Background Blitz: September 27th - October 12th [VOTING CLOSED!]

[Cino]

best idea - Neil Dnuma
best design - loominous
best functionality - Mikko
best technique - buloght

[ildu]

i also would like to ask how these high res pictures are done? You draw it on paper than scan and make contours with ps/psp? Or some entirely different technique? What ps/psp tools do you use. I would welcome a tutorial, please shed light on these dark secrets.

People don't use paper and scanner anymore, unless they need a hand-drawn finish or they can't get access to a computer. You just draw the outlines or basic shapes with a tablet and then add detail until the image is good enough. There are various techniques for drawing it, though.

Check out some digital painting tutorials at:

http://3dtotal.com/ (click on Free Stuff -> Tutorials -> Digital Painting)

And their concept art gallery is here:

http://3dtotal.com/home2/gallery/gallery.asp?cat=2dconcept

[Chicky]

Ildu, it's a picture (see picture frame) of an old cardboard box in the middle of a swamp with small men from another world inhabbiting it.

And thanks Neil. It was late at night, i was high and i wanted something to do 

[buloght]

best idea, design, technique: Loominous: If you don't make a game soon I'm going to do suicide.

best functionality: mikko: that's one for the pixel!!

[edit]: all the entries are great, thanks to ildu's great topic hosting skills. And thanks for the kind words and votes.

[Buckethead]

Isn't this just the greastest BG blitz ever?  Too many good entries... I just can't chose.

[Chicky]

You obviously weren't around for the great Blitz of '02, Bucket head.

[ildu]

Best Idea - buloght. I was surprised by the general uniformity of the items in most of the entries. I was first gonna vote for the victor for utilizing all items in same object (guitar case, guitar and poster inside guitar case), but then buloght took it up a notch with his unique interpretation. Chicky was also a clear candidate.

Best Design - scotch. Now this was a bit more difficult for me. There were numerous ample options to choose from, and to come to my conclusion, I really had to think what the term 'design' actually means. Should I reward Penguin for his excellent palette, Neil Dnuma for his imagination, scotch for his vision, buloght for his extraordinary pixel work or loominous for his apparent masterful touch? Well, in the end I decided to go with scotch, because his entry is not only beautiful, but also colorfully evocative.

Best Functionality - Mikko. Well, this was a no-brainer. Only a few entries here were traditionally feasible as adventure game backgrounds, namely Mikko, buloght and some others. I was actually gonna go with buloght at first, but then I noticed the rock walkway to the opening of the tree, which I thought wouldn't have been the best choice in a working adventure game . How conservative of me, I know .

Best Technique - loominous. This was kind of a no-brainer for me. While the entries varied vastly by technique and there were a lot of interesting techniques used, I still found myself embracing loominous' most. I'd absolutely love an adventure game done in that particular concept artsy type of style. Other very considerable options were scotch, LilBlueSmurf, buloght, Neil Dnuma, Penguin and Andail.

Neil: I'm so very sorry I didn't vote for you in any of the categories. I so would've wanted to .

Ok, so there's still 2 hours left to vote. Get your behinds off the couch and start typing. 12 magnificent entries deserve more than 14 votes! Don't think for one second that you're excused, soldier. The army is a company and I'm here to handle it's business.

[Mordalles]

Best Host of a background blitz: Ildu

[Privateer Puddin']

Best Idea: Chicky, that has to be the best idea ever!
Best Design: Scotch. I like how the triangular shapes are implemented. The centre - the dark hole - is an amazing touch. Great colors. I love this piece!
Best functionality: Mikko. Everything is clearly laid out in a still very artful and moody BG (I was planning on doing a piano myself until I saw this and had to think up something else!).
Best technique: Loominous. Sven Nykvist - the master of light - recently passed away (RIP), but there appears to be another master of light living and well in Sweden... In the BG Blitz he seems to always be a step ahead, although there were some great competition in this category, like pixel-master buloght, the great palette and style (and theme) from Penguin, and Andail's romantic location. Scotch and Mikko also considered here of course.

Sorry to quote and vote like this, but this is perfect match for my voting and comments ¬¬

[loominous]

Indeed great entries.

Idea:

I like Neil's idea about a distorted organ in the middle of a swamp, echoing throughout the forest. I think what bothers me about the execution is that it doesn't look weather proof, and although the idea itself is a bit fantasy like, so one could make the argument that it doesn't have to take these things into consideration, I think it would've helped envisioning someone sitting there playing all night long.

I think Bulought had the cleverest ideas regarding the extra rules, but since they're a relatively small part of the pictures, I'll go with Neil.

Design:

Scotch's island design is about the coolest thing I've seen in here - and those cliffs on the left side of it are gorgeous.

On the other hand, I find Bulought's entry more consistently excellent designwise, especially those large tree windows, and the atmosphere is great.

It's a tough choice, but since I favour consistency, and since scotch's entry wasn't really in line with the rules, Bulought it is.

Functionality:

Mikko's layout is very clear, so he's an obvious candidate, however the style makes makes it easy to accomplish.

Neil's style and perspective is a bit more complex but is still very functional.

Bulought's would seem to have worked well in a game, however it seems like the character's movement isn't very restricted, unless he/she is supposed to be able to walk anywhere, and I'm not sure how the walkway up to the house would've worked.

Since Neil has managed to combine a more complex style with functionality, I'll go with Neil

Technique:

Scotch's style stunned me at first - there's some really excellent parts in it, but I think it lacks consistency too much in the current state, something would've probably been fixed if there would've been more time to refine it.

Bulought's entry makes an excellent use of few colours to provide impressive lighting (I really like how he's captured the texture of the house tree), and it's generally really well done.

So, Bulought once more.

-

Afraid I'm late late as usual, so I didn't have time to comment any more pieces.

[Kweepa]

Best idea: Chicky. Crazy!
Best design: Neil Dnuma. Beautiful elements.
Best functionality: Neil Dnuma. Could work very well in a game.
Best technique: scotch. It reminds me of 70s sci-fi novel covers.

[ildu]

Right! Voting is now officially closed and the results are in. But...first I'd like to say a few words:

Well, it was an awesome blitz. The participation was great, the quality standard was through the roof, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I hope it was as enjoyable for you to compete, judge and browse as it was for me to host. I also hope the 3-item rule addition added a little more fun and challenge to the task, and if people liked it, I'd love for other hosts to use it in the future. Though, I was a bit baffled by the uniformity of the items in the entries. Everyone, except for a select few, had a musical instrument, and almost everyone had either a box or a barrel as the broken container. I was expecting at least one cage .

Nevertheless, onto the results. Let's give all the artists a big hand as we announce the winners of the Background Blitz:


1st place:Ã,  Ã,  Ã, loominous, with an astounding 19 votes!

2nd place:Ã,  Ã,  buloght, who gathered a highly competitive 15 votes!

3rd place:Ã,  Ã,  Ã, Neil Dnuma, giving strong opposition with 12 votes!

4th place:Ã,  Ã,  Ã, scotch and Mikko, who tied with 9 votes!


Most votes by category:

Best idea - buloght ( 5 ), Neil Dnuma ( 5 )
Best design - loominous ( 8 )
Best functionality - Mikko ( 9 )
Best technique - loominous ( 9 )

Entries/Voters:Ã,  Ã,  12/17

Let's give a big hand to loominous for his awesome winning entry. And let's not forget the brave souls who put up quite a fight.

I guess the body-mangling thing is out since it's not Friday 13th anymore . You have the floor, loominous. Take it away .


NOTE:

I'd like to hear people's impressions of the blitz, the 3-item rule (is it worth keeping?), and congratulations to the participants, so let's keep this thread open for a little bit longer before it gets locked.

[iSTVAN]

Even though it's too late to vote in the actual catagories the work here is too impressive to not comment!

My favourite pixel backgrounds were by Mikko and Buloght. My fav CG ones were by scotch and loominous. All four of them create a brilliant sense of atmosphere. Thanks for inspiring me!

[Mikko]

First of all, thank you very much for functionality votes. And even though I don't take part because I'd wanted to win or anything, it is good to notice that with different categories of voting, different type of backgrounds (eg. pixel art vs. digital painting) can enter and are still taken seriously. It might make the voting harder, but that only shows how much people here respect all sorts of digital art.

I hope that made sense. I just woke up and I am still a bit sleepy.

Congratulations to all contestants and to our winner loominous! Huge thank you to our host ildu!

About the 3-item rule, I liked it and as long as they are not too specific items I'd like to see that in further competitions. It doesn't necessarily be just three item, but something from one to three. But like I said, not in the way of: "...and you need to have piano in it...", but rather (like you had): "...any kind of instrument, not just musical...".

Thanks again, I hope to have time enter the next one too.

[loominous]

Thanks, and kudos to ildu for a well hosted round.

I think the 3-item rule was a nice and interesting bonus, and I think similar innovations would be a great way to keep the activity fresh, which is why I'd rather see the rule as an alternative for the host to use, rather than a permanent addition.

Speaking of rules, while I think the current voting categories work pretty well, the design/idea/technique categories are a bit vague, in that there's the possibility of interpreting design choices as ideas, technique as design choices, etc.

I suppose this could be fixed with more clear (not to mention gramatically correct) descriptions, but it would be interesting to hear some alternative ideas.

Some examples (I'm not advocating any of these):

*Idea
*Execution

(A concise alternative, but doesn't provide the indirect criticism of the current categories)

*Idea
*Design (Landscape/Architecture/Objects)
*Mood/atmosphere
*Composition
*Colours
*Lighting
*Walkway solutions
*Viewing angle

(An elaborate and less ambigious version of the current categories, which would provide lots of indirect criticism, and would probably eliminate the need for a category description, though it's messier)

Again, these are just examples.