I have switched over to Aseprite for my pixel art work now, but the site still has a wonderful source of community palettes to experiment with! This is the specific color palette that I discovered, and it really is quite beautiful the way the colors blend: [https://www.pixilart.com/palettes/sparkles-palette-140](https://www.pixilart.com/palettes/sparkles-palette-140) The purple may not scream “underground” at first given the game’s setting, but with some lighting later and against the other colors of the palette, I think it fits the “foreign” aesthetic perfectly. --- **Walking Animations** Now to put the main character’s gears to good use by adding in some movement! I used this resource to set up the grid-based movement. The initial approach I used was working to a certain degree, but it lacked the smoothness I was going for. This kind of amazing help from the community is just another reason to love Godot! To spice things up, I attempted some rough walking animations. I decided to be a little smarter with the design though! I figured that if all of the different player designs had shared features (legs, arms, single eye, etc…), then the side profiles are virtually the same. With this, I can continue using the same side animations while simply creating art for the front and back cycles. Here's the final outcome:

via GIPHY

The system will definitely need to be smarter with loading different types of animations, but that sounds like a future development item! --- **What’s Next?** Over the next 2 weeks I plan to draft out some resource-based tiles that the player can stand on to collect items! Additionally, I want to start adding in some GUI components (visual for now) to start getting a feel of the game from the actual player perspective. Thank you so much for taking the time to check out this update - I look forward to seeing where this game goes!