Coding without Backgrounds?

[DazJ]

How do you guys go about coding your game whilst waiting for the background art to be created by your team?

Rough outline sketches? And how do you then import the background once it's complete without loosing all your hotspots etc? Or if you can import without loosing them then how do you reallign them with the new background?

Just wondered how you guys did it. 

[Ghost]

I use quick, ugly "concept art" and don't bother with too many fine details in the code- walkable areas and room edges can really only be done once the graphics are set in stone, but to make a simple "pick-up X" script, it's okay. Coding GUI stuff is very easy without final art because all you do is "masking" the pretty images over default buttons and the like.
So basically my attempt is:
Concept art - room warps, rough walkable areas
Middle ground art - puzzles, objects, hotspots
Final art- animations, detail work, scaling, lighting/tinting


Edit: Allow me to show (off)

[Dave Gilbert]

From Blackwell Unbound

Mockup used to code the dialog/action:


Final background:


As Ghost said (er, the AGS ghost.  Not the ghost in the image) , it helps to use placeholder art in order to code the very basic  stuff.  You can draw some basic line art like the image above to put your interactive messages in place, or to code dialog between characters, etc.  A lot of things will change once you put the final art in (walkable areas, walkbehinds, hotspots, etc) but at least a healthy chunk of the grunt work will be done already.

[Ghost]

As Ghost said (er, the AGS ghost.  Not the ghost in the image)

I am teh stuff of legend  8)- sorry, I couldn't refuse such a charming comment!

[TheJBurger]

I'd recommend you draw all the line-art for the background, so that you have all the exits, hotspots, and locations down. That's all you need to code the room. It helps if you use line-art close to the finished product, so you don't have to constantly re-arrange hotspots, objects, etc.

[Babar]

You don't have to rearrange anything. Just have a rough sketch (doesn't even have to be alligned with the final positions of the hotspots), then when the proper background is made, get it along with a hotspot/walkbehind mask, etc, and just import them all. My only problem with this is that the colours usually change around, but a few seconds with flood-fill fixes that,

[Dualnames]

I actually make myself do all the art then just code the damn thing.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I draw a functional version of the background with the 'necessary' walkbehinds and items and then import it and update as it improves.  It's not uncommon for me to update a room 4-5 times before it's done.  It doesn't help that backgrounds are my Achilles' Heel and cost me far more time than I'd like ;\.