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[EDIT:]

Hey guys,

I'm posting here to get some feedback. This mockup screenshot is from the massive AGS collaboration project (named Sphinx, for now).

Basically, I'm designing a style that looks unique and artistic, while being relatively simple to reproduce (since several artists of varying skill levels will be doing the backgrounds, so consistency is clutch).Ã, 

For more info on the project, check these forums: http://agsproject.proboards76.com/index.cgi

I'm looking for crits on:
A. The overall style
B. The sprite (design or execution)
C. Any part of the GUI
D. The background (this advice won't be as useful, since this bg might end up as a placeholder)



EDIT: See last post for update

I see the static posture as the biggest problem.

- Anything by Grateful Dead (esp the 70s concerts. Notables include: The Other One, Me and My Uncle, Samson and Delilah, Hard to Handle)

- The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East

- Jimi Hendrix - Catfish Blues (cover)

- Any live Cream songs plus Derek and the Dominoes

- A few Bad Religion songs (Do What You Want, You, Better Off Dead, Along the Way, Walk Away, Don't Pray on Me)

- Camel - Lady Fantasy

- Citizen Cope - Son's Gonna Rise (this one probably doesn't belong on the list, but it's a good song)

The last three minutes or so (final lesson) is the best part of the entire 20 minutes. Playing fast over a slow song = genius. I don't know how often I've heard a slow ballad and wished for some shredding played over it.

You should prolly pick your own colors, since the shapes have outlines in the actual movie.

Remember that your sprites are much smaller than the characters in the movie, so they will need to pop out visually.

Of course the shading may be due to the difference between cover art and that of the actual cartoon.

If you plan on animating those characters, I'd recommend not shading them (besides a basic drop shadow maybe) to stay closer to the Disney style.

Sorry to post this publicly...but, I did insult you publicly, LBS.

I was an ass. Hope all can be forgiven. I have a quick fuse when general dismissal statements are used without any kind of supporting info.

The river in the new edit looks nicer, it blends well. The purple spots are hard to read, there's still a bit of the prob with the exit being blocked from the view, and the bridge still looks twisted. As for the upper arch, I think if the highlights on the right side were darker (perhaps a tinge of a darker, cooler color) it would help portray that side as being closer to the foreground. If you moved that side of the arch further right, it might solve the exit issue, too.

I think the main problem is the composition. Are we looking at two arches, one crossing over to form an X in top view?

Try something:
Cover the right half with your hand and study it. The left side of the path seems to arch away from the camera while the top part seems to come towards it.

Now cover the left side. The land bridge is straight or even going towards the camera a little. The top part actually crosses all the way over the land, blocking any view of the room's exit.

Are these arches tree trunks? Or some sort of formation on an alien planet?

Sorry if I digress in the next part of this post, but stupidity drives me wacko, especially when it's directed at me...

I am sorry, but making sure that walls and floor have clearly different colors/hues or are clearly seperated in any way seems like a pretty stupid thing a bg "should" have and I totally disagree.

Hahahahahaahahahaha.... Well, that clears up that. Your point is totally proven with this statement. I'll just quit my job now so you can take it.

Distances in jungle atmospheres can be suprisingly deceptive in real life and I see no reason why that can't carry over into game graphics.

Distances anywhere can be deceptive when someone's as blind as you are. But even if this is true, and atmospheric perspective somehow doesn't apply, why the fuck would a creator want basic elements of their background to be "deceptive"? The point of game graphics is not so much to reflect reality, but to provide visual cues that the player can easily understand.

Trying to "fix" the other things would likely take a very long time to be effective, and could still end up having almost no noticeable effect unless you put old and new side by side.

No, seriously. What the fuck are you talking about? Are you saying that it's impractical to "fix" someone else's work? I never said my edit was the ONLY WAY to improve the bg. In fact, If you actually read what I wrote, I said it was a SLOPPY EDIT. And I think it's obvious that it lacks the polish of the original, but apparently you thought I believed it to be on par.

As for putting the images side by side, here are a few tips, Lilgaysmurf:
1. Use the BACK button on your browser. It should be right up there around the FILE drop down menu on your internet browser.
2. Save the files on your hard drive and open them in your paint program of choice. Maybe then you can actually look at them up close before forming some asinine opinion.

Don't get mad, you had this coming.

I like the simplistic look of the original (as that makes them closer to the cartoon). However, they are stiff and rigid, lacking the dynamic shapes that gave the cartoon characters personality. A while back there was an infamous thread on the DOTT style a while ago that covered this issue.

Wow, I didn't expect an animation showing the layers! Good work so far, it def is an improvement. I think having a few buildings pushing into the lighter parts of the horizon would be a good thing (now that the horizon is lighter). It would show that the player is above a city, not in outer space (try imagining the cityscape as stars and the sky as the ocean on the globe...)

I must apologize if my earlier post sounded rude. I haven't been bothering to "sandwich" the crits between two compliments (like polite people do). I'm glad you didn't interpret it as me being grumpy.

The shape of the nose (and line width around the face) is very different between the SW pose and the other poses.

The SW and W leg angle is the same. There is a flap of his coat sticking out on the SW pose that looks different from the other angles. His thumb still looks like a chin in the W view.

Reminds me a bit of the Uderzo style.

Sorry for being vague.

Boring = gray, frontal composition, no overlapping shapes.

To make the bgs more dynamic, use a greater range of color values. Try to shift the hues of your colors around either the highlights or shadows or (for a real zinger) both. Use the lighting to show the player the important parts of each room.   

The depth is confusing. You need to make the tangents clearer. Right now it's hard to tell whether the statue is supposed to be in the background or foreground. Also, where is the walkable area? Half of the bg is devoted to the statue and the other half to the diner, leaving little room for a sprite. The city skyline should be a more pure black to contrast the sky a bit (which I would lighten and shift the hue slightly near the horizon for added contrast).

And what's all this about water? It looks like the diner is perched on a dark rock. If that's supposed to be water, you need a shoreline, and perhaps ripples around the edge of the diner and the statue. 

Here's the sloppy edit. I lost most of your fiddly detailing, so pay most to the attention to the color. The object here is not to replicate a painting or photo, but to make a background that gives clear direction to a player.



EDIT: I looked at my background again, and there's still the depth problem with the land bridge (present in the original). Unsure if it's going away from the camer then arching back or what's going on there.

Darker does not equate better contrast. Try using a greater range of values in the sprite.

If you really want, I'll attempt a paintover.

It's more about saturation than brightness for me.
Good news: They both have the same look/style.
Bad news: It's a boring one.

Wow, I can't believe I wasted precious seconds of my life reading this AND replying! Talk about a thread devoid of any worthwhile content.

Recap:
Someone posts: AGS is exciting.
Someone else posts: Some stupid advice I ignore myself.
Someone else posts: I am a massive tool.
Other people: Me too.

Stop, please. Before it digresses into another internet smiley war. Locking this thread would be a mercy killing.

Try adjusting the color contrast. Right now the light gray and the pink skin are too close in value to the white.

The name titles are on the wrong sides of the pic.

It's a good place to put up a temporary portfolio until you have webspace...

Although the forums there are a step and a half below Pixelopolis in the level of intelligence.