Hi all,
I've been toying with this bg for a bit. I would like it to look scarier.
I realise that my style may be a tiny bit too cartoony, but anyway...
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/foresteerie.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/foresteerie.png)
Suggestions to make it generally better are more than welcome.
Especially paintovers.
I think it's a nice background, but for it to be scarier it needs to look more "dead"... broken branches on the ground, fallen trees, dying plants, broken fence, etc. If your look is more cartoony, maybe even some glowy eyes in the shadows ^_^
I have a few suggestions:
- add a hole in the tree with glowing eyes in it, preferably red or yellow.
- add leaves and broken branches on the ground.
- make the road look old and trampled.
The colours are wellchosen, I don't suggest redoing those.
~Yurina
I've been staring at it, even made an attempt... I didn't really get an improvement, so, what I can do is go on with the brainstorm, like in my previous "New Yorkish" background. See the thread in this very page of CL.
My entry is: A hand from a dead half buried body, raising from the earth!
An awl, or maybe bats, in the tree...
Sorry for the silly post. :-\
Played with the colours a bit, messed around with the clouds.
think i got a bit of a scarier mood. Maybe. THe biggest thing i did was lower the saturation.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/scariermaybe.png)
Just a thought - but maybe the soft, curved shapes that dominate the bg make it unscarier (too soft). I'd suggest adding some signs of decay, like already suggested - jagged, pointy shapes (mountains or branches, thorny shrubs or spiked plants), broken signposts. Some dangerous shapes. Right now everything is round or pixel-outlined (which softens the shape). If you want to go for the soft light and the rounded shapes, I guess there's no way around putting a really scary element in there - the building in the distance is good.
I like the colder blue tones better than the warmer purplish ones in the paintover. More detail is also good for making it scarier, since everything isn't so easily identifiable.
Btw. I think the bg is already somewhat scary, and has a great mood.
The question is: how far can you go with creating a mood such as scariness through graphics alone? In my opinion, especially scariness is emitted more by music, atmosphere, story and presentation than graphics. Take the good old 5 days a stranger as example. Any of yahtzee's backgrounds weren't scary at all on their own in this game - however through music and story elements, he built a very scary atmosphere and great tension up in a smart way!
To actually help you, one thought I recently had about this came to the following conclusion: thin things are a lot scarier than thick things usually. Think about a tree - imagine it thick and thin. Combine that with the previous mentioned sharp edges and unusual shapings - you already have the proper colors - and you're there (if you also add the right music and story elements of course).
a good idea is to add fog or mist low on the ground, but this may be better if it was an animated object or background, that way you could have the mist moving slowly
I agree that sounds and context can add as much to scariness as graphics, but pictures can still be really scary on their own (not that they should be on their own in a game, of course).
The scariest (genre) pictures I remember were from the my first copy of the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying book centerfolds (by Les Edwards (http://www.lesedwards.com/horror_gallery.htm)):
(http://www.lesedwards.com/gallery/horror/croglinvampire.jpg)
It just seems so insanely evilÃ, :o :o :o
I did a bit of a rework for you.
(http://kinoko.futariba.com/misc/sorry.gif)
Much scarier!
I think Zooty's coloring helped a bit in adding scariness, but the main problem is that you used recognizable shapes.
Even familiar enviroments can be scary if they are seen in a new lightsetting, and although your outlines are a little cartoony/simple, they are simplified in a symbolical/recognizable way. As I see it, dark makes things scary because it leaves out stuff and the brain fills in the rest.
A usual trick is the haunted forest with living trees that have jagged teeth, but it seems a little cliched (and the monster is in sight), so I'd suggest you try to draw some foresty stuff (trees etc.) from reference (or with your bad hand etc.) that has individual quirks and bumps, but leave some details out or make them near-black.
Another thing you could try is merging elements/shapes together to obscure them.
Basically, don't tell where the monster is/isn't but keep us guessing.
Wow, loads of responses here!
MashPotato and Yurina you're definitely right. The only problem I see is that I haven't left that much room for dead stuff. Maybe I'll have to rework the bg a bit.
Zooty I think your edit really adds something. In fact, I was working along that line. My colors were a bit too bright at the beginning, and the version I've shown here is a dimmer one. I like the broken fence and the broken sign.
Kinoko Cheers, that's much better.Ã, ;D
fred Good point, the shapes are too nice and slender. I'll see what it can do about it. Oh, and I'll try to put your friend somewhere in the game!
dkh I agree 100%. The mood cannot be set by graphics alone. I personally believe silence with a few well-placed sounds is the way to go. Of course, the graphics need to contribute, but the important thing is the overall environment.
FarlÃ, ;D The bats are a bit too much... I actually tried something yesterday with your NY bg (posters, grafitti, and American-looking cars), but I feel these didn't look good against your style. So I'm sorry too...
Ace_Gamer That'd be great, but I feel it may also be a pain to animate. I like it, but it's against my philosophy. I'm into cheap, quick and easy.Ã, Ã, ;D
biothlebop (I had to cut and paste your nick) - I dislike the idea of trees with faces, but I think you've hit the nail on the head with that comment about letting the onlooker's brain figure things out.Ã, I'll look into that.
I'll see if I can post anything better incorporating your suggestions today. If I feel I can't make the changes look good, I'll just go with this. After all it's pretty much functional already.
Cheers all. You rock.
Here's some shape/lighting theory that you could try out:
(http://marcus.krupa.se/AGS/creepiness_pic.gif)
So basically, if you want it friendly, like most disney movies, make the shapes round and shadows soft and diffused, and if you want it hostile, make the shapes edgy, and apply hard light, like in film noir for instance.
This doesn't mean that you have make everything pointy in a creepy enviroment. Too obvious application of these "rules" will probably make it silly looking, but just like I doubt most people payed any attention to the round shapes in your version, a good application of this will just leave the viewer unnerved.
Here's your version, with some of the round shapes accentuated:
(http://marcus.krupa.se/AGS/creepiness.jpg)
Here's a part of it with a harder shadow, and cooler colors:
(http://marcus.krupa.se/AGS/creepiness_sanim.gif)
Cool style and nice composition btw.
Loominous, your edit is excellent. You got the ground colors right, which is something I was struggling with.
Somebody else mentioned the sharp outlines, and I think you're both correct. Now this bg is too Disney-like in some ways.
Glad you found it helpful. While Disney tend to keep a generally friendly atmosphere with the application of rules like these, they use them to accentuate the opposite when desired. Here's an example from Sleeping Beauty:
(http://marcus.krupa.se/AGS/Sleeping.Beauty.1959.DVDrip.DivX-LiGHTNiNG%2521967.jpg)
So "Disney like" isn't bad per se, if you want a creepy look.
(http://faculty.cua.edu/johnsong/hitchcock/pages/expressionism/caligari-6.jpg)
Maybe German Expressionism (http://faculty.cua.edu/johnsong/hitchcock/pages/expressionism/expressionism-film.html) of the 1920s can be a helpful reference too.
That's a very intresting tip loominous, thanks. And Neil, yes. I guess I'm after that sort of look. Simple but effective.
I've made some changes:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/forest1.png) (http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/foresteerie.png)
I'm happier with the colors, but the rock and the shadows look somewhat clumsy now. I should probably play around with them a bit more. Though in any case I think I've spent long enough on this one.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/forest1.png)
I think that the rock should get the same cooler colors...
Are those lights from a house further away? Have the lights turned off, buthave the moon light the house up with a creepy blue hue
The shadows, particularly that one sign's shadow, should be skewed a bit. Right now, it's indictating that the moon is more centered than it really is. Look at the angle of Loominous's shadow in his small edit to see what I mean.
I agree. The coluors are cooler now, except for the rock which stands out too much.
Also, when drawing the shadows, think of the vanishing lines theory. Take the center of your moon and draw lines from there to the edges of the objects which you want to shade. Also use less contrast, the moon doesn't radiate light as strongly as the sun, it only reflects it.
BTW I think each background looks cool, keep it up! It's good to see how darkness is so much easier to draw, you can leave out a whole host of details (esp. in the use of colours).
I think, the contrast of the shadow is okay, but the angle of it, as mentioned before, isn't. And the moon doesn't look very circular. It looks octagonal. But I like the bg overall.
cheers
nihilyst
I think that he looks at very good. I would be very happy to see it in a game.
Aussie,
Some suggestions for eeriness in you're background could be:
Darker shadows
Crooked Arrow on Sign
Perhaps the shadow of something concealed coming out from behind the tree, indicating the presence of something or someone else
Also, when you put your background into action:
Make the sign sway in the wind as a background animation
Shadow of something behind tree moving slightly
Also, some sounds you could put in to REALLY add to the effect:
Perhaps a wolf howling
Owl hooting
Or maybe even heavy breathing to strongly indicate the presence of something or someone else nearby.
Hope these suggestions help, and have a great easter guys!
Tom
Those suggestions are great, KingTom0001. They would really set the mood.
Dutch, nyhilist and Tiki, I agree with you. Those are all things to fix. The perspective of the shadows wasn't too bad until I went overboard. As for the moon... well, it's quite a low res moon after all.
And thanks Rolf for your encouragement.