My new Backgrounds :D

[Buckethead]

I've been practicing modeling. And making BG's in 3d and then make them look pixely:





These were just for practice. The bedroom has the same composition as the bedroom in BJ 4.
the second bg follows a concepts for a game I had in mind.

[Evil]

Bedroom looks good. Not really a pixelated look, but it's not bad. The left door looks a little flat and the light bulb is really out of place. Plus with it hanging down that low, more of the room would be lit. Also, what's up with the weird light source from the window? It looks like an upside-down music stand.

The second background isn't as good as the first. Not pixely enough, and the trees look pasted on to the background. Lots of conflicting light sources too. Where does the path go? It moves away from the main path and just stops. Shadows from the trees would help with weird depth and pasted quality of the background.

[Mr Flibble]

I like both, but they seem too dark.

In the bedroom scene for instance, the light sources aren't highlighting objects in the background the way they should be, giving a sense of the room just melting into nothing. Adding highlights to objects in general will improve the sense of depth. Having said that, the light shining on the bed is done brilliantly. You just need to carry that kind of effect to the other parts of the room.

[TerranRich]

I kind of like the darkness. It has kind of a Quest For Glory IV type feel to it, where a lot of the rooms were dark and ominous. If that'd the mood you're going for, then you've done it. If not... it needs work I suppose.

I have to say that the trees look a little pasted-on, and the ground in that second pic is way too wavy, like a piece of paper with ground drawn on it, then rippled. I dunno, it just looks weird, too slope-y, if that makes any sense.

[Questionable]

I'm going to have to agree with what has been said already.

The first background is good, it has a nice style and could definately work in a game, however, I think it might be a bit too dark to navigate. As this is just a proof of concept it doesn't make sense to be picky but, as soon as I examined the room I realized that the wall was basically tiled all across the room and I couldn't help but instantly lose interest in it... not entirely, but I wasn't as engaged. Yes, the light does stand out a little out of place; everything is so subdued in the image and that is a very vibrant few pixels. The shadow on the floor niggled at me as well, though I was more bothered by there being only the color blue outside.

Overall, you could use it in a game. There's nothing interesting in the scene to examine or make it an important setting but you're not looking to use it in a game. If all the backgrounds looked like this I would say that you would have a top-notch system... 3d rendering like this would probably be a little faster than drawing from scratch, too.


The second background feels very "Cut & Paste." The trees don't really root into the ground very well, instead it looks like they intersect with the ground. The lighting on the canopy seems arbitrary and makes it difficult to "believe" the setting. The tree on the right side of the intersection looks like a mirrored copy of the tree at the end of the path. The path in the foreground is fine but, the path in the mid/background doesn't blend into the horizontal path well, it seems more like something standing up off the path than an actuall part of the path . Lastly, the shape of the ground seems very lumpy, I've never seen a piece of ground that looks that dramatic, though this is a excusable because the earth can take virtually anyshape given the right conditions.


It's a very cool style and if you can get the process streamlined and refined, you'll have a very usable system.

Really nice work Bucket!

[Buckethead]

.Thanks for the comments everyone!

@Evil:

I does look a little more pixely in game. I'll try to give the door some more shadows. Now that I think of it. I'm not sure if I told all the lights for the light bulb to cast shadows. The weird shadow by the window is actually correct. But the light source is placed really high from above. I'll place it a little lower.

I must admit the second background was a bit rush on the modeling part. I'm not good at organic modeling so I've used flat textures to make the trees and bushes. The path suppose to make a turn left. I now realize it's not very clear. If I'm really going to make this game I'll try to model some trees. Or get someone who can to do it for me.

@Mr Flibble:

They are indeed a bit dark. If I would be making a game like this I would of course include a gamma slider but I guess they still could use some brightening. I'm still getting used to lighting in 3ds max. I'm so used to Unreal's lighting system. But I'll see if I can get it to give the effect on more parts of the room.

@TerranRich:

Yes, I'm all for a dark mood. I however don't want too many people complaining about it being too dark.

I'll see if I can smooth out the terrain a bit. I originally wanted rocks and grass but that looked weird with the trees.

@Questionable:

I'm not sure what's wrong with the wall tiling all around? But I can understand that you might not feel that the brick texture fits very well. As this was for testing I had been a bit lazy and used a texture of a project I had already made.

Well as I said in my first post. I sort of remade a bg from Ben Jordan 4. I wasn't sure what to make so I just did a search for Ben Jordan on Google and found an image I recreated in my own style.

oh boy you got me all figured out lol. The trees and bushes are all just textures I've made from photo's. As preparing these is alot of work I copy pasted a few of them  .

I'll try to smooth down the terrain and make the path look like it's actually going somewhere.

Thanks! I'll certainly take more time and thought next time when creating these. Especially if they are going to be used for a game.


Thanks again for the comments so far! 

[AutoPilot]

I like them both, now all you have to do is make some 3d character sprites, and make a game with them.

[Matti]

Autopilot, look here.

[Buckethead]

Those were made in UnrealEd though. And I realize the screens I've showed so far don't show any of the characters.

I'll soon try to model a character that fits with the bedroom bg and see how I can manage to make hi/her at 320x240 resolution.

[Brad Newsom]

If you want pixely, use the Mosaic filter in Photoshop.