Background for C&C

[None]

This is the 640x480 version, for my game it will be scaled down to 320x240 so keep that in mind if it's relevant to your comments.
Basically tell me whatcha think?

[InCreator]

* Perspective is too deep. You would need a lot's of character scaling to make everything feel right. I wouldn't go this way.
* Tree lacks a bit of detail on trunk area
* Grass... doesn't look like grass. Make it cover bench legs a bit and draw some flowers or higher lumps of grass

Apart from this, nice palette and completely usable BG, I think.

[miguel]

I agree to what InCreator said, I learned on my expense that it's never good or smart to make characters walk long distances and it gets worse if they walk in perspective.
I guess you could make the bench bigger and twist it a bit and draw the fence closer and smaller.
Add some tall grass on the roots of the tree, some flowers and all that nature stuff

[None]

Oh sorry, I should mentioned the grass will be done as seperate sprited objs. So I can animate them easier.

[markbilly]

Are you able to add any of these objects as layers on top of the background image, then we can crit the whole thing as it would be seen in game...?

I really like the background area behind the fence by the way. I'm just concerned about the foreground. The tree needs more detail, as InCreator said and the bench perspective needs to be less extreme. Apart from that, when we see the grass, etc it will be a very nice background!

[None]

Yeah I'm sorry for not adding the grass beforehand, my mind must have been totally somewhere else... As soon as I fix it, I'll update.
P.S. you're totally right about the bench thing, I overlayed my char sprite and changed the size to match perspective, it'll make it look AWFUL!

[Stupot]

Nice looking BG.
The bench seems a tad small though...
also, the shadow of the bench and the fence don't agree with each other... and neither of those agree with the position of the sun.

[JuuJuu]

Nice looking BG.
The bench seems a tad small though...
also, the shadow of the bench and the fence don't agree with each other... and neither of those agree with the position of the sun.

Very good point with the shadows!

[Oliwerko]

I think the whole perspective thing could be fixed by moving the viewpoint up a bit and making the bench less perspectival. Thus you will have less floor space for the character to walk on, and the bench will look more natural.

Aside from that, it is a lovely background, I really like the style, the green warm colors are well chosen!

[InCreator]

Actually, I don't think that you have to change whole background for perspective fix: I mean, that fence doesn't really matter.

Simply, why does bench have to be lined up with the fence?
You did so because it's simple to draw it in right perspective, but that's not really that important.
Rotate it facing the camera more and everything's fine.

Players don't really care if you have degree-perfect perspective or not; it simply has to look believable and good.

[markbilly]

InCreator is spot on. There is no point re-drawing the rest of the background, besides the bench...

Also, as well as changing the bench perspective, change its shadow to match the fence, and, regardless of the position of the sun things will look perfectly acceptable. I think consistency with shadows is more important than having them technically perfect...

[InCreator]

ShonenAi, you probably scrapped the idea or forgot the thread, but here's a 3D-render following your perspective AND with rotated bench. Since it's 3D, perspective should still be correct. I used grayscaled version of your initial background behind the render and made ground plane transclusent so we could see original too.

Also, light is about somewhere where your pic would have it. So, that shadow of the fence is also created by that light, not drawn on.

* Notice that even though I tried to make fence bars have same distance apart from each other yet same as yours, it proved that your fence wasn't 100% correct. Mine should be. You could use this as a guide, too.

* The right side of tree is and should be much, much darker.



Using simple 3D geometry for perspective and shadow help for 2D backgrounds has proven itself well.

[fertoff]

i dont think the right side of the tree should be so dark....
in a 3d render with GI im pretty sure the tree wouldmuch lighter...

[InCreator]

I didn't mean dark as my render, but on original image, there's absolutely no shadow on tree.

[None]

Thanks EVERYBODY, Especially InCreator, ya'll  have been a dream. To answer question, I've not scrapped the drawing, or the thread, I am merely pre-occupied with other things. (life can be so hectic, eh.) But I think I've learned alot here, it may take a while for me to put it into practice however, (aforementioned busy.)  The fence, everything was eyeballed, It was just to see if I could sit down, and with little hassle create a somewhat convincing background. The several things you've pointed out, has obviously shown the flaws.
What 3-D application, would you suggest to create reference drawings, such as the one you posted. That would be more than handy to somebody like me. Thanks everybody, I'll try to post more later.

[InCreator]

What 3-D application, would you suggest to create reference drawings, such as the one you posted. That would be more than handy to somebody like me. Thanks everybody, I'll try to post more later.

Anything that can do simple boxmodelling and lights/raytraced shadows would work.
Blender. GMax. Anim8or. Wings3D (not sure about shadows).

I make mine with 3ds Max 8. That costs a fortune and a bit more, so...
But ones I named are free.