Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Pixel Art Feature Chest => Topic started by: Beetleking22 on September 22, 2013, 01:22:58 pm

Title: GR#234 - Forest Tileset
Post by: Beetleking22 on September 22, 2013, 01:22:58 pm
Hello I started making new tileset for my game and I want some critic about my cliff.. Yeah I had the autumn forest tileset thread but I scared post there  because it is pretty old thread... So want just ask is there something about my cliff that I can improve?

Update:

(http://i43.tinypic.com/333upfsj.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset [wip]
Post by: dekutree64 on September 22, 2013, 05:53:44 pm
Very nice! Honestly I don't think you need to change anything. Just make some trees and stuff to go with it :)

If it was me, I'd probably add more texture to the path. But that's more a matter of style, and with the grass base being flat green, too much texture would look worse than flat color with occasional fractures like you have now.

Love the color palette. Very soothing, and the low contrast will make characters stand out very well.

Technical-wise, the taller plants will probably need to be sprites rather than part of the background so they can be Y-sorted with characters. If you want to get really fancy, add some animations so they fluff when you walk through them :)
Title: Re: Forest tileset [wip]
Post by: Beetleking22 on September 22, 2013, 06:22:47 pm
Very nice! Honestly I don't think you need to change anything. Just make some trees and stuff to go with it :)

If it was me, I'd probably add more texture to the path. But that's more a matter of style, and with the grass base being flat green, too much texture would look worse than flat color with occasional fractures like you have now.


Yeah did that path very fast.. so its obviously need more work and Im going to put more textures but not much.. You are pretty much right here..

Love the color palette. Very soothing, and the low contrast will make characters stand out very well.

Thank you very much.. Im so  glad that you liked the colors because there was huge struggle behind them.

Technical-wise, the taller plants will probably need to be sprites rather than part of the background so they can be Y-sorted with characters. If you want to get really fancy, add some animations so they fluff when you walk through them :)

Yeah I totally agree with you here..

 Tallers plant has same colors as the grass.. Im not sure if that works.. I might change the taller plant color... same color as the leaves of the tree and bushes.
Title: Re: Forest tileset [wip]
Post by: Decroded on September 23, 2013, 01:55:18 am
Sexy environment dude  :y:
Looking forward to seeing some buildings and stuff.
Don't throw away your autumn stuff though because that could be another area ;-)

Path doesn't require to be covered in texture, that's a style choice and sometimes less is more.
Patchy like you have now looks good and could probably just do with 1 or 2 more tiles which vary the size, shape and the use of the darker colour (don't use it in all the texture).

If I want to be picky I see a subtle seem running along here:
(http://i.imgur.com/oFQ1ExF.png)

I need more practice at tiling rock wall texture but sometimes some varied size patches of shadow can add some depth.
Very rough and random illustration:
(http://i.imgur.com/gqvuHAf.png)

Title: Re: Forest tileset [wip]
Post by: Beetleking22 on September 23, 2013, 09:40:04 am
Sexy environment dude  :y:
Looking forward to seeing some buildings and stuff.
Don't throw away your autumn stuff though because that could be another area ;-)


Thank you.. I might make autumn tileset from these tileset and then adding later more autumn stuff to the
 forest.


Path doesn't require to be covered in texture, that's a style choice and sometimes less is more.
Patchy like you have now looks good and could probably just do with 1 or 2 more tiles which vary the size, shape and the use of the darker colour (don't use it in all the texture).

Thats right and  also it does not fit with my style either...

If I want to be picky I see a subtle seem running along here:
(http://i.imgur.com/oFQ1ExF.png)


I tried to fix that that but didint work well  ::).. I will try to fix it..



I need more practice at tiling rock wall texture but sometimes some varied size patches of shadow can add some depth.
Very rough and random illustration:
(http://i.imgur.com/gqvuHAf.png)

Yeah I was thinking same.. I might add more shadow area in my rocks.. This helps a alot thank you.
Title: Re: Forest tileset [wip]
Post by: Beetleking22 on September 24, 2013, 05:38:00 pm
So I tried reduce a lot of lightning and in addition there is more shadow... So does it looks better? There is still  subtle..  does it matter a lot?

(http://i42.tinypic.com/2agqp33o.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Decroded on September 26, 2013, 03:03:24 am
A bit, but perhaps dont fill the shadows with little blobs, just let it be an ambiguous shady area.
Im not sure about this but I think the way u originally had it is better for large areas of single repeated tile as there is less noticable "pattern".
When u add stronger shadowy areas you will need more variation tiles to break up the repeats.
one idea for variation is small patches of grass growing on some protuding ledges.
None of this is what id call "necessary", its just extra ideas.
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Larwick on September 26, 2013, 04:01:35 pm
Im not sure about this but I think the way u originally had it is better for large areas of single repeated tile as there is less noticable "pattern".
When u add stronger shadowy areas you will need more variation tiles to break up the repeats.

Actually from looking at his new version I think the more obvious darker areas make it seem less repetitive. I think it's because the eye focuses on the 2 differing levels rather than the 4 tiles... or something. At any rate, I like it like that personally. :crazy:
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on September 26, 2013, 05:01:43 pm
Yeah I should reduce the blob style of texturing.. If  I make more rock like  a texture it might look even better with shadow..
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on September 27, 2013, 02:47:09 pm
Little update.. Replaced the some of  blob like a rocks with bigger and better shaped rocks... Yeah this need more polish but  at least it looks better than the old one...

Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on September 28, 2013, 04:04:25 pm
Yeah I call it done..  I fixed a lot of rocks and now Im going to add grass  bottom of the cliff... but I would like to hear some critic if there are something..

(http://i40.tinypic.com/293lmsqw.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Larwick on September 28, 2013, 05:57:31 pm
Yeah I call it done..  I fixed a lot of rocks and now Im going to add grass  bottom of the cliff... but I would like to hear some critic if there are something..

Definitely an improvement. The repetition is so subtle as to be a non-issue now. You could maybe add a few more sharp edges so it doesn't look quite so blobby near the top.
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Polioliolio on October 02, 2013, 06:36:08 pm
Yeah I call it done..  I fixed a lot of rocks and now Im going to add grass  bottom of the cliff... but I would like to hear some critic if there are something..

(http://i40.tinypic.com/29lmsqw.png)

Fantastic.  Very prominent style.  It makes me want to see the rest of the world and how you would design different elements in it.

I like what you did with the grass at the base of the cliff in the center.  I might suggest adding a highlighted blade or two in the areas to the left and right.  Like, literally a single highlighted blade so it's not too repetitious with the center, but continues the effect.
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 04, 2013, 11:58:42 am
Yeah I call it done..  I fixed a lot of rocks and now Im going to add grass  bottom of the cliff... but I would like to hear some critic if there are something..

Definitely an improvement. The repetition is so subtle as to be a non-issue now. You could maybe add a few more sharp edges so it doesn't look quite so blobby near the top.

Thank you... Here is update::  I want ask question.. Does the bottom cliffs grass looks too big?? should I make them smaller?


Also thank you poliolio.

(http://i39.tinypic.com/937mgbk.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Larwick on October 04, 2013, 04:53:49 pm
Thank you... Here is update::  I want ask question.. Does the bottom cliffs grass looks too big?? should I make them smaller?

I don't think the height is a problem. However you could add in some darker greens so it doesn't look so cut out (contrasted) from the rock face.

As a side note I'd suggest you make your mockup slightly wider - 3 repetitions is much better than 2 to judge tile patterns.  ;)
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 04, 2013, 05:31:54 pm
Thank you... Here is update::  I want ask question.. Does the bottom cliffs grass looks too big?? should I make them smaller?
I don't think the height is a problem. However you could add in some darker greens so it doesn't look so cut out (contrasted) from the rock face.



Worked very well!!  :y:

(http://i42.tinypic.com/23ecnj1i.png)

As a side note I'd suggest you make your mockup slightly wider - 3 repetitions is much better than 2 to judge tile patterns.  ;)

Do you mean that I should make more cliff variety?
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Larwick on October 04, 2013, 06:58:02 pm
Do you mean that I should make more cliff variety?

I was just suggesting that when testing out the tiles, you should add more in a row. You won't know if you need more cliff variety until you make a realistic mockup.
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 20, 2013, 10:47:33 pm
I was not happy with my old cliff so I tried improve it and this is the result... If there is something to fix... Please tell me!


(http://i40.tinypic.com/2m501ef.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: castled on October 20, 2013, 11:09:34 pm
I don't know, it depends on the look you are going for. The previous cliff looked more natural to me. The new one is definitely pleasing to look at though (with very nice clusters). The new cliff is less busy too, which is probably better for a game. Although the new boulders maybe don't seem to "support" the grass as much as in the old version at the top of the cliff.

I really like the new transition between the bottom of the cliff and the grass.
Title: Re: Forest tileset [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 20, 2013, 11:28:42 pm
I don't know, it depends on the look you are going for. The previous cliff looked more natural to me.

I agree with you.

Does it looks more natural because the rock are more attached to each other? I want make stylized cliff but not too simple like in zelda games..


Although the new boulders maybe don't seem to "support" the grass as much as in the old version at the top of the cliff.

Noticed this problem too but Im not sure how to fix it... Should I move the grass foliage little bit forward?
Title: Re: Forest tileset.. Cliff [c+c]
Post by: Decroded on October 22, 2013, 03:19:05 am
U could try messing up that horizontal line where the grass is.
have some dips where it followa the curve of the rocks and a couple of variations where grass is growing out of some parts of the rock, just to break up the perfect line u have now to be more natural.
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on November 07, 2013, 10:35:38 pm
Thank you  very much Decroded for good tips!

Im now very depressed because of my tree.. I really dont know how the fix the ugly flatness... It starded with very good shape then I some how I managed to break down whole tree and there might be another problem.. Dark tree...Yeah the grass colors is bright and the tree is dark...Does it fit? Also Tree trunk is placeholder--

  How I can fix these problems  ???

(http://i44.tinypic.com/314q7uf.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Corinthian Baby on November 08, 2013, 12:28:03 am
This looks good yo. The shadow grounds the dark tree with the light grass and the contrast works. Keep going with it. Trunk may be placeholder but has a cool shape and reminds me of zelda in a pleasant way. If you wanted to integrate more with grass, maybe some light rim highlights, or some subtle AA in the foliage. :y:
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Decroded on November 13, 2013, 01:27:14 am
i really like ur tree with a few things to fix up.

still got no good image editor for my galaxy note 3 yet so ill use a thousand words instead >.<

keep the same outline for foliage but select all the leaves inside and bring it down a few pixels to fix the perspective.


the roots are too symmetrical and i dont like how  all 4 curl up at the end as it makes it look like the legs of a table or some kind of tentacles.
roots are too brightly coloured.
i like how ur tree is receding in colour rather competing with sprites, and i think you should make the roots fall in line with that, which will also help with ur flatness problem.
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: PypeBros on November 15, 2013, 04:49:37 pm
Thank you  very much Decroded for good tips!

Im now very depressed because of my tree.. I really dont know how the fix the ugly flatness...
I don't see flatness in the part that are polished.

Quote
Yeah the grass colors is bright and the tree is dark...Does it fit?
not a problem, imho. Different plants may absorb same light with different efficience.

Quote
Also Tree trunk is placeholder--
I do have a crush on the trunk, but it looks like it has two curious shiny green eyes just under the canopy. rational half-brain pretends its just because trunk is very slim with curvy roots in the back, but creative half-brain doesn't listen :P
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: ptoing on November 15, 2013, 08:14:34 pm
The only real problem I see with this atm is the trunk. What is going on there? It looks really confusing and mechanical. Go for an asymmetrical approach as well. Good work otherwise.
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Decroded on November 16, 2013, 07:10:51 am
out of time.....

(http://i.imgur.com/GOhe2yk.gif)
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on November 26, 2013, 11:06:00 am
(http://i44.tinypic.com/2e4b70io.pngg)

The foliage is now almost done.. needs some polish in down area and the trunk is still work in progress.. Does the foliage have some problem that I should fix it? Your help would be really valuable.




This looks good yo. The shadow grounds the dark tree with the light grass and the contrast works. Keep going with it. Trunk may be placeholder but has a cool shape and reminds me of zelda in a pleasant way. If you wanted to integrate more with grass, maybe some light rim highlights, or some subtle AA in the foliage. :y:

Thank you for you help! Im not good to add AA... It would look  bad with my skills  :P


i really like ur tree with a few things to fix up.

Thank you Decroded... Yeah the old trunk is just placeholder so I fix it later when I'm finishing my tree foliage.. otherwise very good tips! Also that reference was very good! Helped me a lot.


The only real problem I see with this atm is the trunk. What is going on there? It looks really confusing and mechanical. Go for an asymmetrical approach as well. Good work otherwise.

Thank you ptoing...I took that trunk from my older tree just for the placeholder..



.


Thank you Pypebros!
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on December 08, 2013, 11:43:21 pm
When I looked at my mockup from my brother computer.. It looked horrible.. I mean colors.. Very bright and Yellow-looking green color.. I hope that you guys don't see it that way...

-I changed the color of the grass a little bit darker... Maybe vibrant are better? Its little bit hard to decide because they both Imo look good.

-Yeah I changed tree trunk color and also the shape.. It fits much better than the old one.. 

- Tree Foliage is still Wip... I'm trying to make it less flat..

Would like to hear  some criticism.

(http://i41.tinypic.com/xdz8ra.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Daimoth on December 09, 2013, 12:41:24 am
In terms of those little bush things, I'd shrink the leaves so you have more bits to play with to help sculpt it.
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on December 10, 2013, 12:39:36 am
Almost done.. This might be my best tree ever..

(http://i44.tinypic.com/14uxc2c.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on December 27, 2013, 01:20:15 am
Yeah now my tree is done... and now Im going to finish my hard ass cliff... Ahh the cliff is so hard to make.. I never have finished my  the cliff completely.


Title: Re: Forest tileset..Tree problem [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on January 03, 2014, 03:17:31 am
I made rock for my mockup.. I just want ask.. Is that grass foliage too much for rock?? Should I reduce it??  Also If rock color is grey.. Should I make cliff with same color? Or  do they have to be  same color?

(http://i40.tinypic.com/1zr0sa1.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Crow on January 03, 2014, 10:49:20 am
I really like the grass blades on/around the rock, I think it works very well the way it is now. Also, I don't think it's an issue if the rocks have a different color than the cliffs. The bushes look a bit out of place right now, maybe you should add some grass around them as well?
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on January 03, 2014, 01:08:26 pm
Thank you Crow! I agree with you about the bushes... but my over all   intention was make them 1 one tiled like in the zeldas.. If I want make similar foliage as the rock.. then I must add one tile more.... but does it really matter if  small bush have 2 tiles in games? A lot classic games have one tiled bushes.. thats why Im  worried..
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Mr. Fahrenheit on January 03, 2014, 01:51:21 pm
I think the bushes look a little off because while they are the same color as the tree, they are very dark compared to the grass. You can also clearly see where the tile ends on them, there is a distinct line on the bottom of each bush tile.

I love the rest of it though, The rock looks great, and I love how you did the small white flowers.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Ymedron on January 03, 2014, 01:59:19 pm
To me the one-tile bushes look weird -because- they're just one tile, when the flowers and rocks have several tiles to them. It seems stylistically clashing. Looking at it again, it even feels like the bushes are monsters or characters of some kind.

From what I know, classic zelda one-tile bushes were like that to save space and also to work with the square "rooms" the games were made of.
Maybe it'd be better to make a little bit larger bush and then a small version that was more like a twig with sparse leaves, if you really need/want one-tile bushes?
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on January 03, 2014, 04:50:14 pm
Mr. Fahrenheit@

Thank you sir! I have been looking other rpg games and a lot games have bushes with same color as tree..  Chrono trigger, Secret of mana, Zelda etc..  I cannot imagine my bushes with grass color... I think my bush looks now odd because the shadow is too linear and does not have grass foliage as other tiles.


Ymedron@

Thats true..  Good advice.. I might build new bushes If the grass foliage does not fit! I actually  need smaller bushes for slashing..like in old games..
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on January 05, 2014, 07:49:29 pm
Does the bush looks now better with the foliage?

(http://i39.tinypic.com/o7hg1x.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on January 29, 2014, 07:05:48 pm
Hello. I just want ask one thing.. I'm really inexperienced with AA thing.. I tried put some AA to my leaves but I would like to hear what you think about it...  Does the sharp look better or not?


(http://i57.tinypic.com/25fkd2f.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: surt on January 29, 2014, 07:57:46 pm
I can't for the life of me spot the difference.
The only place I would consider AA on such an image is the silhouette between the canopy and the grass. But that would break down if you want the canopy to overlap other tiles/sprites.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: PixelPiledriver on January 30, 2014, 02:14:01 am
Here they are overlayed.
The leaves get slightly bigger.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MbDWq1jSXeg/Uum1FIzo4LI/AAAAAAAAI_w/8GMeFRIJbmY/s1600/treeDifference_1.gif)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Mr. Fahrenheit on January 30, 2014, 03:00:41 am
Beetle, I think you may have been looking at that tree for too long  :-X. There isn't really any difference and they both look fantastic.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Indigo on January 30, 2014, 03:47:54 am
I try to avoid adding colors specifically for the purpose of AA alone.  If you have it available to you in your palette and you're getting good mileage at of it, then definitely go for it.  But if the only use case for that color in the entire piece is just subtle AA, then I'd leave it out.  The benefits don't justify it.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: breakfast on January 30, 2014, 06:16:03 am
I don't personally feel that AA is something to be used within the object itself, but rather on the outside of it to help it blend seamlessly in with it's surroundings. We aren't able to notice the AA you added within the leaves because it's not really needed there, if you wanted to add some antialiasing I think the only place it could be beneficial is to smooth out the canopy of the tree into the grass behind it. This can get a little sticky though since it will complicate things when you want to add something other than just the pure green grass directly behind all your trees in game.

Unless...! If your game allows for opacity levels you could add specks of black/dark brown/dark blue (whatever works best) in a light level of opacity of 20% or so as AA on the outside of the tree to help the AA work with all different types of backgrounds.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Atnas on February 03, 2014, 05:06:51 am
Echoing the sentiment that the AA is unnecessary. This is beautiful work by the way, cleanest I've seen in a while. I think the grass needs another variation, I liked the patch in this image:
Quote
(http://i.imgur.com/gc6LLB3.png)

Because the two types of patches you have currently are either hyper rendered or not detailed enough.

I really want to see more! Wonderful stuff.  :y:
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on February 12, 2014, 12:59:05 am
Thanks  everyone for the help! Very helpful information! I started to create path.. Its looks decent but its might look better when all path direction is done.. I fixed a lot of small thing here and there.... Also I changed bush color to  turqoise.... I hope it does fit better.... Its  sad that this mockup looks pretty crap with different monitor...

(http://i58.tinypic.com/220hrs7d.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: |||| on February 12, 2014, 09:30:19 am
Looks perfect to me ;D
But definitely as you said more directions. maybe some variation about too? As in less linear of a straight path.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: PypeBros on February 12, 2014, 12:24:14 pm
No issues with the colours, and I still love your clusters as much. Those beautiful flowers you have, however, make the scene look more artificial (as in garden), imho, especially given how they stick to the grid. The flat, white ones are those that work best imho. They get a bonus for a second variant (be it blue, yellow or orange), but again, mixing all the colours together is something you make in a garden, but that I'd not expect from wild life. As a level designer, I'd likely as you for logs instead of flowers-to-line-up, but I might be happy to pick one of those higher-flowers and use it as a way to make specific locations more memorable.

some experiments:
(http://i.imgur.com/lnFYXLg.png)
- variation on how much "higher grass" you have around a tree will reduce how "similar" tree look.
- allowing half-tile alignment on flowers could make them look more organically-placed.
- for some flowers, a 2 or 3-tiles patch might work better than individual items.

Any ideas for NPCs or monsters ?
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on February 12, 2014, 12:48:12 pm
No issues with the colours, and I still love your clusters as much. Those beautiful flowers you have, however, make the scene look more artificial (as in garden), imho, especially given how they stick to the grid. The flat, white ones are those that work best imho. They get a bonus for a second variant (be it blue, yellow or orange), but again, mixing all the colours together is something you make in a garden, but that I'd not expect from wild life. As a level designer, I'd likely as you for logs instead of flowers-to-line-up, but I might be happy to pick one of those higher-flowers and use it as a way to make specific locations more memorable.


Thank you PypeBros!

Yeah I totally agree with you...  It would better put those multi color flowers in town instead of forest.. Also the linear setting of the plants make it look even more garden :p


- variation on how much "higher grass" you have around a tree will reduce how "similar" tree look.
- allowing half-tile alignment on flowers could make them look more organically-placed.
- for some flowers, a 2 or 3-tiles patch might work better than individual items.

Thank you for these advices! Organic placement of plants would make this piece more natural.


Any ideas for NPCs or monsters ?.

Sadly I havent done much  :(  I have only done some monster concept art..



Looks perfect to me ;D
But definitely as you said more directions. maybe some variation about too? As in less linear of a straight path.

Thank you ||||! Thats is my next step!
Title: Re: Forest tileset... rocks [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on March 16, 2014, 12:51:45 pm
I tried fix my old cliff cluster.. Would like hear some critic about this one...


(http://i528.tinypic.com/1zh0ghk.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on March 20, 2014, 09:47:07 pm
Here update...  Maybe its better maybe not... but now finally IM going to make different angles for my cliff...

(http://i57.tinypic.com/2ew22p6p.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Crow on March 21, 2014, 09:14:10 am
but now finally IM going to make different angles for my cliff...

Yea, that sounds like a good idea. I think most of your previous iterations of those cliffs are pretty damn solid, and I like them all, so you should probably focus on some progress regarding other tiles :)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on March 21, 2014, 10:43:52 pm
but now finally IM going to make different angles for my cliff...

Yea, that sounds like a good idea. I think most of your previous iterations of those cliffs are pretty damn solid, and I like them all, so you should probably focus on some progress regarding other tiles :)

Thank you! I have problems.... Im perfectionist and thats my problem..  :( I want make all my tiles  so perfect and im never happy... I always want make the best.. Thats why It takes too long to make something... But im going to do something with my mind...!!
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on March 31, 2014, 02:18:43 pm
Here is update... I tried make cliff angles and Im not sure if this looks right  ???.... Boulder grass needs a lot of polish and Im going to make 40 degree angles later when im finishing this..


(http://i62.tinypic.com/152wv12.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Jim16 on March 31, 2014, 07:50:17 pm
(http://imageshack.com/a/img594/2566/xofn.png)
The cliff is only angled at the front, which will give it a pyramid like look. I hope the image above illustrates the problem.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on March 31, 2014, 08:52:33 pm
Yep I see it.. Should it be more stright?
Thank Jim16 for you time and advice.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on April 03, 2014, 09:27:21 pm
Damn I solved the problem!... Now it does look like a pyramid anymore... Thank you Jim very much!


(http://i59.tinypic.com/1zbq293.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on June 04, 2014, 05:21:44 pm
 :) I started working with this again.. I did a lot of small changes here and there... but I want ask.. Is my cliff too busy?  Does it have too much same kind of shape?

(http://i60.tinypic.com/m9lp44.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: BatElite on June 04, 2014, 06:27:12 pm
(http://imgur.com/eMx2zxG.png)
To me the cliff looks fine, but there are dark lines that give away the grid.
Title: Re: Forest tileset... cliff [c+c]
Post by: Beetleking22 on June 04, 2014, 06:46:31 pm
(http://imgur.com/eMx2zxG.png)
To me the cliff looks fine, but there are dark lines that give away the grid.

You have really sharp eyes! Ah I didn't even notice that!
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 04, 2014, 09:28:46 pm
Hello guys! I just want ask is the color of this forest too saturated?? Should I reduce saturation? Does it burn you eyez?

(http://i61.tinypic.com/2jetmdz.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: AlcopopStar on October 05, 2014, 02:33:54 am
Yeah my eyes just exploded.

There is no hierarchy of colour here, everything is standing out as much as everything else, you need to push back the grass in order to make the trees and planets, which are very well pixeled, into something you can actually focus on. A lightly desaturated blueish green could look nice for the grass, but experiment.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 05, 2014, 04:04:55 am
Yeah my eyes just exploded.

There is no hierarchy of colour here, everything is standing out as much as everything else, you need to push back the grass in order to make the trees and planets, which are very well pixeled, into something you can actually focus on. A lightly desaturated blueish green little bit could look nice for the grass, but experiment.


:D Thank you for criticism.. Here is my first edit!! I reduced green brightness of the green color little bit.. Now forest has more of sun rise feel..

(http://i62.tinypic.com/zn4af.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: AlcopopStar on October 05, 2014, 01:48:04 pm
You uped the saturation ?_?

This might be a personal taste issue but below left is roughly how I would treat it and below right is about as bright as I would dare to go without touching the colours of the assets.

(https://38.media.tumblr.com/9b21da4c0517bc192ab9df688666a92b/tumblr_ncz4r7IaFI1qi69m3o3_r1_1280.png)

Experiment a bit more then I have, but the aim of the background is to make your assets pop, they are being a little overwhelmed as it is imo.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 05, 2014, 02:37:12 pm
You uped the saturation ?_?

This might be a personal taste issue but below left is roughly how I would treat it and below right is about as bright as I would dare to go without touching the colours of the assets.

I noticed the difference when I tested this scene with my brother comptuer and It looked very bright...  My colors looks way different from  my compture .. I need maybe adjust my screen colors..


Experiment a bit more then I have, but the aim of the background is to make your assets pop, they are being a little overwhelmed as it is imo.

That looks insteresting.. Problem here is that it looks too  dark.. My intention was to make vibrant but not super bright...

Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 05, 2014, 08:57:37 pm
Does this help?? I added contrast.. I tried make it more dark.. but its looked Imo very boring...


Old

(http://i61.tinypic.com/2jetmdz.png)


New

(http://i61.tinypic.com/34ig574.png)

Only with new contrast..

(http://i57.tinypic.com/25qrhvp.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 06, 2014, 11:48:55 pm
Here latest update: Im happy how this turned..

(http://i61.tinypic.com/2ii8odv.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: AlcopopStar on October 07, 2014, 03:05:16 am
defiantly an improvement.

When I said contrast I was meaning less in the sense of light and dark and more in the sense of the assets standing well against the background. As it is I feel like the darks in this picture look a little burnt. My pallets often sit a little too much on the washed out side out so take this with a grain of salt, but I think you could lift, desaturate and hue shift the darker side of your pallet (and harmonize the rest of the pallet to match).

(https://38.media.tumblr.com/da285584127932c981e3e40cf14beb69/tumblr_nd20hdsaWn1qi69m3o1_250.gif)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Ai on October 07, 2014, 03:43:11 am
I noticed the difference when I tested this scene with my brother comptuer and It looked very bright...  My colors looks way different from  my compture .. I need maybe adjust my screen colors..

As always, I recommend the online calibration tool at http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ as a good reference to calibrate your monitor with.

Quote
That looks insteresting.. Problem here is that it looks too  dark.. My intention was to make vibrant but not super bright...
I think what you have is just too bright, still (better than it was, but..). If you look at LoZ: Link to the Past screenshots,  it seems like a reasonable example of a vibrant art style, and you can see that most things are darker than you have. Seiken Densetsu 3 (which I guess you have taken some inspiration from) is done in a similar way. eg this screenshot (http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/seiken-densetsu-3/screenshots/gameShotId,473007/) appears very vibrant but the main brightness level that dominates the picture is of the grass tiles, which is fairly dark.
Another example is Rayman (http://rayman-fanpage.de/character1/worlds-jungle.htm) (the original one), which gets away with some bright colors by using a lot of value changes so that no area of value becomes overwhelming. This requires more work IME.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: PixelPiledriver on October 07, 2014, 03:38:02 pm
Quote
Yeah my eyes just exploded.

There is no hierarchy of colour here, everything is standing out as much as everything else, you need to push back the grass in order to make the trees and planets, which are very well pixeled, into something you can actually focus on. A lightly desaturated blueish green could look nice for the grass, but experiment.

What she said.
Blue recedes.
Yellow protrudes.
The amount of yellow in the base flat grass is heavily competing with everything else.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 07, 2014, 08:49:47 pm
defiantly an improvement.

When I said contrast I was meaning less in the sense of light and dark and more in the sense of the assets standing well against the background. As it is I feel like the darks in this picture look a little burnt. My pallets often sit a little too much on the washed out side out so take this with a grain of salt, but I think you could lift, desaturate and hue shift the darker side of your pallet (and harmonize the rest of the pallet to match).


How about this? Does is now stand against the background? I tried edit the high contrast and the plants color so it fits more with the background
Also tried play with tree colors.. I'm not good hue shifter :/..

(http://i58.tinypic.com/117d2fd.png)

I noticed the difference when I tested this scene with my brother comptuer and It looked very bright...  My colors looks way different from  my compture .. I need maybe adjust my screen colors..

As always, I recommend the online calibration tool at http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ as a good reference to calibrate your monitor with.

Quote
That looks insteresting.. Problem here is that it looks too  dark.. My intention was to make vibrant but not super bright...
I think what you have is just too bright, still (better than it was, but..). If you look at LoZ: Link to the Past screenshots,  it seems like a reasonable example of a vibrant art style, and you can see that most things are darker than you have. Seiken Densetsu 3 (which I guess you have taken some inspiration from) is done in a similar way. eg this screenshot (http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/seiken-densetsu-3/screenshots/gameShotId,473007/) appears very vibrant but the main brightness level that dominates the picture is of the grass tiles, which is fairly dark.
Another example is Rayman (http://rayman-fanpage.de/character1/worlds-jungle.htm) (the original one), which gets away with some bright colors by using a lot of value changes so that no area of value becomes overwhelming. This requires more work IME.

I see! I really love how Seiken densetsu 3  tree are very vibrant but its still match with the grass tiles... I know what you mean..  My fear was that the brighter tree would look out of place with darker background ... but I didn't know it would match that's nicely... :D  I didn't take inspiration from Seiken 3 .. I tried make my tree with my own vision.. It took a long of time...

Thank you for the link!!!



Quote
Yeah my eyes just exploded.


What she said.
Blue recedes.
Yellow protrudes.
The amount of yellow in the base flat grass is heavily competing with everything else.

Thank you for the advice!
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Anarkhya on October 08, 2014, 08:45:23 am
About the burnt shadows topic, I also think you still have almost black shadows, while it seems realistic to me under a vivid sunlight, I'm not fond of this part of our reality  :P

I tried to find some light and dark balance that would please me without going too far into the black, I used your first and last attempt at trees:

(http://i.imgur.com/DvQrxfC.png)

Now for the eyes killing grass, I don't know, its also related to how big the screen size is (if it is a game), the smaller the screen, the less attention this grass will draw in terms of mass. How about a sneak peek at Minish Cap, approximately twice screens:

(http://i.imgur.com/KXPtKgC.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 08, 2014, 05:10:07 pm
About the burnt shadows topic, I also think you still have almost black shadows, while it seems realistic to me under a vivid sunlight, I'm not fond of this part of our reality  :P

I tried to find some light and dark balance that would please me without going too far into the black, I used your first and last attempt at trees:

(http://i.imgur.com/DvQrxfC.png)

Now for the eyes killing grass, I don't know, its also related to how big the screen size is (if it is a game), the smaller the screen, the less attention this grass will draw in terms of mass. How about a sneak peek at Minish Cap, approximately twice screens:

(http://i.imgur.com/KXPtKgC.png)

So its still looks like burn out  :'(

Does this looks less burned? I took the dark purple color out... I didint like my old forest color so thats why I changed it.. I know your point but I dont wanna go back to my old forest :D

New
(http://i58.tinypic.com/263en0l.png)

Old

(http://i58.tinypic.com/117d2fd.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Anarkhya on October 08, 2014, 08:21:24 pm
 Oh and I forgot to tell you that your palette may be out of control, while editing your image I noticed several redundant hues, like 99% identical, maybe you played with opacity at some point. It seems necessary to stop adding hues and clean the palette of these redundancies, your last image contains 197 colours, a quick quantization revealed that you shouldn't have more than 40 for this image ;)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: AlcopopStar on October 09, 2014, 06:39:08 am
Anarkhya's edit sits really nicely so make sure to take that in.

All of your changes are very timid and minute. I think you'v got the gist of what people are saying but you need a be a bit bolder in how you approach it, you seem very attached to your original colours.

Maybe after you've cleaned up the colours make a few copies and experiment a bit more widely for half an hour. Then compare results, maybe do a few overlays at different opacities in Photoshop to find a middle ground.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 09, 2014, 10:08:16 am
Anarkhya's edit sits really nicely so make sure to take that in.

All of your changes are very timid and minute. I think you'v got the gist of what people are saying but you need a be a bit bolder in how you approach it, you seem very attached to your original colours.

Maybe after you've cleaned up the colours make a few copies and experiment a bit more widely for half an hour. Then compare results, maybe do a few overlays at different opacities in Photoshop to find a middle ground.

Thats better Idea.. Im very ashamed about my self!! I really need more practise about this.. I don't have much of experience with colors.. So im going to learn more about it... and thank you and other helps have been very helpful! I hope I learn more!
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 10, 2014, 07:18:35 pm
I tried make the grass little bit of yellow so that the green tree would stand out more...

(http://i57.tinypic.com/32zjtok.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: AlcopopStar on October 12, 2014, 08:23:17 am
To reiterate pixelpiledriver;

Blue recedes.
Yellow protrudes.
The amount of yellow in the base flat grass is heavily competing with everything else.

You've picked a lovely shade for the background but it does stick out and intrude on the assets a little, due to the nature of the colour. Background art, particularly for games, doesn't always have the luxury of being impactful and eye catching. If characters are going to be walking on this grass I still feel like you need to pair it back a touch, this is a big give and take with tile sets, to make something interesting without being overwhelming.

But you seem pretty set in keeping this in quite a warm spectrum. And that's fine. Just understand the issues you may run into.

Edit: this is an improvement overall, so good job on that :)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on October 12, 2014, 06:07:27 pm
Im going to starts this from scratch! This only way to make it...  Problem with my grass  was that It didn't have much of detail.. Maybe that was one reason why it was so bright....  and also too much yellow?
 
So I started and I'm very happy with the result.. This Studio ghibli scene give me a lot of inspiration..
 http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-srKCS3AYe-Q/ThihnSXxkXI/AAAAAAAASrA/Dla5cO4FRJ0/s1600/decor-16.jpg

I really hope that im going with right path with this..

(http://i60.tinypic.com/v66po3.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on November 27, 2014, 11:03:05 pm
Better color  ???

(http://i59.tinypic.com/ixw42e.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: EvilEye on November 28, 2014, 01:59:06 am
It looks nice, but it's way too saturated.

If you put a sprite on that it would be overpowered by the background.

I tried to tone down the colors and the contrast a bit here ( I might have overdone it, but.. ):

(http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w104/chris_6713/editalsdjflajrewqer_zps0def6c53.png)

Also I think you need just a little bit of transition between the grass textures. I like your grass but it just looks a little too sharp and stands out against everything else too much IMO.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Gil on November 28, 2014, 02:28:57 am
I love beetle's colors and severely dislike yours EvilEye, so it might be a matter of preference? I'm known to make super eye-burning saturated stuff, so it's to be expected :)

I think you can put characters on beetle's version perfectly fine
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: EvilEye on November 28, 2014, 04:00:05 am
I love beetle's colors and severely dislike yours EvilEye, so it might be a matter of preference? I'm known to make super eye-burning saturated stuff, so it's to be expected :)

I think you can put characters on beetle's version perfectly fine

Well I guess if Beetle has some sprites he can put them on there and prove me wrong... To me that background just looks way too strong, especially considering the detail on the grass.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Gil on November 28, 2014, 05:52:47 am
Well I guess if Beetle has some sprites he can put them on there and prove me wrong... To me that background just looks way too strong, especially considering the detail on the grass.
Yeah, fair enough, we can't really say for sure without some sprites :)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Crow on November 28, 2014, 07:46:36 am
I like both of them :'( The rocks, bushes and flowers in EvilEye's are a bit too desaturated for my taste, though.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Seiseki on November 28, 2014, 10:07:12 am
I think EvilEyes edit looks more soothing and easy on the eyes.
And colorful sprites will always pop better against a more dull background.

It looks a bit foggy though, maybe because everything is desaturated..

Also, I think Contrast/Color preferences are probably heavily influenced by different monitors..
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Arachne on November 28, 2014, 03:11:46 pm
I really like where you're going with this. ;D

As I see it, the main issue with the saturation is that the darker shades are too saturated. I think the brighter shades are fine by themselves, but that they look washed out in comparison. In general, less light means less saturation. If you reduce the saturation of the darker shades, the brighter colors will also stand out a bit more.

Also, the dirt looks like a separate element, as it differs a lot from the grass both in hue and brightness. If you bring the dirt and grass shades closer together in hue, especially where the darker dirt shades meet the darker grass shades,  they won't clash as much.

(http://retinaleclipse.com/edits/beetlegrassedit.png)

I agree that a more subtle background would be more suited for a game, and I liked EvilEye's desaturated shift towards blue, so I applied it to the darker end of the green ramp. Also pushed the darker dirt shades a bit towards green.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Tidbit on November 28, 2014, 10:34:06 pm
I've been watching this thread for a while and I wanted to just wanted to offer a little food for thought. At the current time, with the tufts of grass getting darker as if they're receding into the ground seems rather strange to me and feels really unnatural. Normally the grass would be the darker shade and the large tufts that raise above the rest of the grass would be lighter. So with that in mind I went and swapped the light and dark greens and came up with this very messy edit:
(https://i.imgur.com/EJJszBD.png)
Now this isn't any where near perfect but I feel that it does illustrate my point as I feel that the grass here has a bit more natural looking depth to it. Could be wrong though!  :crazy:
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: EvilEye on November 29, 2014, 04:29:09 am
I've been watching this thread for a while and I wanted to just wanted to offer a little food for thought. At the current time, with the tufts of grass getting darker as if they're receding into the ground seems rather strange to me and feels really unnatural. Normally the grass would be the darker shade and the large tufts that raise above the rest of the grass would be lighter. So with that in mind I went and swapped the light and dark greens and came up with this very messy edit:
(https://i.imgur.com/EJJszBD.png)
Now this isn't any where near perfect but I feel that it does illustrate my point as I feel that the grass here has a bit more natural looking depth to it. Could be wrong though!  :crazy:

You know this might have been one of the things that was bothering me about the grass, some of it looked "inverted".

Tidbits edit fixed some of this, though I think the grass is too dark in this version.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: r1k on November 29, 2014, 09:29:41 am
another edit

(http://i.imgur.com/BUQFcUC.png)

just took arachne's but made the grass tufts lighter.  Then made some of them the original darker color again.  I dont know if that might be unpractical for tiling though
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: AlcopopStar on November 30, 2014, 12:36:33 pm
R1k has the right idea I think, but honestly it's really hard to say without seeing some assets on the pallet first, maybe working on those would give everyone a bit more scope for analysis?

Suffice to say the actual pixeling of your stuff is lovely.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Decroded on December 01, 2014, 09:28:46 am
I agree, drop in some sprites.
You can tweak the colours till the cows come home then still have to tweak them again once you add sprites.
Seems like it will be much easier to find a balance with sprites to refer against.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Gil on December 01, 2014, 05:33:20 pm
For reference, here's an old character from a game I worked on, that was made for similarly highly saturated backgrounds (GBA, with its crappy back light required stuff to be super saturated to work). It's visually busy, but I don't mind that. Your mileage may vary :)

(http://i.imgur.com/F2NfSqf.png)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on December 11, 2014, 12:12:51 am
Thank you all for advice!! Thank very much! Sorry for taking so long to post... I really liked your edits... I like vibrant color and light grass.. I dont want change it too much..  Some might think it is  too bright.. some might like it.. It also depends of monitors.. So in my new edit I tried to make., Bush, rock, plant pop up more.. The darker grass might be still look too dark but I like it more than lighter grass tufts..


(http://i58.tinypic.com/2ur9f21.jpg)
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: AlcopopStar on December 11, 2014, 03:17:11 am
This may be unintentional but the sparser spacing on this new picture actually looks really lovely.
Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Beetleking22 on December 25, 2014, 10:29:48 pm
This may be unintentional but the sparser spacing on this new picture actually looks really lovely.

Yeah I agree.. Simplistic grass works better... I tried make this with different monitor...

(http://i58.tinypic.com/5ycfw9.png)

Title: Re: Forest tileset...
Post by: Pukahuna on December 28, 2014, 12:01:29 am
Idk, everything in this piece is amazing, but I think this style of grass don't match with the style of the bush and the rock, they're very detailed and have a high contrast, while the grass is very minimalist and light