I drew this background about a month or two ago, but just got back to adding the brick walls to it to add more noticeable exit boundaries. But now I don't know what else to add. It still feels empty, yet I can't think of anything else that would go on the background. Some help would be mighty appreciated. :)
Made in Deluxe Paint 4.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/CONLS4.png)
Melee Island graphics was very cool and I think this one is on the right track.
Not sure how to help but some things I noticed:
1. The buildings on the right are lighted by the open door but that door seems too far away for that to work.
2. The brick walls don't have perspective.
Pine trees behind those houses in the foreground might make it seem less bare.
edit: Here is a sloppy paintover
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e199/sharprm/monkey-1.png)
The bluish/dark tint of the houses also suggest a nightly moonlit scene, wich is defeated by the brown/umber ground... I would try and replace that colour with a similar dark/blue/grey shade.
Apart from that I totally love this background- especially the sense of depth you create with the roadhills in the back.
I love the technique. It is truly reminiscent of the LucasArts games. Well done!
The only thing that doesn't really convince me is the composition. IMHO Those buildings on the right detract from functionality.
Otherwise great.
The dithering on the ground doesn't match visually to me. Maybe just leave them as big chunks of color? If the colors are all very muddy and around the same value it shouldn't look out of place style wise.
I would drop the horizon line significantly - at least to the middle of the screen. Look at the better Melee Island backdrops (like the harbour) and compare the vanishing point.
High vanishing points seem very popular with people trying to develop a low res style, but I don't see the advantage. Instead of giving you an exciting vista - houses, mountains, trees - they show you a lot of floor. The floor is often the most boring part of a location.
Your trees and skyline are very nicely drawn, but they're cramped up at the top of the screen because the shot favours the mud in the foreground. I would make this a scrolling screen - move the bottom left house further left giving you space to bring the horizon and the house in the distance down without blocking out the nicely drawn hills. Then why not add something exciting like a moon, or moving clouds?
All right. I've taken everyone's suggestions into account.
Thanks especially to sharprm for the paintover and to Ali for the horizon/scrolling suggestion.
Also, just so you know, the background is being created not with the influence of George Lucas in mind as much as Steven Speilberg, which explains the non-full blue light style.
Scrolling
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/CONLS8copycopy.png)
EDIT: Deluxe Paint had chopped the image, but it's fixed now.
Quote from: Fawfulhasfury on Tue 12/08/2008 20:44:17
Also, just so you know, the background is being created not with the influence of George Lucas in mind as much as Steven Speilberg, which explains the non-full blue light style.
So, Lucas has access to a different set of celestial bodies than Spielberg?
When you take a night scene, it will always be pretty dark, tints of blue, violet and green are prominent. When you shine a strong light against it, the original colours return. That's physics, that is.
Quote from: Fawfulhasfury on Tue 12/08/2008 20:44:17
as much as Steven Speilberg, which explains the non-full blue light style.
I didn't know Spielberg invented basic colour theory, I'll get on the phone to my man in Detroit, get us some legal cover.
Lucasart's night scenes were generally completely blue. In Steven Speilberg's movies, he tended to lean towards blue as well, but he also had other color schemes such as browns and whites in his night scenes. He used the palette I prefer most commonly. That's basically what I meant.
Basic color theory got thrown out the window in most Lucasart's night scenes anyway.
Any chance you could mix up the ground a little? I really can't get past the mirrored dirt.
Still looks great though.