Background Blitz - Imprisonment - WINNER ANNOUNCED!

cat · Mon 30/03/2015 15:35:22

Best IDEA/CONCEPT piece MISJ with LOOMINOUS as runner-up
Most PLAYABLE piece GRUNDISLAV closely followed by 304
Best ARTISTIC EXECUTION WRK's magnificent piece is just a few pixel ahead of 304

Grundislav · Mon 30/03/2015 15:46:22

My votes:
Best idea/concept - Haggis I love the idea of being imprisoned in both a bathysphere as well as the crushing deep of the ocean. Double horror!
Playability - WRK Seeing the characters in the scene really helps get a feel for how the game would play. I can imagine solving puzzles to try and escape here.
Artistic Execution - ThreeOhFour What can I say, I'm a sucker for that turquoise lighting on the rocks.

Monsieur OUXX · Mon 30/03/2015 15:58:57

Quote from: GreenBeams on Mon 30/03/2015 15:04:36
i have to insist that MONSIEUR OUXX choose just one entry per category.

OK, OK. I don't want to be slapped with a crow bar. Have you noticed I didn't vote in the previous competitions? That's why. I just can't choose.

artistic: 304
playable: WRK
concept: Loominous

[delete} · Mon 30/03/2015 19:09:07

artistic: Misj' - Lovely Arabian fantasy inside an oil lamp, the mood relaxed and unhurried - well, you have hundreds of years time.
playable: Haggis - Can't wait to see a figur inside and curious fishes outside that cozy deepsea bell jar.
concept: loominous - In warm sunlight, a both cute and clever arranged prison - I wonder who's kept there...

Mouth for war · Mon 30/03/2015 20:21:23

Haggis, For really doing imprisonment deluxe...No way to get out of there

304, for doing such beautiful art and I can easily see that be a part in a game
Misj, for doing INCREDIBLE art. As I wrote to you in a PM (To which you DIDN'T RESPOND!!!!!!! You ungrateful son of a....

)

Those are my 3 votes, this was really difficult phew!. I think everybody deserves to win in this competition!!!

Monsieur OUXX · Mon 30/03/2015 20:40:54

Damn, I'm getting my ass spanked.

@Amelie: Regarding your forums picture... Please do keep searching

Misj' · Mon 30/03/2015 21:53:25

Quote from: Mouth for war on Mon 30/03/2015 20:21:23Misj, for doing INCREDIBLE art. As I wrote to you in a PM (To which you DIDN'T RESPOND!!!!!!! You ungrateful son of a.... )

I think that most people - especially my wife - can attest to the fact that I am an ungrateful human being. And those people who do not attest to this mostly doubt the human being part and not the ungrateful part. But despite that, I will now make you this promise*: the next PM you** send me I will respond*** to (possibly in an ungrateful manner)

* I do retain the right to forget this promise.
** The 'you' in this post specifically refers to 'Mouth of war' with the notable exceptions of 'Mouth of pestilence', 'Mouth of famine', and 'Mouth of death' or any other 'Mouth of the Apocalypse'. Ok, Mouth now starts to sound like Mouse with a lisp...which makes the apocalypse suddenly a whole lot more scary.
*** If - for technical reasons, early onset dementia, or any reason yet unforeseen - I forget to press the send button, then herewith it should be known that I cannot be held accountable (or responsible) for that.

Mouth for war · Mon 30/03/2015 22:49:54

Hahahaha that sounds fair

Haggis · Mon 30/03/2015 23:02:43

Congratulations to everyone who took part. The voting process is almost as challenging as making the background... and I thought that before the deadline was extended! All of them are superb in their own way and I wish I could vote for them all.

IDEA/CONCEPT: Loominous lovely twist on the concept, introducing warmth and innocence.
PLAYABLE: MonsieurOUXX but on a flip of a coin with WRK. Both are such outstanding examples of pixel majesty.
ARTISTIC EXECUTION: 304 - When I first saw this it captured and imprisoned my vote in this category. Simply beautiful use of colour and depth. Something about it reminds me a lot of my time in Skyrim.

@Grundislav - BATHYSPHERE!! My new favourite word (and thing)!

Mandle · Tue 31/03/2015 02:11:47

BEST IDEA/CONCEPT:

Haggis

Lovin' that underwater concept, and the art style looks like something from "Out Of This World", a game I love lookin' at and hate playing!

MOST PLAYABLE:

WRK

A well-defined walkable area and nicely balanced (potential) multiple escape routes make this the choice for me. Also WRK actually has me trapped in that pit so I gotta vote for him (strangely no pendulum though...I really kinda expected one...)

BEST ARTISTIC:

MR. OUXX

This one was almost impossible to decide on so I went with the picture that kept drawing my eye to it the most, making me want to look over all the details one more time. In fact I looked it over so much that I noticed one of the swastikas is backwards, turning it into a Buddhist symbol (you might want to fix that to avoid offending anyone).

loominous · Tue 31/03/2015 09:00:14

A. Best IDEA/CONCEPT piece

Grundislav - I like how it's nothing fancy or out of the box, but still an interesting little cage, in a neat environment where you could see stuff taking place.

B. Most PLAYABLE piece

Ben304 - I think playability needs to be judged with the difficulty of the scene in mind. A simple angle and a simple layout makes for easy playability, but requires little skill to accomplish. Ben's piece is on the flatter side, but still has a rather complex layout, which still nicely confines the player.

C. Best ARTISTIC EXECUTION

Ben304 - Just solid craftsmanship. Designwise I think Misj's piece is a contender, though the inconsistent values and saturation (guessing due to burn/dodge tool usage) makes it seem cut and pasty, otherwise it might've gotten the vote. (The rock texture in WRK's piece does deserve a best texture award).

Monsieur OUXX · Tue 31/03/2015 09:44:18

Quote from: Mandle on Tue 31/03/2015 02:11:47
I noticed one of the swastikas is backwards, turning it into a Buddhist symbol (you might want to fix that to avoid offending anyone).

I know!

Greenbeams already told me. It's a matter of flipped copy-and-paste. So far I've been too lazy to fix it, but I'll do it in the final drawing, obviously. Until then I think it's funny, it reminds us of the good old days when 50% of background elements were duplicated, as in Lucasarts' Last Crusade's BrÃ¼nwald rooms.

Misj' · Tue 31/03/2015 10:45:28

Quote from: loominous on Tue 31/03/2015 09:00:14Designwise I think Misj's piece is a contender, though the inconsistent values and saturation (guessing due to burn/dodge tool usage) makes it seem cut and pasty, otherwise it might've gotten the vote. (The rock texture in WRK's piece does deserve a best texture award).

You guessed wrong

- I haven't touched the burn/dodge tool in years; all colors were specifically chosen and painted (lot of color-picking to get smooth transitions). So, nope: can't blame some automated tools, it's all my personal decision/design. Personally I don't mind the values and saturation (because they were mostly intentional)...but I will take your remark with me next time I experiment with this rendering style.

I do hate that some of the edges feel/are very rushed (which is what I think makes some parts feel cut and pasty or moved around, although none of it is). Unfortunately this was due to me wanting to make the original deadline, and deciding that I would not fix anything after I submitted the piece.

ThreeOhFour · Fri 03/04/2015 00:45:34

Very hard choice again, many superb entries this round.

BEST IDEA/CONCEPT: Misj' - this is the interpretation of the theme that seemed the most creative to me.

MOST PLAYABLE: Grundislav - The simplicity helps the playability, but also the various elements feel like they'd play well in a scene together.

ARTISTIC EXECUTION: loominous - It's inspiring to see strong principles applied to the layout of a piece without it feeling rigid, and to see such an "ordinary" location given such interesting forms.

Cassiebsg · Fri 03/04/2015 12:01:03

A. Best IDEA/CONCEPT piece: HAGGIS, I just love the idea of dropping the worse scum of society at the bottom of the ocean...

B. Most PLAYABLE piece: WRK, there's just so much to interact with in there...

C. Best ARTISTIC EXECUTION: 304, but really, this one is for me the hardest to choose, cause they are all so good, that I would put 5 on the top... so guess I'll flip a 5 side coin...

WRK · Fri 03/04/2015 18:59:33

I agree with everything that was said before. It was really
hard to pick the best ones (cause they're all awesome),
real Kobayashi Maru test, but here we go:

Idea/concept: Loominous
Playability: 304
Artistic Execution: Monsieur OUXX

Lasca · Fri 03/04/2015 20:18:57

Wow! The standard of the blitzes are so high these days!
very tough decisions!

concept: loominous
Playability: WRK
Artistic Execution: 304 (this was almost impossible, because so many submissions are brilliantly executed. So this is more a vote of preferred style.)

Once again, I'm really, really impressed by EVERYONE. Everybody's a winner! horray!

Creamy · Fri 03/04/2015 22:53:45

GreenBeams · Sat 04/04/2015 01:04:46

OK, lads and lasses! The winners have been announced in the first post.

Thanks all so much for being part of a great month

Haggis · Sat 04/04/2015 15:52:43

Congratulations to everyone who took part - I can't believe the standard that this competition produces month on month. The hardest part for me was probably choosing my winners!