Backgrounde Blitze: The Mad Scientist's Lab (Winner!)

[Krysis]

The topic this time is: The Mad Scientist's LabÃ,  :

Any mad scientist - good or evil - needs a lab.

size: 640X480 or less
colours: As much as you want

The voting categories:

Best Idea
Best Functionality
Best Design
Best Technique


Good Luck.

[Mordalles]

i have this background that a did two months ago for my game (even posted it in the release something), it would fit perfectly in this topic. is that allowed? i guess we have to do it between the 2 dates?

EDIT: yeah, i thought so. no problem. 

[Krysis]

Sorry, you must make one FOR the competition. I think.  :

[yarooze]

Quote: Any mad scientist - good or evil - needs a lab...
...and may be more than one...Ã, 

[biothlebop]

You awaken on a surface near-parallel to the primary gravitational force.
A quick self-diagnosis reveals that less than half of the perceptional sensors are operational.
You should be cautious, for at the moment you cannot sense extreme temperatures
or small acceleration.
A secondary test reveals that even your ocular receptors are malfunctional,
meaning much of your eyesight is filled with static, and you cannot identify objects
or judge distances clearly. Apparently you have been offline for quite a while.
>

[Arcangel]

Not complete: Need some shadows and maybe other instruments.

[Psych0F0x]

Not complete: Need some shadows and maybe other instruments.

hah that one is nicely stolen and adjusted!


the real version


Sorry to be such a partypooper but I just thought you should know this

[Krysis]

Arcangel, I must say I am rather dissapointed. Does that mean your other works are stolen too? I hope not.

Psych0F0x, thanks for the tip.

[Nacho]

Let's wait till Archangel's reply, please... This might have an explanation.

[Arcangel]

I found this background and retouch with color, but not a prob. But yesterday I feel "bad" ha  8) . Sorry for your dissapointed. But this its not my real background for this competition its similar to my style of art.

Today is 8/may in PR ,The competion end 15/may

Krysis if you think i  not participate in this competition not prob. I understand  your feelings.

This is the real:


Not complete only work 3 days.

I am not of humor to work (draw, etc) in Puerto Rico  living times on crisis. At the moment I am unemployed, being professor of computers, by a fiscal problem that there is in the Government and it has near 95.000 employees without work.
They are already 8 days of this and the country this a little discouraged the same as me.

[Nikolas]

Well I do see the similarities and certainly I see how it was worked on, but still I also see a lot of new stuff in the image Arcangel ded, which makes me think that maybe it is better than tracing... Dunno really...

[Arcangel]

I work the background always in this manner:
1) Draw with pencil
2) Scan the art lines
3) trace all in layers (Clean in the PC)
4) Correct the perspective (PC)
5) Use a lot of layers
6) Paint all objects in diferent layers
7) Merge all and maybe some filter

[skw]

Hey, he didn't steal it, just borrowed without asking!

For me it's OK, I believe you, but not so long ago we had a guy who screwed the copyrights and ended up badly. Take an example and don't do that next time.

[Layabout]

Its not a direct paintover, so i don't see why it is not okay...

it is a pretty poor attempt anyway... too bright and cartoony for my tastes....

[voh]

Never mind me.

[Krysis]

Krysis if you think iÃ,  not participate in this competition not prob. I understandÃ,  your feelings.

I don't mind.

[loominous]

I think very few people mind these things, as long as the references are included. There's nothing wrong with references, just as there's nothing wrong in writing arrangements for existing musical themes, but to leave this information out is to take credit for other's accomplishments.

These incidents really spoil the mood of the activities/competitions, and I think encouragements or rules to always include significant references might make them less common.

[DanClarke]

I wanted to enter this one, so i gave it a go, but never got around to finishing it.

Here's my thumbnail sketch which i'll enter anyway, wanted to experiment with a dynamic angle:

[Krysis]

Any other enties? If not, maybe we should start voting.Ã, 

[loominous]

Shame that there weren't any more entries, since it's a fun topic, so I've started on one, which should be done later this evening.

[charliechuck]

i started one but never had enough time to finished it, can i upload it anyway ? It's a bitmap do I have to convert it to another format first ?

(edit)Thanks Done it (I think).



it's a bit pants I know, but I'm sure you've seen worse

[skw]

Yes, save it as a .PNG file.

[Tomas]

Oh, I had almost forgotten that I started doing a background for this BB. It's still not finished - I would like to add some more detail to it - but I won't have time to work more on it, so here it is:



EDIT: I guess it's too late for it to be included in the compo, but I made some changes to my bg. For the record, I'll just post this scaled down version of it:

[Traveler]

Please wait a few hours for me to get home and be able to upload my entry. It's done but I didn't have time to upload it in the morning. I don't have it on my office computer. :/

Thank you very much for waiting, everyone. Here is my entry: the mad scientist's lab in a secret basement. Unfortunately, the mad scientist is now only a white chalk outline on the floor and no one knows what that machine does in the back... except maybe one person.

Look out for evidence.



640x480, true color. It took me quite a bit of work, I'm glad it's done. Thanks to Slava for the Russian translation!

[loominous]

A bright and saturated palette experiment. Very uneven, and if I had the time, I'd tinker with the coloring and refine some areas, though I like the roughness of many parts.



It's supposed to be some sort of airship, a zeppelin like thing, housing an adventuring professor.

Btw, most lab equipment is on the foreground table.

[buloght]

Yay! The days I have been counting for a new loominous bg. Great entries all round.

[Krysis]

Ok, so let the voting begin!

Best Idea: ?
Best Functionality: ?
Best Design: ?
Best Technique: ?

[ildu]

Best Idea - Loominous. All the ideas for this comp seemed pretty uniformly traditional, but Loominous' zeppelin brought a little something new to the table.

Best Functionality - Traveler. A simple-perspective traditional background. I'd really like to see a game come out of this.

Best Design - Loominous. What can I say? It's got great composition and depth. It's playful and whimsical, and very very interesting. Definately my favorite.

Best Technique - Tomas. This is a very pleasing background, both for it's composition and the technique. It reminds me a lot of the old kids' interactive storybooks, kinda like The Island of Dr. Brain.

[biothlebop]

Yarooze:
+ good idea
- lazy execution

Arcangel (1st picture):
+ Lots of stuff
- neutral colors and slightly awkward perpective (table with cloth)
(2nd picture):   
+ Interesting start
- aaarhh! gradients! & neutral colors

DanClarke:
+ Nice sepiaish sketch
- confusing (especially the spherical window curving outward, due to lighting), unfinished

charliechuck:
+ good idea (bicycling man power)
- bad execution (empty and perspective)

Tomas:
+ Smooth cartoonly lines throughout (except coats)
- they don't always play well together
- the floor draws too much attention to itself

Traveler:
+ Atmosphere
+ equipment
-table and boxes in the left foreground are vey complex with the added shadows
-rigid/stiff composition (although 3d usually is)

loominous:
- Aahh! My eyes! (too bright and saturated at first, instant thought having looked at the previous picture)

After eyes got used to it:

+ Lovely details, lots of interesting stuff
+ great composition, doorways visible, no foregroud elements are darker (refreshing for a change)
- the table with the open journal looks small/odd in relation to the chair and floor around it
- blurry and still bright/saturated

votes:

Idea: Traveler (soviet lab/crime scene) vs. loominous (exploring scientist/jules verne-ish)
-> Traveler (for sticking closer to the topic)

Functionality: every entry has: a door/exit, thus technical skill narrowed it down to the last three entries.
-> Tomas (for crisp outlines and relatively simple walkbehinds)

Design: Tomas vs loominous (mainly looking at compostition here)
-> loominous (pleasing placement of objects and how they work together)

Technique: Traveler (3d modelled room) vs loominous (overexposed MI3-like background)
-> loominous (although it is over-saturated and slightly sketchy, it is ultimately very nice)

[skw]

BEST FUNCTIONALITY: Tuomas,

Shit, I made the same mistake.

Sorry.

edit: Grr! I wanted to quote this, not modify!

[gameboy]

Best idea: Traveler
Best Functionality: Traveler
Best Design: Traveler
Best Technique: Loominous

[vict0r]

Best idea: Loominous
Best functionality: Traveler
Best design: Loominous
Best technique: Loominous

[Tomas]

I just have to vote loominous in all four categories. Make a game already dude!

So. For the record:

Best idea: loominous
Best functionality: loominous
Best design: loominous
Best technique: loominous

[R4L]

BEST IDEA: loominous
BEST FUNCTIONALITY: loominous
BEST DESIGN: loominous
BEST TECHNIQUE: loominous

Nice one loominous!

[buloght]

best idea: traveler
best functionality: traveler
best design: tomas
best technique: loominous

[yarooze]

agrr, I'm not able to say who's the best...Ã,  :o

Of course I had the best Idea. I know that! Really! It was simple genious to do not make the lab at all, since it was destroyed! I was the first also!
ok, ok...

best idea: Traveler
best functionality: Traveler
best design: loominous
best technique: loominous

[.Sklate.]

First time here  and I must say I'm mighty impressed!

Best idea: traveler
Best functionality: traveler
Best design: traveler
Best technique: loominous

[Krysis]

OK so here are the results:

Best Idea: loominous/traveler;

Best functionality: traveler;

Best design: loominous;

Best technique: loominous;

Total votes: loominous (23); Traveler (14); Tuomas Tomas (4);

Winner is : loominous.

EDIT: Sorry, about that. Minor mistake.

[Tuomas]

Yay, I was 3rd even though I didn't enter! \o/

[Traveler]

Thanks to all who voted for my work.

[loominous]

Thanks for the comments. The next comp will be up shortly, or so I hope.