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Congrats guys!  I honestly thought you were all screwed (but kept it to myself  8)).  This is great news, and i look forward to playing the completed game.

I've encountered just about everyone one of the pitfalls already mentioned, and I agree with most of the advice provided so I won't repeat it.  But I would like to add that many times, we're our own worst critics.  Creative/artsy people can get bogged down redrawing and redoing artwork again and again because it never looks "perfect".  I redrew almost every background for my game, Emily Enough, because I wasn't satisfied with it.  That might have been justified, I'm not sure.  But in the end, it might have been more useful to complete the game using less appealing graphics so that I could then use my newly learned skills in graphics/scripting/design to create a more well rounded and complete game.  So what I'm saying is, don't let your pefectionism come in the way of completing a game. 

And it helps if you have a girlfriend yelling at you to stop obsessing and just finish the damn thing already.

Scotch's color mod looked great.  i applied more contrast to my version and indeed it brings out much richer tones while keeping the depressing greyish theme. 

This isn't for another emily enough game, and I haven't drawn a character yet so i don't know how small their feet will be...so the stairs may very well be too small.  I was planning on adding wallpaper or something to the wall leading down the stairs, but since i haven't drawn that room yet i don't know what color/texture it will be.

esper, I'll try that out once i get home!

Hmmm, Scotch, that does look much better.  I'm just not sure how to do that though...i'll give it a look and figure it out. I was aiming for a greyish tone but my version was lacking definition.  Thanks!

[EDIT]  OK, I'm utterly stupid.  I never knew there was a brightness/contrast tool!  I used to just fix everything by hand....I probably would have finished emily enough last year if I had known stuff like that.  So stupid!  uuurgh. :

It looks infinitely better with a little more contrast.    :'(

Here's the latest version.  I've redone the floor light a bit...extending the light and blending it a bit more.  The windows are the only light source...i think it's a little bright because it's snowy outside, which tends to create bright reflections.  I also added a crack in the wall, which i'm unsure about.  It looks a little staid.  Oh, and i added drapes. 

I would like to do that light shining thing mentioned by esper, but i have no idea how to do that.  I'm using trusty old paint shop pro 5.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Increase the noise?  How do I do that?  I did the wall shadows by hand, not using a gradient.

How do I increase the brightness/contrast?  Is there an easy way to do that too?

good idea.

Steve,

Actually there are floor boards.  They lost their definition through the shadowing method i used.  Here's the floorboards without shadow:



What i did with the floor shadow was color layers of darker shadows and then decreased the transparency...this is what it looks like with the shadows at 100&:



I set that shadow layer at 50%.  The only problem is the floorboards look even more washed out.  Is there an easier/better way to do shadow the floorboards?  Just do it by hand?  Or maybe just make the lines darker?  Or maybe use a different color for the shadows?   

Ildu...you're right about the top of the doorframe.  The door looks smaller because it's pushed over to the left more than the other one is.  Maybe i'll move it over so there isn't any confusion.  No, it's isn't complete yet, and i was trying to think of more details to add...any suggestions would be helpful.  It's sort of an old farmhouse...supposed to be messy/dirty with lots of crap lying around.

Thanks for the help

Hi,

I'm hoping to get a little C&C on this background.  I've tried a few things that I don't have much experience...namely this  shadow/texture you see on the walls and a bit on the floor.  How's it look?  And how about those indentations in the doors?  I couldn't get them to look exactly right...

Thanks

Logan

Yeah, I found Doom 3 nerve racking for a little while.  But after 233,403,234 levels of the same monster filled hallways...the tension disappears. 

The MI theme music definitely floods my memory with friendly thoughts.

I can't really think of any games that really effected me in a deep (or harmful) way.  Oh wait, Castlevania III used to totally freak me out...when I'd sit in my basement as a kid with the lights off.  Those vampires would scare the hell out of me!  Oh, and the opening screen of The Black Cauldron.  For whatever reason, I think that is the best damn theme music ever, even though it's only 3 notes.  That game also scared the hell out of me...for whatever reason.

It's such a great idea!

Thanks for finding those bugs, hopefully someday i'll get around to fixing them.  since they're not major, I probably won't.  Just thinking about working on that game makes me feel ill. 

The reason why I like myspace/friendster is that you can track down people you've lost touch with.  Just this week I've learned that one of my childhood friends had a two year old kid out of wedlock and his parents bribed him with a house to get married!  And that everyone in the town I grew up in is either married/divorced/with child or all of the above.  these are useful things to know!

Fox bought it?  Wierd.  And creepy.  Still, myspace can be fun.

Woh, sorry to revive this old thread, but has anyone since joined myspace?  I'm embarrassed to say that I have: http://www.myspace.com/richdeepflavor

CJ...you don't sound anything like I imagined.  I thought you'd be less outgoing and funny.  You know, cause you're a programmer.  But this was a funny interview!  Very cool.

I like it a lot.  I do think the door is a bit big in relation to the table.  Like the people who would sit at that table would be dwarfed by the door.  and like Albino said, drop some shadows under the table and chairs and behind the vending machine.  But this looks good so far.

I think there are several things you could do to add to the image.  You could make a frame around the door, do the same with the window.  you don't usually see windows that are just cut out drywall like that in real life, unless this is an abandoned building or something...in which case I dunno.  I'd also work on your light a bit on the left wall.  Just because the bulb is that yellow color, doesn' t mean it will turn the green wall that color.  I'd tone it down a bit and spread out the light a bit. 

I've only used AGS, though i used to use SCI Studio before I realized (or was told) that you can directly import TruType fonts.  I'm tempted to download Wintermute to see what the difference is, and because i find the AGS Views/Animation system annoying as hell (not to disparage on Chris's fantastic work, seriously  ).

Beast looks pretty cool.  I honestly didn't love the movies, though I love the comics.  I just felt they were all kind of incomplete...but of course, that always seems to happen with movies based on comics.  Maybe this one will be better.  I just hope they have Apocalypse as a villian at some point...he's so badass.