Dynamic Backgrounds

Bernie · Thu 19/01/2006 00:43:25

I'd like to get rid of 'straight-on' views (with the vanishing point being in the center), so I've been trying to use different perspectives. Two examples:

1. Some rooms aren't big enough to fill a screen, so there's going to be black nothingness in a few of them. Does anyone find this disturbing, especially in the 2nd picture?

2. I guessed on the first picture's perspective because I had a hard time doing that one with vanishing points. Does it show?

LilBlueSmurf · Thu 19/01/2006 01:03:12

The perspectives seem fine to me. You can tell a bit in the first one, but it's not striking. If you had a hard time because you didn't want to make a huge file with dots for points it's understandable, if you just didn't know where to put em (which I kind of doubt) Just stick one far to the right and one far to the left. As you work and try to line things up, it should be obvious which one to use each time. I am thinking you just didn't mess with having a set point though, so you probably didn't need to know that.

MarVelo · Thu 19/01/2006 01:33:40

i love the way your floors blend to nothing, not an issue with perspective..

Darth Mandarb · Thu 19/01/2006 01:38:21

The first picture is good, I don't think the perspective will be an issue.

However, the second ...

I can think of two problems you might have:
- unless the character scales up and down cleanly, it could be a problem with such a detailed background
- unless you have diagonal views of the character walking it might look odd walking sideways on that steep of a perspective

The backgrounds themselves are excellent, I just would worry a bit about the second's usability.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 19/01/2006 02:13:37

Black areas aren't a problem, they've been in adventure game backgrounds for a long time. I like your approach, it's very clean and the images are well defined. The blue-greenish tinge to light sources hurt my eyes after awhile but again, that's not a fault of yours. I think the extreme perspective in the second image will make scaling problematic, they both look great in any event.

rharpe · Thu 19/01/2006 03:48:03

Very cool backgrounds! They look like everything is set on a stage though... maybe some forground siloettes(sp?) could make it more interesting?

Great character sprites too, looking forward to seeing more.

Bernie · Thu 19/01/2006 11:07:14

rhape: Yeah, I've done foreground silhouettes on a few backgrounds, they do help! :3

ProgZmax/Darth: While the scaling itself isn't a problem, it does look a little funny with only 4 direction characters. The character's movement also stutters a little because of the speed changes caused by the scaling.

So I tried this (cheap edit):

It seems to work a lot better now.

Bastos · Thu 19/01/2006 11:21:24

I like these images very much, I don't think the black is a problem...
I presume that the characters can't walk in the dark areas....

Perspective looks ok...

Very good work

Minimi · Thu 19/01/2006 16:01:10

I think that it would be nice to place a background behind the room.

So you make the black non-room area transparant, and you see the graphical background behind it.

vict0r · Thu 19/01/2006 17:36:10

Dont see any problem with any of them. Absolutely great bgs! And after playing "Cedric and the revolution" i'm really looking forward to this!
What program are you using for backgrounds?

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 19/01/2006 20:07:38

Your edited second background looks like it will scale much better now. Excellent.

Bernie · Thu 19/01/2006 22:17:45

vict0r: Photoshop 7.0 and a tablet. I'd recommend a tablet to anyone planning to make games with Sierra style backgrounds.

ProgZmax: Thanks. I'll edit it a little to get rid of the bluriness caused by scaling it, then it should be usable.

Minimi: I'm not sure if I get what you're trying to tell me. Sometimes I'm unbelievably dense.

Bastos: Yep, the characters only walk on the visible ground.

Thanks for all the comments! :3

sergiocornaga · Mon 23/01/2006 08:44:05

I don't like the look of the black area in the second room much, I find it too distracting. While the black in the first pic is fine, I would replace the black in the second room with a blue floor texture. This would make the room signifigantly larger though. Is it compulsary for it to be a hallway?

Bernie · Mon 23/01/2006 15:28:15

It needs to be a hallway, yes. I might redraw it completely, but for now I'll leave it at that. If I redraw it to a more frontal perspective, it would become two rooms or a scrolling room... oh well, we'll see.

Anarcho · Mon 23/01/2006 16:32:16

I don't know, I think you're right about the walk animations...with only 4 views it will look wierd when walking through those hallways. I used dynamic backgrounds for most of the BG's on my last game, and while sometimes it looked fine...a lot of times it doesn't. It's just the nature of adventure games, AGS, and low-res graphics. The character looks all distorted half the time and the scaling often looks choppy as hell.

Additionally, with a lot of dynamic backgrounds, you'll rarely get to see the full size character. You'll spend a lot of time doing careful drawing and then once you play the game, you'll notice that it will be full size when he/she is right up front. Other times it's just a messy blur.

I'm trying mostly front-on perspectives for my current project and while it might not seem as "exciting", it will help limit gross character scaling. Sorry for the rant, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

[edit] but whoops: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=24402.0

big brother shows how to do it well. The perspective makes it interesting and yet there is plent of space for the full size character to walk around without the need for scaling.

Bernie · Mon 23/01/2006 16:39:51

I have a lot of these 'dynamic' backgrounds and only two involve scaling so far. Most of them are kind of like this:

The 4-dir sprites seem fine on it. The hallway seems to be the only troublesome one so far.

Anarcho · Mon 23/01/2006 17:57:14

I like that last one a lot and you shouldn't have a problem with scaling. However, with that reflective floor it looks like the characters are floating...

Helm · Mon 23/01/2006 20:08:27

generally, avoid scaling if you can. Especially for pixel art characters. One point perspective is good if you only have 4 walking directions for obvious reasons. You'll be sacrificing clarity and cohesion to get a little more dynamic in the backgrounds, which i'm sure you've realized by now.

Bernie · Mon 23/01/2006 21:06:50

Anarcho: The whole building has those shiney floors and I've drawn so many rooms already. However, I'm considering adding a shadow to the characters as a seperate sprite. If it works out.

Helm: Aye, I'll be more careful with my backgrounds from now on.

EDIT - I drew a new corridor background. It scrolls now and isn't 'dynamic', but it seems to fit in fine:

Erwin_Br · Tue 24/01/2006 09:49:44

Quote from: Bernie on Mon 23/01/2006 21:06:50
Anarcho: The whole building has those shiney floors and I've drawn so many rooms already. However, I'm considering adding a shadow to the characters as a seperate sprite. If it works out.

Helm: Aye, I'll be more careful with my backgrounds from now on.

EDIT - I drew a new corridor background. It scrolls now and isn't 'dynamic', but it seems to fit in fine:

Looks great! Not every room needs a dramatic angle. Diversity is good!

--Erwin