Photos as background

[jwalt]

The on again/off again "current" Background Blitz sent me out on the web looking for inspiration. Found an interesting photo that seemed, to me, workable as a background. I'm thinking about modeling the scene or trying to pixel paint over the scene. Also thought it was worth dropping the resized photo into a game, to see what it might look like. Results:



Is there a general consensus regarding the mixing of pixel art and shrunken photography?

I'd likely get in trouble using the image, since I don't own it in any way, but it often surprises me how well some of the photos shrink down to something game sized. Any insights about why some photos work so well, and others are a waste of effort?

The photo resides here:

https://remezcla.com/culture/disneyland-mexican-restaurants-featured-south-park-files-bankruptcy/

And, in passing, Casa Bonita isn't dead. The South Park creators bought the place. They'll be reopening it following a long period of renovations. Went to the old iteration a few times, and it was a magical place.

[bicilotti]

I am generally not a big fan, but yours actually blends quite well. I would play such a game!

I would say the more legible the original pic is (few architectural components, easily discernible by the human eye), the easier it is to use it as an adventure game background.

[CaptainD]

You could even go the whole hog and have the character graphics based on photos...

https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/354-duzz-quest-an-egotistic-adventure/

But yeah, the example you've put up looks pretty decent, obviously there is a slight disparity in the style of the character and background but it's not too glaring.

[Ponch]

I kind of like your screenshot, jwalt. It works for me in a "mixed media" kind of way. If I saw that as a screenshot for a MAGS game or something, I'd give it a play.

[Snarky]

My concerns would be less aesthetical and more practical:

It looks fine for this screen, but will you be able to find other photos that work as well and look consistent for other screens? And will you have to limit the game design to fit whatever the photos show? The benefit of even just a simple paintover is that you can achieve more consistency and adjust the screen to fit the needs of your game.

[Ponch]

I agree that it would be difficult (and probably a little boring after a while) to make a large game around found photographs, but I think it could be used to good (possibly comedic or intentionally jarring) effect for a small game like a MAGS or OROW kind of thing. Beyond that, painting over it or slapping a filter over it would probably be called for.

Interesting idea to play around with, I think.

[glurex]

My concerns would be less aesthetical and more practical

I used photos for the backgrounds of my MAGS game Another Museum, and I can confirm that. It was quite a task to find photos that somehow fit together coherently. That's why I decided to make it in first person and to edit the photos in some aspects to homogenize the final result as much as possible (considering that it was a game made in less than a month).

[eri0o]

Found an interesting use here https://www.mobygames.com/game/58537/misty/screenshots/

[doimus]

Photos can be manipulated to look like low res pixelart. In fact, that's the exact procedure that was used back in the day, but with scanned paintings instead of photos. Later in the FMV era, photos *were* the backgrounds.

There are several key elements to achieve the pixelart look:

- Jagged scaling. There were no advanced scaling algorithms back then that would blur the image. Linear scaling was the norm and edges were sharp!

- Enhanced contrast. The one chief difference from paintings to photos is that paintings usually exhibit much higher contrast values. Also, higher contrast works well with scaling and color reduction.

- Color reduction. Old games used 256 color palettes, but the background used lot less than that, usually no more than 150 colors. The rest was used for characters, fonts, palette shifting effects. That gives the familiar pixel jaggedness and randomness in color. Palettes can then be further edited in various software to achieve a more unified look across multiple images.

Here's the original image after a short work in Gimp.



In order:
- making the colors stand out by enhancing contrast, modifying curves, exposition
- rescaling the image down to 320x240 using the linear filter
- converting the image to indexed mode using just 96 colors


Now this is an almost completely automatic job. But even then, look at the flower pot and the staircase and railing around it, or that metallic grill thing on the right. That stuff already looks like something out of an early 90s Sierra game.

When done with more hands-on approach, one could separate image into layers and then convert each layer individually. Like how in my edit the arch uses a lot of colors and still looks messy. It would look much better if it used less colors. On the other hand the diner/bar area could use a little more colors and detail. The floor could use less contrast to not appear so washed out. Also, any sharp edges on letters etc. could be improved by hand. And the perspective could probably be tweaked so it looks like a proper 2-point perspective.

Photoshop will have more options for indexed images than Gimp, just because of its early 90s legacy. You even get extra points if you use an actual 90s version of PS.

[doimus]

... quoted myself instead of editing ...