Working on a room for a horror adventure game...

[KyriakosCH]

Hi!

I used Blender to make the models myself (room, objects, character animation), and render them for this 2d image (room is full 3d and will be used in cutscenes in-game). I noticed two things while playing around with making a sprite today, but i will ask technical stuff elsewhere if i can't figure it out myself!

I want to ask what you think of the room, and the basic (placeholder more or less) character... (not the outline of the character, which obviously will be changed to blend in!) I am toying with the idea of having only a left-right movement (as in The Cat Lady, which afaik was also made with AGS!)



PS: the thunder is part of the animated background

[Cassiebsg]

It looks nice, though a bit too dark for my eyes (or monitor would be a better word).
Think you should choose another color for the clothes, or at least give it a material that will shine a bit. Right now it's just black, and I can't really figure out what is happening with the hand.
I was going to add that you had cut her toes... but I just realized that it's probably that chair that is acting as a walk behind.

Blender user here too, so good luck with this.

[SinSin]

I'm with Cassie here its too dark.

Maybe throw in a candle or even some moonlight so that the shelf edges are illuminated. Also with a lightning flash there would be an effect on the carpet and window.

Keep it up

[KyriakosCH]

Thank you both!

Yes, final version will be less dark, and also the furniture have to be scaled down a bit (might just scale down the whole room, though...)

[KyriakosCH]

Another early version update, trying to get some color tones that are eerie...



What do you think? Any suggestions for improving it?

[silverwolfpet]

I'm all up for darker scenes. As far as I know, my IPS monitor is pretty much perfectly calibrated, and despite that the latest image is still a bit too dark on the left side.
Maybe add a little bit more light towards the left side? The bed (red thing on the ground) kind of unbalances the whole room - in the sense that it feels claustrophobic.

Overall, a very good beginning, but I strongly suggest you lighten up the left side of the room too.

[KyriakosCH]

Thank you!

Although I am going for claustrophobic anyway, and any other depressing stuff in this horror game... (moreover, the demo is based on a short story of mine, and the bed there takes up almost half of the tiny room, it is a feature of the plot) The character likely needs far more work than anything else in the scene... I used some GIMP effects too, to make the image more like some kind of corrupt photo.

As for the darkness...: this is the room when it is a bit more lit up, due to the thunder The regular background is even darker..

[KyriakosCH]

A second room Wip... The hall.

[Cassiebsg]

Hey, problem with making it so dark is that the player won't be able to see the room. This will result in the player either setting the gamma and brightness up, or give up on the game.

This second room, at first glance all I could see was the face, hands and some purple/pink up down buttons?
I realize you want it to be dark, but you can still do dark and let the player see what he needs to.. in fact considering the room is so dark, the face and hands should also be a lot darker, since there's no light to reflect on the skin.
Check Frikker's entry on the nursery background blitz. He did dark and creepy, yet you can still see what you need to in that room.

[KyriakosCH]

^I will surely check that out, although there is the issue with how people set their monitor lighting levels as well... For example in my monitor the room doesn't prevent you from seeing there are two doors, a wardrobe and pretty much nothing else but wall and the character. Any added objects there (it is the hall, so it is not being made to actually feature objects, and just allows to travel to the two rooms and outside) will be more striking anyway, added individually, while the 'look at' or 'examine' can give you the (rather mundane) info on the room if you want it read

I repeat, though, that monitor lighting levels can vary, and personally i sometimes view the rooms as less dark than i ideally would want (although the Hall is definitely far darker than the Bedroom, and that makes sense in the game setting)

[Danvzare]

I will surely check that out, although there is the issue with how people set their monitor lighting levels as well...

That's true, but the majority of people do seem to be pointing it out. So either everyone has their monitor set too dark or your monitor is a bit too bright.

Although I do wonder why you have the backgrounds so dark.
Is it because it's a horror game, and you think it would be scarier if you can't see anything, or is it simply because you want to set it at night.
If the latter, then there are other ways to make it seem dark, without actually making it dark.
If the former though, then I suppose you're on the right track. Just don't let it interfere with the gameplay too much.

Just remember that we're only trying to help.

By the way, you probably already know this but your character's light level doesn't quite match the room's light level. If you get what I mean.

[KyriakosCH]

^Hey, of course i welcome all critique!!! I am not a professional computer game maker, nor even a pro graphics designer; i am an author and my studies are in another field as well

I might be more touchy about critique on the plot of the game, i suppose! But no, thanks for all comments and do provide more info as you see it...!

[KyriakosCH]

:bump:

Hm, what do you think of the lighting in this one? (it is - obviously - an external scene anyway)



My models are ok imo, but the lighting may be very sub-optimal... any feedback?

(it is a local landmark in the promenade)

[Cassiebsg]

I know I've been complaining about lack of light, but... now the tower seems to be too bright.
Now it depends on what you are going for. If it's "realism" as in real live, then you probably should look at night pictures.

Spoiler

[close]

I would say you need some focus light on the tower and make the lamps give more light. And then define a "sun light" (that is actually the moon) find it's place, give it a slightly bluish tint, and play with the intensity until it feels natural.

But again, I suck at lighting my scenes...

[KyriakosCH]

Thanks

Actually i had applied a Gimp 'softglow' effect, which is why the tower got a lot more light...

Then again, i am not decided as to whether it will be a night scene (easier to do and more atmospheric) or a day scene (as in the actual story...)

I am not going for utter realism, no; i mostly case about it looking nice

[Danvzare]

I agree with Cassiebsg about the lighting.
Although I just want to add that I like the texture effect you've placed over this background. For some weird reason it reminds me of the artifacts that would appear when you played a 3D game in 256-colour mode. And for some even weirder reason, that gets me all nostalgic.

[KyriakosCH]

^The effect is 'lomo' lighting, from Gimp

[KyriakosCH]

Two external scenes wip:



http://imgur.com/xcE3iRk

[Babar]

I'm confused as to what the lighter blue thing in the background under the sky is. If it is the sea or a body of water, the line is much to high. If it is a wall...why is it blue? Or is it some sort of weird lighting effect from the lamps?

[KyriakosCH]

It is the Aegean sea

[Snarky]

To me the biggest weakness of these external backgrounds is that the lighting is boring. It's just a kind of vague glow from the middle of the screen: it doesn't come from any clear source, it doesn't emphasize any particular part of the scenery, it doesn't even have any particular hue. It just makes everything look flat. Being deliberate in how you light the scene and knowing about the effect you want to create is as important as the modeling.

Some things to keep in mind:

-In a modern city, most of the night-time light comes from street lamps, windows, or even neon signs. This light tends to be reddish (as seen in Cassiebsg's reference), though it can vary considerably.
-With artificial lighting, the parts of the scenery that are lit are much, much brighter than the parts that are in shadow. You get very stark contrasts.
-Without artificial lighting, the main source of light is the night sky (or moon), which is brighter than anything else in the landscape. In particular, the sea is never brighter than the sky.
-Light from the sky is blue, light from the moon appears silvery. Because it's too dim to activate the cones in your eyes to really distinguish color, colors don't appear clearly: in particular, red appears as black.

[Babar]

In that case, the horizon should be much


...higher? Wuh?
Eyeballing it and "feeling" it it seemed the horizon should be much lower, but perspective says it should be higher.

[KyriakosCH]

Re the lighting: yes, i know that currently it is terrible, but it is only placeholder

I -ideally- would want to have at least one external scene in mid-day, with natural light (most likely the white tower one). Then the external scenes (three i think) will have light from the street-lamps. As yet i did not place any lighting other than a general sky, cause i am not in that part of scene finalisation yet

[KyriakosCH]

Btw, given i am by now means a pro painter/graphics creator, i would really welcome any advice on what colors/contrast to use to achieve a more ominous effect. Given this will be a horror game anyway!

[KyriakosCH]

More wips, i sadly have very little time and am trying to finish something...





Chose another story for the plot as well, to make things more condensed!

[Mandle]

In that case, the horizon should be much


...higher? Wuh?
Eyeballing it and "feeling" it it seemed the horizon should be much lower, but perspective says it should be higher.

I think the issue is that at night the ocean horizon and the sky above it would usually both be very dark and you would only see the first mile or so out to sea in any real detail and then it would pretty much just fade to black until you had a few stars to kinda pick out where the sea ends and the sky starts...

So...your horizon is correct but the sea should fade much quicker into blackness and then there should be a gap, and then the first stars should be visible...

Just my take on it though...

[KyriakosCH]

More stuff from that room





Nothing to worry about, though. It likely just happened by accident.

Anyway, it is doable. Character animation and shading needs loads of work, but in the demo there may just be two rooms (yet 10 other graphic zooms and a couple animations as well, including cutscenes).

[KyriakosCH]

Thoughts?



Some furniture are missing, cause they will be placed as objects.

[SinSin]

Just did a little paint over here.

First up nice claustrophobic feeling can be achieved with this room however you must... MUST shade it correctly.
 
I would also add some details to the doors and maybe add some skirting boards to the image ...( maybe a worn old rug and some torn wallpaper)

So what I did here was

• Shade the walls where I could,
• Highlight the edges of some of the objects
• Dulled the door knobs
• Aged the lamp slightly
• Animated it to show atmosphere. Gave it a flickering light as an example.

Remember the dodge and burn tool CAN be your friend, just practice with it. 

Hope this helps.

[KyriakosCH]

^Very nice!

Yes, i am still working on the rooms... I may ask for your help, including ideas

Love the flickering effect as well.

[KyriakosCH]

Also, any suggestions on this? Using just built-in Blender shading, no Gimp post-work:

[SinSin]

Its good, maybe flatten down the wallpaper and again darken the room for effect.
Wear down the wallpaper for the age effect too and maybe put in some dust...
change the lamp for a candle maybe?   

Just a couple of points.
nice modelling tho

[KyriakosCH]

Thanks

[KyriakosCH]

Anyone know how to make an interesting/atmospheric 'light flicker' animated background?

Main background likely being the following:

[Kumpel]

Well just do a darker, more shadowy version of this (very atmospheric and moody but maybe too dark for some users) background and put it in the room as a second background frame (or more versions to have a smoother effect). Then change the frame, timed the way you want it. This should give the illusion of a flickering lamp. If you want to do a little tweening, i'd suggest the tween module 2.0 by Edmundito. There you'd need to set the other backgrounds as non-clickable objects behind all other objects. That way you can play with transparency and even tinting.

Happy trying

[KyriakosCH]

Thank you!

I know of the generic use of 4 secondary backgrounds, i am mostly trying to find what would work better as an atmospheric flicker (ie just how much darker/lighter, and if 2 added backgrounds are better than just 1 for this kind of light effect )...

I have noticed that some make use of the engine to create more animated backgrounds (more than just 5 frames), as i suppose happens also in your suggestion... I will have to look into that!

(edit, and some progress, although object sprites need cleaning up... ) ^^