A while ago i released a game for MAGS and now i'm just going through it touching up some graphical stuff for a proper release.
So i was wondering if I could get a little critique on this background.
A few things I have problems with:
-It looks a little 'simple' with not a great deal going on.
-I cant figure out how to do a sky pixelly (i.e without a gradient)
-My colours seem a little 'off'
-the roof doesnt look round like a mushroom top.
Help is appreciated.
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9489/room32.png)
If you want to make a more "pixelly" gradient, maybe you could try Grafx2 (http://code.google.com/p/grafx2/). It's very Deluxe Paint-ish and will make a nice pixelly dithered gradient pretty easily with two or more colors (right-click on the gradient tool to bring up the gradient menu). The interface does take some getting used to, but it's a nice program and could give you that effect.
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9489/room32.png) (http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/7936/92455171.png)
It seemed a bit strange it was night but he didn't close the curtains.
The ladder also looked strange seeing as it's 100% head on.
I added a background but am not too happy about the stars.
I'd love to finish it off for you, if you like. I'm bad at perspective but with this sort of stuff I can get quite creative.
Quote-It looks a little 'simple' with not a great deal going on.
This can be easily solved by adding something to the background (mountains, clouds, other houses) and/or texturing the surfaces (wood planks) - both done by AtelierGames.
Quote-I cant figure out how to do a sky pixelly (i.e without a gradient)
If you're using Photoshop, you can convert the gradient to Indexed colors with pattern diffusion mode, see result in my edit.
Quote-My colours seem a little 'off'
I really like the colours as they are, very soft and night-timey.
Quote-the roof doesnt look round like a mushroom top.
Try to bring out the form by reshading it in a more traditional light-normal-shade-reflex way.
Quick edit:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2159609/mushr_house.png)
The roof looks like it's gonna fall off to the left.
IMHO, the roof looked like an amourphous blob of jelly, so i thought that the best way to remedy that would be to overlay it with a thatch texture (by it's shape it seems like thatch, to me). Also, what's in the window doesn't match up with what's behind it, so i grabbed a sample of he sky to to the right and pasted it into the window:
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_BwtvmQ2HPds/THg4MnxQB6I/AAAAAAAAADA/f8kJqoAp5mk/room32-EFRT-edit.png)
Yeah I like what evil flying rat has done with the roof - you could go for tiling or whatnot instead, but I like the idea. I think that together with the notion of background (whether forest or mountains etc) will really start to give it more character and definition.
Just a quick edit on the shape to try to make the roof be more mushroom-y
(http://scarab117.webs.com/photos/Misc/MushroomEdit.png)
Quote from: Ilyich on Fri 27/08/2010 12:56:12
Quote-I cant figure out how to do a sky pixelly (i.e without a gradient)
If you're using Photoshop, you can convert the gradient to Indexed colors with pattern diffusion mode, see result in my edit.
I really don't see the point in this; you still have a gradient, only with less colours, so the problem hasn't been solved. I mean yes, you can see the pixels, but it doesn't really add anything, in my opinion.
I think AG has the right idea with the background in his edit, maybe add a bit of anti-aliasing on the stars as well, and a moon perhaps.
Some ideas:
(http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/5235/room32dded.png)
-reused Ilyich's sky
-changed the shape to resemble a mushroom more
-turned the fireplace into a stove, it allowed more detail like the pipe and the chimney
-background is brighter now so the objects pop out more (brightness should be toned down a bit)
-added a few lightsources and gradients to the walls
Things to add:
-more objects, a dinner table, some shelves, a water pump behind the house, etc.
-improved shadowing
-an entrance :P
Now that looks like a mushroom! Seriously, I think this is the first redraw in this thread that actually looks like a mushroom house. Well done.
Wow, thanks for the input guys.
I have stole borrowed some of your ideas and come up with this:
(http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/8839/924551712.png)
The colours still seem kinda disjointed to me.. even more so now.
Any more thoughts?
Your abstract art is a little clashy, and the curved walls in Damien's draw are a must.
And probably the flatter top, too. :P
The clouds are brilliant. But shouldn't the mushroom have some funky colours, rather than boring green (or blue, I'm colour blind >:().
But please, no Amanita muscaria. That's so boring.
Something colourful like Aleuria aurantia!
Also have some Hericium erinaceus hanging from the walls!
Eh, personally, I liked the sky a lot better in the original version. It could use some clouds, maybe, but I liked the larger, dimmer stars and the darker colors a lot more than the bright, tiny stars on the bright blue background. But that's personal preference, I guess, and anyway I guess it depends on what mood you're trying to set.
You mentioned in the original post that you were worried it didn't look like a mushroom top, though, and honestly I think that's still the case. If you hadn't said it was supposed to be a mushroom house, I wouldn't have known from this picture (or from the original) -- the shading on this one does make it look rounder, which is a step in the right direction, but it still doesn't look recognizably like a mushroom. As I said before, I think the only version that really looks like a mushroom to me is Damien's -- I don't think the roof has to be as flat as he made it, but a slight concavity part way up and flare out on the sides like his version does (albeit maybe not quite so pronounced) could help a lot.