1st room in new game up for crit and help with shading.

[SLaMgRInDeR]

hey, iv kinda abandoned the game i was making as it was going very slowly and am now making a game based on a book my neil Gaiman, called Coraline. i thought id just post the 1st room up for crit, also i think something is off with the shading, any ideas?

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[Darth Mandarb]

Not too bad!  The perspective might be off just a bit on some of the objects ... but the look of it has a 'feel' to it.

Was there a fight in the room or something?  A lot of chairs are knocked over.

I would add some stuff to the walls; light switches, pictures, trimming, etc.  Stuff like that ... and perhaps a light fixture or ceiling fan.

dm

[loominous]

Think the biggest issue is the perspective that s off. Fortunately it s very easy to correct by determening n using a 'vanishing point' (VP in the pic).

Simply draw straight lines from the vp n it ll turn out in perspective.

Another thing is lack of interior which makes it look like an storageroom. A simple way to fix this is by using a lot of borders n frames (i ve added doorframes n a border on the bottom of the walls).

A table isn t (most often that is) just a squeezed cube with four cylinders. The edge of a table alone often have 2 borders.

[SLaMgRInDeR]

thanx, i know what a vanishing point is, the reason  the chairs are knocked over is its a room of uncomfortable furniture  gandma left them thats just been chucked in there. i have the main character Coraline aswell, ill post it when i get home (im at school right now) ill lso edit mthe room at home.
EDIT:heres the character
[ing]http://www.angelfire.com/ultra/slamgrinder/Coraline-Right.jpg[/img]
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[Neole]

If its supposed to look HUGE then its fine, else it looks huge cos of the high ceiling!

[SLaMgRInDeR]

what, the character? not in game it dosent, if you mean the room, after looking at it i think you may be right.
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[Meowster]

I agree that the perspective is off. Also, the room is quite large and has very few objects or variation... you can view the entire room in one glance. What usually helps me is to look up and see what's around me. No room (hopefully) Has blank walls and perfect corners. Instead, add little pieces like poster, tears in the wallpaper, stains on the carpet, overturned cups, broken stuff, trainers, coke bottles, a guitar, curtains, a window, headphones, air vent, mirror... (I like my room).... depending on what the room is supposed to be. It'll make it more interesting to look at and add depth to your game.

Also try bringing the furthest wall nearer to the 'player' to give the room a smaller feel (And also so you have to put less stuff in it to make it look full )

Otherwise, great picture and all the above is in my unproffesional and probably bad opinion, so don't listen to me!  

[james_isaac]

I like the style.  But where is the light meant to be coming from?  Because, You would't really get shadows that bihg in the corner of the room from any lightin.  If it is meant to be in the middle of the ceiling, then you should only have shadows belowthe chairs and the shelves.

(You may not want to listen to me either, becuase I might be wrong)

[Squinky]

Theres no room for the character to walk man...

[SLaMgRInDeR]

I like the style.  But where is the light meant to be coming from?  Because, You would't really get shadows that bihg in the corner of the room from any lightin.  If it is meant to be in the middle of the ceiling, then you should only have shadows belowthe chairs and the shelves.

(You may not want to listen to me either, becuase I might be wrong)

the lighting is sposed to be coming from a window that is behind the camera or whatever you call it.

iv made the cieling a little lower and i will try the shelf again some time but the last time i tryed it looked abismal.
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[SLaMgRInDeR]

ok, i fixed the shelf (i hope) and added a boarded up window, but the boards have gaps, and the light is coming from there.

anything else that needs fixing or hasnt been fixed proberly?
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[Cerulean]

I would bring the curtains inside. Show the curtain hanging below the edge of the window, and at the top of the window put a curtain rod or valance.

[aurynnz]

Hi there,

I'm new to these forums - nevertheless love what's going on in them.
I would like to comment on the whole art thing where people might need a bit of guidance.

An example of my work is at:
http://www.geocities.com/springhazenz

I use 2D applications (Corel/Photoshop) etc.. to create my images - and use no 3D applications - basically drawing a whole lot of items piece by piece which is a LOONG process.

SLaM - I like what you've done - it's got that cartoony thing about it (which I steer away from as my style is my style).

It's important to establish a definate light source to end with - in other words create the whole image without a light source then just apply one by shading bits and pieces afterwards.

I don't really understand your shadows - as they suggest a lightbulb in the bottom right corner of the screen (but then it doesn't at times given the shading in the bookcase)...

You've got great perspective logic setup - setup light logic too - and draw lines from that... you will need to shade the lying furniture accordingly with a bit of dodge/burn or bright/dark depending on your application.
Then apply shadows to the lil things like the door handles to really bring it out. You can do the whole shadow thing in the cartoon-style semi-exagerrative way.

=A=

[GarageGothic]

I hate to be a grumpy old nay-sayer, but as a Gaiman fan I must say something about this. First of all, I think a Coraline game is a great idea - most of the book is in fact based on puzzles:

Spoiler

Finding the marbles, the trap at the well etc.. although the narrative climax of finding the parents may be a problem in a non-linear environemt

[close]

And I really DO like the style of the room, as well as the character. BUT NOT FOR CORALINE!!! It's like making Lord of the Rings in South Park-style animation (which may not be that bad an idea, but I hope you understand the analogy). The style just doesn't fit the story. And it's even more difficult to imagine after seeing Dave McKean's beautiful illustrations to the book. Although it would be nearly impossible to match the style and talent of McKean, I think other approaches to the art would make for a much more atmospheric game. Are you familiar with McKean's other work? His Sandman covers or Mr. Punch, another collaboration with Gaiman? I think it would be really interesting to create backgrounds and characters in a style emulating McKeans collages - maybe closer to the cover image of Coraline than the illustrations within.

Another approach would be a Tim Burton'esque design, which I think would work really well. Did you know that Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, is supposed to do a movie version of Coraline? I think doll like characters and wildly exaggerated gothic sets, like the ones in Nightmare Before Christmas with muted blues, greys and blacks would work very well, maybe using color and lack of color to contrast the real world and the other mother's world.

Sorry to put your work down, but I'm just very enthusiastic about the idea of a Coraline game and I'd hate to see the concept wasted on anything less powerful than it has the potential to be.