*TLOTLL* New (unfinished) BG.

[DanClarke]

Things still to be done:

-More detail to be added to the rockface on the left.

-Path needs improvement

-Sign needs detail

- A generator needs to be drawn in under the right tree

Apart from that, fire away!

[ildu]

Pretty nice. I thought the game was gonna be 640x480 or do resize your bgs afterwards? Earlier backgrounds indicate you haven't done so before.

- First of all, yes, it needs detail. For example, I thought the rock was another tree before I read what you wrote. The wood elements need clearer definitions and maybe even the trees could do with some more detailing, perhaps shadowing rather than texturing. With that said, I think the sign next to the booth could have some clearer text.

- It does look a bit empty to me. Maybe the generator and the characters will add enough, though. Maybe you should add some plants on the left side between the tree and the rock. So that the left side of the image looks interesting, but not active, whereas the right side would look interesting and active with all the man-made objects.

- I think it would look much better if the light was stronger and had more of an effect on the surroundings. If it was brighter, it would draw more attention on the booth and would make the whole image more interesting. With the increase of light you could also add some colour to the areas affected by the light.

- The treeline silhouette in the background could be a bit varied. Now it looks too much like a straight line.

- The ground could do with some more dots rather than lines.

Overall it's good, but it falls a bit short with me. I thought the concept art for this scene was really promising. The lighting in the concept art was also very good. The concept art was much more whimsical as well. This looks much more constrained.

Btw, I'm only being this harsh since I believe in this project and I regard your work among the few best of this forum. So I hope you hear me out.

[DanClarke]

Thanks for the reply!

The game will be 320x200, all the BGs upto date have been done within this resolution. I just tend to resize them for crits, although i probably dont need to, my monitor runs at 1900x1200 so they look miniscule at that res over at this end.

-Yes as i said the rock needs detailling, and that will be done.

-I know what you mean about it looking sparse, but as you say with the inclusion of sprites and a few little details it'll fill out fine.

-Yeah youre certainly right about this, im actually working now to get the lighting more akin to the 2nd concept piece i posted in the 'in production' forum, as this ones not warm enough.

-The sillouhetted trees are actually part of a circular clearing, so im not too fussed aboutt hose to be honest.

-As i said ill be sorting the path.

Have faith that the final version will be much better

[magintz]

Something you have to remember as well, I learnt the hard way, is when using lights in a background, within the game should have an effect on the character e.g will turn into a silohutte. Best to check if things still work before going ahead with backgrounds. Apart from that it all looks fine, always nice to see your work.

[Haddas]

I tried my hand at doing a paintover. I do them to what I think looks good, and I'm a contrast whore. Don't hate me

Original:


Edit:

I just tried to darken and lighten certain areas and applied some contrast and changed some values here and there. And i made that light go through the stand onto the other tree too. as I think it should be close enough.

[Andail]

Hm, Dan, the background seems good enough to me, but don't you think you're close to getting stuck in a mannerism here?
Your last few bg:s are so similar it's almost hard to give new c&c. Additionally, will the whole game be set in these bluish night-scenes?

Don't get me wrong, I like your artwork, but I'd like to see some variation

[ildu]

Wow, haddas. You really hit the nail on the head there. However, I'd go for a less contrasty version. Somewhere between the original and the edit.

[DanClarke]

Hm, Dan, the background seems good enough to me, but don't you think you're close to getting stuck in a mannerism here?
Your last few bg:s are so similar it's almost hard to give new c&c. Additionally, will the whole game be set in these bluish night-scenes?

Don't get me wrong, I like your artwork, but I'd like to see some variation

I understand what you mean, but i wouldnt call it a mannerism, it's more a case of just trying to keep a consistency. If one scenes lighting is slightly off with the previous or next then it wont look right. This entire scene is set at night, but there will be a number of interior locations in the house.

The BGs i've shown are all exterior shots as you know, and sooner or later the interior locales will come up for crit, so i guess it's just been the case that you've had all the 'blues' in a row.

[DanClarke]

Edit:

-Added the character sprite so you can see how it looks.
-Enhanced the glow
-Added some moon glow
-Altered the path.
-Added sign details

I'm still not completely happy with it, ill post another edit tomorrow/sunday.

[Krazy]

That character looks like something taken straight out of Day of the Tentacle or Sam and Max hit the road, good work!

Hm, Dan, the background seems good enough to me, but don't you think you're close to getting stuck in a mannerism here?
Your last few bg:s are so similar it's almost hard to give new c&c. Additionally, will the whole game be set in these bluish night-scenes?

Don't get me wrong, I like your artwork, but I'd like to see some variation

Hey it worked fine for Melee island didn't it? 

[SpacePirateCaine]

Looking amazing, as usual, Dan. I thought that I'd just take a bit of a look at the lighting as well, since you seem to have the rest of it largely under control.

The big lighting issue I see in this particular corner of the island is that with the large halo of light around the lantern, it makes this area look somewhat foggy, which I really hadn't seen in the other backgrounds you've posted, including the rough of the same background. Haddas' edit, though perhaps a little more contrasty than I think is particularly necessary, does help to give the background a somewhat less misty, etherial look. Now, if you're going for that look, I'd suggest having a little fog or something of the sort at ground level, perhaps coming from the Bass pond area.

And indeed, it does remind one of Melee Island, which is a good thing. It's consistent, and assuming that we'll be seeing daylight once the story progresses past this first chapter, it's a good way to start. Lovely.

[ildu]

SpacePirateCaine said exactly what I was gonna say, so...

[loominous]

(Top, original composition, bottom, composition suggestion)

I think the values work fine. The composition however strikes me as boring.

First off, everything is pretty much in a single line, observed slightly from the high right. This gives it limited depth and dull appearance.

Another thing adding to the flatness/dullness is that apart from the left tree covering some of the rock, no objects are overlapping.

Besides the lineup, the trees are really similar, which along with the monochrome palette (which I don't have any problem with per se), creates monotony.

Though I may be a bit over sensitive in this matter, Ã, I think the empty lower left corner is too big if it will remain empty (and I don't count characters, the background should be self sufficient in my opinion).

-

What I did in my (quick) composition suggestion, was to place the camera a bit more to the lower right, and move the trees so they intersect with the stand. Also, partially to fill out the left corner, and also to give it more depth, I added a foreground element to the left. Another thing the angle does is to lower the horizon to be more vertically centered (though not in the centre), which in my opinion usually looks best.

-

About the repetativeness in style, I don't think it's a problem as long as you fight off monotony in form of shapes and lighting. It's a cozy and really nice style you've got.

PS. Another thing, the whole thing was leaning to the right, which sort of threw it off balance.

[DanClarke]

Cheers for the feedback loominous, i was actually hoping you'd crit it as you give some very useful feedback (not that others dont of course)

I'll look into all of the points you've made, however, withe the bottom left corner, the inventory item sits in that spot, so i try not to put anything of importance in it, because it just ends up being covered anyway.

[aussie]

After loominous' posts there's usually little left to sayÃ, 

Dan, when are you giving us a progress update in the games in production forum?

[DanClarke]

ok, after toying with Loominous's suggestion of including foreground objects, i've come up with this:



100%



200%

Ive also 'de-fogged the light, fixed the slanted tree and added a section of a fence to the right of the image.

[ildu]

Ooh I love the fence. The lighting also looks better now. The foreground is a bit too blurry and I really can't make out what it's supposed to be (which isn't a good thing).

[DanClarke]

Its, just a signpost thing, and a bush.

[fovmester]

Looks great as always, but skip the blur on the sign in the foreground, Dan. It doesn't fit your style of graphics.

[aussie]

Looks great as always, but skip the blur on the sign in the foreground, Dan. It doesn't fit your style of graphics.

Plus it's gonna be a pain to make it a walkbehind.