Screening Test...

[Ghost]

Hi there- after a FAR TOO LONG time without serious game making and spriting I dug up some old screenies and thought they'd be a nice way to get back into the flow. I'm looking for some general feedback here- the original screens I made on a crappy CRT monitor where everything from 60% gray was technically pure black; these days I have a rather good LCD screen that really forces me to rethink my palette choices.

I'm still getting into the swing, so fire away!
(Screens are, naturally, mock-ups)


Old screen from OUAC.

Remake.


Old WORLD MAP from OUAC.

Again, the remake.

[cianty]

What can I say - they're beautiful! It's obvious how much better the new ones are, and the olders very cool already. Love em!

[Anian]

Yeah, the new ones are better texture (and I guess art) wise, though perspective is still off (see that table with cabinets in the upper right corner of the room) and the room screenshot just looks weird with that practically black floor and bed.
...might picture might be bad though, since my graphics card is dead and money trouble pushes me to use the motherboard video exit.

The map might be something of a cross between those two styles - take the art of the new one, but use the color scheme of the older one (the new ones are kind of much higher contrast)...again, this might me an issue cause my card.

[Khris]

I'm also on a CRT and the second version of the bedroom is essentially half-black on my monitor.

To put this in perspective, here's the two lightness histograms, with the old bedroom's on top:



As you can see, the old version had a much better distribution of values. The problem with TFTs is the bad contrast due to the backlighting. One tends to turn up the brightness way too much.

[nihilyst]

I'm on a TFT, and the new ones, although better in technical categories, seem to be way too dark to me.

[abstauber]

Same here, the new ones are pretty dark. Have you ever tried to calibrate your monitor? Here's good test picture to set up your screen.

http://www.photoindustrie-verband.de/_files/ftp/texte/dqtool/DQ-Tool_Monitor.jpg


btw. my screen is incapable of displaying the light-gray boxes on the bottom right

[Ghost]

Ah, thanks a lot! Yes, me and monitor calibration I'll fiddle around a bit with it and upload a check. The texture of the inventory window is supposed to be very dark, but if it really comes out as black, that's just plain wrong.

[Khris]

Ive changed the levels (0, 1.65, 220) to make it look like I think it looks on your monitor:

[Ghost]

Kris- very close. Not quite as bright, but I get the point. Wow. I've started to read up on this whole lightness histogram/lightenes levels stuff.
Seems I missed a LOT there. If you happen to have any links/tips/recommendations, they would be welcome!

[Igor Hardy]

Speaking of the first remake, to be honest I love the twisted angles of the original and the remake looks much more common and less interesting in general.

The new map screen looks good, but a bit cluttered, I'd prefer more clarity.

[Khris]

Far from being an expert, I do know a bit about this due to my work; e.g. I have to color profile all the monitors every few weeks. This is essential to ensure that a photo's printout looks exactly like on the screen.

The most important thing here though is the distribution of lightness. An "ideally" exposed photo's histogram is supposed to look like a bell curve. The same is true for a standard indoor scene in an adventure game, I'd guess.

The pic posted by abstauber is a good way to check your monitor settings.
I'd try changing the monitor's contrast first while having the brightness at 50%, then adjust both a bit until you can barely see the squares at the bottom left and right, while squinting at the bottom center makes the inner rectangle disappear.

Curiously, my CRT is set to a brightness of 73% and a contrast of 99% right now, and that's perfect according to the picture.

[Ghost]

I think another factor is that playing an AGS game fullscreen on a relatively large monitor makes it look a bit lighter compared to the windowed version. Made some adjustments, adressing the floor and walls. The histogram is still no bell curve but shows a better distribution- step into the right direction?

[Matti]

Right direction, but the wooden bars are still way too dark.