Stream/Bridge background

[Moresco]

I called it what I did because, honestly I don't know what to call it. :p  I really like the background so far, and I'm sure you all have fine ideas on how to improve it...I'm all ears.   But mainly, I am unhappy with a few particular things and maybe you can tell me why?

1.  The grass.  Is what I have too much?  I thought about making it softer, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

2.  The lines in the water.  It doesn't seem that bad to me, but during the game I fear it will seem ridiculous unless I animate it somehow?  But I already want to animate the water runoff from the top portion to the bottom portion.

3.  Is the view too high?  Maybe I should lower the horizon and try again?

4.  The darker "grass" on the very bottom - I wasn't sure what to do here.  Definitely feel stuck about that.

Anyway, thanks for taking a look. ^^

[Medical Waste]

I don't know about the angle, it's up to you and how your characters are drawn.

It's a bit dark in places, and I am actually a bit confused about what is going on in it.

Thre grass is quite bright compared to everything else, perhaps you could see what it looks like it if it were desaturated a bit and maybe the contrast brought down.

The water does look good, but yeah, I think it would have to be animated to really look like water flowing. You can't have waves that don't move!

I don't know about the darker grass at the bottom either. If by that you mean whatever is in the bottom left, then I don't see why it is so dark compared to the other grass.

Overall though I think it's pretty good.

[Moresco]

I don't know about the angle, it's up to you and how your characters are drawn.

Yah I'm not sure this is the way I want to go with this, but I'm considering trying out another shot of the same thing.

It's a bit dark in places, and I am actually a bit confused about what is going on in it.

Yup, me too. ^^

Thre grass is quite bright compared to everything else, perhaps you could see what it looks like it if it were desaturated a bit and maybe the contrast brought down.

Actually when I started it was dark too, lol, but I thought it wasn't very grass-like being so dark a color. :/ so I took another shot at it and brightened it up...

I don't know about the darker grass at the bottom either. If by that you mean whatever is in the bottom left, then I don't see why it is so dark compared to the other grass.

Hmm, I'm really not sure where I was going with that.

Overall though I think it's pretty good.

Thanks I really appreciate your comments.  I'll try bringing the color of the grass back down and see what happens.

[Sparky]

A little thickness added to the bridge planks would be nice, they seem almost two dimensional. Just draw the side of each plank along the bottom edge where it faces the camera.

Is the water on the right side higher up and is it falling into the pool on the left? There is what looks like a little patch of white water where the waterfall ends, but the waterfall itself is invisible.

It seems like both grass colors look fine, but perhaps not in the same picture. The lighter chartreuse colored grass has a nice texture, but it might look even nicer if you brighten up the shadows a bit. The hard black shadows in the grass seem a little too harsh. Perhaps a dark green with a hint of blue would be a good shadow color.

Nice composition. The camera angle is highish, but that's not necessarily bad. If your characters are all drawn from 45 degrees upward, the background will fit them nicely.

[Medical Waste]

Something like this is what I am thinking, just so it's not so dominant.


2x


By the way, if you want to only upload one image and display it normally and 2x you can do it like this:

Code: ags

[img width=640 height=400]http://.......[/img]

[Moresco]

Ok I took some of your advice on things and tried to straighten up a few other things as well.  Hopefully this progression shows some improvement in the overall deal.  I also threw in a few foreground trees, but I'm not sure that they're necessary or not - I suppose it depends on how dark I want this scene to be.

Anyway, here is the new image (thanks for the size tip MW-saves me the effort ^^):

[ThreeOhFour]

I didn't realise there was a waterfall in the first couple of pics, it works a whole lot better now. And yeah, that grass is much better now.

Overall I really like this style, the angle reminds me of the angles used in the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series - I've always thought it would be cool to see a purely adventure game like that.

Good effort so far, dude!

[Tuomas]

AH, now I get it. I was afraid to comment on it because it made my had ache, but now the difference in depth is really visible.

One thing though. The water flows from right to centre, then down and then to left... The only thing. Before it falls it turns almst 180 degrees, and goes a bit to the right again. This, although looks nice, is impossible. At least on a flat surface as it seems to be. and, if it were flat, the piece of land, the small strait thing, well the water would flow over it in no time at all, unless it reall was hard material, like rock.

[Moresco]

Oh! I see what you're saying about the water.  I'll try to deflatten it so it looks like the stream bed is coming down a slanted surface.  Thanks for that ^^

Ben: Thanks, I'm actually a big fan of those games, and all other old school d&d style rpgs as well.  Good fun.

[Snarky]

Not true. I flew over Newfoundland on Saturday, and all the rivers were fantastically twisty, often bending completely back on themselves. I'm thinking it has something to do with the coriolis force, which is more pronounced closer to the poles. However, I haven't been able to see them on a Google Maps search, so it could be something that only happens as they freeze over, too.

[markbilly]

The water at the top of the waterfall needs to be lighter, like the water flowing over the edge, as it would be pretty fast-flowing at the top.

This will also make it easier to identify, I've only just worked out quite what the waterfall was

[Andail]

Rivers always turn and twist, seemingly for no reason.

However, this has to do with the water speed and force being greater in the "outer" part of a bend. Imagine two racing cars travellling side to side - connected with a sturdy metal bar, approaching a bend. When they make the turn, the outer car must travel much faster than the inner. When this happens to the river, the friction will be greater and the water will start to dig out the material to the side.

So whenever there is just a slight curve initially, the water will always start to erode this curve and make it more pronounced, until it's eventually so round that the water will shortcut and leave the curve to remain as a little lake.

Funny how that technical geology I studied more than 6 years ago still can come in handy!

[Moresco]

That was an excellent explanation on the water Andail, almost makes me wish I took geology. ^^

markbilly: done and done.  better you think?


Added a few rocks there, instead of the boring dirt etc.  I think it adds a little to it overall.  I also modified a few color things just from coming back to it over and over...personally I like it more.  lol, my fingers hurt though... i need a tablet

Oh and I don't know what compelled me to add the speckled stuff that was texture on the ground, but it looked cool and then I figured why not let the wind blow it all about? So yeah...

[markbilly]

markbilly: done and done.  better you think?

Yeah, excellent!