Project scheduling: Art

Started by AJA, Thu 16/02/2012 01:21:29

Previous topic - Next topic

AJA

Hello!

I'm not much of a graphical artist myself, so I thought it best to ask the experts here.

What I'm trying to figure out is some sort of an approximation for how much time it takes to make background/character art for an adventure game. I realize it depends a lot on the artist, the graphical style and the actual contents of the picture. This is just something to point me in the right direction.

Let's assume a resolution of 640x400 pixels and two graphical styles:

Style A


Style B



Background Art

Let's use this concept art as a reference for the contents and composition of a room:




Now then, how much time would it take to make (in styles A & B):

1. One 640x400 background (including design & sketching)
2. Adjust a finished background by entirely changing the lighting (eg. daylight -> night, candle light)
3. Adjust a finished background by moving the furniture around (they need to be redrawn)



Character Art & Animation

The resolution is still 640x400, so let's assume a character would be something like 100x175 pixels.


How much time would it take to make (in styles A & B):

1. One character standing frame (including design & sketching)
2. One speaking animation or some other simple animation
3. One walking animation (6-8 frames)
4. One complex animation (eg. the character drinks a pint of beer, attempts to walk a couple of steps, and falls to the floor)



The point of all this is that if I have a background/character artist who says he can do, for example, 40 hours of work, I can prioritize the work. If a background takes 10 hours and a really cool but complex animation also takes 10 hours, I could try to think of ways to lose that one background in order to have the animation that really adds to the story and mood of the game.

Why not ask my artist, you may ask. Well, I don't have an artist yet. So, basically I would use this information to get an idea of the scope of the game and the artist's workload while I'm still designing it.


Any guestimates are welcome! I'm sure they're still more accurate than what I can come up with. Thanks!


Spoiler
And yes, this is for my Summerbatch game attempt. If you're interested in helping me out with the graphics, feel free to contact me by pm. Check my previous games first, so you know what you're in for. I'm currently looking for local artists (Tampere, Finland) because then I can physically go and kick them if they're being lazy. But if that doesn't work out I'm definitely going to ask around these forums.
[close]

Ali

I'm not good at estimating time, so I'll let others contribute on the main issue.

What I did observe is that style A and particularly style B use a kind of cut-out perspective. That is, the objects are drawn as if they were 2D cut-outs on a stage. The backdrops for Nelly Cootalot are a bit like this, and it's a very quick way of drawing. It's also easy to move objects around with this approach, because perspective doesn't lock them in place too much.

The beautiful Grim Fandango concept drawing is a different story. The perspective is very precise (and I think you can still see guidelines under the table) but it's also much more complex in terms of shading and tone. Moving furniture around in this background would be much more work than the few clicks it would take to move the pile of tyres in the second screenshot.

I hope that observation is of some use. If not, sorry.

AJA

That's actually a very good point, Ali. Thanks, I'll keep it in mind!

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk