Topic: Background Blitz: Office (Winner Announced!)

[Reiter]

OFFICE

The Office. A strange place. A work-place. A decision-place. A safe retreat of rewarding work and warm coffee, or a Satanic mill of paper jams and toner-stained cuffs.
An office can be many things.

Which office is yours? The organised mess of a private investigator's office, where there are whisky within reach and the rain is forever drumming against the window?
The grey-white yonder of a corporate landscape, where the sword of right-sizing forever hang by its fraying threads?
The secret police office, where the lights burn day and night and where good citizen and enemy of the state alike have their hearts bared and vivisected on snow-white paper and bound with blood-red twine?
The cosy, cramped office of the weary and worn head master of the magic public school, where he retreats to play with his train sets when-ever young master Clotter does something silly again?

Time to work! Draw a game background set in an office environment, and post the picture in this thread. Then, we will vote on which one is the best. Good luck!

New dead-line: 14th of November.

VOTING: Dead-line: 19th of November.

The competition is now over. The victor, stylez75, may now begin the next Background Blitz.

[blur]

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The inspirational image suggested to make a tile set background.
Tiles made with the gimp, layout with Tiled.

[Reiter]

Excellent work! I like the style, and it is a vergo good rendition of the example picture. Very nicely tiled, too. Well done!

Keep them coming, dear colleagues! Although, with the forum outages, I do believe it is entirely fair to ask for an extension, if you require it. Best of luck.

[stylez75]

x1 x2 x4 x8

[Royal Graphics Studio]

Hi everybody! Here is my attempt for this Background Blitz. It was created as a vector art and than exported as .png. To keep things interested, I decided to hide 5 Easter eggs hinting at Adventure Game Studio. See if you can find all of them.

[stylez75]

hHotspot on AC,   AGS on clock, Roger on Desk, Blue Cup on Desk and cEgo on monitor

[Royal Graphics Studio]

Excellent thank you so much for participating! I wasn't sure if it is ok to add this, since it's not the topic of the background blitz.

[Reiter]

Excellent contributions, gentlemen! These look splendid. Why, stylez, your office looks simply luxurious!

And it is, of course, quite alright for you to add observations or replies to the art if you please. We are not charged by the post, here! Do not worry.

Besides, it is a very nice idea to add AGS easter eggs like that. It is a fun little hunt. Well done!

[ildu]

Could I request an extension? It's because of the forum outages like Reiter said... Yeees suuure, the outages, that's what it is and not because of my general lazyness . But yeah, I would appreciate some more time .

[Cassiebsg]

I've been pretty busy, but if you extend it a week, I might come up with something.
Fingers cross that my free time is still my free time all next week. 

[Reiter]

Extention forthcoming! I am glad that you asked. To be on the safe side, I shall give you one more week; until the 14th of November; next Sunday, that is.

Good luck!

[ildu]

Much obliged!

[Cassiebsg]

uhm, is comp closed now?
I was sick during the weekend and did nothing . 

[Reiter]

I... Erm, consider it an extra little extention. Pardon me, I quite forgot. I do hope that you are well now.

Indeed, the competition is now closing! And we have three different entires to choose from! Gather around and vote, dear colleagues!

Blur's tiled and tidy office space.

x1 x2 x4 x8

stylez75's truly luxurious space office.

x1 x2 x4 x8

and Royal Graphics Studio's nice and tidy office down the BLUCUP-corp head office.

Splendid work, gentlemen! Now, then! The voting!

You will cast a vote in the following categories:

Concept: What is your background about? What sort of mood does it spark? What is, as it were, the big idea?
Playability: What is its opportunity for gameplay like? Walkable areas, hot-spots, and so forth?
Artistic Execution: How well does the picture convey an atmosphere? How well is it executed?

One vote for each category, and I will tally it all up come the end of the voting. Anyone may vote, and if you can leave a little feed-back on the pieces, it is most welcome!
Dead-line for votes: 19th of November (That is, Friday).

[Cassiebsg]

Damn, 3 great offices! Hard to pick!

Concept: stylez75, hands down on concept! First time I see a pool in a office! Now I want one! 
Playability: This is rather unfair, as all have lots of places to interact with and clear walkable areas. But I guess we could spend hours alone in those file cabinets if we don't manage to find the right clue. So Blur takes my vote on this one.
Artistic Execution: And again, all 3 are awesome with full of detail. But I like the soft colors of Royal Graphics Studio. 

[Sinitrena]

blur: I'm not much for this tiled style but it is a nice bit of pixel art. It looks like an office that hasn't been used yet, no individual elements at all for the various desks. I guess they would come in by way of objects and characters, but the way it is now, I find it a bit boring. I guess that fits the kind of office that is, though...

stylez75: Okay, how many people acidentally walk into this pool daily? I mean, a pool in the office sounds amazing, but with this layout? Move your chair back and splosh... walk a bit too fast into the room from the corridor - splosh  Great idea, but so impractical.

Royal Graphics Studio: I love all the small details: cEgo on the monitor, Roger as the name for the worker in the office, the radiator (?) with hHotspot on it... Love it. The perspective might be a bit boring, though. We're just looking directly at the desk.


Votes:

Concept: stylez75
Playability: Royal Graphics Studio
Artistic Execution: Royal Graphics Studio

[ildu]

Again, I was unfortunately so low on time that I couldn't contribute with my own piece. Nevertheless, the tally was great this time and we got a great collection of entries. Kudos all around!

Concept: stylez75. I just love the pool-in-the-office idea. It's definitely the most unique approach and I can already imagine a story around it.
Playability: blur. The repetition of this one is somehow really charming and interesting. It lends itself to the idea of monotony and drudge of office life. I can really imagine a game where everything happens within this same screen, with only time of day and casts of characters changing, similar to Papers, Please or Twelve Minutes. Or something based on a theatrical style, perhaps the game version of Glengarry Glen Ross or Network.
Artistic Execution: stylez75. This was almost taken by blur, due to his repetition-with-slight-differences thingy. But I couldn't ignore how much stylez75's entry reminds me of old Leisure Suit Larrys . This could easily be a scene where Larry wanders around an 80's office building and finds a lavish jacuzzi .

[cat]

Concept: stylez75 - I'd love to have a pool in the office!
Playability: Blur - Lots of stuff to interact with, clear walkable areas
Artistic Execution: Royal Graphics Studio - Lovely vector art and nice hidden easter eggs. I just wonder how the shadows on shelf and desk work and what the hell is going on with gravity near the power outlet? 

[Reiter]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! Albeit delayed, I shall now tally the votes.

stylez75: 5 votes.

Blur: 3 votes.

Royal Graphics Studio: 3 votes.

That means that stylez75 is the winner of this Background Blitz! Congratulations!

Well done, chaps! Very well done! Excellent contributions. A nice variety of styles and moods. Thank you very much for participating in this Background Blitz!

It is now stylez75's turn to decide on a theme and hold a new leg of this competition. Good luck!

[Sinitrena]

Royal Graphics Studio: 3 votes.

4 votes.
Math is hard  .

Congratulation, stylez.