Diagnosis Murder Background

[voh]

Seeing as how I recently got back into development after a couple of breaks while writing the script, here's my first background for the game.

Remember: the sprites are tiny (as can be seen here), so the background is, too.

[Mikko]

I understand that this is a room in hospital, but what kind of? If it is a waiting room or similar, maybe a couple of chairs could fit.

Clouds in the window look odd, but I'm sorry that I can't give any further advice. The window has a feeling that there is no glass, just a hole in the wall. Maybe some speculars/highlights would help.

Overall the style looks nice and simplified, something that I would also try.

[Privateer Puddin']

I think you could make more interesting backgrounds while keeping small room size, by having two rooms shown, or even one above. A bit too much black for my liking, even though it does keep the room small to match the characters.

[Sam.]

i agree with pudding, you could maybe have the secretary's (dolores?) offce showing, or a toilet or changin room or something. Add some medical certificates, a labcoat rack, fling cabinet, drawers. umberalla, If its Dr. Sloan's room, tap shoes!

[sergiocornaga]

I'd reccomend a dissolving/cross section style of background for this kind of game, as seen in Sanitarium and JP and Cosmo.

[voh]

First off: it's a corridor, not an actual office Corridors in the office section of hospitals are usually fairly tidy

i agree with pudding, you could maybe have the secretary's (dolores?) offce showing, or a toilet or changin room or something. Add some medical certificates, a labcoat rack, fling cabinet, drawers. umberalla, If its Dr. Sloan's room, tap shoes!

Good point, actually. I hadn't taken into consideration that Dolores' office is actually a room you have to cross before you get to Mark Sloan's office.

Too much black - check. Hadn't thought about it that way. Once you've worked on something for a certain time, you lose sight of its flaws. I'll take that into account.

Showing multiple rooms, though. I'm not entirely sure how I'd go about that, to be honest

[Privateer Puddin']

Perhaps something like this

or to highlight the room the player is in

[Drawken]

I think even corridors would have chairs. At least the hospitals I've been to have chairs everywhere. (Gotta keep those patients happy.)
One thing that bothers me is the shadowing of the wheelchair. From what I can see, I would assume the bottom of the background is the wall, so it looks as if the wheelchair is stuck in the ground.
Ã,  Ã, In the hospitals I've been to they always have rubber "bumpers" along the bottom of the walls. I looked on Google Image search for "hospital corridor" and every pic has them.
Ã,  Ã, I just noticed the lighting, It looks a bit off, especially the bookcase and the light on the ground underneath the blinds. It seem to be placed randomly.
Ã,  Ã, The bookcase should have more, right now it's lookin' quite empty.
Ã,  Ã, The window shouldn't have ripples, it is inside, there should only be a few lighting streaks, perhaps sideways, and it should be lightened up a bit.
Ã,  Ã, Other than these nitpicks, I really like your artwork and spriting style! Can't wait till this is released.

[voh]

I think even corridors would have chairs. At least the hospitals I've been to have chairs everywhere. (Gotta keep those patients happy.)
One thing that bothers me is the shadowing of the wheelchair. From what I can see, I would assume the bottom of the background is the wall, so it looks as if the wheelchair is stuck in the ground.
Ã,  Ã, In the hospitals I've been to they always have rubber "bumpers" along the bottom of the walls. I looked on Google Image search for "hospital corridor" and every pic has them.
Ã,  Ã, I just noticed the lighting, It looks a bit off, especially the bookcase and the light on the ground underneath the blinds. It seem to be placed randomly.
Ã,  Ã, The bookcase should have more, right now it's lookin' quite empty.
Ã,  Ã, The window shouldn't have ripples, it is inside, there should only be a few lighting streaks, perhaps sideways, and it should be lightened up a bit.
Ã,  Ã, Other than these nitpicks, I really like your artwork and spriting style! Can't wait till this is released.

As for the lighting, it wasn't placed randomly. I actually spent a bit of time on that, so I guess the outcome wasn't as good as I wanted to make it be.

The bookcase will be filled, for now I was tired of drawing tiny things, so I just left it like this

The window has ripples because it's storming outside. The background is animated, and there's lightning too. It's crappy weather, it's a stormy night outside

I'll look into the rubber bumpers (which make sense), so thanks for that notion! Chairs, also check. I'll add either a bench or some chairs. The wheelchair's going. Too many complaints about it, but it was looking fairly empty, so I just put it there to fill space up

As for the suggestion about the multiple rooms on one screen - it does look good, though I don't like showing more than one floor. Though showing more than one room on the same floor would be more than possible. Scrolling backgrounds aren't too difficult, are they? (Never did one before).

[Mr Flibble]

If you're going to do the multiple room thing, with many rooms visible on one screen, it may be an idea to make them all follow the same vanishing point.

[Afflict]

I agree with Mr Fibble! But none the less looking AWESOME!

[ildu]

I disagree. Now with different perspectives they seem more independent, which in my mind is a good thing. It's as if each frame is filmed from a separate camera. Plus, having them follow the same vp will restrict a lot of stuff. And I thought of the room highlight thing even before I read puddin's post. I think this separation and highlight thing would be awesome .