Game background for C+C please

[remixor]

Hi all.  This is the first background for our game-in-progress, Mr. Carlson in "Give Us the Box!"  It took me about twenty thousand tries to finish this, because I was unable to decide on a style for coloring/shading.  Eventually, I ended up with this, which ironically happens to be the most simplistic out of all the styles I tried.  Go figure.

This is Mr. Carlson's cubicle.  Anyway, I'd like overall C+C, and I also need ideas for what to put on Mr. Carlson's desk.  Right now, there is a laptop, a clock, some binders on that shelf, a pen and pencil in the drawer below the desk, and some TPS reports ( ).  What else should I put do you think?  He works at a generic large company.  His job isn't too important since it's abandoned quite early in the story, almost immediately.

[Darth Mandarb]

Did you remember to put the cover sheet on the TPS reports?

I like this actually. It's very simple, but sometimes that really works for me.  Especially if the characters are equally simple.  Maybe put some texture (or just color) to the ceiling.  The laptop looks a little wide, unless it's the 17" apple laptop!

Over all I like it ... do you have some shots of the characters that will use this environment?

Perhaps add a chair?

dm

[Neole]

Looks good! Additional things you can put - wall clock, calender, painting, framed photo of someone on desk, phone, mug like container for pens pencils, open file, trashcan below the desk.

[remixor]

Thanks for the responses guys.  Those are good suggestions for things to add.  I was having a total brain lapse for some reason.

As far as the simplicity goes, I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it this way.  In some ways I like how basic it is but in some ways it's too flat.  The thing is, I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with other ways to color it.  Does anyone have any ideas?  I might post some prior attempts to show you the kind of things I was trying before.

[remixor]

Here's another try.  This one probably fits better with the character.

[Neole]

Pretty good except for the gritty textured floor and the shadow under the wall which makes it look like its floating.

As for coloring, if you use photoshop a good idea is just to adjust hue/saturation and try out the diffeeent shades of colors. Its sure to leave you confused with too many great color choices.

[remixor]

and another...  Bear in mind that the objects (laptop, TPS reports, pen/pencil, binders) were done specifically for the first style I posted so if they don't fit with these last two it's because I didn't change them.

[Neole]

The first floor color looks best to me. The right part of the desk towards us is beginning to look messy, it may work better as just two flat color shades. Stripes on the vertical bars distract from the rest of the composition too much. Gotta go for now, will check up on any more reworks later!

[n3tgraph]

sorry to say this - I really like your picture, but I kinda liked the feel of the first one.

The others lost the pixel-sphere which I like so much  
But that's just my opinion

I agree with neole, remove the filter / pattern on the wall, it makes the picture look flat, especially the part that is perspective. Kind of reminds me of the matrix

[remixor]

lol, don't be sorry.  The first one was the one I did last believe it or not, so if I go with that style I will not have wasted any time.

Thanks for the comments.  The only thing that worries me about the first one is that it might be too simplistic for the character.  Here he is:


Second image is x2.

[n3tgraph]

hmmm hey remixor, I tried something with your pic, hope you don't mind



and here I tried something with the floor



I think adding some colour would make the bg less dull... maybe you could add some posters on the wall or something. It needs some object filling imo

oh and btw, ignore this if you are aware of it, but don't you think the char is a bit small?

[remixor]

Thanks N3T, looks really good!  And yeah, I'm definitely planning on adding more object.  I just wanted to get the style down first.

And yeah, I'm aware of the character's size thing.  I was planning on just using the AGS scale feature (I think I figured it to be about 130% or something for this particular room), but maybe I should make it bigger.  I don't know.  What's an average height for a sprite in a 640x400 game, anyone know?  Also, I have considered having a separate sprite for rooms that are more close up, such as this one.

Thanks again for your input!

[remixor]

Ok, here's my update.  Added a bunch of stuff.  What do you guys think?

[Andail]

As a picture, it's very nice, very clean and professional. However, it's looks a bit static, almost like some commercial for office equipment.
For adventure games, it would increase the playability if you in the future made rooms that:
* Were a bit zoomed out. This one could make the characters and objects a bit blocky and clumsy. It's nicer to play a smaller character.
* Drew the perspective more from above, and additionally with more floor area. It's nice with spacious rooms that you can wander around in.  

One or two rooms like this is allright, but in the long run, it would create a sense of claustrophobia

[AndersM]

Maybee a blue mug would fullfill the picture?

[SilverHawke]

The final one is very impressive.. however, the light added to the desk seems to just kind of end in a straight line.. doesn't look like it touches down anywhere.

[remixor]

Thanks for the comments everyone  

Andail:
I see what you mean about the static look.  In this case, the reason the view wasn't more zoomed out was because there wasn't really anything else there.  It's just his cubicle, so it's not that large.  In the future though I will definitely take this more into account.
As far as the perspective thing goes, how does this affect sprites?  You'd think I'd know this kind of thing from playing so damn many adventure games, but would you have to draw a sprite that looks like it's being looked down on if you put the perspective  more from above?
Also, regarding the claustrophobic effect, I guess this is somewhat deliberate, since the very first thing you try to do in the game is get out of your office since your cubicle is driving you crazy.  The first puzzle is how to get out without the boss seeing you.

SilverHawke:
Good point, I'll fix that.

MrMasse:
Brilliant.  I'll add it immediately.

[Neole]

It looks great now! A couple of sharper shadows in N3T's style are always good, as they suggest lighting direction. I think the perspective is fine, tho the floor area could have been a bit more since after adding the chair it gives much less space on the right side of the room. As far as the zoom level, I have a few scenes in my game where the sprite zooms the same as it would in your room, and tho it gets all blurry, I think it works ok. But Andail is right, it should only happen in a very few rooms, in which case it breaks the monotony. If you can have a resized sprite nothing like it, tho I never could get myself to do that.

[remixor]

Ok, I'm sorry for posting 93025 pictures to this thread.  I'm sure the total size in kb of this thread is appalling.  This should be the last one, since it's an actual screenshot.  Of course I added the blue cup.
Just so you know, this is how it turned out with the sprite scaled using AGS scaling at 170%.  I think's acceptable (I'm just going to keep telling myself this whenever I'm too lazy to start all over, since it's my first game )

[Andail]

About the perspective-issue:

No, you don't need to consider re-drawing all your views until you have almost a clear-cut bird-perspective.
You'd be surprised to see how much your eyes accept when it comes to the character/room-relation. The character will seem to fit perfectly almost regardless of perspective.

I think this room is very functional, although, as I said, the playability is improved if there's generally a wider perspective. Look at professional games; very few use this kind of close-up perspective.

Anyway, nice work on the whole.