Art style for my new horror game (Big animations)

[Gord10]

Hi all,

I am currently working on a new horror game that can be assumed as the sequel of Lost in the Nightmare (not a real sequel, as their plots are independent).





I had used pre-rendered backgrounds (actually just screenshots) from the maps I made for the Half-Life 1 engine for Lost in the Nightmare; my intention is to use the Source engine with the same technique (so I think we can consider this game as half mod-half game, like LitN), but with much more animations and a new graphic style.





I am using the Chalk & Charcoal filter first and duplicate the original screenshot onto the filtered image overlaying in order to color it.


Not filtered


Filtered

The problem is that I think the Chalk & Charcoal filter looks ugly in animations; it creates something like noise on the background. I am sure I am using the same filter settings for the whole frames, but I can't prevent it to look strange when it comes to different frames.

Did you like the new graphic style for the new game?

And do you think I should change the filter I am using? I want to give something like a comics ambience.

Any advice and critique is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[Ghost]

A comic look can be achieved with the paper collage filter; this will probably look more convincing- I have no idea how well it will perform in animations though.

The charcoal look, and the whole ruddy, nervous style, doesn't look too bad IMO; it might hurt the eyes after a while but match a horror/suspense game quite nicely.

[Evil]

I'm not really a fan of the filter, but the idea is right. It's got that big, soft feeling but still really dark and dirty with all of that faux-grain.

I agree with the animation thing. The fan animations look bad because the grain is on a loop. If the fan was filtered by itself it might look better. Like, trace out the fan, filter it, and layer it on the filtered background. Driving animation looks cool too. Not enough frames and the static trees in the background through off the effect, but style wise very neat.

Perhaps you should desaturate the background, adjust the contrast or curves, then use like a watercolor filter? That grain thing is weird.

[Technocrat]

The grainy style is giving me more "Silent Hill" vibes than comic book. Not that that's a bad thing, if it's a similar kind of ambience to what you're looking for.

Using source, by the look of it?

[Gord10]

Yes, I am using the Source engine, as I have stated in my first post.

I am trying to use the Watercolor filter now; I am able to remove the grain effect now but it isn't as good as the first Chalk & Charcoal filter. I think I will search for some extra filters.

[Paper Carnival]

I like those, but I think you should try to add the filters by hand. If you do it right everything will look a lot better and less repetitive. Not that it's any bad the way it is, IMO, but I believe a lot of people might be bored with a constant Charcoal effect.

[Darth Mandarb]

Speaking just for myself ... I love the style.

I prefer the road zippin' by without the filters but like it with the filters as well.

I suppose it's not really "critique" from me ... just a compliment. 

But it definitely creates a "mood" and would suit the horror genre quite well.

[Snarky]

I think the noise or grain adds some life to the scenes. It makes them look more like film than still pictures. It's a little bit distracting because they loop so quickly, so you get more of a flicker than you otherwise would, but I don't think it's too bad. Areas with high-frequency patterns (like the floor in the second picture) are going to be prone to shimmer. You might want to stabilize those particular segments of the picture (by overlaying a still-frame version at e.g. 50% opacity over each frame).

Other than that, I think you should get a better texture for the road.

It's all looking very cool. Photoshop filters are always going to be identifiable as such, but in this case I have to say I don't mind too much.

[R4L]

If you're looking for a Max Payne 2 style noir comic effect, take a look at this:





That's me, I took the picture with a webcam, and used Photoshop to apply some filters and mess around with the colors. It's basically the Sumi-e or Charcoal filters, mixed with some color editing and tinting. Looks like the Max Payne style though.

About your pictures. I like the style a lot. The ceiling fan picture eerily reminds me of something in a Silent Hill game, and I have not so fond memories of those games.

[Mazoliin]

Me like!

The noise when animating, IMO, would be awesome if it's a sort of movie cutsene (the road, the first fan) because it would look like a old movie, a very nice effect for the game I think. But in a in-game backgrounds it doesn't fit, and with a character in there it would probably look messed up.

[R4L]

Me like!

The noise when animating, IMO, would be awesome if it's a sort of movie cutsene (the road, the first fan) because it would look like a old movie, a very nice effect for the game I think. But in a in-game backgrounds it doesn't fit, and with a character in there it would probably look messed up.

I agree. However, I think the first and second screenshots would be marvelous in game, like some sort of twisted reality like in the first LitN.

[Mazoliin]

I agree. However, I think the first and second screenshots would be marvelous in game, like some sort of twisted reality like in the first LitN.

Of course they would, I should have been more clear in that I ment the animation.
Noise in movie cutsene = Good
Noise in animating game backround = Bad (like the fourth pic)

The "Chalk & Charcoal" should most sertanly be used in the backgrounds.

As already mentioned, and to which I fully agree:

I agree with the animation thing. The fan animations look bad because the grain is on a loop. If the fan was filtered by itself it might look better. Like, trace out the fan, filter it, and layer it on the filtered background.

[Questionable]

I absolutely love this style, this method, this everything.

I'm agreeing with Ghost's sentiments, and I feel that if you can clean it up with the suggestions, this is going to be one of the best (looking) games, one of the most original (looking), and one of the most alluring (looks-wise) games to come out of the AGS com, for a while.

Make a great game and i'll remove the parentheses.

Good luck & keep posting!

[auriond]

I'm getting the Silent Hill vibe too, which is made more obvious by the static-y effect of the charcoal filter. And as I've made clear several times, I'm a huge SH fan, so you can tell that I love it.

My biggest complaint is that it works for some things - mostly backgrounds, like your first screenshot - but it's not so great in the second screen where you can see a person. The man's outline is broken up by the filter, and has the effect of making him look like he was torn out of a piece of paper. I think you would probably need to clean up human figures by hand.

I actually quite like the animated versions - it almost fools the eye into not noticing the filter. But I can see how it might get annoying if used throughout the whole game.

You might want to consider using Gaussian Blur for some of the images, to break up the charcoal filter-y-ness. I did a quick try on the screen with the man to show what I mean:



That was done in about 2 mins with a mouse, so if you have a tablet, I imagine that it would take you less time to achieve even better results.

Or, if you prefer to have sharper images, simply smoothen out the character outline. It's the only thing that's really bugging me.

[S]

I prefer the unblurred original versions. And I don't mind that the noise in the animations, in fact I think it's pretty cool.

[Evil]

I'd have to agree with S that the blurring doesn't work for this style. The clouds and stuff look better, but when you lose that sharp edge on the figures, especially on their faces, you lose impact. A less jagged edge would be nice though.

And about the noise in the animations, I like it, I just think that there needs to be more frames so it doesn't look like 4 frames looping. The static is very drastic so 4 frames won't cut it when trying to make something sort of smooth and "seamless".

[auriond]

If it's a background, I think there's a limit of 5 frames (at least for AGS 2.72).

The reason I suggested blurring is that the animated backgrounds don't look very sharp because of the static-y effect. You could soften the blurring, but I think sharp images interspersed with blurry animated images would be quite distracting in a game.

Unless, of course, the backgrounds were meant for a first person perspective, in which case definitely go for the sharp versions. I agree that it has a lot more impact.

[Gord10]

Thanks everyone for your comments!


I changed the filter I am using, added next frame onto one with a little transparancy  (and adjusted the color as well) for each frames and this is how the highway looks now.

(The reason why I used 4 frames instead of 5 was just because I couldn't set a good distance that is divided by 5 in Valve Hammer Editor. I think I will make this scene from starting later.)


Smoothed the model's outlines.






And another filter experiment. I am not sure if the burn on the face is obvious after the filter is used. I had to dodge his face in order the filter not to make his face completely black.

They look better now, do they?

Thanks in advance, again.

[Evil]

If it's a background, I think there's a limit of 5 frames (at least for AGS 2.72).

The reason I suggested blurring is that the animated backgrounds don't look very sharp because of the static-y effect. You could soften the blurring, but I think sharp images interspersed with blurry animated images would be quite distracting in a game.

Unless, of course, the backgrounds were meant for a first person perspective, in which case definitely go for the sharp versions. I agree that it has a lot more impact.

Well, if it looks bad at 5 frames, why even use it? Upload them as a sprite, have it animate, and layer everything else on top.

The street animation looks a little smoother with the transparent trees, but the road lines are blurred into one so now the cracks look repeating. I think if you go back to the old street but with the new tress it'll look better.

New black and white one looks great, not a fan of the one's with the new filter. Doesn't feel right. Just looks like HL2 on a crappy TV.

Also, are these first person? I just assumed they were.

[Gord10]

I think I will make the highway scene with many frames as a sprite, as the scene isn't going to serve as a real room background.

Yes, the game is in first person view; those last pictures are going to be a cutscene (those are not complete, I am also going to add an angel model to the scene).


I have tried the Chark & Chorcoal filter now (after increasing the contrast of the faces), I hope it looks better now.