For those unfamiliar with the project:
Project thread: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=36883.0 (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=36883.0)
This is an art critique thread for the project:
After laborus hours fighting with my wacom (a new shiny cintiq is on the way :)) I have almost settled on a new art direction for The Wanderer..
The in game art style hasn't changed much.. it's a bit sharper than before. Lil more detail put into certain things, and some screenshots of that is coming in a few days.. however, I do have a shot of how the cutscenes in game will look, and this was really the part I was fighting most...
However, here he is in all his enigmatic glory:
(http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/wanderer1.jpg)
For now.. yeah this is all I have to show for the long absence.. the rest of it is full of bad conscience and anger.. but finally, a spark of goodness shines..
I'll be putting all of the new art direction, concepts and screenshot examples, until the real in game screen captures are done, then I'll get Darth M. to unlock the original thread..
NEW IN GAME ASSETS, with new background style, and "next gen" scanlines :)
(http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/wanderer_assets.jpg)
So cinematics are going to be in black&white, while the rest will be in colour? I'm sorry, I just didn't get what you said. I'm glad you're still working on this, seems like a cool and original concept for a game.
This looks cool, very speedpaintish. His left arm looks a bit detached from the body, not when I really look at it, but at first sight, otherwise I think it looks cool.
I would like to ask about the design part though - shouldn't the scarf be around his mouth for protection from sand etc. (don't get me wrong, you did a great job with the face and the cloth in the wind looks badass)...just wondering.
Thank you for the crit, anian.. I want you to ask any question you can think of.. so I can make sure I'm not just fluffin off. yeah.. his anatomy isn't perfect.. this isn't really a cutscene.. moire like a wip of a cutscene, so yeah, its speed painterish.. i do want the final cutscenes to have a very painterly feel, tho.. and yeah.. the scarf hangs below so as to enforce what emotion is on the characters mouth.. but you are right.. in all that sand a logical person would cover their face :)
Updated the first post with a shot of in game assets.. these are not IN game, this is a save off photoshop.. the ingame versions should be very very close tho.. and the new scanline effect is something I will have to really fight with in AGS, as the scanlines now overlay the pixels behind them, and mesh the scene together better..
But for now, enjoy.. more updates soonish..
//edit: sorry, anian.. didn't answer your first question.. cutscenes will be VERY VERY desaturated.. not quite black and white.. tints of color, depending on how the light is affecting the surface of whatever its hitting..
I'm very happy you're still working on this :)
I think the new art style is great! But one thing that strikes me: In the first pic it seems like his face is made of stone due to all the cracks. Is that intentional?
Snap on the Cintiq, they're awesome. I really like the scanlines but his right arm look strange.
the fingers on his right hand look odd, especially the index finger and middle one. The grabbing (grasping) the walking - stick is a bit strange
I've been waiting for this project ;D
keep up the good work :D
Absolutely beautiful job.
Honestly can't come up with anything constructive, but I had to comment on it. It's fantastic.
It reminds me of Samurai Jack...
Bulba: The stone weathered look is intentional..
Chicky and David: Thanks for the anatomy point outs.
Dom: Thanks
Jakerpot: I'll take that as a compliment :) The style is similiar very angular, and simplistic detail.
Heres just a few more assets.. once I've built enough, I'll begin putting them together into real scenes.
http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/wanderer_assets2.jpg (http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/wanderer_assets2.jpg)
EDIT: this should fix the super sized page.. sorry bout that.. It never bothers me, so I forget.. :)
Whoah, any chance of posting a thumbnail/scaled image linking to the full size image instead of that wide-ass, page-deforming screenshot? ;)
I've already commented on the art style earlier in the GiP thread but I still really dig that silhouette style (I also like how you add detail and suggest depth by use of grayscale - I think it's a definite improvement on the first screenshots).
Do you have any kind of parallax scrolling implemented in the game? I think the landscape would appear quite one-dimensional if there's not some kind of parallaxing of foreground objects (also helps the player distinguish between foreground/background objects and obstacles directly in his way). Though something like the roadsign-square-thingy would be hard to divide into layers, but the hollow tube thingy would probably work well with just a small amount of parallax between the two layers.
GG: I def want to have some parallax happening.. I've never tried it in AGS, so I'm not sure how difficult it is to implement.. but I will be looking into it
I really like this style, it pleases me. I remember this from a while back and wandered what happened. I agree with GG and Wayne Adams about the parallaxing. It's pretty simple to implement in AGS with Ali's lovely module and would work great if you want to add some depth to the game.
For some reason, I am reminded of 'Another World'.
Quote from: Tier on Wed 17/02/2010 22:18:22
I really like this style, it pleases me. I remember this from a while back and wandered what happened. I agree with GG and Wayne Adams about the parallaxing. It's pretty simple to implement in AGS with Ali's lovely module and would work great if you want to add some depth to the game.
For some reason, I am reminded of 'Another World'.
Also stated in the WIP by Grim Reaper.
And no. I think it feels nowhere like it. And I'm a great fan of that game. No offence to Wayne, but artisticly speaking there's none, at best mere resemblance between those. You should definitely use parallax on this game, as it will literally
Add Up Points!!I think the caption "One man's journey to a post apocalyptic journey in ecc..", isn't the best moto to go with, think small! Or even better as you have some great talent in drawing, just have a picture say it for you!
Dualnames: don't take the painting for a real ad.. it's all just style proofing for the game.. that image won't even be in the game.. And yeah.. I think I pull a little more from Flashback than another world.. and no offense taken, man. s'all good.
Tier, thanks for the point to Ali's parallax module.. I'll go grab it and see what the score is with it..
Quote from: Wayne Adams on Wed 17/02/2010 22:38:03
Dualnames: don't take the painting for a real ad.. it's all just style proofing for the game.. that image won't even be in the game.. And yeah.. I think I pull a little more from Flashback than another world.. and no offense taken, man. s'all good.
Tier, thanks for the point to Ali's parallax module.. I'll go grab it and see what the score is with it..
I think, yes, more resemblance to flashback! Anyway, i think it's one of a kind anyways!
If you need any help with Ali's module, I'd love to give you some pointers. It's really easy to set and use. :D
I just dl'd it and took a peek at the demo.. very impressive work, Ali..
And thanks Dualnames.. I'm sure I'll need some sort of help..
Just one criticism: It's "post-cataclysmic," not "post cataclysmic." It's probably better to not break up the word across two lines, too. It would also look better if you right-aligned the text instead of centering it.
Thanks Snarky :)
Here's a concept of a new addition to the gameplay.. Random gunfight encounters.. These will spawn in the room when loaded, and the spawn gets determined by a couple of factors: proximity to a danger area, how much trouble has been caused thus far..
(http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/test_aim1.gif)
Targets will display on the right side.. two to three targets per encounter.. taking cover and popping out will be managed by simply scrolling the mouse across the screen.. actually firing is done with a left click... I plan on having a tutorial on it in game.. (some sort of make shift shooting range)
a quick stab at cutscenes.. I've put together a really short .mov of an example scene.. it's not very complex, and doesn't illustrate a full working scene. but its a start.
http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/test_frame2.mov (http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/test_frame2.mov)
^ this may take a while to load..
and last but not least, two shots.. a few new shrubs.. bout one third of what I plan on creating for the game..
(http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/shrubs.jpg)
and this is a mock up of one one the towns in the game.. the smallest, most ragged one.. it's mostly to see how much I can pack in without it becoming convoluted..
url'd cause its kinda big..
http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/Patch_Town_concept.jpg (http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/Patch_Town_concept.jpg)
I like the concept for the gunfights (reminds me of The Untouchables on C64 as well as some Cinemaware games), but the art style, while beautiful, really clashes with the rest of the gameplay screens. At least for the foreground character and possibly also the enemies I would stick to the silhouette style of the sidescrolling screens. I do realize that means a big, dark blob on the left of the screen, but possibly the composition could be restored by minimizing the amount of cover.
Love the new background, though the distant buildings(?) could be a bit paler or it will be hard to distinguish the character against them. My immediate reaction was that it looked a bit cluttered, but I think the parallax scroll will take care of that since foreground/background objects will constantly be moving relative to eachother.
EDIT: Or, tint the more distant buildings just a little bit yellow - their contrast against the sky is right now giving them a (perceptually) bluish tint, so just lightening them will probably look weird. You could even use region tints in the engine to make different tints for the same object being used in different rooms with different sky colors.
True stuff, GG.. I'm currently doing up the gunfight sequence like so, cause it feels more cutscene like.. so it's style will resemble the cutscene style.. plus its easier to do up the gunfight section in the other style, if i've done it in this style because all the shapes are painted in.. I just would have to do a simple shape relief over the top without brush strokes.. ala the main game style..
while talking about this two different styles seems a little funky.. I was very impressed with how "infamous" handled its distinct cutscene style versus in game play..
but I think I'll do a mock up maybe this weekend in which the gunfight is illustrated in the main game style..
Very much looking forward to watching that town scroll by in pretty parallax style.. :)
I haven't played Infamous enough to see any cutscenes (only tried a demo), but one thing that sprang to mind when I saw your cutscene mockup was the flash-style cutscenes in Mirror's Edge. I'm wondering how a more vectorized rather than painted style would work for your cutscenes. My impression from the .mov was that the frontmost character corresponded nicely with the gameplay screens but the player character looked too "soft" in terms of contrast/color.
heres a style concept a did a long while back for some other stuff.. that thing never came to fruition, but maybe the cutscenes could be done up like this:
http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/concept_work/style_concepts.jpg (http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/concept_work/style_concepts.jpg)
Wow, yeah, that looks really fitting - you even have a scanline kind-of-thing going on with the shading. I think animation done in this style would be amazing.
alright, so i went ahead and mocked up a gunfight version with the in game art style.. it's not bad.. everything feels a little fat.. gonna chew on it for a while..
(http://www.wayneadams.net/stuffola/AGS_Stuff/wanderer/gunfight_mockup.jpg)
Much prefer the painted style for the cutscenes, just pretty up the edges a bit.
Gotta say, this is looking awesome ;)
Hmm, yeah, maybe try to limit stlyes, 'cause maybe you're mixing it up a bit too much - you've got the silhouette in "exploring" part, detailed in the cutscenes part and this vectorised looking stlye for gun fights. (not saying that any of them is bad, mind you)
The whole concept and gameplay ideas looks very interesting.
I love your art! It´s simple, but beatiful.
It also reminds me of Samurai Jack.
Keep up the good work! :)
edit: up top.. new style for the gunfight sequences..