Background for simple graphic style

[Ogre]

I am trying to make good backgrounds for my simplistic little sprites

sprite shown here (Image is a 4-up)


I am trying to display that the lighter foreground is walkable area and the hills are impassable...



Any help would be appreciated... I feel I am much more successful with my sprites than my backgrounds.

[Babar]

I like this style! BUT:

(Don't mind the funky unrealistic snow thing. It's just there to give you some ideas).

As far as I know, I don't think background objects should have heavy dark outlines. Something to do with the perception of distance.  I think it looks pretty humongous and impassable.

[Alarconte]

Babar edit is a good way to make the intention of making the hills impassable.

Yes, the snow is a bit weird

The "simplistic supermario" bg is cool, but a bit undecorated. Maybe some bushes... or rocks, no? or isn't finished?

[DanielH]

Your spirtes quite good, and the background's OK, the only problems I have with it are the black outlines on the hills, (which just look really bad) and the sky, which is a bit dull. Give it more flavour, another mountain like Babar drew perhaps. I would change the colour of the sky to a less vibrant blue as well, and make the clouds thicker, but that's just me.

Like This:


There are supposed to be clouds in the sky there, but I can't draw in paint all that well. Imagine the clouds.

[Ogre]

What exactly are y'all doing to make those hills seem so "misty" or making them appear to be further in the distance?

[EldKatt]

Where are they supposed to be, if not in the distance?

[Ogre]

They are supposed to be... I was just wondering what they were doing to make them appear that way... as apposed to just making them darker as they go further back...

[Ogre]

Improving?

[markbilly]

I think you need some foreground objects to establish the size of the character. Or some objects along the front of the hills, to separate the distant from the near. Otherwise your character is frankly huge.

But yes, it is improving!

[Ogre]

Babar edit is a good way to make the intention of making the hills impassable.

Yes, the snow is a bit weird

The "simplistic supermario" bg is cool, but a bit undecorated. Maybe some bushes... or rocks, no? or isn't finished?

I think you need some foreground objects to establish the size of the character. Or some objects along the front of the hills, to separate the distant from the near. Otherwise your character is frankly huge.

But yes, it is improving!

Yeah, I have not gotten into any of that.... I understand what you mean though... my next question is, as he moves away/towards the base of those mountains... what's the best way to establish distance.  Or should I just populate the background with some trees and ignore it.

[EldKatt]

They are supposed to be... I was just wondering what they were doing to make them appear that way... as apposed to just making them darker as they go further back...

Oh. Sorry, I misunderstood you completely there. Missed a couple of little two-letter words or something. My mistake.

Art of the visual sort isn't at all my area, but for starters, imagine that they're simply getting brighter, not darker, as they move into the distance. And presumably more towards blue, but as I said this is not my area. Look at some real mountains and think about it.

[markbilly]

my next question is, as he moves away/towards the base of those mountains... what's the best way to establish distance.  Or should I just populate the background with some trees and ignore it.

One option would be to use scaling of some kind with regard to walkable areas in AGS. With the nature and size of your sprites though, I'm not sure this would look good...

A more robust option would be to treat the whole of the front section (beneath the foot of the hills) as "near", having the character appear the same size for the whole of that section. You would then need to create a very clear divide between this and the hills, perhaps with a forest and maybe a small town.

Your background will then be split into three distinct areas: A foreground, where the character can walk around; a middle ground, where the forest lies, that is inaccessible but acts as a transition between this middle ground and the next area; the background, which is your mountains and clouds.

The middle ground could even be somewhere the character can travel to (as a different room) by clicking on that area in the background...

[MashPotato]

They are supposed to be... I was just wondering what they were doing to make them appear that way... as apposed to just making them darker as they go further back...

Wikipedia article on atmospheric perspective that might be useful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_perspective

[Evil]

Actually, the values want to go toward the middle of the value scale. So a dark mountain with get lighter, but a light colored river will get darker, but only somewhat. But mountains have a haze sometimes, and there are a lot of other factors. And as for the color change, as things get further and further away from you they tend to change color, only slightly, away from the color of the light source. Like, a blue house will look more blue-purple as it's further away in yellow sunlight. Something that's orange in yellow sunlight will look more red-orange. Atleast, I think that's how it works. The last time I had a class on this was several years ago, so maybe I'm wrong.

Look up some pictures of mountains and landscapes and it's easier to see. But in games, a lot of rules aren't followed and are made up.

Edit: Dammit Mash, with your fancy techincal wiki page

[Dualnames]

The character fits perfectly the bart, and actually the game graphics are not so bad at all. Old styled yes, but not bad. Looking forward to whatever this is about. Try and put some towns at the mountains..just try and work on it. It can be cooler.