Background Blitz: September 27th - October 12th [VOTING CLOSED!]

ildu · Wed 27/09/2006 00:53:16

The deadline has been extended to the 12th of October. That gives you a full week to finalize those entries. Get to work.

Once again, I made this blitz only one and a half weeks long. If someone does have a problem with the deadline, please just PM me. I'll be happy to give an extension, if needed. If there aren't enough entries or votes until the designated date, I'll extend the deadline as I see fit. I'm gonna extend the voting time until the number of voters at least equals the number of entries. I hope this isn't too strict.

In the previous blitz, some people were complaining about the so-called underdogs not getting votes, because of dominating entries. This time I've added a little twist that should emphasize the idea part of the evaluation and hopefully add a little fun to the competition. Let's just see how it goes this time around.

BAYOU BUNGALOW

Inspiration:

Guidelines:

I've noticed lately that there's a serious lack of swamp locations in the adventure game genre (although apparently Guybrush likes to visit a few

). Show the people what they've been missing all these years and create a background that in some way portrays a swamp location. It could be a small campsite near the bayou or even a high-tech biological research facility. It's all up to you.

The swamp has to show signs of human/humanoid life and preferably some kind of habitat. In addition, the background must contain these three things:

- An instrument (e.g. musical, surgical, etc.)
- A picture of something old (e.g. a photo of Grandma, a poster of an old boat, etc.)
- A broken container of some sort (eg. a box, a barrel, etc.)

Specifications:

Max resolution: 640x480
Palette: Unlimited.

Voting:

Voting will commence on the ~~9th~~ 13th of October at 00:00 (GMT) and will be closed at 23:59 (GMT) on that same date. Please give one vote in each of the following categories:

* Best Idea - The underlying idea to the background. Doesn't necessarily have to coincide perfectly with the theme of the week, just strike you as interesting/amusing/inspiring; a place you'd really enjoy visiting within a game.

* Best Design - The style of the picture, architectural, landscape design, best mood, most evocative, etc.

* Best Functionality - How well it would work when adding sprites, including appropriate walking distances, a good angle for character sprites, clever walkway solutions, easily understood exits, etc.

* Best Technique - How well the ideas are executed in form of rendering.

Andail · Fri 29/09/2006 11:11:49

I love the presentation to this blitz, so I whipped this up just to kickstart the competition a bit:

ildu · Fri 29/09/2006 18:02:29

Greatness

. I was getting a bit worried by the lack of entries.

ildu · Mon 02/10/2006 22:17:41

I'm bumping this for the troubling silence inhabiting this thread. Hopefully some life will be injected into this.

Sylvr · Mon 02/10/2006 22:20:09

I'm working on something!

Edit:
There. A lonely swamphouse.

vict0r · Wed 04/10/2006 03:44:18

I tried to do something somewhat out of the box. Hope you like it:)

Sylvr · Wed 04/10/2006 16:07:12

Yours looks like claymation!

ildu · Wed 04/10/2006 22:34:45

Very nice entries, lovebirds.

BUMP:

The deadline for the blitz has been extended to the 12th of October. You know what that means, right? Voting and winning will occur on Friday the 13th!!! And naturally this means that whoever wins the blitz will undergo a horrible body-mangling accident of some sort. If anyone wants to sacrifice him/herself for these three brave souls, here's your chance. And remember, keeping in mind the mindset of voters on that faithful day, you might wanna inject some creepyness into your piece. BOO!!

ninepug · Thu 05/10/2006 21:15:18

Ooh coolio swamps

.
Here's my attempt

Smugglers den (or something Ã³_Ã²).
Not sure if it's enough of a swamp to count

(or at least I'm not sure what counts as a swamp).
*crosses fingers for possible horrofic mangling*

Edit: Ouch, seems like my photobucket account is acting up

. Oh well

.

Mikko · Fri 06/10/2006 16:41:48

I think I could go on pushing pixels forever, but here is my entry:

2x

In case you can't see what is in the sing, it says "Ye Olde Grog" and it also has an image of old mug of grog in it. I don't mind if this doesn't go with the rules. Ildu may decide about that.

CMonkey · Fri 06/10/2006 19:24:36

That looks awesome Mikko, I'd love to create a game just to use that background! Keep up the good work!

Buckethead · Fri 06/10/2006 19:28:10

Quote from: Mikko on Fri 06/10/2006 16:41:48

I don't mind if this doesn't go with the rules. Ildu may decide about that.

I'm going to send Ildu a very angry PM if he says it doesn't!

It's too lovely

Neil Dnuma · Sat 07/10/2006 00:31:40

Edit: I almost forgot the picture of something old. It is now above the door.

Steel Drummer · Sat 07/10/2006 02:44:37

Out of curiosity, what games are the 12th and 15th screenshots from?

ildu · Sat 07/10/2006 04:06:43

Frickin' awesome entries

! Big-ups to Penguin's fantabulous palette, Mikko's groovy atmosphere and Neil Dnuma's crazy-ass design. I'm all feelingy inside. We've already got 6 entries, and there's still 6 days left. So all you slowpokes, get to work!

And don't worry too much about bending the rules. As long as you tried to implement them, that's enough for me. No need to send me angry PMs

. So don't worry about the sign, Mikko. And as for you, Penguin, I can't see how that couldn't be a swamp taking into consideration the waterfront hut, the banjo and the planks between the boats

. You are still an ample candidate to be mangled.

Great job, people!

(If someone of lesser art experience is intimidated by the quality of entries so far, don't despair. This is a fine opportunity to showcase your idea-skills. Come up with completely new and unique interpretations of the topic and guidelines, and who knows, you might end up winning.)

Quote from: Steel Drummer on Sat 07/10/2006 02:44:37
Out of curiosity, what games are the 12th and 15th screenshots from?

Runaway 2 and Sanitarium.

http://www.adventuregamers.com/images/showimage.php?id=3829
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/9/52149/sanitar_screen005.jpg

gypsysnail · Sat 07/10/2006 06:13:29

WOW those backgrounds by you talented members are just sooooo fantastic! I don't know which ones to vote for as I really like them all. U all done great! I look fwd to seeing the winners but I would also say everyone is a winner for trying, this competition helps us all develop our computer art graphics skills for games we make.

And what are the games of the screenshots 1, 11, 14. I know its silly that a game lover of 20 years like myself doesnt know where some of those screenshots come from but there are some games I am yet to play lol! If you could give me the names of them that would be great and I will jump to ebay and buy them!

.

Sorry... I am new to this I don't know yet how it works, if there are conditions I must read, I can't see them. Thanks I am learning anyway. Anyhow... thank you for telling me which is which for the screenshots.

Mikko · Sat 07/10/2006 07:58:00

Gypsysnail:

Quote from: ilduWe've already got 6 entries, and there's still 6 days left.

Quote from: gypsysnail
And what are the games of the screenshots 1, 11, 14.

14 should be Simon the Sorcerer.

Thank you for your comments.

ildu · Sat 07/10/2006 09:14:38

gypsysnail: Yeah, the competition is far from being over. If you could edit your post and remove the votes, that would be great. They won't be taken into consideration unless they're posted during the voting period.

And just to clarify, you can only vote for one person per category. Sure you can mention runner-ups, but if the explanation is as long as yours (which is always good

), please highlight the name of the person that the vote goes to. Also, if two or more names are given in the vote for one category without clarification of the one winner, that vote isn't taken into consideration in the final votecount. I already had to disqualify this other guy's 'Design' vote in a previous Blitz, when he mentioned that he couldn't choose between two entries.

Quote from: gypsysnail on Sat 07/10/2006 06:13:29And what are the games of the screenshots 1, 11, 14.

Screenshots 1 and 11 are from Escape from Monkey Island and screenshot 14 is from Simon the Sorcerer, as Mikko said. But since there are two screenshots of Simon the Sorcerer in the collage, I'm gonna take a guess that you meant screenshot 13, which is from Quest for Glory 4.

buloght · Sun 08/10/2006 02:34:02

I felt Mikko was outnumbered by all these crazy high-res bgs, so I did one for the pixel too.

(2x)

My swampy thing attempt. The living area is in the tree. The three things are:
1) Instrument of war = sword
2) A picture of something old is there = heart on left front tree with initials. It's an old relationship that doesn't exist anymore.
3) the container box in the swamp water.

320x144.

ildu · Wed 11/10/2006 00:11:40

Awesomely atmospheric entry, Buloght

.

Ok, dudes and dudettes, you have exactly 72 24 hours before voting begins. So get crackin', you lazy bums of society. There's still time to show everyone up. Don't let this be one of those moments you look back to in your 90's with bitter regret. You should have done this, and you should've done that. Shoulda woulda coulda buddha...Just do it already!