Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Critics' Lounge => Topic started by: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 13:14:55

Title: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 13:14:55
ok. this is my first from-nothing AGS background.

tell me what you think

(http://www.hingedshinobi.co.uk/axek/pobd/background1WSHIP.gif)

it's the screen for the intro and theres gonna be writing explaining etc. (kinda like the intro for LBA1)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Andail on Fri 25/03/2005 13:36:14
Is the ship gonna move? Will you animate the waves around it?
The ship looks a bit flat, don't you think? Since the horizon is positioned much higher up, we expect to see some of the ship from above. Right now, there's no perspective at all.

The sea needs plenty of work, as it lacks any sort of reflections, waves, shades etc at the moment.

Establish a lightsource and add shadows accordingly.

Some few things to get you going. Good luck.
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 13:43:46
Quote from: Andail on Fri 25/03/2005 13:36:14
Is the ship gonna move? Will you animate the waves around it?
The ship looks a bit flat, don't you think? Since the horizon is positioned much higher up, we expect to see some of the ship from above. Right now, there's no perspective at all.

The sea needs plenty of work, as it lacks any sort of reflections, waves, shades etc at the moment.

Establish a lightsource and add shadows accordingly.

Some few things to get you going. Good luck.

Is the ship gonna move? Will you animate the waves around it?
no

The ship looks a bit flat, don't you think?
yep  :P

Since the horizon is positioned much higher up, we expect to see some of the ship from above. Right now, there's no perspective at all.
a 3D-like look???


The sea needs plenty of work, as it lacks any sort of reflections, waves, shades etc at the moment.
If I did lots of that kind of stuff wouldn't others backgrounds need a lot of work like that too  :P i am a lazy person

Establish a lightsource and add shadows accordingly.
i'm crap at that, but i'll try

thanks for the suggestions
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Peter Thomas on Fri 25/03/2005 14:01:25
Quotea 3D-like look???
I suppose that's a way of putting it, yes. Just simply put a ship has a deck (I could guess maybe 7 or 8 meters wide?) - and it's odd that we don't even see a fraction of it.

QuoteIf I did lots of that kind of stuff wouldn't others backgrounds need a lot of work like that too  Tongue i am a lazy person
I understand completely - however, if you're going to post in the crit lounge, make a BIG announcement for each screenie that you DELIBERATELY are using this particular style (ie - no reflections etc). Otherwise you'll be inundated with requests for shadows and lens flares and whatnot.]

Also, you don't HAVE to work with a lightsource. It'd look great, for sure, but it's not the sort of thing you get right first shot. It takes a bit of practice - and if your intent is to release a game soon-ish, then you probably won't care to do lightsource work. Learn it in your spare time so you can use it with future projects :)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 14:05:07
Quote from: Peter Thomas on Fri 25/03/2005 14:01:25
Quotea 3D-like look???
I suppose that's a way of putting it, yes. Just simply put a ship has a deck (I could guess maybe 7 or 8 meters wide?) - and it's odd that we don't even see a fraction of it.

QuoteIf I did lots of that kind of stuff wouldn't others backgrounds need a lot of work like that too  Tongue i am a lazy person
I understand completely - however, if you're going to post in the crit lounge, make a BIG announcement for each screenie that you DELIBERATELY are using this particular style (ie - no reflections etc). Otherwise you'll be inundated with requests for shadows and lens flares and whatnot.]

Also, you don't HAVE to work with a lightsource. It'd look great, for sure, but it's not the sort of thing you get right first shot. It takes a bit of practice - and if your intent is to release a game soon-ish, then you probably won't care to do lightsource work. Learn it in your spare time so you can use it with future projects :)

i'm not gonna try and rush this project like i did with LBApc - i think that's what made my bored of it
i'll try shadowing, but reflections  :-\
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 14:47:31
(http://www.hingedshinobi.co.uk/axek/pobd/shipagsedit.gif)

that better with the horizon thing?

i'm not sure about the ship's deck-floor colour
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Reptile on Fri 25/03/2005 22:22:09
The only problem I see here is that you didn't sketch you're drawing. It is virtually impossible to make a GOOD background without sketching it first with detail.  ;)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 22:26:46
QuoteA sketch is a drawing or other composition that is not intended as a finished work. Sketches usually serve to store ideas for later use.

why sketch when i have the ideas in my head?  :-\ i'm no artist, i just want to make a game

EDIT--

what i really mean is, i cant draw with a pencil and only sometimes (like this time) i can draw with a mouse

(http://www.hingedshinobi.co.uk/axek/pobd/shipagsedit1.gif)

i think i fixed quite a bit in this edit, i know i still need shading - any help with that?  :-[ just some outlines of where the shading would go?
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Peter Thomas on Sat 26/03/2005 05:26:13
This is literally a 30 second gig, so don't you even THINK about using this as a template (not that you would, I know), but it's just to give you something to think about. The shading is pretty wrong, but you can see how much it alters the atmosphere. I put smoke in because I could.

Oh, and the green thing isn't actually part of my edit. It's just to point out something that may be the result of a bmp-jpeg conversion? You've got these little light blue lines forming boxes here and there. That's what I tried to circle

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ship_image.jpg)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Sat 26/03/2005 13:00:39
Quote from: Peter Thomas on Sat 26/03/2005 05:26:13
This is literally a 30 second gig, so don't you even THINK about using this as a template (not that you would, I know), but it's just to give you something to think about. The shading is pretty wrong, but you can see how much it alters the atmosphere. I put smoke in because I could.

Oh, and the green thing isn't actually part of my edit. It's just to point out something that may be the result of a bmp-jpeg conversion? You've got these little light blue lines forming boxes here and there. That's what I tried to circle

[img]http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ship_image.jpg[/img01.213.1]

yeah - wow the shading does work well.

you put smoke in because you could!?!?!?  :-\ that's cruel :P just because i can't

yeah, those blocks in the sky were buggered up by jpg - took me ages to fix the ship, totally forgot about the sky
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Sat 26/03/2005 14:29:30
i dunno what you meant by not using as a template, but it did give me an idea of moving the light source  :P

(http://www.hingedshinobi.co.uk/axek/pobd/shipagsedit2.gif)

i hope that looks right. took me quite a lot of time
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Sam. on Sat 26/03/2005 14:42:02
wheeee!
(http://www.twin-design.com/fafmb/photos/boatanim.gif)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Sat 26/03/2005 14:44:44
Quote from: Zooty on Sat 26/03/2005 14:42:02
wheeee!
[img]http://www.twin-design.com/fafmb/photos/boatanim.gif[/img ]


;D lol. a bit fast and i think the clouds would need to move too, especually at that speed
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: BlackMan890 on Sat 26/03/2005 15:22:44
He was just showing you what you could do :)

i will do an update as soon as i can :D
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Nightfable on Mon 28/03/2005 20:54:36
Lol, Zooty! Look at that boat go!! Booya!! :D

Your background, Dan, is pretty good (especially since you drew it completely with your mouse) although I would change the clouds a little bit-- think puffy round marshmallows stuck together in different sizes -- because right now it looks like the top of incomplete icy mountains.

"Practice makes perfect." -- the more you create backgrounds and add details to improve them, the better you will be at it. Also be prepared to put a great amount of time in your game visuals, most people work by first impression -- you have your own style, even if you find that you're not great with drawings, people will still see the effort you put into them and will be that much more impressed.

Keep it up!!Ã,  ;)Ã, 
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Wed 30/03/2005 19:36:19
thanks coffee

:o just noticed something else wrong with my pic, the white foam trail thing is only on the side closest to *you*, when i made it 3d-like i didnt think of the foam stuff
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Mon 04/04/2005 18:19:51
(http://www.hingedshinobi.co.uk/axek/pobd/shipagsedit5.png)

:D i showed 3 of my friends and they all said wow, especiually ones that have seen my artwork before

i got rid of the clouds, not only because i couldn't do them - but because it sets the atmosphere a bit better, it being a clear sky and all (especially for what happens next)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Disco on Mon 04/04/2005 19:07:02
Quote from: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 22:26:46
why sketch when i have the ideas in my head?

Well, I can thing of a couple reasons. For starters, I also have the ideas in my head, but without sketching first they will not look much like what I wanted. Take my company screen for instance:
(http://www.sitesled.com/members/impressiveowl/impressive-owl-logo-revis6.gif)

This looks almost exactly like the image I saw in my head. How did I get it so close you ask?
(http://www.sitesled.com/members/impressiveowl/impressive%20owl%20logo%20sketch%20jp.jpg)

Another reason to sketch first is
QuoteSketches usually serve to store ideas for later use.
Yep, you pretty much nailed it. How many times during  development do you come up with the greatest ideas ever, only to forget what it was days later? You are not always by a computer (well, hopefully). Sketching, though an extra step in creating screens, saves time in most cases

Quote from: Dan2552 on Fri 25/03/2005 22:26:46what i really mean is, i cant draw with a pencil and only sometimes (like this time) i can draw with a mouse
Unless you could mouse before you could write, I believe the opposite is true. You may not be happy with your drawing skill, but that's not so important. Look at my sketch for example. It's not DaVinci, but it got me a lot closer to my vision.
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: milkanannan on Mon 04/04/2005 19:11:24
I don't know much about artwork or backgrounds, but personally, I thought your clouds were pretty good.  I would keep them
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Haddas on Mon 04/04/2005 19:29:34
Quote from: hello123 on Mon 04/04/2005 19:11:24
I don't know much about artwork or backgrounds, but personally, I thought your clouds were pretty good.  I would keep them

Yeah. I think the clouds were strangely good compared to the ship in the beginning. :/
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Erwin_Br on Mon 04/04/2005 21:30:49
Yeah, even though it's just one cloud which has been cropped and mirrored three times.  ;)

--Erwin
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: nihilyst on Mon 04/04/2005 23:28:36
Played a bit with the picture:
- made the prow round.
- changed the shadow of the funnels
- shadowed the water, though it's shit
- added some smoke, though it's also shit

(http://m.1asphost.com/nihilyst/shipagseditnihilyst.png)

I like to play around with other people's pictures. Didn't want to modify the water and the rest of the ship. 't was just a try.

cheers
nihilyst
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Reptile on Tue 05/04/2005 10:42:24
Looks very cool.
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Dan2552 on Thu 07/04/2005 20:40:32
Quote from: Erwin_Br on Mon 04/04/2005 21:30:49
Yeah, even though it's just one cloud which has been cropped and mirrored three times.  ;)

--Erwin

how did you know  :o

for the people who like the clouds, they WILL appear in another background  ;) just not this one
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Paper Carnival on Thu 07/04/2005 21:25:01
I did a quick edit, and I know it's not good
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/boat_thingy.png)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: SinSin on Thu 14/04/2005 09:48:51
i think its cool ok the perspective could be adjusted and a bit more detail in the water but i like the clouds  :)
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Oliver on Thu 14/04/2005 12:01:57
Lower the angle of the ships nose a bit. The part where you can see the ship deck. If you know what I mean. It's not correct if you look at the back of the ship. I loved the clouds, pleeeeeeeease but them back! :P
Title: Re: My first *real* background
Post by: Moresco on Fri 15/04/2005 06:19:47
I think this is great too.  The water needs alot of something, I'm not sure what it is, but had this image been done in my style - I might have started by screwing around like this for a good hour(ok you got me, it was more like 5 minutes).  I smudged the boat - oops, well I didn't make a new layer shame on I.

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ship_edit_shabutie.png)


Now let me make another quick edit because I just noticed something that I didn't like about all the pictures.  Ok the ocean is too still, or maybe it's just flat.  Yeah flat.  And the waves don't come up on the boat(lack of waves?).  Anyway this is what I did:

1.  I made the sun bright like today when I was driving and couldn't see the stop-light - super white.
2. Smoke stack, I took that the boat was moving, maybe not fast but how fast? In my mind I felt that the direction of the smoke should be different.  So I did that.
3.  Changed the color of the boat.  Why? Well just for my own tastes, it needed to be a dirtier boat - at least to stand out against the water?
4.  The waves now come up on the sides of the boat so that it doesn't look like it's a toy.  :)
5. I removed the name - sorry that was purely on accident I'm actually thinking of doing another mod to see if I can get the name back on in a cool way.

Again this probably doesn't fit your style, but I hope it helps in some way.

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ship_edit_shabutie2.png)