Spaceship Bridge: Crit and Color Help

[juncmodule]

I've been working on this background for a space game. I like the background but I'm having troubles with the color scheme. The final image includes a sample character.

While Sample 2 is my favorite, the color obviously doesn't mix well with the sample characters skin colors. I'm trying to keep the color pallete extremely low (shooting for 32 colors). However I'm willing to add three or so colors just for this background. How this scene is colored will determine the color scheme for the rest of the ship, which is where the main character will spend a great deal of time.

Also, any crits/advice is welcome.

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

Character Sample


thanks,
-junc

[Mr Jake]

If it is for a "bad guy's" ship, I'd go with sample 2. Otherwise I kinda like sample 1, and as you said the colours clash with 2.

[TheYak]

I like the first one. Ã, In low-color screens, you often have to make compromises in order to keep things clear and identifiable. Ã, One of these compromises is using stereotypical coloring. Ã, A broom, for example, in a 16-32 color/low-res game will often be yellow-bristled and brown-handled. Ã, 

No real crits as I like it as-is. Ã, However, if the panels with the green screens stuck out a bit (or were sunken in) it'd make the walls look a lot less 2D. Ã, The patterns on the walls, also, could use a mid-grey shade to make them sunken in or standing out. Ã, As it stands now, it looks a bit like an amateur attempt at brick-work. Ã, I'd almost rather see them go away entirely than provide a generic "Tech Pattern" that doesn't show any extra depth or seem to provide any real purpose. Ã, If they were connected in some way across the panels or to equipment, it might be different.

I'm hoping that didn't come across the wrong way because I love the BG.. that and the character - very SQIII (Maybe how SQIV would've looked if it'd been AGI on the Amiga). Ã, 

[What a loser.]

I like Sample 2 because its good to have a contrast, it doesnt have to be all different shades of one colour, it makes it look more personalized if you ask me.  Nice background.

[Khris]

That's a nice background, cool retro style.
Try to change the color of the floor, I think that generic blue is what makes it look awkward(sp).
Only other thing is the perspective of the leftmost and rightmost chair. With a kinda isometric p. like this, they shouldn't look like that.

[TheYak]

Ah, good observations. 

I second the changing of the floor color..  maybe more metallic for it and beige or blue for walls?

Didn't even notice the left/right chairs (But Khrismuc did, but Darth didn't read all the posts ).  One could assume that they swivel and are facing away from the console, but two is just too coincidental.  35° (or thereabouts) rotations for the both of 'em would add quite a bit of perspective/depth.

[Darth Mandarb]

First of all, it's great!  Very retro and nostalgic and I dig it!!

What YakSpit said about the chairs is the first thing that caught my eyes when looking at this bg.

I did a paint-over:


- changed the bright red door
- changed the chair colors so they didn't blend in with the consoles
- altered the shadow colors on the floor
- altered the panel lines color to a darker color
- added dimension to the side chairs
- added some shading effects

Hope this helps!

By the way, it's great to see you making games again junc!  Welcome back

[InCreator]

* What doesn't fit too well - is dark green screens on dark gray wall. Displays should be brighter green, I think.

* Nice usage of isometric perspective!

* I like the sample 3 the most. These white lines on otherwise quite eye-unfriendly blue floor now feel as there was neon/some other cool lights attached to floor.

[juncmodule]

I can't decide what to do about the chairs. While I agree with all of you on the perspective my artistic talent may limit future work with objects in the perspective. I'm not sure how the flat side view of my character will look sitting in that chair.

For now I have changed it back to a flat view. I will most likely change it back.

I like Darth's colors a lot and think that the darker greys work better on the "tech pattern". I agree that it looked bad before.

The green screens will be animated in game. I experimented with changing the color a little and with adding a shaded border to give it depth and it looked like crap.

The "shading" on the floor was actually meant to be different colored carpet but I think it looks 1000 times better in Darth's edit.

So, for right know chairs and screens are my two biggest problems. Just a note, the chairs will actually be animated in game as well. The characters sitting in them will rotate around as commands are issued and as they talk. With that in mind does anyone think the flat view is okay?

Anyway, here is my re-edit.



later,
-junc

[skw]

Wow! Nice background, but I've done that small paint-over when I had some free time:



I've just changed the lightning, added some details to all the monitors, changed the door a bit and added a switch.

If you don't like it, just ignore it. Anyway, hope it'll be useful.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I like the warm blue interior and Skurwy's color edits, though you probably want something brighter for a ship.  Looks great.

[What a loser.]

Skurwy, looks good.

[juncmodule]

I just realized that I never mentioned that the game is a comical game. I like the look of Skurwy's edit too, but it's just way too dark. I did like some of the colors so I changed the colors on the monitors and floor based on some of them.



I'm concerned that it's almost looking greyscale at this point. I might lighten the floor colors up a tiny bit.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with everything now. Thanks for your help everyone.

later,
-junc

[Mozesh]

Looks very good, but the door looks as its opened a bit. The chairs perspectives of darths edit would make it look even better.

[Darth Mandarb]

I liked the blue color on the floor as you had it (why I left it that color in my edit )  The color scheme you have in the latest edit lacks contrast (gives the muddled grey-scale you mentioned) and with the sharply contrasting black outlines it draws even more attention to it.

I also liked the monitors green better ... but I supposed that doesn't matter much if they're going to be animated in the game!

Also, I really like the brown color you have on the walls in the other sample.  I think it would be neat if the hallways had this color as their wall color.  It would help seperate rooms from hallways.

Can't wait to see what you're making!  A space comedy from junc!!  I eagerly await

Keep on truckin'

[juncmodule]

Thanks for the support and encouragment Darth. I will need it. I had a lot of fun with this background so this might not be too bad. I have another 80 something backgrounds to go yet so it will be a while before I announce anything. I have decided to hold off on any announcments until I am 100% finished with graphics, since that is always the point where I give up. I'm also doing my least favorite part of graphics first, backgrounds. Then on to characters, inventory items, and GUI (I love GUI's).

Based on your advice I went back and did another small edit:



I think this brings back the contrast and brightens the screen up a lot. I liked the color of the floor in the most recent version but decided to brighten it up some. This version is much more cartoony and cheerful, which is what I want.

By the way, the game is about a space captain that bumbles his way around and ends up saving the galaxy. It is a total Star Wars, Star Trek, Space Quest rip off and doesn't pretend to hide the fact. It's a fun way to dive back into AGS and I think I will remain motivated since it's not a serious project. Keptosh was always difficult to keep rolling because I had so much emotionally invested. If it wasn't perfect I wasn't happy.

Oh, and a while back I re-did a bunch of Keptosh sprites, just so you know I haven't totally given up on the idea:



The "new" Keptosh will be in the same graphical style as this game. So, if I make it through this, then I can make it through Keptosh.

EDIT: Just wanted to post my hallway. I'm having issues with the door at the end of the hall. It looks like crap...Urgh...I'm so horrible at anything that's not flat. Good example of why I wanted the chairs to be flat. The door can't be though. Any help?



later,
-junc

[Darth Mandarb]

love it!

As requested, I touched up the door a bit:



I can see now that one side is wider than the other ... so you might want to fix that in yours ... but you can see how the 'scoop' in the middle looks at least

I also added some details to the brown areas (just some shading and 'rivet' type things) ...