A regular guy's bedroom

[Bluke4x4]

My friend has become interested in AGS and decided he wanted me to do graphics (as well as almost all of the script..this may take a while) for his game, which is based off a character we created in a random conversation. Onto the background in general... I find nothing wrong with it, but if you find something, please critique! Paintovers are welcome if you want to make one...
Anyyay, this room is the room of a very cluttered person (well, not exactly person, but that is for another topic) and critique would be very welcome, as I have trouble finding problems in it, aside from the perspective being off...the room is supposed to be off, I'm happy with the bed, but everything else is kind of...messed up. I need some help..

[Khris]

It's kinda cramped, not much place to move for a char.
While the bed looks fine, the desk and chair are seriously off. The window is too small, IMO, and I'd loose those fat outlines.

[AlbinoPanther]

553 x 397 pixels

[ScottDoom]

Yeah, the odd resolution and the lack of space for a character to move around make it unusable as a game background. I mean of course I could also mention the art and perspective, but hey not everyone can draw and I know that because I can't draw. The room has a lot of objects and stuff for the player to interact with, and if the resolution were changed and more space was cleared for the player to actually walk around and interact with said objects, it would be nice.

[DonB]

Apart from the wrong resolution.. I reaaaaaaaally dig the style mate!
Keep the fat lines, it just makes the comic weirdish style.. just keep it like this!
Looking forward playing this game!

Only the poster on the right is just.. ugly.. remove the text..

and.. how could a character move in here.. better make the room larger in horizontal.. so lets say.. about 300x200 if u use 240x200.. then make the middle space a bit spacey so the character can walk around a bit..

[Renal Shutdown]

From the looks of it, i'd say you've used Flash or some other vector based art program.  My advice, harsh as it may seem, is to learn how to use it.  Try using the line tool instead of trying to draw stuff with the brush tool.

I'd also suggest looking at your picture and thinking to yourself "What can I do to improve it?".  After which you try to answer it logically.  Not just "I don't know, I can't be bothered to think about it".

[DonB]

You guys really all think its so bad.. I really dont see that.. I think its very artistic.. only thing is theres little space for the character.. as mentioned before..

[ildu]

First of all you need to get your design right. This includes consistent linework and style, as well as keeping to some sort of a perspective. Whether you acknowledge it or not, there is perspective in the image. If there wasn't, it would either look totally abstract or like a 2-year-old drew it.

So you've got a messy style. That's no problem. But you stray from your style on some parts. For example, everything is outlined with thick black, but you've decided to outline the blanket with red and you've decided not to outline the bulletin board at all. Also, you're line size is consistent, except for the lamp. In addition, the texts don't work with your style. You should rather just draw the texts. The perspective is correct for the most part. But once you have a perspective, you should stick to it. The table and the chair aren't in perspective with the other elements in the image.

Now once you got design covered, you should think about the outlook. What are you shooting for and what style best enhances the purpose? The thick outlines are a negative for me. If you'd just half the size of your brush, you'd be getting a much better outlook automatically. Using black lines is ok, but you gotta be consistent with it. If I was you and I wanted outlines, I'd use darker color outlines, meaning a darker color from the fill color. Shadowing is also a great way to add depth and make the outlook much much better. You should try it. Anyways, your style is your style. You don't need to pander to anyone else's opinion. But I think we can both agree that a more appealing outlook expands the audience.

I did a one-hour paintover. I basically redid everything:

- Corrected the size to 640x480.
- Smoothed some of the angles and made it using fill vectors.
- Tried another approach by doing only fills without outlines.
- Corrected some of the perspective problems.
- Increased the walkable area.
- Balanced the colors out a bit.
- Added shadowing.
- Moved the window lower.
- A lot of other stuff.
- I left some of the more detailed objects out.



Don't get offended or anything. I just wanted you to see how much more appealing it could look, if you payed a little more attention to the style and design. This is a totally different approach and I know I kinda went into extremes. I have a habit of doing that. I just can't stop if it isn't to my satisfaction.