What style of characters would fit this?

GarageGothic · Wed 30/04/2003 11:52:22

Well, the tilted head was just to make her seem less stiff for this shot. Just think of it as a single frame from an idle animation.

Also, I'd like to ask this: I was thinking about giving her a bag (carriedover her shoulder), to avoid the magic pockets phenomenon. But I worry that it will cause trouble when animating (such as having her put it down at times while doing something else and such) has anyone had these same considerations? The only bag (visible, not as the briefcase in PQ1) that I remember from any adventure game was Indy's shoulder bag, but that was quite small compared to what I intend. The other solution would be a big coat but the game takes place in L.A. and I suppose that would be a bit too hot at daytime (she DOES wear a coat at night though).

Ali · Wed 30/04/2003 13:11:50

It looks stylised and a little expressionistic (Caligari), you could make LA dark and rainy (a la Blade Runner) to justify a long coat, and I don't think it'd bother anyone. If anyone asks why it's chilly in the famously sunny LA just blame it on global warming.

Eero · Wed 30/04/2003 13:24:48

Great picture...

DinghyDog · Wed 30/04/2003 14:30:27

I must agree. Your art style is amazingly precise.

And yet...I hate to wonder how big your game is going to be size-wise if every one of your backgrounds is that detailed and with that many colors...

-DD

GarageGothic · Wed 30/04/2003 15:10:07

Thank you for all the kind words

Ali: Thanks for noticing the expressionist influence, although the Caligari sign perhaps made it a little too obvious. German expressionist film is an important part of the plot of the game, so I figured a small homage was in order.
As for making L.A. dark and rainy, I really wanted to stay away from the Blade Runner clichÃ©, but thanks for the suggestion - I have considered it for a long time myself. I think it's much more of a challenge to make Los Angeles seem mysterious and weird in bright sunlight (think David Lynch's last two films, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive), and I like the contrast of sunny days and dark nights. Sunshine and noir. In fact, the working title for the game used to be "Sunset by Night".

DinghyDog: I have wondered the same thing. 30-40 backgrounds at 640x400 and 16bit color, that's quite a lot. Add to that the sprites and sound effects.... now that's a scary thought.
And it really worries me that AGS precaches all the sprite data (or so I've heard, can anyone verify this?). There doesn't to seem to be any limits on sprites except the maximum number. But surely it can't all fit in memory if you use large hi-res hi-color sprites?

scotch · Wed 30/04/2003 15:54:51

The precaching and stuff won't be a problem, but to keep filesize down and speed up you could consider using 256 colour.. I think your art suits it.
look at http://www.agagames.com/scotch/noir2-woh.jpg
that's your BG turned down to 190 colours with no low colour editing to improve it at all.
Also 640x480 is better than 640x400, just because of the square aspect ratio, the streched graphics always annoy me in the non square modes so I always run in letterbox mode.

Anyway, yeah 256 would work gerat for your game and it'd be a lot smaller in size.

GarageGothic · Wed 30/04/2003 16:01:42

I agree that the art would certainly work in 256 colors. It's just that a preset palette (even if it's just for certain sprites) seems rather limiting you know. I would hate to add a new character, and discover that they can't use certain colors because it isn't in the pallette. Also, it seems that certain of the effects in AGS (current as well as planned) only work with 16bit color. I'll look into it though. I just don't want any silly technical limitations turning up during the making.

As for the resolution, I DO intend to use 640x480 as screen res, but only 640x400 for the image itself. You see, I want to have the image letterboxed, but the GUI should be in the black letterbox area. (like in Gabriel Knight and, I think, PQ4). I hope you understand what I mean.

Neole · Thu 01/05/2003 10:21:39

Its looking fantastic. The character is a lil sharper and more contrasted than the background, so you might have to change the contrast (and sharpness maybe) on either of those.

Neole · Thu 01/05/2003 10:23:06

Forgot to mention, I had thought it was a male at first. Still looks like one.

GarageGothic · Fri 02/05/2003 12:09:00

Neole: She is supposed to look androgynous in an early 90's k.d. lang sort-of way (not suggesting that all lesbians look like k.d. lang, but she was part of the visual inspiration for the character). But I wouldn't want her to be mistaken for a male. Maybe adding a few more details would help? At least the speech close-up will look more feminine.

Igor · Fri 02/05/2003 12:59:50

Must say it looks great! Certainly the best piece of work coming from Poser i saw so far. As a matter of fact it looks completely 2d. I'm really interested to see this in motion.

Neole · Fri 02/05/2003 17:19:50

It looks really good and matches the look you are trying to achieve perfectly, but I do think most people would mistake her for a male at first. I suppose a side view might correct that. Im not sure what to change without changing the KD Lang look to make her look clearly female.. maybe the others have some idea.

ratracer · Sat 03/05/2003 11:47:53

It has been said before, but I'll have to say it again: great work, great style... the character fits perfect with the bg... your game will show a hell of a ambiance!
also, great use of Poser, very dramatic stuff!