Messages

[SO]

Your mom is SO right. Moms are always right.
Before drawing, go through "tutorials" sticky (in Critics Lounge main page) and learn what "vanishing point system" stands for. And how to use this.

Basically, your room has NO perspective. I drew a quick and dirty pic to show how you should have started, before texturing and coloring > notice how all lines vanish into one point:

Well, I don't think that original "seduce" animation is good.
It's kind of childish... or drunk-high-school-cheerleader type

I suggest this (but the anim should be slow and smooth!):

*Roxy slowly changes pose so she's supported by her left foot, revealing bottom and figure more
* Places left hand onto hip (somewhat suggestive)
* This should also extend her breasts, pulling stomach back
* does something sexy with her right hand, like correcting hair maybe
* eyes could change too, maybe halfway-closed

It's quite weird if explained like this  :. Actually this is the oldest and most popular pose. All beauty contestants use this, if you're ever happened to see any shows (Miss whatever).

I threw together a quick sketch of final pose:



And random google came up with this:



If she's animated slowly and smoothly into this pose from original, well, quite seductive could that be

Edited an edit > 3rd shade and changed colors few tones...
Also, redrew tail.


2x:

Well, winner is MrColossal! I think that there's no need to ask why, this entry (despite gorgeous background cheat ) still rocked the most.

Petazzo's anim is mega cute, and Progz's entry looks like there's most time spent on animation. But still, simplicity and smoothness rule here the most.

Actually, everybody did very well. Everybody but myself - I was quite busy lately and totally forgot about the compo 

Congrats, Eric.

Rammstein is a rare case when I actually DO like and listen to metal. Can't speak much german, though.

But most of the songs are so atmospheric, that they can't just be ignored. Excellent emotion music. And genious videos.

That's what "look" interaction is for.

Like, the bg has sign with writing "Politseijaoskond", when you look at it, character says (Or text appears) "This sign says 'Police Department' on it!", etc

Sociopath.

Well...

Not really. Test is wrong.

The water *is* better. What bugs me is water at upper left-  it's too plain there.

Also, the little round wave/ripple thingies supporting posts generate, should be lighter, not darker than water below them.
But I strongly recommend not to draw them at all, but add as animations directly into game. With alpha disappearing effect, so the move away from post and disappear... would be cool.

Well, I think it's much better.

Though, if it were my background, I'd focus on lac of detail and large, empty areas.

Instead of continously adding details (and ending up with one messy room), I would play a bit with colors and light to narrow room down. For example, dark colors make rooms smaller.

Also, dark rooms feel smaller. Close your eyes and try to imagine how far the nearest wall in your room is - then open eyes - it's much usually farther than you guessed.

I tried a different wall color, more different wall with different floor, and finally, one of these dangerous light maps I love to use. Dangerous as they can get very wrong and mess everything very much up. Still, I quite like what happened, though it's too dark now.

You could use it for some ideas maybe.

[awfully wrong]

Fixed the bench, hat (correct color now) and a poster.



But overall..

The good:

* Nice details
* Interesting background (in game it feels so)
* Well planned scaling and angles
* Low saturation colors (pleasing to eye)

The bad:

* Too desaturated colors. It's getting quite boring...
* Too much brown
* Perspective is awfully wrong, especially due 2-point perspective. Look at the following picture:

What's going on here?

Bonus Good:

* Perspective problems don't matter much, somehow!

Thank you!
But... avatar 

Today, I welcome another step closer to retirement (which will happen soon, only in 2049), which gives me plenty of time for my hobbies then. Gee, maybe I even finish a game?

** sings a weird song

Plain color water looks very boring. Especially if it's all over the room.

A simple tech to give detail to water is to spray it over.

I used brighten/darken mode and self-drawn brush (the shape I drew lower left, into white box) and sprayed it randomly all around the water.

But though it's quite simple and cheap, it still gives somewhat too realistic feeling for your cartoony bg. Maybe there's a shape/workaround/way you could adjust this with your style?
Also, the shadow won't fit anymore. But I'm to lazy to make it better.

Unfortunately, it just seems like another half-assed attempt to solve the 'wrong' problems in the worst way.

Hah! No!
It's the oldest trick in the book of politics.
A way to create right to say:

"Stop whining about the spam! Did we help? Yes. We made a law. But you suckers (people) don't follow it, so if you don't like it, stop whining and handle your problems by yourself. We *did* try to make things better."

[hate]

I don't know shit about techno and I don't -want- to understand the differences between all the different kind of music.

This is acceptable.
If you can also avoid "all techno is [blah]" statements, world also accepts.

For example, I picked techno+ music for tempo. I just can't stay listening anything under 120 bpm (of course, there's exceptions) or, I hate vocals (main motto: the less singing, the better) and I get totally unstable and aggressive towards music playing equipment (radio, computer) if I have to listen to some rock-love-songs. Like Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, etc. Or songs where grown up men sing in female voice (see above and add boy bands).
There's "best ROCK song ever" popular thread in this forum. It seems that majority of members dig metal. I wouldn't click the link even if paid for.

I could say that it's crap and gay (no minority discuss here, it's just typical uber-insulting-rating-to-something for heterosexual men).
I *do* think so, actually.

But I won't go out yelling it.

So, be ignorant but be quiet.

InCreator, I implore you! Tell me what genre I should call myself! Go on! Pweeease!

Experimental Industrial Vocal Techno with elements of PunkMetal? Or other way around?


Hehe, I don't know. Your songs lack high sounds (beepy sounds) to go under any trance or techno subgenre and the beats go somewhere towards Jungle/Drum'n'Bass.

As many say, the genres usually collide and mix so there's really no strict rules what is what. Making genres is just putting similar tracks together, by bpm and amount of melody. And people don't listen to genres, they just usually scope for "right stuff". For me, "right stuff" is usually Progressive/Anthem/Epic (by this weird guide) trance tracks and lot's of different house. Other stuff is... too hardcore.

But I guess it's quite safe to call it Rave. Sounds like The Prodigy before they released any records and got super famous.

Listening at some tracks, I don't think that you developed an attachment to one genre yet. Add thunder kick drums and 160 bpm of speed and you're doing gabber/hardstyle. Give even more tempo and add ear cutter snares, deeeep bass and lots of tambourine/hithat stuff - you're about to make some dark drum'n'bass. etc.

Haha, that's some great entries! 
Keep em' coming!

Trivia:
By the way, since I'm not in a sprite drawing mood lately, I picked Mr.X sprite for compo from my "6 Day Assassin" sequel/fangame I started a while ago. That's the protagonist, my version or original main character.
Project, though I have half-ready version still on my HD, is stopped, because I don't think my game deserves to be a fangame (not good enough) and I also somehow got this feeling that Eric wouldn't appreciate my idea. Haven't asked yet, though.

Anyway, keep on animating! At first, I thought that it's a bit too detailed char to animate, but now I know that it's detail just increases the quality of entry animations and this compo overall. Which is great!

Well, what I tried to say that this is not just kick-hithat-kick&snare-hithat neverending loop. This is a very large portion of music/modern culture, and when digging in - learning terms and styles, a whole science... Well, atleast in Europe.

It's quite underground too. Most of what makes techno and its roots good, is actually underground, and something you'll never hear on radio. And radio... well, radio really plays shit. Usually because people don't get deep into the music that's primarily meant to dance to. They want something simple and memorable. So deep, complex tracks never gain popularity and unpopular things are not on air. And no one knows the jewels then. So overall prestige of genre will be low for people who take music seriously.

There's some genres and songs that, well, I think - they are *meant* to be for background music. There's lots of really good stuff and some of so complex compositions that they may easily be compared to classical concerts. But usually it's art of using simple things to make something complex. Simple melodies, pads, beats, etc combine to make a memorable, even psychedelic tune. Often just one instrument and one melody is used. But by adding few filters and effects (like Flanger of Phaser) and using it professionally, it gets a whole new "face" and the short piece of melody gets used extremely well. It's absolute opposite for classical music, where melodies come and come.


Paul Oakenfold - Ready Steady Go -- I can't imagine this song anywhere else than being a theme for background of sci-fi/extreme sports movies or shows... which it is used mostly.

Necros - Mechanism Eight --  I usually listen to this song while going to work at the morning and walking around in city. It just... gives emotions of advanced technology and progress of humankind, it somehow strongly moves me. BTW, it's the background music from original Unreal Tournament, train map. (Futuristic game? It rocked twice as much there!)

Tracks like this do have purpose as background music, though they can be labelled as "techno". But-- they are good! And they fit.

Can't think of any more atm...

[offtopic]
Compile? Yes, like this program Dance eJay, the shame of everything electronic out there.

But is that so-called "making" or "writing" music?
I'd say that this is mixing music, not really making it. Like DJs do.

I'm not saying that it's as hard as singing opera, for example.
But I hate when people label about 100 genres of music under a word "techno". These people can't tell techno apart from cutting wood. If you take one genre of electronic music, and another, and compare them, it may simply be that they're as different as... er... punk rock versus japanese national songs?

And. Depends what you call "techno". Of course, anthem trance or  some kind of ambient techno are nothing to make. But they neither fit for any game aswell!

Nikolas -- what's that thing with 120 bpm? That's the speed of hiphop and maybe some quite slow house. Most of synthetic music starts usually at 135 (real "techno", pop hits from early 90s, mostly from Sweden artists) and ends at 145 (real trance, extinct for today).

Ah, there's a guide which gets things quite right. What was that link again? See yourself, infidels

http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html

[/well, that was offtopic indeed]

* Noise is way too intense on sidewalk
* blur is way too blurry on buildings
* blur is too contrasty on buildings
* light rays are not blurry (soft edged) enough
* windows lack detail
* windows have too contrasty blue color: windows usually reflect something. Such as sky. But if sky was SO blue, street would be much less dark
* road is too much a chasm and not enough a road: people need ladders to get onto road from sidewalk

It's not bad background, I find it quite functional and even interesting (some horror/murder mystery game, perhaps), but...

It will all be SO much better if you redo texturing on buildings. Make a *real* texture. And desaturate windows alot.
I say - do all I told and do it on original version 2. It looked the best, despite cheap filter.