Gfx style change for my game // what do you think?

[KyriakosCH]

UPDATE:
18/7
A somewhat darker approach, what do you think?







(older pics removed!)

[(obviously huge parts of the interface are either placeholder or utterly missing atm )

Youtube intro video (with original music) is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CrrDkarGpI

Fellow poster in the forum, Chris -credited in the intro-, will be providing some more excellent piano pieces for the game...!

[KyriakosCH]

The following model of the Hagia Sophia (and other stuff) is one of my all-time better 3d works, so i will use it in the game in a sort of cameo




(there it is a scale model out of wood or similar)...

[Chicky]

Hey KyriakosCH, Lovely work here. I checked out your Youtube link too, the piano adds a nice eerie atmosphere to your animation. I like how the light floods in at the end but wasn't too keen on the dips to black between the character's standing frames.

As for the graphics style, it gives me a vintage film feel, despite being 3D rendered If you keep up this standard for the whole game I think you'll be onto a winner!

[KyriakosCH]

Thank you!!!
I will go check your own work now.. (edit: The Man that only I can see, looks awesome...)

(outdated pics taken out)

[KyriakosCH]

(edit... )

[KyriakosCH]

A somewhat darker approach, what do you think?

[Danvzare]

I can barely see anything.
Way too dark.

[KyriakosCH]

^Might be your screen, i recall you claiming this before a couple of times -- screen tuning is an issue with darkish images

That said, i got this view by one more person, and three others seem to not view it as too dark to see, so i will check again...

[ThreeOhFour]

It looks pretty dark to me also! I suggest at least making the text a brighter colour to make it a little easier to read.

[Danvzare]

^Might be your screen, i recall you claiming this before a couple of times -- screen tuning is an issue with darkish images

Nope, definitely not my screen. It's probably yours.
My screen is so bright, that I have my brightness set to the lowest setting, and it's still too bright. I've actually had to put sunglasses on at night, just to stop the screen from straining my eyes.
I also play Thief at a very low gamma setting, and usually have no trouble seeing anything.

I can see your image, and identify features. But damn is it hard to do so.
I would definitely not want to attempt to read an entire game's worth of text that dark.

[KyriakosCH]

Hm... now?

[Danvzare]

Ooh, much better. More atmospheric in my opinion as well.

Also, is that building in the lower right corner, that same model that you're really proud of, as it's one of your best works?

[KyriakosCH]

Yes, it is the hagia sophia

[Monsieur OUXX]

Your backgrounds are cool in their own style.

What I can point out is this : At the moment, your character doesn't have the right contrast and stands out (it looks gray on a black background).
Suggested solution: Create SEVERAL versions of your character (like, at least 5 versions), with different levels of darkness and contrast (quickly done in Photoshop/gimp/Paint.Net).
Then use the properly-lighted character in each room, to fit the ambient lighting.

[Danvzare]

Your backgrounds are cool in their own style.

What I can point out is this : At the moment, your character doesn't have the right contrast and stands out (it looks gray on a black background).
Suggested solution: Create SEVERAL versions of your character (like, at least 5 versions), with different levels of darkness and contrast (quickly done in Photoshop/gimp/Paint.Net).
Then use the properly-lighted character in each room, to fit the ambient lighting.

You do know there's an easy way to adjust the light level of the character based on which walkable area they're one, right?

It probably wouldn't look as good as your suggestion, but it would be much easier.

[KyriakosCH]

Given lighting in this room - maybe some other too - is part of the storyline, the view when you only use the small lamp can be as darkened (in fact it should) :

(removed outdated pic...)

But at some point in the game (i hope it is a demo chapter), you can use the hanging light instead, which obviously will make things far more visible

[Monsieur OUXX]

You do know there's an easy way to adjust the light level of the character based on which walkable area they're one, right?

You're absolutely right. Until recently you couldn't make the character darker, only brighter. But now you can. That said, my suggestion was also aiming at creating versions with different lightings (from the right, from the left, fom behind...). also using the brightness featurre would degrade the contrast. But your suggestion is definitely the best quick solution.

[KyriakosCH]

^Yes, and i will experiment with that

Btw, better version of the -only lit by the lamp - version. (already made the lit by the chandelier one as well, but no, i won't show you)



The following room (kitchen) isn't ready yet (lighting for starters produces a grain effect on the lower part of the room), but i wanted to show a different part of the game environment

[KyriakosCH]

And

[KyriakosCH]

Yet more changes, nearing the completion of gfx stuff...

Just before the intro ends:


other part of the intro:




One of the cinematic--side scenes:

[Darth Mandarb]

The biggest problem I see is they are sooooo dark!

I did a quick demonstration on the "just before intro ends" image:


- punched up the brightness a lot
- centered the composition (unless you were going for a "something's out of whack" feeling in which case ignore this one)
- I didn't get the feeling this one was supposed to be dark and ominous so I brightened it a lot, but even 1/2 of what I did would make it read far better IMO

Also the bedroom w/ the chandelier:


- upped the brightness a lot as well

Now with this one I got the sense of a "midnight mood" type thing so if you wanted to stylize it a bit more you could do something like this:



I went a tad overboard on that one but it illustrates the point well enough I think

I did these very quickly but if you spend a little more time on the lighting I think the end results would be much improved!

[KyriakosCH]

^Nice...

I will have to rework the pics, likely with Gimp instead of relying on the original render for all..

[KyriakosCH]

I took a different direction. I didn't want to use some degree of pixelation, but i think it might be both more practical and a bit more atmospheric. Tell me what you think...

[KyriakosCH]

[KyriakosCH]

Trying a 800X600 render, tell me what you think...





In my view it is more workable.

[Danvzare]

I'm going to be honest with you.
I like it... I like it a lot!

It really shows off your artwork as well.

[KyriakosCH]

Thanks!

Do you like the ant as well?

It's not an ant-agonist, btw (i am so funny )

[Danvzare]

Do you like the ant as well?

Ant? What ant?
...
Do you mean that spider-looking thing on the wall?
I hadn't noticed it until you mentioned it. It looks good as well.

[Gurok]

Is this the ant (circled in blue)?



The cabinet on the right with a hole in it looks a bit odd, like the hole's not supposed to be there. Is it a front view of the left side of a buffet and hutch? I can't really tell what the gap is for.

[KyriakosCH]

Yes, that is the ant. What else could it be, really?

There are only three pieces of furniture, which may seem little but it is part of the plot; you are in a dream, and stuff there exist due to tied meaning and not as actual objects. The character (mental asylum patient) has a sort of quest in that red-wallpaper apartment. He morphs into the ant as well.

[Gurok]

So what sort of cabinet is that cabinet in the foreground of the right of the scene?

[KyriakosCH]

Usually one holds books or other small objects in that space of such a furniture. In the game there likely won't be anything, cause it is meant as a space which may (or may not) trigger something if you move your hand inside of it. A part of the story this chapter of the game is based on features the examination of whether the secondary objects in the main room do play any role at all, ie if by moving/re-arranging them something can happen. Think of a lucid dream where you try to learn the rules of the dream. It is pretty much the scope with those bits of furniture, while the focus is on the corridor (it has a small opening, but you don't fit inside with your human form, which is why the ant first comes into play).
Although the ant has other things to do as well. The 'dancing' is a main focus. And it isn't really a dance either

[Danvzare]

Yes, that is the ant. What else could it be, really?

A spider.

[KyriakosCH]

Well, some spiders mimic ants, to make other beings believe they are some harmless ant, and then devour them

[KyriakosCH]

A sketch of the main hall of the asylum (some stuff are going on there the first time you visit, eg those chairs will be filled and there is a speaker in the rightmost edge of the hall). See the isolated chair in the corridor? That is your favourite location

[selmiak]

You know, you should show stuff like this in your indiegogo campaing. YOU want to make a mysterious horror game and don't want to spoil stuff, okay, but people are interested in WHAT they are funding and want to know more about the game

Is this Kafka on the wall? 

[KyriakosCH]

You know, you should show stuff like this in your indiegogo campaing. YOU want to make a mysterious horror game and don't want to spoil stuff, okay, but people are interested in WHAT they are funding and want to know more about the game

Is this Kafka on the wall? 

Of course it is Kafka

[KyriakosCH]

Hm, testing, but what do you think of the lighting?



other version:

[selmiak]

all very weird, the light in your very first version was way better, more natural and actually coming from the lamps.

[KyriakosCH]

That is easy to re-do, thanks

Edit:

[Kumpel]

Are these copied furnitures just place holders or will I find this chairs and this cupboards in every room?

This breaks a bit the immersion for me. Please give us more diversity!

about your question: Can you do a clean render of the image in reply #34? It looks very natural but maybe too good in high quality. But I love the bumb map you used for the ceiling. It Has a really nice effect on the way I experience the room.

[KyriakosCH]

What do you mean? All furniture was bought from the same place

(yes, in the end they will be diversified, and there are other ones in the patient's bedroom and some kitchen stuff too i had made ).

[Danvzare]

I'm really loving how the graphical style of this game is evolving.

[KyriakosCH]

Hm, thoughts?

[KyriakosCH]

In-game the screen uses the full room (640X400 as always), but this is just the animated rendered frame

And other recent pics:

[KyriakosCH]

Main clinic corridor -- and if you want to help our campaign, now would be a good time to do so given we have been sort of stuck at $20 for a few days now



https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-dancer-with-six-legs-new-horror-old-fears/x/13826467#/

https://www.patreon.com/Kyriakos

[Mandle]

What do you mean? All furniture was bought from the same place

(yes, in the end they will be diversified, and there are other ones in the patient's bedroom and some kitchen stuff too i had made ).

Don't diversify too much though: The place is supposed to be an institution, and generic impersonal furniture and general decor is a crucial part of the institutional feel.

I understand though that the red wallpaper areas are a dream-world kinda place and should be quite different. I mean just the real-world areas.

[KyriakosCH]

The smallest of the rooms: (wip-- lighting is way too noisy currently)

[KyriakosCH]

Part of the intro (frame placed onto a 640X400 layer)



Part of a cinematic (pick up key)



Trying to have some of the mood of Another World

[KyriakosCH]

Two gifs

[Danvzare]

Ooh, that first animation. So ghostly.

[KyriakosCH]

I hope you don't just mean as in... floating

Btw: (look at part of a riddle too )

[KyriakosCH]

A screen with the actual moving of the tower on the chessboard