The first background for a new game.
2x
(http://khrismuc.gmxhome.de/apple.png)
The worm to the left is the main character.
He's supposed to live in the apple. What do you think?
I'll add books later, the candle also needs some work.
Anything else missing, wrong?
Nice picture, i would add a nice picture of worm's grandmom ;D
Perhaps something to fill the empty space on the above part of the back wall. A hole to get in maybe? Happy Birthday by the way :)
Quote from: SimB on Tue 16/08/2005 17:20:27
Happy Birthday by the way :)
Thanks :)
The black rectangle in the front right is the door hole.
But I agree, the back wall definitely needs some pictures and stuff.
For some reason I just love it. Nice job. As stated it needs something to fill that blank space, another idea is something hanging from the ceiling.
heh awesome, it looks kinda like frisby's style.
What about books? (or something more wormy)
That shelf looks a bit empty...
Looks nice, it's somehow similiar to the style I mostly use. :) I also spotted that the wall looks quite bad when it's so empty. Just add something there and it will be good. Also you should consider adding more shadow layers to the wall.
ps. Happy birthday!
Aussie: I was going to suggest that!
I find it strange that the worm's got a hamock. Shouldn't he have a bed instead? Also I think that the worm shouldn't be white but pinkish color or green. Also the walls inside the apple, shouldn't they be white instead of green? Yeah I know that would melt together with the apple's skin shine but still...
I agree with the others that there should be pictures on the wall and maybe a chandilair from the ceiling. Why not have a TV? Ã, ;D
I wonder, is the house suppoused to be an object since it's surrounded by a "neutral" color? If it's not, why not add grass and a sky outside it?
Otherwise, it's very good.
This is pretty sweet! As others have said already, details are the name of the game!
It
does look a lot like Frisby's style (which is a good thing!)
Quote from: Pablo on Tue 16/08/2005 18:13:05Also you should consider adding more shadow layers to the wall.
I don't know about that ... I rather like the minimal use of colors.
Well, it looks quite blocky to me at the moment and a couple of more shadows would give it a rounder look.
Thanks for all your comments, greatly appreciated!
The worm will be coloured, I used the sprite only to maintain proportions.
I was trying to keep the color count low, aiming for a comical style.
Details are to be added soon, especially the bookcase won't remain empty.
Mats: I'm not sure about the background, ATM I plan on making it black, to not distract the players attention.
You should fill in the background with other things ... make it an actual background and the apple is "whole" with a door on the front. Then when you click on the door (or however you do it to enter the house) the front of the house "fades" out as you enter the door. (like I did in JP & Cosmo).
Just a thought :)
Instead of black outside the apple, how about an image of whats behind the apple? Like a forest of something.
Blurred slightly, but you know, a picture.
Keep it in mind because you may find your colours look a lot different when that pink changes to black.
Ok, here's the next version:
2x
(http://khrismuc.gmxhome.de/apple2.png)
added:
-picture of parents in paris :)
-books and statue in bookcase
-background
Please c&c!
If it's hanging from a tree how do you walk into the door? I don't know why you have to have a background either, there are plenty of games out there with smaller rooms that don't take up the whole screen.
House we mean apple is realy good but the other part of bg is a bit confusing.
first how do you think that your worm will enter the house can he fly or something.
second what is green stuff(details a ocean of details that is what makes great BG great)
We love parents picture and candle too.
Everything seems fine just find something to match outside of house(apple).
And you should do what Darth mandarb said about door thing
keep good work on and your game will be real good
Yeah, well, I'm not too happy with the bg's bg either, but I wanted to give it a try and see what people's reactions are.
About the door:
Since he's a worm, I imagined him to just crawl along the apple up to its top and then up into the tree.
As worms don't stick to surfaces like insects do, I wondered whether to draw some kind of rope bridge leading away from the door. But in the story I have in mind, the apple gets plucked and is then thrown into a trashcan, where the rest of the game takes place. And who would pluck an apple which has a little rope bridge attached...? :P
Well, I guess I have to live with that "plot hole". :)
If you get rid of the background and make it black, it would look great.
I'm personally not crazy about the way the foreground chest thing looks. I wasn't 100% sure what it was at first. More detail and a slightly lighter colour might help it, maybe? And I agree on ditching the tree background. If you DO want it there somehow, i think it'd be neater to have to appear once you step outside, to give players a little surpirise.
As for the door, I think that he'd do just fine crawing up the side of the apple. It's cartoony enough that I don't think a little apple worm's stickiness would be questioned all too much, especially if it crawls to the top of the apple on its own once exiting: it'd nicely and concisely present the player with the possibility of walking of surfaces that aren't horrizontal, I'd wager, even. And I think that'd be pretty cool.
Overall, awesome background! ;D
I like this background and I want to see the worm in color. I'm not a big fan of the chest either. I'm not to sure how to word this but the window should have more of a ledge on the out side to make the apple look thicker. Try making the inside of the apple more of a light gray or white color. Those are all little things but my biggest problem is the door. I would probably do something like that to but it looks really strange and stands out too much. Maybe make it a lighter color or get rid of the door all together and just put a shadow on the floor.
Oh and I like how you have the apple hanging from a tree. And there are plenty of worms that cling to stuff. (Inch worms)
Wow! I love the style. I say don't mess with the grassy background. I think it looks great just the way it is.
The door bothers me a little. I like the way it helps to give the apple form, but I think it kind of gets in the way a little. I can't tell what the statue on the bookshelf is. Maybe instead of outlining the door, you could just have a little indentation in the inner outline of the room (where the red of the apple's skin and the yellow of the floor meet). Does that make sense?
Or maybe it's just the color like Morgan said. I think it's the pure black that kind of bothers my eye. Maybe just a very dark shade of something might work better? Same deal with the stem at the top.
It's adorable... the only thing I want to request is some shading on the apple, to match the three shades you have on the sofa and shelf.. like maybe a shadow where the pip comes out of the apple.
I preferred the no background as well, but if not, having the horizon line as a pixelly line might work better as it will match the style of the rest of the picture. To reduce emphasis on it, you could just reduce the contrast between the sky and the grass.
Another idea would be to just have the apple against a background of large dark green leaves done in pixelly style- that way the background doesn't look quite so empty and the leaves won't distract the viewer as they'd all look pretty much the same and have the same colours.
I'm trying to stay away from stuff other people have commented upon.
Location> So, plot-wise, it's definitely got to be on a tree - couldn't be picked up off the ground or anything? Why not make a leaf or two dominate the background? Then you could end up with a semi-plausible way for the worm to enter his home. The idea I was thinking of before Vespr mentioned a leafy background was a rope-bridge made of spiderweb. It'd add to the environment, wouldn't seem too strange to a human eye, and would add some nice detail to the foreground of the backdrop.
Aesthetics> You've shown via the window sill that there's thickness between the outside and inside. It'd be nice to see this in the border of the "cut out" portion - not too much, just a couple pixels thick. Unless the door's meant to be just a cut-out door (like a knife-cut) then it might be better with some thickness to the door jamb. Some details of the threshold/entryway might help even if it's not a framed door.
Everything seems to use soft outlines or none at all, so the stem and worms in the picture stand out. I think two shades of green would be fine for the walls. Either the apple's ripe (white-to-light-green) or not (med-green to light-green), but the medium green and very light green are too much contrast, IMO.
The overall shape's pretty good except the bulge on the right. Since this is essentially dead space, you could bring that side in a little. It also looks like we see too much of the bottom of the apple based upon how much we see of the top.
It's a brilliant concept, very original and very well executed. I'm hoping that it's going to be a public-distribution since the worm concept has me intrigued.
I tried to include all your good ideas, so now there's two versions of the apple, inside and outside.
The spiderweb was a brilliant idea, thanks YakSpit!
A background full of leaves sounds good, but I think I'll keep it as it is. I don't want to put too much effort in a single bg, cause I want to finally complete a game I've started ;)
Inside (2x)
(http://khrismuc.gmxhome.de/apple_inside.png)
Outside (2x)
(http://khrismuc.gmxhome.de/apple_outside.png)
As Darth suggested, the pics are going to fade between each other as the worm enters resp. leaves the house.
That is great. Congrats.
One thing, wouldn't you put something on top of the shelf? A little lamp, a vase...
Outstanding. The spiderweb walk is neat-o and the chest, much improved.
I SO want to play this game.
I'm by no means an expert so take this with a grain of salt...that being said...
I'm not a big fan of the background and how the grass/sky line is blurred. I think it would look better matching the rest of the bg's style. But maybe it's just a personal thing.
Otherwise...great background. I really enjoy it.
I really like the changes especially the door, that is exactly what I had in mind. I still think you should make the window look thicker like you did with the thickness of the "walls" of the apple. It would look more like the window was put in the apple. Do you get what I'm saying?
One more thing, I think the chest would look better if it was just a hair shorter on the left side.
This looks really great. The idea is really cool!
I don't really like the green landscape or whatever behind the apple. It's too blury and needs more details.
I also find it a little hard to see where the door is on the newest back ground. Maybe you could make it more visible somehow. Maybe like this:
(http://www.5feetunder.com/game/apple.png)
before after
Otherwise it's really great!
I don't really like the background, but I think it should be blurred more. But it needs more detail and different colors before getting blurred. That way it would look like a real close-up.
Maybe you should add some leaves to the background.