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Wow, thanks for the awesome feedback. I'll work on what you've suggested. I think there's room for improvement in the areas that you've mentioned. Your re-interpretation is a little extreme for my tastes, But it'll probably be somewhere inbetween.

Thanks again.

I enjoyed this game, thank you for taking the time to make it. Please make more in future. 

Thanks, Trent. I did the same thing you did, and the effect could do with being less subtle -  So I'll work on it!

I've been struggling to get a main character down on paper, I've got a sketchpad that's filled with all kinds of failed designs and mangled attempts at human beings. But at around three in the morning I had a bit of a winning streak with my latest one and didn't hesitate to get him into the computer. He's all coloured, but they aren't finalised or anything.

I just wanted your feedback on whether this guy fits with this style? He's simple enough that animating him shouldn't cause too many problems, but he's also at a detailed resolution. So I'm pretty happy with it so far. We'll see what happens once I get him into AGS/start the animation process. Are there any tips for getting high resolution sprites into AGS? I haven't run into any issues with it yet but can't find details in relation to this.

- Thanks

edit: Image went down, back up:

Thanks for the tip, Loominous.

The angled lighting on the floor was supposed to be a subtle way of directing your eyes to the centre of the room. But if you shrink it down then that visual aid is lost, so you do have a good point.

I've done something similar to what you've suggested, Obviously it won't be as strong as your example, as that was an exaggeration on your part to get the point across. There's a possibility that it's too subtle? but I think it makes a difference and adds a bit of focus.

Update #1:

Thanks for all your suggestions, Especially in regards to the lighting. I wouldn't say it's final, as there's some minor stuff that needs tweaking and fixing - But I think it's a big improvement and wanted to show you guys what I've done so far..

ProgZmax:
Try making the light coming through the window a bright orange so it plays against the desk and chair more and get some deeper shadows so the room has more color contrast.

Andail:
My advice would be to use light and shadow as a way to express depth.... the table would take a much more 3-dimensional form if you applied more light on the top and let the sides remain darker.
...The foreground; make the silhouette sharp. And add some texture to the floor, it needs some details.

InCreator:
...boxes on top of shelves, all the detail there, it looks too bland and blurry, doesn't stand out from background thus won't contribute much detail. Brighter colors and better defined edges, maybe even stronger shadows are a must.

Thank you for your comments everyone, it's a great help. I've been working on an updated version that should be ready for crit within the next few days.

I've been using another monitor today and I've noticed that the background art does look very gray/drab compared to what I was seeing on the screen I was using before. So I'm gonna take a look and see what I can do about bringing the contrast up.

As for the lighting, I forgot to mention that I hadn't really got stuck into that yet. I'd started on some basic lighting, but I agree that it's the thing that needs the most work right now.  Hopefully I'll make it less subtle and there'll be some proper depth to the image.

Some of the detailing mentioned in the upper area like the photo frames, and other things on the walls are noticably simpler in design and shape. I wanted things of less significance to look simple and subtle so as not to detract from the main parts of the room, as it can get too busy. I'll look into the blurriness Increator, I might be able to bring it out a bit more with some shadowing also.

Jaime37, you wanted to know what program I used and techniques. I started by drawing my original concept on paper, where I then scanned it into the computer. I then used Photoshop to draw digitally over the original image. I found the Elliptical Marquee tool, & Polygonal Lasso tool to be the most useful in doing this.  Here's a link to the original drawing.

You can see I eventually moved away from the original design and expanded on it: http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3830/44im4.jpg

- Thanks again!

Hey there!

I've been reading up on these forums for a few months - But finally registered today. So I guess that makes me a newbie. So.. *ahem* Hello!

I've been working on a style test for what could become a game. It's the standard "Detective's Office" but I've tried to bring in some influences from the LucasArts games, Most notable would probably be Day of the Tentacle (and it's surrealist tendancy to throw perspective out of the window) and Sam & Max.

I've been seeing stuff that suggests you guys tend to really favour the pixel art and low resolution look, which i'm passionate about. But I felt like I wanted to try something a little higher res. So, don't hold that against me okay?

I've been staring at this for about four days, so it's easy to start losing perspective. So really, Im just trying to get some feedback right now on the style. What do you like/dislike, and what could I do to improve?


Orig Size 1024x768 - WIP

- Thanks!