Game Design 101

I am feeling good about the progress I've made with my game this fine day. Infact, I am just finishing up - not the game, but my day on the comp working out problems for my little baby. This is the first real screen shot with some place holder graphics. As I might have said before, I am working primarily on getting the behaviors right for the characters and making sure they don't get lodged in the walls or each other...and that they can shoot in multiple directions. Has it been a challenge. But, I have been working on getting the main character - the one on the right - well animated. I think that will be - possibly - the final sprite for that player - the enemy, too. I like the way they look. But, it's taken a long time to get just a few images converted to gif images that don't look all fuzzy. Cause when you shrink them down to 80pxx50px, there's not much room left for much descriptive info visually. Just enough for a few lines and dots. And, I basically have to redraw them at that point. So, the process is kind of long and sucky. Anyway, enjoy.