My little mushroom house.

Calin Leafshade · Thu 26/08/2010 22:21:43

A while ago i released a game for MAGS and now i'm just going through it touching up some graphical stuff for a proper release.

So i was wondering if I could get a little critique on this background.

A few things I have problems with:

-It looks a little 'simple' with not a great deal going on.
-I cant figure out how to do a sky pixelly (i.e without a gradient)
-My colours seem a little 'off'
-the roof doesnt look round like a mushroom top.

Help is appreciated.

bearseatbeats · Fri 27/08/2010 03:50:51

If you want to make a more "pixelly" gradient, maybe you could try Grafx2 (http://code.google.com/p/grafx2/). It's very Deluxe Paint-ish and will make a nice pixelly dithered gradient pretty easily with two or more colors (right-click on the gradient tool to bring up the gradient menu). The interface does take some getting used to, but it's a nice program and could give you that effect.

Atelier · Fri 27/08/2010 11:58:08

It seemed a bit strange it was night but he didn't close the curtains.
The ladder also looked strange seeing as it's 100% head on.
I added a background but am not too happy about the stars.

I'd love to finish it off for you, if you like. I'm bad at perspective but with this sort of stuff I can get quite creative.

Ilyich · Fri 27/08/2010 12:56:12

Quote-It looks a little 'simple' with not a great deal going on.

This can be easily solved by adding something to the background (mountains, clouds, other houses) and/or texturing the surfaces (wood planks) - both done by AtelierGames.

Quote-I cant figure out how to do a sky pixelly (i.e without a gradient)

If you're using Photoshop, you can convert the gradient to Indexed colors with pattern diffusion mode, see result in my edit.

Quote-My colours seem a little 'off'

I really like the colours as they are, very soft and night-timey.

Quote-the roof doesnt look round like a mushroom top.

Try to bring out the form by reshading it in a more traditional light-normal-shade-reflex way.
Quick edit:

Zyargeikunn · Fri 27/08/2010 16:24:29

The roof looks like it's gonna fall off to the left.

Hubris Incalculable · Fri 27/08/2010 23:18:12

IMHO, the roof looked like an amourphous blob of jelly, so i thought that the best way to remedy that would be to overlay it with a thatch texture (by it's shape it seems like thatch, to me). Also, what's in the window doesn't match up with what's behind it, so i grabbed a sample of he sky to to the right and pasted it into the window:

Sughly · Sat 28/08/2010 02:50:54

Yeah I like what evil flying rat has done with the roof - you could go for tiling or whatnot instead, but I like the idea. I think that together with the notion of background (whether forest or mountains etc) will really start to give it more character and definition.

Scarab · Sat 28/08/2010 07:15:40

Just a quick edit on the shape to try to make the roof be more mushroom-y

Quote from: Ilyich on Fri 27/08/2010 12:56:12
Quote-I cant figure out how to do a sky pixelly (i.e without a gradient)
If you're using Photoshop, you can convert the gradient to Indexed colors with pattern diffusion mode, see result in my edit.

I really don't see the point in this; you still have a gradient, only with less colours, so the problem hasn't been solved. I mean yes, you can see the pixels, but it doesn't really add anything, in my opinion.

I think AG has the right idea with the background in his edit, maybe add a bit of anti-aliasing on the stars as well, and a moon perhaps.

Damien · Sat 28/08/2010 16:12:50

Some ideas:

-reused Ilyich's sky
-changed the shape to resemble a mushroom more
-turned the fireplace into a stove, it allowed more detail like the pipe and the chimney
-background is brighter now so the objects pop out more (brightness should be toned down a bit)
-added a few lightsources and gradients to the walls

Things to add:
-more objects, a dinner table, some shelves, a water pump behind the house, etc.
-improved shadowing
-an entrance :P

Alun · Sat 28/08/2010 18:17:53

Now that looks like a mushroom! Seriously, I think this is the first redraw in this thread that actually looks like a mushroom house. Well done.

Calin Leafshade · Sun 29/08/2010 11:17:51

Wow, thanks for the input guys.

I have ~~stole~~ borrowed some of your ideas and come up with this:

The colours still seem kinda disjointed to me.. even more so now.

Any more thoughts?

Wonkyth · Sun 29/08/2010 11:24:06

Your abstract art is a little clashy, and the curved walls in Damien's draw are a must.
And probably the flatter top, too.

Atelier · Sun 29/08/2010 11:28:08

The clouds are brilliant. But shouldn't the mushroom have some funky colours, rather than boring green (or blue, I'm colour blind

).

But please, no Amanita muscaria. That's so boring.
Something colourful like Aleuria aurantia!
Also have some Hericium erinaceus hanging from the walls!

Alun · Sun 29/08/2010 19:05:58

Eh, personally, I liked the sky a lot better in the original version. It could use some clouds, maybe, but I liked the larger, dimmer stars and the darker colors a lot more than the bright, tiny stars on the bright blue background. But that's personal preference, I guess, and anyway I guess it depends on what mood you're trying to set.

You mentioned in the original post that you were worried it didn't look like a mushroom top, though, and honestly I think that's still the case. If you hadn't said it was supposed to be a mushroom house, I wouldn't have known from this picture (or from the original) -- the shading on this one does make it look rounder, which is a step in the right direction, but it still doesn't look recognizably like a mushroom. As I said before, I think the only version that really looks like a mushroom to me is Damien's -- I don't think the roof has to be as flat as he made it, but a slight concavity part way up and flare out on the sides like his version does (albeit maybe not quite so pronounced) could help a lot.