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Looking much better. Nice edit, Blue, and Joel - its definitely come a long way.

Hey all,

Sorry for cluttering up the board with crit threads, but your help would be greatly appreciated.

After a couple of hours mucking around with layers and the like in my new downloaded version of GIMP (and wondering why I hadn't tried this layer thing sooner!), I managed to create the following GUI template:



Unfortunately I'm not sure how to do the writing on the buttons so that it looks good. I've tried a number of different things, and it always looks very blocky and unappealling. Obviously I have a fair bit of work left to do on it before it begins to look good, but I'd like to get this lettering done now if I can.

Thanks for your time - any suggestions are very appreciated as ever.

Radiowaves - The floor is actually the dark grey/green part. Look up the far end and see how that wall joins on.

Screenshot for reference:



Stupot - Glad you like it dude. It is for a game. There will be details soon, I promise.

Here's a quick before work edit with some shadows:



The corridor is meant to be like a staff only corridor leading to store rooms etc on a large ship. I realise it is rather large for this sort of corridor, but want to keep it this size for simplicity. The post is actually mean to be a pipe such as one would expect to find on a large ship.

I'm actually quite happy with this background now, but further crits are always welcome.

Space Boy - ah! Of course, I forgot that step. Ooops! Thanks for pointing that out. Nihilyst.... heh. Yeah, Candall's right.

InCreator and Seaduck - thanks for your tips. I've done some more work - I don't know if I've got enough content in here, but I hope so. Please tell me your thoughts.



I am pleased with the shape this is taking, and it took me really only an hour, which I think is quite good.

Nihilyst - I like those reflections, I'll definitely have a shot at adding those in. Also the redder tone looks pretty nice - I will have to have a shot at that.

Awesome! Thanks for the tips - these layer things are really useful, I guess. I've never actually used them before, so I'm keen to see what I can do with them. Will see what I can do with these tips!

What sort of technique did you use to achieve that effect, space boy?

Hmmm... is it overkill if I adjust the highlights as well? It is very contrasty now:

Something like this?:



Upped shadow values, smudged to smooth shadows out.

Hi all.

Have just downloaded the Gimp and have decided to start trying out brushes, layers, and other fancy stuff rather than just plain hand pixels.

Have looked at a couple of examples and the like, then gave it a shot. Realised that I suck :p.

Here's a quick corridor I did in GraphicsGale:



And here's my Gimp edit:



I basically used the airbrush to smooth out the lines, with a little bit of the burn tool, used the dodge/burn tool to give the light a bit of brightness, and put a bluish layer over the top, then played around with the colour mix. I'm still not very happy with this - I was hoping to add atmosphere, but it isn't very atmospheric to me. Any help would be appreciated.

I have a small question....

What if one were to become a pirate, but not in the usual, "Arr me hearties", "GROG! WENCHES! GROG! WENCHES" etc type of thing? Like if there was piracy but it wasn't the setting or character, just the actions. So like, thievery. Grand theft Marine. Etc.

Surely this would be an innovative take on a cliche concept?

It looks like you've got some help with the background - how about some help with the sprites?

Some things I've noticed about these sprites:
-No defined shape. The Red Riding Hood and witch look the same, and if it weren't for the colour differences would basically be the same character. Giving a character a pose can help the player realise whether they're meant to be good or evil, etc. Here we have no facial expression, no physical traits... they're just representatives of a character as they are now.
-The colour scheme is far too saturated for your background.
-You've done them on a pink background - how are you going to tell how they look when you get them in the game, colour wise, unless you use a similar background colour to one in your backgrounds?

Here's my paintover. You've used a tiny, tiny resolution but I've tried to make it as detailed as I can get it. Linework included for reference:



Now, to be honest, I've changed a lot of things here, BUT, the new style of characters fits your background style so much better than the original. Check out this little comparison:




Anyway, I hope you get some tips from this little exercise of mine. Good luck with your project.

Here is a typical 100,000 AD man as I percieve it:



Realising how ridiculous it was that one would have to release one's grasp on either beer or hotdog in order to change channels, mankind has evolved a third arm out of his not insignificant belly.

6 colours and 1 for the background - probably the hardest I've worked at choosing an unusual and small pallette. Not enitirely happy with it, but it'll do.

Some interesting points brought up here. However, when forced to use something like MSPaint I often go for less detail.

I've done a rushed example to show you roughly how I would structure this background. This was all done in MSPaint, with a line tool set to the 3rd thickness level. Didn't spend too long worrying about colours or anything, and left the black lines in because I think they look fine and because I'm lazy.



Here are the main points that come to mind:

-Brought the castle closer, gave it more structure (outer wall, inner building).
-Put mountains behind to mask the horizon.
-Changed the road shape so that the sign was easier.
-Desaturated colours.

Its still far from what I'd call a good background, and there are many shading, colouring and perspective issues, but its workable as a 10 minute sketch.

Next: Something completely improbable...

I really like this BG.

I have a small suggestion to offer which may or may not help you. I thought colour wise you could keep everything the same blue colour and perhaps just add highlights with different light colours given off by computer screens, etc.

I have done a very bad paintover to show you what I mean:



Also, I like the outlines in the picture. Because its a space room I think the outlines give it a more man made appearance - if you were to smooth everything out, it might look too natural.

These are just the two cents I have to offer. Your picture is very nice, and I am sure it will be even better soon if you plan to continue to refine it. Good work!

I am insane.

Letter x. What the hell?

I have checked out screenies of Albion - that was of course the game I was looking for.

Nihilyst and Scotch, thankyou for your help, and thanks everyone else for their thoughts. My mystery is solved.

Cheers all!

Hey everybody,

I'm trying to find a game I played a long time ago but remember really enjoying. Here is what I can remember about it:

-I think the title started with "X" - maybe "Q" or "Z" or some other uncommon letter, but I'm sure it was X.
-It had two different gameplay types - half the time you'd be top down 2d, and then there were also parts where you'd walk around in a 3d environment.
-Loads of inventory items. I seem to remember picking up loads of cups and bowls and stuff and wondering whether I could sell it.
-Weird alien creatures, I think, so presumably some sort of science fiction game.

I'm sorry but that's all I can remember about it. Any help you could give would be great. I already searched through all the games starting with X on the Home Of The Underdogs and could not find it on there.

Cheers all.