Underground Lab Background

[Jimbob]

I'm usually very stubborn about asking for feedback, but I'm so stumped about how to take this background further that I'm posting it here, cos you guys are usually awesome.



My issue is I don't know how to deal with all that black space.
It's going to be a fairly simple one room 'fix the contraption' game, but the black back just irks me. So help guys! Because once I'm past that stumbling block, you could have a game in about a month!

[Khris]

Very quick idea:



Great background, btw, dig the style and game idea!

[Hubris Incalculable]

Perhaps a thick network of pipes?

[cianty]

Perhaps a thick network of pipes?

That sounds like a great idea! I'd try that. You can easily work with copy-paste to get an idea of how it'd look like... I imagine it would be cool.

[markbilly]

I'm not sure what help this is now but I would have started with a cave, with interesting nooks and crannies and things and a walkway through it then fitted the equipment in.

This would help with perspective and composition, plus it's bound to be more believable because that's the order it would happen in reality...

Maybe you could draw a complex of caves and stuff then copy and paste the stuff you've done into that?

P.S. doesn't have to be a cave, it could be a warehouse or something but I used the cave example for illustration.

[Jimbob]

Sorry for not posting earlier... got a bit sidetracked...

I'm not keen on the pipe idea... it was more like a cave as other people have mentioned... so I think I'm going to try Khris' idea of splitting the background into walls, and try and make a coherent cave feel from that...

[Wonkyth]

I know you say it's a cave environment, but that BG would look really good on the inside of a pipe...

[Jimbob]

Quick update. A lot of detailing and tidying of the cave walls to be done but I think you get the idea. Got a few lights in place to make sense of the brightness of everything else. It's going to be a fairly light-hearted game so I'm not too concerned about trying to make a dungeon of a lab. I've also (on the left-hand side) started to integrate the floor as some part of the cave rock formation...

EDIT: Tried a more blue-y palette. Changed a lot of the colours just to see.

[Wonkyth]

Blue-y palette good. 

[Sughly]

Blue-y palette good.  

+1 - blue palette is awesome! Though I'm not sure about those blotchy bits along the bottom of the walkway. They seem a little tacked on and out of place...

EDIT: Maybe they just need a little more blending in?

[Wonkyth]

Yeah, now that you mention it, the shading is a little lacking just there.