Messages

Idea: Traveler
Atmosphere: Loominous
Design: Loominous
Composition: Loominous
Functionality: TheJBurger
Technique: Loominous

I do buy some music off the net, but never if there's a "protective" system like that. I like flexible files. Physical CD's I'm not very interested in anymore, all the plastic takes up so much space. I've put most of my collections in big cases, throwing the plastic out - same with most of my DVD's. Having the entire music collection on disk is much more convenient. With cover "art", it's no big deal. Most of it isn't particularly pretty anyway, and as written above, you can look at it on the net. I guess the only thing missing is the smell... This solution is better for the environment too, instead of ordering plastic and aluminium which are transported halfway across the planet in big B-52 planes.

I do like to pay for the music, to support the artists, and besides I have a job and can afford it. Back when I was a poor student I might have broken that rule, though.

David Bowie steals your little brother...

Hah! Best idea so far.

I think there might be perspective issues with the lines along the ceiling, and top of the cupboard. According to the lines on the floor, the horizon seems ok, height-wise.

The problem with the couch I think, is mainly it's shadow, which makes it appear floating in front of the image. More well-defined shadows in sync with the direction of the light would look better. This also goes for the walls themselves, which all have the same brightness with a darker gradient towards the edges. It's unnatural, but in this image it sortof adds a dreamlike atmosphere.

Colorwise, the yellows are a bit aggressive.

Dropping the black outlines was a good idea.

Keep it up!

If you spent money on a Wacom, I suggest you try and paint with it, not cut and paste a number of images and clipart to create a mish-mash like this. It might be the harder route, but it will look so much better - if nothing else it will have personality. Even if you don't trust your painting skills, I hope you'll try to work on them.

Hello again, we don't want frustration!

Are you using photoshop? I think loominous described a very good method in this thread.

What I did with this one was splitting the image up, with the other room at a second layer. I placed an adjustment layer abouve this, with curves (i think it was), pushing it into a warmer area. Then I did the opposite with the front room. Then a 75% black over everyting, for shadows. Punching holes, and adding black accordingly, with a soft black brush or eraser. Then a unifying curve-adjustment layer at the top, mainly because I don't like pure black/greyscale shadows, and wanted so soften that effect. This method was to be quickly done, and is a bit messy.

"My Dead Husband, the Stranger (Still in Diapers)" - such a great title

Serioulsy, Charade is a good movie to base a game on I think. Keep at it!

EDIT: I'm guessing at how you did this: Did you put a dark translucent square atop the image, and then puched holes in it for lighting (with layers, of course)? I've done the opposite: I've been keeping everything light, then I've added the shadows - which makes perfect sense when you're used to drawing on paper. Your way makes a whole lot more sense, especially on an indoor scene.

Yeah that's pretty much what I did. I also tried toning the two rooms differently. Pure black/greyscale for shadows is not preferrable though, it feels better to keep them in the tone of the room ambience. Actually I'm not so sure about the punching method, but it was quick with this room, which I felt would naturally look much darker. If you want the scene much brighter and cozy (might fit the tone of the story better), I suggest lighting the candles in the roof, or adding other lightsources.

Sorry, this is a very sloppy edit. I'm trying to give an impression of more clear identification of light sources and how they color their environment. So there's fire=warm, daylight=bluish here. This calms down the image, and creates a more uniform atmosphere.



This might call for a rearrangement of some objects, depending of how important they are for the game. I also think the sprite fared better, with the little desat and tint.

Your drawing skills are very good!

[Idea]

Idea - Zyndikate. I like the idea and challenge of putting the lighthouse in the fog. It takes a little while before you notice the actual lighthouse, since the eyes first focus on the building on the right. I wonder if the effect would have been stronger if the image was flipped, but thats probably my western way of reading things left-right.

Atmosphere - Zyndikate. Again the fog does the trick, along with the nice hues. To criticize something, I feel the massive yellow inside the door, with no distinguishable details is a bit hard to buy (at least for me), even in these romanticized circumstances. But then again you said it wasn't finished.

Design - Close, but I give this to nihilyst. There's a great deal of creativity with different elements; the tree, the rocks, the cloud. Another very good pixel background from you. I liked Ben's lighthouse as well, a certain cuteness to it.

Composition - Zyndikate pulls off the most interesting composition IMO. I think the setting in nihilyst's BG is exciting enough, but perhaps the different elements could have arranged in a different way, and also I didn't like the cropping of the top of the lighthouse.

Functionality - Zyndikate.

Technique - Zyndikate. I'm very impressed.

Good points, Weirdguy. I'm at a low count and no productivity though.

Also:

3. Gravity. In Starwars II...young Anakin is standing on some sort of monster...on its side? Completely imbalanced. Same with Legolas in Lord of the rings, he rides all sorts of trolls and monsters, but he appears to be glued to their backs. If you stand on top of a large body that moves very quickly, you don't move with them, you fall off. Basic physics.

Nothing breaks immersion so much as when stuff don't make sense.

Yup. I'm also fascinated by the feeling that most CGI-creatures seem weightless somehow.

I think CGI have come to stay for both economical and practical reasons. This "revolution" has also removed all remaining borders of what can possibly happen in the movies. Hollywood seem to have become obsessed with these endless possibilities, and the overall quality of the output has declined in favor of gigantic skyscrapers swallowed by flying purple pigs and other such scenarios. Hopefully the novelty will wear off, and they can again put the emphasis on solid storytelling - it is what made Hollywood so successful in the first place.

Good topic, JBurger.

That sounds like a good theme for the revived Photoshop Phriday, Stupot.

They just ditched my ideas so quickly;

This is so typical of film/media class group work related to creating a film. Everyone has a vision, but noone is able to communicate it good enough. So, usually, it ends up on a compromise (=mediocre results). But filmwork is learning by doing, so it's rarely a waste. And maybe your ideas can be used in some ways at a later production

Russian film history is very rich, even under the circumstances they had to produce from time to time. Sergei Eisenstein is as important as any film director with his great silents (Battleship Potemkin, October, Strike) and great inventions in film language, first and foremost on the montage. He, along with Vertov (Man with a Movie Camera) and others lead an important way for cinema editing as we know it today. Of later russian directors, Tarkovsky should be mentioned. He is my favourite director, with his own unique poetic language. There are numerous others. I saw Nightwatch, and it was shit indeed, but nothing else that an update on recent tendencies in action films, both American and Asian. Should perhaps not judge an entire countrys production based on one single product.

Since you base your writings on Hollywood anyway, you shouldn't miss things like the epics of Griffith, where a lot of narrative and formal techniques we take for granted today were first born. And what about the development of the studio system? The impact the two world wars made on the market. Universal Horrors? Film Noir? Citizen Kane? The new wave of the late 60s/70s? The birth of the blockbuster (Jaws), etc...

That felt like a highly subjective "history of film", but an entertaining read it was.

[Roadside Picnic]

Roadside Picnic - Boris & Arkady Strugatsky

Have you seen the film "Stalker" by Tarkovsky? If so, how do you feel it was, compared to the book? "Stalker" is one of my favourite films.

My favourite author is Dostoevsky, and "Brothers Karamazov", "Crime and Punishment" and "The Idiot" in particular. His "The Insulted and Humiliated" is also a great, great novel. "Apart from him, Kafka, Joyce, Chekov, Proust, Mann. Also Hemingway, his short stories in particular.

If any forum needs strong moderation, it's the GiP forum. 9 out of 10 projects are never realized. It's all exitement and glorious hope for a while, ultimately just betrayal. It's like religion.

Thanks for clearing this up, guys. I'll tell my friend.

Heh, I can see the alien part. I haven't seen any of those, but there have been deceased relatives and even a car next to my bed(!). It feels very real the moment it happens, so it's pretty bad. But it doesn't last long nor happen very often.