Hotel Bedroom Background

[Tenacious Stu]

This is my first real attempt at a background for a game. It's meant to be a hotel bedroom. I'm working on backgrounds in parallel with the character sprites. The resolution for the game is 320 x 200. The black bar at the bottom is going to be used for the GUI.



I'm pretty pleased with the end result, but I'd like to hear any comments anyone may have.

Thanks in advance guys 

[Anian]

- usually it's not a good idea to mix gradient so directly with a lowres pixelstlye, but I kind of don't mind the look of the walls
- a lot of people keep drawing lights the way you did, but I've been to a lot of hotels and rooms in general and in maybe a few cases did I see a "naked" bulb just hanging on a cable, just go visit your local lighting store or whatever and copy something that you like  
- hotel bedrooms usually have a desk and a chair, so I'd suggest filling that lower left corner with a desk with a lamp on it and a telephone...you don't have to, but it'll add to the setting I think
- oh and maybe switch the position of the painting and the window, usually that's how they're placed (picture above the bed and a window so you can come close to it)

[Khris]

One comment about the perspective in general: you're depicting stuff too deep.
Stuff that's close to the vanishing point will lose much of their depth; that bed/window is much wider than long/tall and the door to the left is almost a square.

The wall gradient is a bit weird; why would the top be darker, especially with the (barely visible) light from the bulb?

For a first real attempt this is great though; continue like that and you'll be there in no time.

[Murgy]

I'll start by echoing anian, except the switching the painting and the window.  Usually the window is opposite the door, with other hotel rooms on the other walls. 

Instead I'd question the layout of the furniture in the room.  Usually the bed is on one of the side walls with a set of drawers and a TV on the other side.  And I've never seen a hotel provide a shelf with books.  If might be too much work, though, to rearrange everything.  If so, just keep it in mind for next time or something.

Something that might be easier to change:  I'm not sold on the colors of this hotel room.  It looks like you're using hi or true color, so I think you should take advantage of that.  Try looking at photos of actual hotel rooms. Or at least an actual bedroom.  Find a color scheme that you like and use that swatch colors for your room.

[Tenacious Stu]

Thank you for the replies  8)

- usually it's not a good idea to mix gradient so directly with a lowres pixelstlye, but I kind of don't mind the look of the walls

The wall gradient is a bit weird; why would the top be darker, especially with the (barely visible) light from the bulb?

I decided to use gradient on the walls as I felt as though it looked better than having it plain. I was also following a couple of tutorials and looked at examples of similar style game art. I can see what you mean about the lighting though, to be honest light/shadow are my weak points, I never seem to be able to know where to put them. It seems like a pretty obvious thing to have the lighter end of the gradient near the light tho    that's something I missed.

I know what you mean about the barely visible light, I was experimenting with it at this stage and as I say above it is not a strong point for me. Would you suggest making the light brighter? Or perhaps make the edges of the room darker and fading out towards the bulb, as I feel as though maybe the room is too bright?

- a lot of people keep drawing lights the way you did, but I've been to a lot of hotels and rooms in general and in maybe a few cases did I see a "naked" bulb just hanging on a cable, just go visit your local lighting store or whatever and copy something that you like 

The original intent was for this room to have a grimy, dingy look, but I actually ended up making it quite pleasant. The bulb hanging from the string is perhaps the only dingy thing here, so I will have to upgrade to a fancy lamp shade, or make the rest of the room a little more cheap hotel.

- hotel bedrooms usually have a desk and a chair, so I'd suggest filling that lower left corner with a desk with a lamp on it and a telephone...you don't have to, but it'll add to the setting I think

This was an actual thought of mine also. I was thinking of perhaps adding a desk in the exact place you mention 

- oh and maybe switch the position of the painting and the window, usually that's how they're placed (picture above the bed and a window so you can come close to it)

There is actually a part in the game were you visit the opposite side of the wall where the closet it, for this reason I had to place the window on the other wall.

One comment about the perspective in general: you're depicting stuff too deep.
Stuff that's close to the vanishing point will lose much of their depth; that bed/window is much wider than long/tall and the door to the left is almost a square.

I understand your point, I am not a vet technical artist    Would you suggest making these objects thinner to make the perspective look correct?

Instead I'd question the layout of the furniture in the room.  Usually the bed is on one of the side walls with a set of drawers and a TV on the other side.  And I've never seen a hotel provide a shelf with books.  If might be too much work, though, to rearrange everything.  If so, just keep it in mind for next time or something.

This is the first game that I have designed that I actually have tried to make. Due to this fact I have hit a lot of pitfalls with holes in the design, such as the layout of the hotel rooms and the furniture. A lot of the objects and layout have things to do with the gameplay, so I decided that as it's my first game, I could take some 'artistic license' with a lot of the stuff. I made the mistake of thinking up this idea/story/design and then creating a world that fits around it, rather than evolving my ideas to suit a more realistic, believable world.

Something that might be easier to change:  I'm not sold on the colors of this hotel room.  It looks like you're using hi or true color, so I think you should take advantage of that.  Try looking at photos of actual hotel rooms. Or at least an actual bedroom.  Find a color scheme that you like and use that swatch colors for your room.

Just after Light/Shade on my list of weaknesses is colour. I knew I wanted to have a red-ish theme, so I tried to use colors to suit that. I did lift some of the colors from reference photo's though. What colors would you suggest?

For a first real attempt this is great though; continue like that and you'll be there in no time.

Thank you very much, you just gave me a huge confidence boost.


Thanks to everyone for the quick replies, I'll try to implement some of these changes and post an updated version soon.

[Murgy]

Doing a quick Google Image search for "red hotel room", of the pictures that I like, I'm seeing a lot of white, grey, black, and various browns and tans.  In other words, very neutral colors alongside the reds.  Kinda like this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-gkzFXdmmN8/TQD4roqYA4I/AAAAAAAADig/b6NOlGILKnM/s1600/Hotel+room+with+red+wall.jpg

So you might keep the carpet the same, then make the walls a more neutral brown, then make the bed covers and curtains tan.  That seems like the easiest changes to me, but of course it's your project, so feel free to experiment.