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Hey, your background looks great I think, but if you need some pointers I'll try to help out.  These links try to show the design of a traditional japanese home, but may not be exactly what you're looking for in the design.

Link #1 ::: Traditional Japanese Home 1
Link #2 ::: Traditional Japanese Home 2
Link #3 ::: Architecture 1
Link #4 ::: Architecture 2
Link #5 ::: Architecture 3


I hope all that helps & isn't at the same time overwhelming, just how I do my homework



EDIT: I added this image.  What I did is simply change the appearance of the house. It's no longer two story(not sure what a two story version would look like really), & I added the altered coloring, red bars around the building & the screen doors(or glass).  It's not really 3-d or whatever anymore but you get the idea. The wide look to the roofs, intricate designs in the roofing, lots of japanese-ish things around the setting.  That will really help to pull the viewer towards japan and away from a western point of view I think.

I've never been to japan, & I can read/write very well but have trouble speaking it. This is my best guess you could say.  Good luck! If you need more examples(photos of houses for example), let me know I can whip more up...



This is for you Japanese Adventurer!
CrazyEnglish

Ok so I think I get the idea so far.  Not sure how good at this I am, but with any luck, the overall look will improve.

Thanks Dinghy, for the explanation & that cool example! ^^

Now, let's see what I did was, basically outlined everything in about 7 or 8 different layers(I didn't really count).  Then, I changed the opacity for all the layers & used the dodge/burn tools to change some of the coloring to make it outline better.  After that, I threw in some grain filters to see what it'd look like with less smudginess to it.

This first one has no stair work done on it:


Then I did the stairs and maybe a few other things, I need to clean up the stairs more, but I'm getting tired of this background to be honest so I'll start working on another one and come back to it more tomorrow.

do you use lots of layers?

i'd black out in flat colours parts of the scene, like the walls and the stairs and the posts on seperate layers, then start working on them with preserve transparency turned on. then you can't go out of the lines and you'll maintain your crisp edges

eric

Hey Eric, I like what you did with those edits. Very crisp, & I really see where you're going with it, but I think you have overestimated my photoshop skills

Do I use layers...yes, but I'm not sure I 'get' them just yet. Maybe so you can work without having to worry about mistakes? I'm not sure.

Blackout with flat colors...on seperate layers with preserve transparency?? Please expand in as much detail as possible...I'm just not sure what you mean.  Now, it's not that I have NO idea what you're talking about...but it's just that I've been working in Photoshop for maybe..what...2 weeks tops?  Everything I've ever drawn has been on paper & well, this is just a bit frustrating I must say. Ok thanks for the help!

[Update 09/09/03:]

Update 09/09/03:
The title of the game has changed.

Dang Buffalo, that's amazing.  My first background, took me at least a week to finish.  I still think it needs alot more work too.  Ugh, c'est la vie.

In the future you will be forced to communicate via 'phones' that are embedded into your forehead & cyber-fused with your mind.  See, no ears? Evolution.

Hiya.  Your first priority is to get into the supply closet that's being held shut by that string thing.

Knock on your Master's door, then before he comes out hide in the far left part of the screen.  Then go upstairs and enter the laundry chute.  :-)

-Dave

That's awesome! I think I'm at the exact same spot as he was I couldn't figure it out either. Thanks for the tip

Hey check out these audio tracks and tell me if you like any of them.  Tracks 3, 5, 6, & 7 are the best ones I think.  Track 1 doesn't seem to have a place in a game now that I go back & listen to it.  Track 2 & 4 need to be redone cuz there's notes all over the place, heh.  But anyway tell me what you think! ^^

Track 1 WIP
Track 2 WIP
Track 3 WIP
Track 4 WIP
Track 5 WIP
Track 6 WIP
Track 7 WIP

Heh yes I agree, it was a major pain.  It's already done though, so no worries there...  And I think it looks good enough, still there's that blurriness.  Unfun.

Hey Max, I'm pretty sure you're not talking about my art, heh...but here's what I think alot of people are doing.  I do this as well.

First, I draw something I like, usually in pencil(art pencil not the #2 thing).

Second, I scan it at a good resolution(I'm not sure what's really a good resolution though, somebody else will help with that).

Then, I do the rest by hand.

Another thing some people do, is take a photo, scan it(or download it for example).  Then, they outline the photo and color it however they like.  There are good tutorials on the AGS homepage.

Oh yeah, the programs I use are Adobe Photoshop 7, ImageReady, & a flatbed scanner. That's about it.  Hope that helps!  

To start, there are too many broken links here.  Someone needs to clean them up.  Also, I can't tell where one link ends & the titles are smashed into them equally badly.  There needs to be a tutorial on how to post links next.

I didn't see any musical tutorials for games, does anyone have some?

Make a tutorial? Make a sketch, color it using actual examples of whatever it is(like I used photos of logcabin homes and mirrored the wood on the walls to get the idea), go nuts with fun tools like Smudge, Blur, Sharpen, filters, etc etc.  It's all a matter of taste I think.

Even still it is blurry, and I'm not totally sure I'm the guy to fix it...I didn't even realise it was blurry till you mentioned it. Sooo, how do I sharpen it? Sharpen the edges? What makes a pixel sharp/blurred in the first place?  Seems there should be a tutorial on that...

Hey Jam, I really like what you've got going here!  Reminds me of some of the rooms in Shadowrun for the SNES, if you've ever seen that.  Probably not exactly the same but I do get that feeling.  Hm, I can tell by how well you drew everything that it's going to be superb in the end.

Is that IceClimber? Wow, I dig that....twas my very first Nes game.  Making my brother into a snowflake, that was joy.

Anyway it could be a children's reading room with a fun plush carpet that the little kiddies like to lay on whilest delving into the depths of Seuss?  Or, it could be an erotic bookstore where the neon signs are rampant(hey I've neeeever been there I'm just guessing)?  A chair just seems, so out of place in these cases...and for the latter maybe a crappy stained bed would be appropriate...

Yes you've caught me, I cannot do hair.  I will give it another shot, maybe check out a model or two before hand, I'm sure that'll help.  More shading on the left arm? Okey dokey, shall try that.  ^^ Up with smilies! ^_^

I still like it better with double pixels. It looks more cartoony. Evil...Is that... is that a smiley I see at the end of your post? I HATE SMILIES!!! Anyone who puts smilies at the end of there posts are loosers!

Morgan is on a rampage against smilies.  They're so small, how do you attack such defenseless yellow circles?   Look at this one:  -->  <-- He is not so bad. Hug him! Show your love for poor helpless S.M.I.L.E.Y.

Well here's a few updates.

I did try to add more shadows, and hopefully her skin looks better now.  Tried to work on the nose, glasses, & lips a little bit but mostly outlines & shadows etc were my main goals.  Her elbows are about at where the dress sleeves end, so it's hard to see the front crease in her arm but I did work on that too.  Anything else look out of place or abnormal?  Oh and here's a terrible attempt at a behind pose.  I just drew over her face in a hurried middle of the night session. I've got a full walking sequence, I'll try and get a gif of it soon.

This was my first edit:


And this is the final work I did. It should hopefully look slightly better than the previous.


Finally, her behind pose, in all it's sadness:


I've got about 25 roles in this game scripted already, so I better get to work on new characters eh? Egads!

Hey there, I really like your backgrounds and your penguin! Ice & snow are really hard to get right for me, so that's pretty impressive in my opinion.  As for the light in the animation, it seems too wide spread.  What I mean is, the light source doesn't seem like it could illuminate so brightly but hey I've never been in one of those huts there sooo what do I know?

If I drew the candles, I'd have the light be lower and very restricted to the general area around them.  Add some shade underneath the table there and you're set!

This would be very fun to play, did you name the penguin yet?

So far all I've animated was the behind-walking sequence.  It was fairly simple I just drew her hair down her back & did the arms.  To me, proportions are a pain but if I've got them right I tend to just copy, rotate slightly, touchup and go. Hopefully it works, sometimes the whole perspective is screwed up but it saves me time and at this size it's hard to notice.

The sideview is evil, but I haven't compared any actual side poses yet & when I do I'll have a better idea of what I'm looking for.

Everything is painted by hand & I use photos as a reference tool for shape, angles, that sort of thing.  I use the smudge tool in Photoshop alot actually.  Sometimes I can make use of a filter but it hasn't happened on this game yet.
Anyway gotta get some sleep been working hard on the images & I'll update more later tomorrow.

January 2004: Flak's Quest - The Pale Flame