SCUMM style Background: C&C Please

[abstauber]

Hi there,

I'm trying to copy the older SCUMM style - like Monkey Island 1 or something between Indy3 and 4.

But somehow this still looks a little empty and the trailer's colors don't fit that good. However I didn't want to have it all brown and gray so I tried it with purple 

The game's going to be in 8-bit so I can't (or dont want  ) use all this fancy photoshop stuff.

Here's the original gif with the current pal.



The same, just magnified:


And here is the ingame shot:


There's also a hobo planned, who's living in the barrel...

Thanks for any hints.

[DazJ]

I think you've more or less got it there. It's those colour gradients that give it that look I find.

[OneDollar]

Yeah, that looks quite SCUMM-like. I reckon the reason it looks empty is because of the high contrast between the dark background and brighter colours of the caravan etc. Perhaps you could paint some light from the fire on the tree and the foreground image. If the fire's animated you could animate that too.

[JuuJuu]

I really have to strain my eyes to see it, to be honest.
But I think it might just be me.

[S]

The light on the background sky should follow the outline of the horizon (ie it should be horizontal) rather than the outline of the caravan, which seems to have a halo. If you want to make clearly visible the shape of the caravan you should add a highlight reflected from the fire.
Apart from that I think you pretty much nailed it. The ingame shot looks genuinely SCUMM style - enough to make me feel somewhat nostalgic. No mean feat considering.

[Stupot]

It's definately got the SCUMM vibe, but for me it's far too dark.

[abstauber]

Thanks for your answers. So it already scumms a little, that's good to hear 

I've also found a reason, why it's still not the real deal. The characters are to big and so are the corresponding details in the background. You could just fit Indy with Guybrush on his shoulders through that door. But since my characters are already done with walkcycles and everything, I suppose I have to live with it  :

@S:
I though, I could justify this halo with an imaginary moon behind the caravan. But thinking again... yes, it really looks strange. But where should I add the reflection? The roof is curved to the back where should be not light (except for my moon, which you can't see ) and the roof's front is already highlighted with a more saturated purple.

@OneDollar
Isn't the tree not a little too far away from the fire? This plant beside the caravan is also only slightly illuminated. The fire's indeed animated and I also planned colorcycles on the door, the couch and the edge of the barrel. Unfortunately it seems that I can't do that anymore with AGS 3 (lacking the "exact pal" feature 

@all
As for the darkness: My reference pics from Monkey Island were also pretty dark (excavation site on Melee, in front of the sword master's house). The darkness should drag the viewer's attention to the center and to the characters. Also I hoped, having such a dark picture distracts from beeing so empty 

[UP]

I have a problem with the shading of the sofa. If the light source is the fire, the sofa is illuminated... well, weirdly. The light source seems to be way to the left, and even then there's something wrong. You need to move the light on the left cushion much more to the centre of it and it should look fine.