Experiment: Converting CMI-style backgrounds into FoA-style backgrounds

[chapter11studios]

Some of you may have been following the evolution of Rise of the Hidden Sun over the past few years. In case you missed the most recent update, I'm kind of going back to the drawing board again.

One idea I had was to take the existing artwork and convert it from CMI-style to a more manageable FoA style because it would theoretically be easier to do myself, without having to rely on others for help. The animation would also be easier, I think.

Anyway, here's my first attempt. It turned out like crap. NOTE: This was just a quick test! This will never, ever make it into RotHS in this form.

Feedback, suggestions, or actual re-painting just for fun/instruction are all welcome.

[Nikolas]

hmmm...

I'm sorry to dissapoint you but one of the reasons (not the only of course) that I was looking forward for RotHS was the graphics. The change, wouldn't look so bad, had you started off like this.

Now, being a bit ignorant: FoA means 16 colours in all?

[Privateer Puddin']

Now, being a bit ignorant: FoA means 16 colours in all?

256 colours.

If you managed to nail the style it'd be good, but still a lot of work..

[TheJBurger]

I didn't have time to read all of your blog, but I take it you lost the artist who produced these backgrounds?

Well, I think you recreated it into a different style quite accurately, so good job.
Here are some points you may want to consider
- Right now the foreground (black stalactices/stalagmites) to me seems really flat, even on the old one too. I would suggest to draw each stalactice as its own seperate object and see how it works out.
- At first glance, the upper part of the cave I think seems to be at a little more of an upward angle than would be realistic for this picture. Do you get what I mean? It might look better if you flattened the ground leading to the cave or indicated that it was an upward slope by some means.
- From here, I'd suggest you try out adding some shading to your new pic, keeping in mind where the light is coming from and where the shadows would be.

Good luck!

[MrColossal]

I don't know exactly how you're going about making this game but I'd suggest keep making the game the way you are and use sketches and programmer art and placeholder backgrounds and such. Then when the game is "done" you can actively look for more artists to "just fill in" the missing parts.

Granted there will still be more programming to be done but you potentially have so much of the game done already, throwing out all that work sounds ungood to me and potentially to any further help you might want to get. "But he's already thrown out all this other work... What will happen to mine!?"

Anyway, this isn't about your blog this is about the image.

There is a tutorial or at least a walkthrough of a background Miez made for Fountain of Youth, give a search for that and check it out, he says some nice stuff.

[chapter11studios]

There is a tutorial or at least a walkthrough of a background Miez made for Fountain of Youth, give a search for that and check it out, he says some nice stuff.

I looked for that but unfortunately the FoY website seems to be down. Hopefully that's just temporary.

[scotch]

Seems like a shame to throw art away. I'm sure you could find someone to continue in the same style, especially if this is still a semi pro project.

Judging by the image you produced, you're not too experienced with pixel art, and I'd say that it'd be quite hard to do anything close to FoA quality without a long time gaining art abilities. If you're happy to produce average quality low res AGS graphics then that's a realitic goal for a beginner, but otherwise you're going to have to find another background artist. I'd look for another high res one if you prefer that style. Actually your high res style appears to be much LESS labour intensive than true FoA graphics.

[Khris]

What about:

[Dualnames]

*Remind me to kill people that abbandon projects*

Well, many people can draw CMI style try ola_66
Principles of Evil II reminded me a lot of Monkey Island..

[Arboris]

Well, it would be a shame to throw all that beautifull artwork away. However making it yourself does have its significant benefits.



Altho BG's are not my Forte', I did a partial drawover of your background. It's currently an excellent rough scetch, and just needs a good cleaning up of the rought edges and a bit of detail worked into.
First I erased the black out lines. Then to add detail I tried to keep it as simple as possible, using just a few colors to give the feeling of depth. I just roughly drawed the dark lines freehand into the rock.
I did the same thing for the black forground, giving the a less flat apearance.

Unfortunatly I can't help you with suggestions for the golden bird. Tried various things but I can't make it as shiney as the orginal.

[Layabout]

some of the people who do the background blitz produce some awesome backgrounds. why not have a look thorugh those. I'm not sure if loominous is still around, but he produces some awesome artwork, and might help, particuarly with such a developed project.

i would offer to do some backgrounds for you, but i am caught up in my own project at the moment.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

If you intend to continue with this style, a few tips would be to make sure you alias some of the rough edges when possible and to establish a pleasing palette beforehand, since 256 colors can be used up rather fast if you don't pay attention.  Bear in mind that your sprites will need to be redesigned for this lower resolution, and it helps to establish right away what the maximum character dimensions are so you can build the backgrounds properly. 

I could never figure out from the original image whether the bird was floating in midair or if it was attached to the wall, since the visible angles on it are rather confusing.  I made a rather sloppy edit to make the bird appear more as a part of the wall and did a little bit of aliasing.  I also made a quick character that fits the room more or less so I could properly scale the details (like the skulls).



The stretched shadow around the bird establishes it as being brightly lit in the front, and you can expand on that by lightening up the area of the wall behind it in areas.  I think you can make these backgrounds just as pleasing in low res if you put the effort into it!

[i k a r i]

This is not a good decision, dont rush, take it easy, you didnt have the fortune to find a good workmate.

You shouldnt be paying people to keep them motivated in the amateur world, you should try to find people like you, with the desire of making a great adventure game, someone that cares about making it good.

And then, as a second goal, why not make some money out of it if the final product is as good as ROTHS was turning out.


Take your time and if you have to start over, then, so be it, at least you will know you did what you always wanted to, a classic adventure game.


The best of lucks for you.