Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Critics' Lounge => Topic started by: BOYD1981 on Fri 21/05/2004 20:18:54

Title: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Fri 21/05/2004 20:18:54
well, i'm working on this silly little game and thought i'd ask for crits on the only background i have so far...

(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/tehspacebg.gif)

i'm quite happy with it and don't really think i'll be changing much (i'm always open to suggestions though), i might just animate the computer screen a little and maybe add some more to the space outside.
the game is 70s themed hence the clashing colours, or atleast that's my excuse...

edit - updated version, i got rid of the green cupboard things and the the blue worktable youjamaflip, also added panels to the walls and the gold plaque
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Fri 21/05/2004 20:20:26
Looks really good (like Maniac Mansion or Zac Style!)

Maybe some floor and wall details!

Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Damien on Fri 21/05/2004 20:25:09
I like it, especially the shading of the moon.

Maybe you could add some stuff in it, it seems empty.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Darth Mandarb on Fri 21/05/2004 21:12:24
Neat-oh!

I think the only thing I would add would be a few more stars and some details (panelling) on the dark purple walls on the left and right sides.

(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/boyd_help01.gif)

But I like the coloring and shading.

Maybe, as Damien said, add some more 'stuff' through-out.Ã,  Objects on the counter tops.Ã,  Space ships through the windows.Ã,  Table, chairs, etc.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Sat 22/05/2004 00:15:29
wow, that's a really nice edit, those panels really do make a difference, i think i'll do my own rather than copy yours outright (althoug it is tempting  ;))
also, i am going to fill the room with more objects and maybe a walkbehind complete with pipes that don't seem to do anything that you always get on spaceships...
i'm also going to add a few animated objects to the background, perhaps even a moon orbiting the planet.
thanks for all the feedback.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: MrColossal on Sat 22/05/2004 00:58:09
i think you should take the panel idea and apply it to the floor also, it's quite bland, maybe like a conveyor belt [not really but it's the best image i can come up with] going from door to door

i'd edit in what i mean but i think you'd rather do it yourself

how much like an AGI game do you want this background to be? only using the AGI colours? i see you aren't sticking to the double pixels so maybe this won't be an awkward suggestion, very faint twinkling stars, coupled with the orbiting moon i think it'd look nice.

and do you know that there are 2 extra pixels on the second cabinet from the left?

oh also, may i suggest bringing the window down so that it doesn't touch the top of the image?

maybe i'm wrong on this who knows it probably looks ok in game
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Sat 22/05/2004 01:53:06
hmm, you know i might actually move the top of the windows down, or shave some pixels off the bottom, turn them into a nice wig and place them on the top of the image...
the game is actually going to be 320x240 (right now i'm drawing the backgrounds as 160x100 then pixel resizing) with a GUI at the bottom (which will just be the default GUI but changed a little), i'm not strictly sticking to the AGI palette, but i am hoping to use maybe less than 50 colours in the whole game.
it's only going to be a short 3 or 4 room game so i don't really want to spend more time than is needed on the backgrounds.
oh yeh, before i forget, here are the two main (read: only) characters, Roger Disco & Captain Smoothdaddy

(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/rogandcsd.gif)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Peter Thomas on Sat 22/05/2004 01:59:01
yay! You used handle-bar-beard-man :D Top stuff.
Smoothdaddy looks pretty sweet as well, but I liked his big afro before... :)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: LordHart on Sat 22/05/2004 02:05:56
I think eric means something like this, but not as lame and quickly done:

(http://www.tdrdesign.net/images/tehspacebg-1.gif)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: MrColossal on Sat 22/05/2004 02:19:20
heh, no that's not what i ment at all
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: LordHart on Sat 22/05/2004 02:42:45
Well... i tried. :-\
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Darth Mandarb on Sat 22/05/2004 02:56:04
Diggin' the two (only) characters!

That's hilarious.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Sat 22/05/2004 03:12:52
you mean something like this?

(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/conveyor.png)

obviously the perspective would have to be fixed, i just did this quickly...

Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: auhsor on Sat 22/05/2004 04:31:59
Looks nice and very much in the AGI style. The only problem is that the perspective above the doors look wrong, and hurt my eyes if I keep looking at them.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Sat 22/05/2004 05:12:21
well, i'm basically using 45°/135°/225°/315° angles for perspective, it's only gonna be a short game so you won't have to look at it that long anyway :)
actually, the right hand side door wall does look kind of weird compared to the left, i might just mirror it...
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Phemar on Sat 22/05/2004 08:24:25

Well here's how I kinda picture this thing (TRUE AGI!):

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/RetroAGI.gif)

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/RetroAGI.gif)

I made it all in MSpaint goodness...The thing I most moticed about Sierra's AGI was that most of the artists tried to stick away from using grey as much as possible. The other thing I loved about AGI, was how the artists always used their colors so creatively...

I only did half as I ran out of time.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: LordHart on Sat 22/05/2004 09:36:03
That looks great Zor! Though, the panel is still out of perspective. :P
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Pet Terry on Sat 22/05/2004 10:21:45
Pretty nice. Zor's version looks more like AGI, while your version looks more like it belongs to Space Quest 3 which wasn't AGI (I don't remember what it was :P )
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Sat 22/05/2004 12:05:35
that's neat Zor  :)

i think i should have said EGA style rather than AGI, i'm working loosely with the EGA palette from SCI Studio...
i'm not actually going to be using that conveyor belt type thingy, but i might put lights in the floor or something like that, or some kind of waypoint looking thingy for robots...
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Phemar on Sat 22/05/2004 12:48:31
Quote from: Os àšltimo Quão Queijo ^_^ on Sat 22/05/2004 09:36:03
That looks great Zor!
Quote from: Petteri on Sat 22/05/2004 10:21:45
Pretty nice. Zor's version looks more like AGI
Quote from: BOYD1981 on Sat 22/05/2004 12:05:35
that's neat Zor  :)

Why thank you, ;)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Mon 24/05/2004 12:30:27
okay, here's the final version that i'm going to use in the game sans animations
(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/dqbg1.png)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Kweepa on Mon 24/05/2004 12:41:49
Rock and roll!
That is great!
The little loose panel on the floor looks more like a recess though.
And the foreground stuff on the right interferes with the wall a bit.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Mon 24/05/2004 14:02:20
do you mean the mesh in the far right or the pipes? i might shift the pipes across a bit, or colour them, i didn't notice how much they interefere with the wall until you pointed it out, thanks  ;)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Darth Mandarb on Mon 24/05/2004 16:29:41
Excellent!

I agree with Steve that the right side gets a little confusing ...
- maybe make it one thick pipe, rather than two thin ones
- I wouldn't move them to any place where they would overlap the window 'cause they'll just get 'lost in space' ;) (unless, as you mentioned, you color them)

Other than that it's great!Ã,  I like the solid pink floor.

And the foreground elements really make an improvement!

Good job!
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Johnny Odd on Mon 24/05/2004 18:17:51
Hey man - I dig the Zak McKracken style thing you got going here. :D

Please don't beat me to a pulp for being a n00b - but what is AGI or EGA? Are they programs like AGS but for older games? ???

*Awaits flying objects*
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Mon 24/05/2004 18:23:48
if i'm not mistaken, AGI stands for Adventure Game Interpreter and was a system that Sierra used for a lot of it's adventure games, and EGA is something beginning with E Graphics Adaptor i think, anyway it's just a palette of 16 colours and like maybe 40 different combinations of colours in a checkered style so give the illusion of shading
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BerserkerTails on Mon 24/05/2004 20:10:25
BOYD, AGI used a funky resolution, so every pixel was two pixels wide, and one tall. So your background is more like Sierra's earlier SCI stuff (Police Quest 2, Codename: Iceman).

...It's still awesome though.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Mon 24/05/2004 21:30:20
Here's my interpretation of the room...

Colours: 16
Resolution: 320x200 (Room only uses 320x160 - 40 pixels left for Sierra-Classic GUI)

1X - http://datenfunk.bei.t-online.de/AGI_ROOM_0001.bmp

2X - http://datenfunk.bei.t-online.de/AGI_ROOM_0001_2x.bmp
Title: Re: sort of AGI, kind of but not really, style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Mon 24/05/2004 23:24:34
i always get AGI and SCI confuzzled, but when i said AGI what i really meant was low resolution and limited colours, all in all there are 1,2,3,4... 26 colours in that image, some of them are just similar repeats of near enough the same colour, like some have a tad more blue in them, which i think i'll actually do something about cos i've done another room that uses slightly more colours because of a gradient glow, which i'll probably re-do because i'm not too happy about the way it turned out, it looks too different from the other, but as it's just a short game i might just leave it as it is, i would post it here but for some reason when i try upload to my space it just times out, i'll post it later
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Tue 25/05/2004 12:49:30
okay. managed to up to my webspace...
(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/cpuroom1.gif)

also, started on the animation for the space background...

(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/moonanim.gif)(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/moonanim.gif)

if you're wondering about the black appearing on the planet, i tried to make it look like the orbiting moon was casting a shadow
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Mr Jake on Tue 25/05/2004 12:54:52
......

You're good at backgrounds boyd :)

I like the moon animation
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Kweepa on Tue 25/05/2004 13:07:37
The glow looks good - better than the little digitised face!

For the moon animation, isn't it a teensy bit fast?
Also, unless the sun is orbiting in sync with the moon, the shadow should always fall in the same direction, not radially inwards.
I'd just leave the moon in one position.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Thu 27/05/2004 02:18:55
i just thought i'd add this...

(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/discowalk.gif)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Farsight on Thu 27/05/2004 05:39:42
2 frames, not bad.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Mr_Frisby on Sat 29/05/2004 08:38:10
I dig it man. It's farout and funky in a deep space kinda way. >:( . . .oops I mean  8)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Jayel on Sat 29/05/2004 08:52:57
Very nice bg and an excellent character anim.
amazing what you can express with just 2 frames.
Good job!
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: Evil on Sat 29/05/2004 18:01:02
Damned JPGs

(http://www.fbc-bettendorf.com/evil/crap/boyd_room.JPG)
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: BOYD1981 on Sat 29/05/2004 20:07:29
i've totally changed the computer room now...
(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/cpuwhead.png)

although it's 640x400 the resolution of the game is 320x240 (bottom 40 pixels for the snazzy pink gui)

oh yeh, i'm getting rid of that green bit on the walkway
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: HingedShinobi on Sat 29/05/2004 21:39:30
That looks so cool i dont think the green bit should go, it just needs tidying up.

I did I quick edit

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/cpuwhead.gif)

I added an outline around the green walkway bit
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: evilspacefart on Mon 31/05/2004 19:15:57
yay for boyd games. Whatsup boyd!
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: MoodyBlues on Thu 17/06/2004 07:26:57
Quote from: BOYD1981 on Thu 27/05/2004 02:18:55
i just thought i'd add this...

(http://www.btinternet.com/~boyd1981/discowalk.gif)

;D  Dancin' machine!  Watch him get down, watch him get down...

That is adorable, and I don't mean that in a condescending way at all :D  I love his handlebar mustache, too.
Title: Re: AGI (kinda) style background
Post by: LordHart on Thu 17/06/2004 10:40:08
Why did you dig up this old thread...  :-\