Okay, here's the latest edit.

The reason that it's 640 x 530 is that it's been cropped down. It's supposed to be at 800 x 600 in the game, but I got rid of the superfluous green edges for purposes of making it small enough to deal with on the forum.
I fixed up the top of the doorframe, the perspective on the posters (looks somewhat better) and changed the bricks. I really like the fire escape ladder.
I thought about it, but when I tested the background with the character sprites I figured I should leave the flat colours as is because they fit more with the style of the other graphics. And although I've messed with the black outlines a little bit, I've found that the unevenness actually works pretty well in the game.
Thanks for the help, folks. I really appreciate it.

The reason that it's 640 x 530 is that it's been cropped down. It's supposed to be at 800 x 600 in the game, but I got rid of the superfluous green edges for purposes of making it small enough to deal with on the forum.
I fixed up the top of the doorframe, the perspective on the posters (looks somewhat better) and changed the bricks. I really like the fire escape ladder.
I thought about it, but when I tested the background with the character sprites I figured I should leave the flat colours as is because they fit more with the style of the other graphics. And although I've messed with the black outlines a little bit, I've found that the unevenness actually works pretty well in the game.
Thanks for the help, folks. I really appreciate it.