first backgrounds....

[~Escapade~]

Hi everyone! my name is Owen, I'm VERY new to ags. I recently decided to create a very simple practice game, to help me get to grips with scripting etc. Problem is, I'm a perfectionist so nothing is ever simple. I consider myself an pretty decent artist, but pixel-ing is very different. Take a look at my work here to get an idea of the kind of thing I draw-

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OwensArtworks

Anyhoo.. for my practice game I don't want to spend too long on graphics, as I just want to get down to the nitty-gritty of the scripting this time, to make sure I'm able to do it!

The first 320-200 background is very simple, If I can shine this up a bit I think I will use this style for my practice game. It is a bit bland, and I would love it if someone could give me some ideas with a quick paintover??

The Second background is an experimental style I'm trying out, using paintshop pro rather than mspaint! this one is a scroll background. Obviously, these two backgrounds aren't going to be in the same game.

so critique please? paintovers, perspective etc

And if you are wondering, the thing on the right of the scroll background is a cloning vat

[Badger]

Loving the style of the second one..and i think you'll get more out of that style than the pixel..but that's just my opinion.
I would really like to see the second one with slightly better compositing..make those machines really look like they live there..
apart from that, i really like it...and it's definitely a good idea to just start scripting and get to grips with AGS (I did the same thing), and made a little notepad of examples of script so i could use it as reference

Good luck!!

[Anian]

The teleport pod thingies - us used a bevel or something so the shine looks to be interupted by the horizontal green lamp...anyway it loses it's sense of volume. And what Badger said, they don't look like they're there.
Pipes look cool.

On the mspaint one, the details on the door (don't know english word for that part of the door...don't know in my own language for that matter) seem strange and kind of have an opposite perspective from the whole room.

[Badger]

Shadows!! Just had another look, and due to using the bevel/highlights on the metallic objects, you expect to see them grounded into the background with shadows..try this out..and also try getting a single light-source, so the shadows all go in roughly the same direction.

[Badger]

Had a quick go to show you..my attempt is rubbish (using a touchpad on a laptop :/ )

[Matt Frith]

On the mspaint one, the details on the door (don't know english word for that part of the door...don't know in my own language for that matter) seem strange and kind of have an opposite perspective from the whole room.

I believe you mean the door panels Anian  

They do kind of look out of perspective, yes.  Just switch them round and it should look better.  Maybe add a shower rail and shower unit above the taps.  Tiles on the right hand wall  next to the bath probably wouldn't hurt either.  The background is good for a first attempt though so yay.

The Scrolling background is looking really nice.  The detail is excellent but I'm not sure if the teleporters fit in with the style.  Some more detailing, a bit like the cloning vat, would probably help I guess.  Not sure I really like the big TELEPORT sign, but that is probably more of a game design choice

Keep it up Well done.

[~Escapade~]

Thanks everyone! come to think of it, the teleport booths probably look out of place because they were part of an older background, along with the big sign, which I'm now gonna get rid of. I'll need plenty of critique help with my character animations, particularly the up walk which always looks odd when I do it.

I Know I'm capable of doing more detailed stuff than the bathroom, but for this practice game I just want it to be neat and perspective correct. I'd love an example paint over of the bathroom to give me some ideas, I'll have a go at adding a shower and fixing the door panels, but  I'm not that great at picking colours etc. I've got so many crazy game ideas I won't be able to pull off until I've got a better grasp of ags, see

[Matt Frith]

I might give your bathroom background a paintover since I feel creative at the moment

[Mad]

I did a quick paint-over:



Didn't have too much time, so it's far from perfect, and there are still a few stray pixels...
But I just wanted to demonstrate, that simple lighting/shadows are far more effective than colour gradients in a low-res picture as yours.

Maybe a question of taste, but there you are. Hope it gives some ideas for what it's worth!

[~Escapade~]

Mad that is a vast improvement, thank you. I agree, looks much better without the gradients, and I like what you've done with the door panels, bath and window! Ok, time to improve mine...