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Click image for link to first post.

Loominous' last tutorial was a real eye-opener. I knew that my background felt somewhat impersonal, but I didn't know why.

A sudden shower made me go inside so I tried this sooner than expected:


Click image for link to first post.

This is amazing, loominous! I'll try that this weekend.

Also thanks for all the comments, guys.

[loominous]

It's time for some more feedback! I hope I didn't forget anyone.

One general issue that puzzles me in several of the pictures is the lack of windows in the harbor master's house. Wouldn't he want to be able to observe the harbor and see arriving ships?

loominous I think it's looking great. While everything feels now more connected in the scene, in your last picture I'm a bit worried that the walkable area in front of the booth might be a bit small to walk there.

Misj' I like your last redesign. It is more interesting, less cluttered and I get a much stronger harbour feel from it.

ThreeOhFour I like the strong contrasts and different values. However, the triangular load of the crane draws a lot of attention. It looks like a huge warning sign like this. Is this intentional?

Cassiebsg Great progress since your first draft, the scene looks much more interesting now. Adding a human reference is probably a good idea that will help you with your design.

Myinah Also good progress here, the exits are much clearer now. The backlit scene might make it a bit more difficult but can lead to interesting results.

selmiak Ah, this starts to look interesting!I wonder where the harbor masters house will be?

Lasca Hard to tell at the moment, but I think the lighting of the house seems a bit off with the position of the sun and the light on the floor. Maybe you need to rotate the house a bit?

xil I like the idea, shape of the platforms, clear exits and general design. I agree that the space ships need more work. The big indentation at the front seems to have no purpose (it's not loading ramp because there is another opening and it also doesn't look like it is there for propulsion)

Daniel Thomas I think your redesign works very well, also with the bottom exit. Even though the decreased contrast gives a good indication, you might want to add more stuff to prevent the player from walking away from the camera.

Dropped Monocle Games Also great progress compared to your first version. I don't really get what that thing in the center is supposed to be.

Ykni Looking nice and interesting, but I see two problems: As you noticed, the south exit leads to the sea, and there would be some serious scaling involved if the player walks there.


Edit:

Click image for link to first post.

I tried various versions of different background houses, the cliff, even adding a channel or city gate. However, they did not really fit the setting. The picture above is the one I liked most, with the tower added back again and variations in the building heights. I also decided on the basic light direction.

Picked! Thanks Anke

[Misj']

Misj', thank you for doing such a detailed review! I totally see where you are coming from. The inspiration for my scene was the Wikipedia page of Gdansk, a city I'd like to visit one day. The row of colorful, embellished houses looked so inviting to me, also the flair of a rich Hanseatic city with merchants and trade.

I will try to find a way to keep the original setting but make the composition more interesting. Maybe having the houses in different sizes and positioning some to the front or back might help? I will also try the suggested cliff version in this context.

Will there be a topic? In some game making events there is a topic for preventing people doing an early start. Might be interesting to see what people come up with if there is really just one week time, even for coming up with an idea/story.

I'm with Misj' here. I think the bottom exit was the most difficult thing here (IMHO not the best design choice if there are other options) and omitting it feels a bit like cheating.

Click image for link to first post.

Following ThreeOhFour's advice (thanks for that!) I increased the space around the house. Once I had the house done with perspective, it felt rather unbalanced to the right. So I made the ship on the left bigger and removed the tower - maybe it is too big now, I have to do some research on Hanseatic ships
Also the upper left part feels a bit empty, but I don't know if this is a problem.

Note to self: buy a new rubber

Ah, alright, I didn't understand you could walk between the character and the rope on the floor.

Myinah: The arch exit is much clearer now, but I still don't understand where I would board the ship.

Regarding updates: I think it's best to include the updated picture in the last post to immediately show the changes and also in the original post to track the progress. Posting only in the original post without a link back makes it hard to follow for me.

[Misj']

It's great to see so many entries there already!

I'll try to give short comments to the work posted so far. I'm in no way a pro, so I'll comment from a player's point of view. Others will have better feedback regarding the artistic side.


Misj' Amazing how much work you put in the story behind. What I'm missing now a bit is the harbour element, but I'm sure this will be more visible once you start coloring and adding details.

ThreeOhFour Looking great, but just from looking at the BG I'm not sure where the exits are supposed to be.

Cassiebsg I agree with the view point beeing too high. I like the placement of the ship and the tower and the general open feel of the setting. However, as a player I would not know that there is an exit somewhere at the bottom.

Myinah Your scene looks so inviting, I like the idea with the elevated area a lot. Great improvements regarding the tangents and the vertical space. Still, the exits are not clear and obstructed by various objects.

Ykni I agree that your inital version, while looking interesting, was not suited as background for a game. The new background looks interesting although in a different way, with lots of stuff going on. Just make sure to make the exit at the bottom more obvious.

selmiak The stage is too early for me to comment.

Lasca Interesting composition, the house on the right seems a bit off, perspective wise.

Dropped Monocle Games Interesting composition with the low horizon. There seems to be a lot of empty space in the upper left area.

loominous Looking great! However, the openness of the area suffers a bit from the fence separating the player from the rest.


Feedback to my thumbnail attempts would also be very appreciated.

We need a new pick!

Initial thumbnails


I really had trouble putting all the required stuff in the picture and especially the bottom exit limited the options. I'm still not satisfied with what I have, it looks rather stiff...

Update 8.6.2015 First Draft


Following ThreeOhFour's advice (thanks for that!) I increased the space around the house. Once I had the house done with perspective, it felt rather unbalanced to the right. So I made the ship on the left bigger and removed the tower - maybe it is too big now, I have to do some research on Hanseatic ships
Also the upper left part feels a bit empty, but I don't know if this is a problem.

Update 11.6.2015 Basic shading

I tried various versions of different background houses, the cliff, even adding a channel or city gate. However, they did not really fit the setting. The picture above is the one I liked most, with the tower added back again and variations in the building heights. I also decided on the basic light direction.

Update 13.6.2015 New lighting approach


Update 15.6.2015 Another point of view

The engine looks interesting, especially that the games run in the browser is a huge benefit.

Happy birthday, Stupot+!

And belated happy birthday, bicilotti!

The problem I see with this is the different schedules of people. Some have lots of time during the week while others may be able to work on weekends only. Maybe set the day 1 of each week as fixed date for showing the result of the previous week but keeping the week-internal schedule more a recommendation than a requirement and also adding a feedback on days 2 and 3?

[yes]

1a. I'd be interested in participating, provided the timing suits me: yes

2a. The best time period for me would be: month/weeks/season/whatnot no preference, it could start right now
2b. The ideal duration of the activity for me would be: days/weeks I'd prefer strict timeframes for different phases as in Andail's monster workshop. This gives some guidence and prevents protracting the workshop
2c. On average, provided that the timing suits me, I would probably be able to spend this many hours peer week during it: hours a day/week up to 8 hours a week

3a. I feel comfortable with the concept of composition when it comes to paintings (as in giving and receiving critique regarding it): receiving: yes, giving: I'm rather confident with perspective but not so much with other areas of composition
3b. I feel comfortable with the concept of values when it comes to paintings (as in giving and receiving critique regarding it): That's a field where I definitely have to improve a lot
3c. I feel comfortable working with thumbnails when it comes to paintings: somewhat
3d. I feel comfortable giving critique in general regarding other's pieces: yes

5a. Some general thoughts/suggestions:
I think the monster workshop did pretty well, regarding organisation and pacing

I think this is a good idea, but it should not overlap with loominous' Background Workshop.

Finally we are back home! We had an awesome vacation in Japan and did lots of sightseeing, hiking, eating, drinking,...

It was great to meet you all and I really enjoyed our Hello Kittens.
Mandle and Misa: Thanks again for being the tour guide and organising such a nice adventure.
Also thanks for the photos, everyone!

Here is a photo of Stu's transformation into an ogre(?)