High Crimes Title Screen

DarkRiver Design · Sun 15/02/2004 18:54:27

How's this title screen for my game. High Crimes is a detective game that plays like a true-crime story. I have a couple screenshots in the promotional thread if you would like to criticize those too (they are also linked at the bottom).

Main character in his office.

Main character talking to his secretary.

Thanks in advance.

Minimi · Sun 15/02/2004 19:10:51

The characters are waaay too small. They should be 1,8 times bigger. And they look too much like poser. The hair looks very plastic. The background photo's are nice though. Just give some more dedication to the characters, and really try to get rid of the poser look. I think you even might be better of, if you'd trace them.

DarkRiver Design · Sun 15/02/2004 20:05:34

I don't dare make them bigger, they are already half as tall as the screen. I'll just have to find better backgrounds then. I'd really like to take my own pictures (I've been stealing via Google Image Search), but I don't live in an urban area (where my game takes place) and I don't really have access to a digital camera.

As far as Poser goes, if I traced over the characters, they would be cartoony, which wouldn't look good over photo backgrounds. Granted they don't look spectacular now, but at least they are somewhat convincing. The hair is the big problem, I think. I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the tip.

BTW, there is a cel-shade option in Poser if you think a cartoon look would be better. I'll draw an example pic. However, I'm not artistically inclined, and tracing it myself would be nay impossible.

12431 · Sun 15/02/2004 20:13:57

looks pretty good. but like minimi said, the characters are to small. I like 'em

HillBilly · Sun 15/02/2004 20:16:33

Quote from: ShockingBlue on Sun 15/02/2004 20:05:34
I'll just have to find better backgrounds then.

Can't you just make the background smaller(black area around)? or would it look crappy?

Nine Toes · Sun 15/02/2004 21:55:29

It almost reminds me of By The Sword: Conspiracy.

Very nice work, though!

Chicky · Sun 15/02/2004 22:26:06

ohh very good,

me likes, apart from the poser models. couldnt you get a photo source and apply it as a texture for the hair? i think it would look really cool. and i really think you chould do what hillbilly said and do a black outline. That looks pretty film noir style as well.

anyway keep it up , very kool

-nath

Kweepa · Sun 15/02/2004 23:03:27

Looks pretty good.
Why is the guy skipping while talking to the secretary though?

GarageGothic · Mon 16/02/2004 09:11:21

Looks good. I really like the menu screen. Very atmospheric. And the Poser characters work pretty well with the photographic backgrounds (did you take those pictures yourself?)

There are a few problems with the Poserish style though. But I think they can be overcome. As oversizedchicken said, I think you should add textures to the hair, or at least desaturate the color. Nobody's hair is that yellow or orange. In general, you might want to desaturate and lighten the colors of the characters so they match the backgrounds better. Right now they are very intense. You could try to find some good photographic textures for the characters on renderosity.com, and remember to turn the skin white when using textures, otherwise the textured surface will be too dark. What version of Poser are you using? I'm guessing 3 or 4?

Also, there's something wrong with the camera angle. Maybe it's the focal length that's distorting it? What are you using? 35 or something? In my experience, you have to go between 90 and 100 to flatten the character enough to fit into a 2D game screen.

Andail · Mon 16/02/2004 09:49:50

In my opinion, the title screen could need some more details, or more texture in the background...try some sort of high-tech pattern - play around in photoshop a while and see if you can toss up something. Also I would like to see it without the text fading...or some more effects on the text, perhaps a letter in another colour, or some typewriter effect (dunno what it's called; you know when the ink seems to be too dry).
It just seems a bit too static at the moment.

The screenshots:
As always with poser characters; they look way too generic. If you have the time and energy, I'd try adding details and texture with PS or PSP or something - you don't need them to be perfectly 3D anyway.
Also I'm not too fond of the mixing of styles - you have photographic backgrounds and 3D characters, something that sort of clashes in my eyes, but that's pretty personal.

I hope you don't find the cirticism too harsh, but when you go for 3D or/and photographic art, you will
simply have a harder time meeting the criteria and expectations that people will make.
Especially when you mix the styles, the crowd will become pretty bloody hard to please

The atmosphere and the general concept is promising though, and I wish you good luck!

Phemar · Mon 16/02/2004 14:14:40

As for me, I don't think you should use photos for your game, unless it's a joke. Try tracing over the backgrounds and then your characters. That should look good.

P.S. Seriously nice title screen! Love it.

.:Zor:.

DarkRiver Design · Mon 16/02/2004 17:31:11

12431: Thanks. I appreciate it.

HillBilly: Yes, I think making the backgrounds smaller would make it look crappy.

Dr. Jekyll: I've never heard of this game. I take it that it is an adventure game? Does it have photographic backgrounds? I might check it out.

oversized chicken: That is a VERY good idea. I wish I had thought of that. Oh well, I have to redo both walkies anyway (I didn't save the model for Chris! D'Oh! Any future animations I make have to match up with the walkie, though, so I need to make a new model and start from scratch.

SteveMcRea: Very good question. The reason is because even though I have a walk animation from every angle that is a fairly fluid 10-11 frames long, I don't have a freakin' standing still stance! As I said, I deleted the model, so in his next incarnation he will be able to stand still instead of always having one foot forward.

GarageGothic: Thank you! To tell you the truth I'm not sure, I'm using a preset camera angle that I thought looked good. And I'm using Poser 3. I know, it's old, but I don't have the cash for a newer version, and my PC is really very slow compared to the machines of today (I have a 633mhz Celeron, 128 MB RAM, and a Riva TNT2 graphics card. It works, though). And No, I didn't take the pictures myself. I stole them from websites via the Google Image Search. I know, not a nice thing to do, but I think there is a very slim chance of the actual photographer seeing these pictures. I would take the pictures myself, but I don't have a digital camera, and I don't have access to all the places I want to go (morgues, police stations, etc.). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Andail: I agree that the Poser models are quite tacky, especially compared to the backgrounds, but I really have no other alternative. I mean, it wouldn't really be efficient for me to set up a blue screen and higher actors to do walk animations, etc., and I'm so bad with drawing it's not even funny. I even have a hard time with PhotoShop. I really just produced that title screen with a stroke of luck. I didn't know exactly what I was doing, but I achieved the desired effect (although that's arguable). Your typewriter suggestion sounds good. Thanks.

Zor: It's a lofty concept, Zor. I'm so bad, you have no idea. And that would take up a lot of time that I could be developing the game. I'll take that into account, however.

Everybody thus far: Thank you for compliments and criticisms. I REALLY appreciate it. I've had AGS for awhile, but this is really my first attempt at serious game development (apart from RPG Maker), so I can use all the help I can get.