Messages

@Mad
Nice one! Love the murky palette and soft lighting. Definitely would've played the game with this kind of backgrounds.

Hey, wouldn't that story, or that world make an excellent game...

Everything by Gaiman would, though.

@Tier
Can't wait for your entry!

@Sughly
Do it! Show us what you're made of!

Few things to consider:
- Since the air is not completely transparent, the contrast of the objects always changes according to their distance from the viewer. Things that are close to us have a high contrast, and things on the horizon appear almost flat and monotone.
- Relation between light and shadows is one of the key elements of any outdoor scene. Get it right - and you get the mood right.

And an edit to illustrate these points:


Hope this helps. It's a really nice background, good luck!

[Underground]

...And the theme for the new Background Blitz is... (drumroll)... ...(awkward pause)... Yes, you've already seen it in the topic title, I know.

Underground

Extended to Nov 15th

You are free to interpret that whichever way you like - from an abandoned dieselpunk subway station to a small hole in the ground.
As long as it's technically under the ground (or not, underground music club works too), dark (or not, it can be brightly illuminated) and AGS-compatible - you're in.

You have about 2 weeks. Good luck!

Just finished it - great stuff! Really good puzzles and setting, beautiful graphics and atmosphere.
I would've prefered a slightly more IDM-ish soundtrack, but it works fine as it is.

Loved the in-cyberspace bits, funny and creepy at the same time, especially the Yotsuba-like Cheffie.

Thanks for this nice little game, will be looking forward to part 2!

[Idea:]

Idea: Ilyich - Yes! I'm voting for myself! There wouldn't have been a point otherwise, with 2 entries and all. I'll just try and be objective.
Design: Oraxon
Functionality: Oraxon
Technique: Oraxon

Love the Oraxon's entry - spot on atmosphere, nice style and very adventure-gamey. Well done!
Oddysseus' shark, though not a valid entry,  made me smile too.

Great screens! Love the retro-vibe, like the premise, look forward to the game. Oh, and nice title.
Good luck!

Overall, I think it's quite nice as it is.
I'd suggest you to be more careful with your choice of colours, though.

Use a wider range of hues, more tonal contrast and a smaller pallette. 12 colours is enough most of the time. Pixel art should be crisp and precise.

Quick colours edit:

Was planning to join, but then decided not to. But since it's still not over, I changed my mind once again and hastily made a rushed entry.

And here it is, The Great Piggy Bank Robbery - the pettiest crime ever commited!

[#3 - loominous]

What's up with the competitions lately? Everything looks great, it's really hard to choose. Well done, guys!
But especially, these guys:

#3 - loominous - for taking inherently nasty concept(two-headed creatures) and making it cute.

#2 - Pinback - for great character design.

#1 ProgZmax- for impeccable, pixel-perfect sprite. The 1st and 3rd heads even look like Jones and Palin. Wow.

Yes, awesomely awesome entries. Well done everyone!

[abstauber]

Idea: abstauber - ridiculously silly, but really funny and creative. And it has a strong Gobliiins vibe, which is great.
Design: loominous - no comment.
Technique: loominous - again, not much to say - beautifully done.
Functionality: Kelma - it's really easy to imagine this location inside the game, the possible dialogue, puzzles and hotspot descriptions just write themselves.

-It looks a little 'simple' with not a great deal going on.

This can be easily solved by adding something to the background (mountains, clouds, other houses) and/or texturing the surfaces (wood planks) - both done by AtelierGames.

-I cant figure out how to do a sky pixelly (i.e without a gradient)

If you're using Photoshop, you can convert the gradient to Indexed colors with pattern diffusion mode, see result in my edit.

-My colours seem a little 'off'

I really like the colours as they are, very soft and night-timey.

-the roof doesnt look round like a mushroom top.

Try to bring out the form by reshading it in a more traditional light-normal-shade-reflex way.
Quick edit:

Wonderful little game! Everything fits together neatly, nothing stands out in a bad way, which results in great immersion. It would be great to see more story/dialogue in your next game, but this is quite solid already.
Escpecially liked the inventory close-ups and I find that computers always work well in adventures (what an irony!).
Well done and good luck!

I was trying to keep the grass in the garden abscent of snow, since magic protects it from colds

- that reminds me of Erana's Garden from Sierra's Quest for Glory -
.

I suggest you do the same thing they did here - create a focus on the colourful garden itself by surrounding it with cold, frozen background. I really like Ali's edit, it has a very strong wintery feel, so i think you should implement his colouring decisions into the "cold" part of the background.
Also, the grass needs a little variation, but all in all - it's a really good background already.

Quick muddy edit to (poorly) show what i mean:

Looks lovely! Nice, smooth colors and flowing curves, charming hand-painted feel. Lots of empty space is a problem, but it can be solved not only by adding more detail, but simply by giving it more texture (try using Corel Painter, for example).
Also, the simplistic style reminded me of a wonderful dA artist, I suggest you check him out and take some pointers from there. Good luck!

[Jim Reed]

Okay, that's it!
You all get solid chocolate bars, some even with shiny wrappers!

1st place - Jim Reed
2nd place - Stefano
3rd place - Intense Degree

And since all entries are very good, everyone else gets a consolation prize, well done, people!          

Thanks for participating! Take it away, Jim!

Intense Degree - good one!

One day left, everybody! Join in, the more - the merrier!

[SpacePaw]

As much as I like loominous' entry, my vote goes for SpacePaw and his highly original and funny idea.

Fifthed! The new one looks better and, actually, is less confusing, because characters pop up to the front and the background stays at the back.

Jim Reed, cool op-art, exactly what i was looking for here.
NsMn, "We must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!". Hypnotising stuff.
Stefano, beautiful colours and patterns, great job!
straydogstrut, neat picture, like the soft contrast.

So far so good, keep them coming!