Messages

Ok then, time for voting, which will last roughly a day.

Categories:

Idea:
Atmosphere:
Design: How well the elements are designed, from clouds to doorknobs.
Composition: How well the elements are combined to create a pleasing whole, and lead the viewer to the points of interest.
Functionality: How well it would work as a background, with clearly defined entries and walkable areas, as well as a good viewing angle.
Technique: How well it's rendered, in no way meaning the more elaborate the better.

The economic times being what they are, and chartering in new territory, they decided to cast the already acclaimed batmanesque adventure character Fatman as the Dark Knight. Contractually obligated to star a Lucasarts character, they went with the only one able to match his bodily proportions, and after scoring a lucrative deal with Dell, made him a computer expert.

That time of year already eh.

- I have trouble using the composition techniques I learnt when doing natural backgrounds in man made backgrounds. Perhaps I need to warp building a little to help frame the images better?

I do miss framing in them. The only part that feels framed is the left half in the second one.

- Possibly too many light sources?

I don't think the amount of light sources in itself is a problem - can have as many as you like without creating issues as far as I'm concerned.

The issue, as I see it, is that there isn't any real dominating sources.

This, coupled with the lack of framing and symmetrical composition, fails to create some pleasing focal points imo, and we're left with a scattered impression.

The flatness of the style becomes a bit of an issue in urban environments, since you easily get a very boxy impression as everything is facing our way. You could avoid this to a degree by having deep backdrops with differently rotated elements, and in general by rotating whatever's available in the middle ground/foreground.

In the first one, the lamp post could be rotated to a 45 degree without clashing with the style presumably, and the same goes for the light bulbs and the distant flying display thing (the latter could could also use some lighter values, to push it further back, as it feels a bit too close for its size atm).

In the second one, the backdrop contains plenty of things that could be rotated, and in the middle ground the surveillance camera could use a twist.

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So basically I think you already know what could be improved in them, and probably just need a couple of attempts to successfully implement it.

Knowing the concepts is by no means a guarantee that you'll be able to apply them, and I often find myself unintentionally breaching the most basic "rules", because I was focusing on something else, particularly when I'm experimenting in new areas.

My Crummy New Job

Restrictions: AGS Compatible

Good luck, and hope you have fun!

The topic only evoked some sappy romantic images, so I went with a fantastical idea. Not happy with the outcome - it was a quick one and I ran out of time. Includes, as it happens, trees with a some personality:

Gave him a little feathered friend for company.

Edit: Some progress stuff for those interested



Start out with a darker silhouette, then add light and lastly colour.

Photoshop (cs2) file (about 0.5 mb)

A few questions:

What kind of structure lies beyond the walls?

What kind of town, city is it? What kind of neighborhood is it? What era?

Even in an early compositional stage it's good to know these things, so you can create as interesting a setup as possible.

[Ancalagon]

Ancalagon

Morgoth, see above post, evidently enjoyed breeding dragons.  Ancalagon was the first of the winged "fire-drakes", bred to be the mightiest and most powerful of dragons. We follow him from his early, not very powerful, days:



With a background:


And to accommodate the well motivated size and colour restrictions, here's a reduced one:

The results:

Most overall amount of votes: Misj'

Most idea votes: Misj'
Most atmosphere votes: Neil Dnuma
Most composition votes: Misj'
Most functionality votes: Privateer Puddin'
Most technique votes: Misj'

Few but very nice entries!

Really nice entries everyone!

Let the voting begin!

Categories:

Idea:
Atmosphere:
Design: How well the elements are designed, from clouds to doorknobs.
Composition: How well the elements are combined to create a pleasing whole, and lead the viewer to the points of interest.
Functionality: How well it would work as a background, with clearly defined entries and walkable areas, as well as a good viewing angle.
Technique: How well it's rendered, in no way meaning the more elaborate the better.

Last minute entry (of course):



The size of the chars makes the portraits rather superfluous I guess.

"NOT QUITE HOW I PICTURED IT FROM THE BROCHURE"

Anything from a strange holiday resort to a boat in a peculiar condition for sale.
Feel free to include a pic from the brochure (not a requirement).

Restrictions: AGS compatible

Will end the 27th 12 AM GMT (greenwich)

Hope you have fun and good luck!

Atmosphere: Misj - I personally am not a fan of the colour combos, but it does the trick of creating a spooky scene.
Design: Misj - Evil's factory was really cool and charming though, so it was a close second.
Composition: Misj
Functionality: Evil - isometric art has some clear advantages, and I would usually favor a nice solution to a trickier problem, but I find that both Misj's n Scarab117 could've done a clearer job in limiting the player movement.

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I have this issue with a lot of your backgrounds, they just don't seem practical as actual, playable rooms because of the strong perspective and distances.

This was the intended functionality (just added that character quickly):



So basically it would be an introductory scene to the factory where the old lady would provide some insights.

The reason I tend to do these kind of establishing shot backgrounds is that the topic often includes the design of a structure, so the problem arises: if you're to see the whole structure, and not just a slice of it, the camera most often have to be pulled back quite a bit. As I personally don't like small characters - I prefer to be pretty close to make it more personal - the solution ends up being these kind of pre-screens.

So it's a kind of compromise.

Noone makes clouds like Gatsby!



Still a bit rough.

Edit: With an npc present:

An uncharacteristically early entry to get things rolling:

Aw, always misread these deadlines.

Anyway, here's what would've been my entry:



Nice entries everyone!

Seeing her nephew get walloped in the ring, Mrs McPip decided to hand out a lesson of her own.

I think the subdivision of the objective into introduction/goal/rules made this kinda confusing. I know I've reread these about eight times by now at various occasions, and still can't say that I know what is expected of the background, which makes it a bit of a hassle to get started.

I'll give it a shot though.

[Misj]

The results:

Best idea: jerakeen

Best Atmosphere: Geratuza

Best Design: jerakeen

Best Composition: jerakeen

Best Functionality: Katchey

Best Technique: Misj

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Misj and jerakeen tied in overall votes with seven votes each. To choose a new host I did a coin flip which determined Misj as the next host.

Really nice and imaginative entries everyone - well done!

[Idea]

Ok then, let's start the voting!

The voting will end in 24 hours and will use the usual categories:

Idea - The underlying idea to the background. Doesn't necessarily have to coincide perfectly with the theme of the week, just strike you as interesting/amusing/inspiring; a place you'd really enjoy visiting within a game.

Atmosphere - How well the image manages to evoke a certain feeling or mood.

Design - How well the elements in the image are designed, such as landscapes, buildings, decorations, clouds, doorknobs, etc.

Composition - How well the elements in the image work together/are positioned in relation to each other.

Functionality - How well it would work when adding sprites, including appropriate walking distances, a good angle for character sprites, clever walkway solutions, easily understood exits, etc.

Technique - How well the ideas are executed in form of rendering.