Messages

Questionable:
I should have remembered to tell you all to ignore the horrible owl; it's ugly and it'll need to be an object anyway, because I'm going to animate it.

I might consider changing the outline, although there used to be no outline and that did not look good - the GUI would disappear into the background. It needs to be clearly defined. Suggestions are welcome.

About only 1/3 of the screen being something to look at: is the sky nothing? What about my rather smashing cloud? go look at Dutch landscape painting. You'll find plenty of low horizons and shit there.   

Pslim: I might be daft, but I don't understand what you mean... Please elaborate, or paint over.

Here's an in-game pic of another back. Any comments on the GUI? What have I not noticed in this bg? There's always something...

EDIT: Btw, how to you change the title of a topic to indicate that it's been updated?

I am sorry but the room inside does not look right when just copy-pasted into a layer - you'll need to change the angles somewhat.



See what I mean?

All you need to do is make it so we don't see the bathroom (?) door - and you should lower the room a little.
I like your style though - I can't really paint with computer programs, I have to cheat and draw on paper, so kudos to you!

I'd move the lighthouse somewhat to the left. Now it appears to be ALMOST placed on the grass instead of in the horizon.
Also, I find it a bit odd that there's a lamppost in the middle of nowhere. Maybe you could make a path along the railings?

Ryan Thimoty: You're right! I didn't notice the bit in the centre - that needs to be ironed out. The left-hand side of the image is not finished though, that's for later.

Mazoliin: I've pretty much slavishly copied the reference pic I had, becasue I thought it had a nice mood. The storm is there, out in the ocean - we'll just have to wait and see whether the weather will worsen later in the game... I think that one cloud is grey because it is in the shadow of another cloud, outside the frame. I dunno, I might erase it if it looks too odd.

Sinsin: object it is, then. You are right about the grass, I think. I'll mend it by adding green grass straws as well, so it doesn't look as if some very selective lawnmowing has been going on.

Thanks all for constructive crit!

Or you can go and select a part(the one supposed to be reflected) and flip it(twice vertical and horizontal) then set a transparency like 70% then add a blur/material effect on it and place it at the mirror.

What would be reflected, I suppose, would be mostly the nearest wall, which we cannot see. And the player, of course, which requires programming.
If the mirror were made to look as if someone just took a shower it would remove the problem. Add some wetness to the floor. (but then again, is it a shower or a secret passage or both?)

But now it looks nothing like the original building anymore...

OK, I think I'll go for animated smoke, then. Is a cycle of backgrounds not recommended? I know the file size might be a bit much for a big BG such as this...

tube: yes, the blurriness is something I'll see to in the very end. Thanks for liking it (the bg, not the blurriness)!

makerofgamz: yes - that is what I did, and thank you.

everyone who commented on the door: I think you are right - I'll have to do something to fix this. Also, I thought I'd change its colour; green worked fine when all the grass was yellow, which it isn't anymore.

You can see the inside of the boat if you go to wqpd.blogspot.com - it's nothing fancy, but it is the starting room - so upon leaving it you will realise it's in a boat. It doesn't have portholes, but a window has been sawn into the ceiling (which used to be the side of the boat).

About the sky: this is more or less exactly as it appears in the photograph that I used for reference. All colours and gradients (as well as the colour of the sea and the clouds) were taken from that photo, which, incidentally, was taken on the west coast of Norway on a chilly day in early spring. That's the overall effect I'm looking for in this game - yellow patches of grass, clear but cold-looking skies, not too many leaves on the trees (these are pines - evergreens - I will add more green on them later). I think that attaching the game firmly to a season gives it more atmosphere and uniqueness. Most games are either summer or winter - or desert or jungle or spaceship. This is more real to me.
I must admit, tho, that I found it strange too that the sky got darker towards the horizon. Might have been a trick of the camera rather than natural. Or a storm might have been brooding out in the ocean, which is not unusual where I come from. It makes it sort of gloomy, which is a good thing.

Hi

You might remember my witch's house interior and other stuff from earlier (go to wqpd.blogspot.com for a reminder). Here is my first outdoors background, featuring the exteriors of aforementioned buildings.



This is a work in progress - but I am pretty much pleased with it so far. However, seeing as I learnt so much from the last time I posted here, I thought I'd post this up just to see if there's any constructive criticism out there.

BTW, apologies for the size. I'd post a thumbnail if I knew how.

I just added some pointers that you might want to consider for the re-hash.

The most important thing I did, in my opinion, was to lower the top bit of the wall in order to improve the perspective somewhat. If you want the ceiling to remain high you'll need to raise the closest bits a little, for the sake of perspective.

The shading depends wholly on what program you use. I used photoshop, whith which I added a layer of dark blue (almost black) and made it suitably transluscent. Then I used a very bright blue (almost white) to indicate where the lighter areas would be, painting them in on this layer. So, it's basically all dark, with some lighter patches. Drawing an outdoor scene I would do it the other way round.
My version is maybe slightly too dark.
Do you know how to program a mirror in code? If not - break it! (or get help...)

Edit: (had strange problem posting)


See what I did there?

Experiment, make several different versions and see which you prefer.  Post some if you can't decide.

What do you think about the GUI? I think there might be something the matter with the look/examine icon (ie the eye), but I can't quite put my finger on what might be wrong.

PixelPerfect: I went and made a new edit that basically rips of your edit, including the rays of light from the right-hand side window. After having seen those, the room just did look a bit lacking without them. Thanks. I've made the room even brighter now, but it still looks sh*t on some monitors. However, I want to stop at some point, before it starts looking bad on MY screen.

I'd like some suggestions about how to make bricks look good too (see the window pic), but apart from that, I think it's time I took a break from C & C, in order to produce some new stuff. I have a very good point of departure now, thanks to all of yous guys. I'll post the finished witch's house room at my production diary blog (see first post).

Your vanishing point is somewhere to the right and the horizon (which seems to be indicated by the foreground green field) seems to be slanting down to the left. This gives the image a strange right-hand side bias that needs some balancing.
I'd make the horizon completely straight if I were you. And I'd consider making the vanishing point either more extreme (ie move it further to the side and back) or more straight (dead centre). Now it looks a bit pointlessly half-hearted (/ constructive criticism).

Looking forward to seeing this with title.

The idea was to do something original with the POV, so I thought of this. Then I remembered the house boat with captain Dread in MI2. Same thing. But by then it was already too late.
So the hand's too small, eh. Well, I think I can fix that, if you all think it is indeed too small.

This is the room upstairs from the other one. It's a WIP, so any tips you might have will be received with gratitude.

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/NuWitchHouse4.png

This image won't show, for some reason.

EDIT: will re-up. Sorry for the mess.

EDIT:

EDIT: Missing image. See next post.


Latest version of the room. Light enough?
Also, the new verb coin style GUI. I have some problems with it, though not of an artistic sort. When I hover the mouse over one of the icons, they change accordingly. However, when I move the pointer to another, neutral, position, the icons won't change. They stay the way they are until I move the pointer over another icon. Annoying.
Anywho. This is not the place for that discussion, I guess.

I think Pixel is really close to nailing it. There's gorgeous light rays coming from the windows. Closer to the screen chandelier is blurry, as is the wall on the left; this gives it a real sense of depth and focus. And of course, the original brilliant background is in tact and gorgeous.

I like the light rays, but I really like the halo round the circular window. Slanted light rays are a very powerful way of pointing something out, adding emphasis or lending biblical connotations, so I think I'll save those for when I really need them.
About the blurry, close-to-the-screen bits: I made those that way, but the image was (apparently) so dark you could not see them. In other words: I'll make it brighter. Again.

Pixel: thanks for the edit. I like.