My first decent room. What do you think?

[Das Plans]

Hey there!

I consider this my breakthrough.Ã,  After all those years I finally managed to come up with a technique to draw a room that pleases me. So, what do you think? I know, there could be more furniture. But what about the general style? Is it any good? Can I at last dare make my first game?



What a great day this is. See you around!

[lo_res_man]

It is quite nice , I agree, but the book and the candle stick, well, the don't cast a shadow. i cna think of a FEW other things but that is what grabs me at once.

[BOYD1981]

in my opinion shadows are a waste of time in 2D adventure games with static backgrounds so it doesn't really matter whether or not certain objects cast shadows or not as the player isn't going to be casting one, just the same as his reflection probably won't show up in the mirror.
the only thing i would suggest is to perhaps make the light a bit smaller.

[biothlebop]

It's great except that you lightened certain areas with what looks like a large soft brush/eraser (above the painting around the mirror and the roof). I cannot figure out how the chair and the table relate to each other (if it's a sofa that extends further away it makes more sense). Make the game.

[Mordalles]

in my opinion shadows are a waste of time in 2D adventure games with static backgrounds

ooh, im sorry, but i think shadows make a huge difference.

[Redwall]

Is anyone else expecting Sophia and Alain Trottier to walk in?

More seriously: I would expect the wood panelling to be straighter.

[lo_res_man]

BOYD1981:
its your opinion and you are entitled to it, but, come ON! the mixture of light and shadow is how we SEE things fer' Bobs sake! other wise ibackround just looks FLAT.

[scourge]

in my opinion shadows are a waste of time in 2D adventure games with static backgrounds so it doesn't really matter whether or not certain objects cast shadows or not as the player isn't going to be casting one, just the same as his reflection probably won't show up in the mirror.
the only thing i would suggest is to perhaps make the light a bit smaller.

Shadows are is are important! They create the atmosphere.

The bg really looks amazing IMO.

[Das Plans]

Ahoi.

Wow, I felt like phony when I thought: "Let's see if someone answered my post ... after like three seconds." Ã,  And here we go. Well, well, well... Thanks a lot!

As for the shadows: If you look at this crummy dark blob beneath the plant, you'll see my stand on shadows and 2D. Ã,  I agree that more "shadows" couldn't hurt.

The lighting: Yes... the room itself is a lot brighter. I just put an almost-black layer on top of the whole thing, made it transparent and brightened some areas. Maybe not the best choice.

As for Sophia and Allan: Hehe... the color of the walls is actually derived from that hotel room in FOA.

Strange... nobody said anything about that stupid lamp that I find oddly out of place and way too big. Ã, 

Anyways, thanks a dozen for the replies/advice! I'll be working on some changes.

Here's the version without that darkening layer on top:

[Desmond]

Looks cool!

I too think shadows are very important, and I'd like to see an obvious cast shadow from the table top -- the table sits directly under the light, so the area beneath it should be pretty dark.  The edge of the shadow would be pretty crisp, too, at that distance.

The one thing that bugs me is the picture (or flat-panel TV) with the car on it.  I'm guessing you used a photograph and transformed it using a perspective tool, but it really sticks out to me.  I'd recommend re-drawing the car in your own style, or tracing over it.

(Is it a nice TV?  I don't understand why someone with such a conservative and tasteful decorating style would put a poster of a car on his/her wall; seems tacky.)

Anyway, it's a great background.  Looking forward to more!   

[lo_res_man]

maybe the mans rich uncle designed the car.

[Das Plans]

In that case the man would be Q's nephew, for the picture (it's not supposed to be a TV screen) is showing one of those Aston Martins James Bond is driving around in.

Anyway... copying pics into a BG like this sucks. I see that now. 

[lo_res_man]

"you win again mr bond"
well just to critic, I agree, it kind of stands out in a bad way. still very nice work, hope to see more soon.

[BOYD1981]

well i'm not trying to say that shadows aren't important, i just find it silly when people spend so long trying to get their shadows perfect and then you have a character which doesn't cast one and is totally uneffected by lighting.
i say until some clever chap comes up with a shadows plugin people shouldn't really worry too much about including them in backgrounds unless they're really there for a reason (such as to hide an object or character until a light is turned on).
but you're right, it is just my opinion and people should feel free to do what they want.

[Ionias]

Great background. I really like the dithering effect you've got going. What paint program are you using?

...and on shadows. If you're going to add a shadow for one object you've got to do it for all of them. If you're going to give the plant one you'll need one for the table, windows, and even the walls. It can get to be a lot of work. I think the picture looks great but with shadows and a few more details it could be a masterpiece. I guess it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it.

[MrColossal]

might I suggest fading the hard edges one some of the objects a little more and tightening up the edges on others...

As for fading, most noticable is the curtains:




See the edges of the curtain that overlap the window? I just took one of your darkest reds and a slightly lighter red and added them to the edges.

As for tightening edges up, look at the plant on the right side of the screen, it looks like this was drawn at a larger scale and then sized down to fit the screen. I'd recommend losing some colours in there because the green fades into all the colours around it and makes it look ghostly...

Otherwise hooray for you! Congrats on finding confidence to draw!

Eric

[Oz]

Is anyone else expecting Sophia and Alain Trottier to walk in?

Yeah, i thought I recoginzed it from somewhere.

[Helm]

you have scaling issues. The character is too small by about 10%, the mirror is too high, the height of the room is approximately 5 meters (or 15 feet) the door too small, the light HUGE, the table a slab of wooden thickness, the chair is ok though!...

and who the hell frames a picture of a sports car?

[Nacho]

It's obvious that the artist has been taking a look to design the room (The buildings outside, the wood panel, the shape of the room...) But it's not a paintover. Throwing to his face that the room is a "copy" is, to say it politelly, "discouraging"...

And I think that critics lounge is for encouraging people to improve its art...

And for crits, some of the dithering pixels are too "strong" for me, for example if you look the car painting, it does not look as dithering, but just as dirt spots or something... As someone said, the panel wood should be straight.

And, are you thinking in AAliasing? I know it's a pain in the ass, because you'll gotta make billion of clicks in futher backgrounds as well, but it's something to consider...

Great BG, by the way.

[aussie]

I say your bg is perfectly functional for a game, since I gather that's what you're really after.

Of course, there will always be things you can improve. People have posted some very insightful crits here that you may want to take on board (that's the whole point of the CL).

But I personally think it's better to settle for a style that you can keep consistent with a reasonable amount of effort, even if the details are not perfect. And I think you already have that.

That's my philosophy. Other people prefer their art to be as good as it can be. That's great, really, but I certainlyÃ,  know I couldn't live up to that approach if I tried. Spending way too long one background makes me lose heart, particularly if I have a long game in mind... I guess it comes down to knowing what your limitations are, really.

Take these comments or leave them, but I think you certainly have the skill to move on and make a good-looking game.

Congrats.