GR#141 - Journey to Hammerdale - Zelda like Game

[winged doom]

Pixel stuff for current work - "Journey to Hammerdale", zelda-like adventure.
Any info here and here 

[Wes]

i'ma edit this with more of a crit soon (i cant find my glasses atm and i hope i didnt leave them at work i cant see anything man) 

4 frames for each direction, right? from what i can tell it looks like you have the basic pendulum motions right except that there's a jerkiness in the animation that's preventing it from looking very smooth. i do notice in some of them that her entire body moves a pixel here or there where it shouldn't—which makes a strange jumping effect (ex in the first image she seems to jump a little horizontally and in the second one she jumps vertically). while the body should move up and down a little during the walk cycle, it should be in a sqash-and-stretch kind of way, not moving the entire thing.

also i checked that link and dude i love the trees in the screenshots.

[Seiseki]

Interesting project

I saw this logo though and thought I had become dyslectic.


Is it just me or is that logo extremely hard to read..
(sorry for being off-topic)

edit: why is the crack between her breast blinking?

[Mathias]

It's legibility is way too low, yes.

I'm huge into logo/brand design and I must slap this down with my mighty backhand of design tyranny. The graphical treaments, although a little excessive, are very nice and give a great visual appeal. But it doesn't work. My best interpretation is Journey to Hammernale. The lowercase "r" tells me to read the capitalized "D" as "n".

One quick improvement he can do is get rid of the yellow stroke inside the purple letter shapes and let it all be purple. Nice use of nested strokes via Illustrator but come on naow.

[winged doom]

i'ma edit this with more of a crit soon (i cant find my glasses atm and i hope i didnt leave them at work i cant see anything man) 

4 frames for each direction, right? from what i can tell it looks like you have the basic pendulum motions right except that there's a jerkiness in the animation that's preventing it from looking very smooth. i do notice in some of them that her entire body moves a pixel here or there where it shouldn't—which makes a strange jumping effect (ex in the first image she seems to jump a little horizontally and in the second one she jumps vertically). while the body should move up and down a little during the walk cycle, it should be in a sqash-and-stretch kind of way, not moving the entire thing.

also i checked that link and dude i love the trees in the screenshots.

right, 4 frames
looks like i should synchronize all these "jumps"

[winged doom]

edit: why is the crack between her breast blinking?

i don't understand (( what you mean?

[winged doom]

The lowercase "r" tells me to read the capitalized "D" as "n".

better?

[Fickludd]

Nice logo, but still I'm afraid preeetty hard to read.

Animation:
Your frames move about too much, making the animation jaggy/skippy instead of fluid. Walking is a pretty uneventful motion.

Southwest walk jitters horizontally
West walk jitters vertically
South and north walks jitter less, but still a bit
Northeast walk is ok

Is it just me or is the beltbuckle in the south walk moving in the wrong direction?

This is a really nice sprite by the way.

[Mathias]

While I appreciate your willingness to take direction, I have to be honest and answer - no. I think you regressed.

-Colors are washed out. Looks like you have a contrasty gradient blending in too strongly now. The yellows got really boosted somehow. Almost makes me want to see if your display is calibrated (displaying full range of luminosity efficiently/correctly).
-It appears you took a vector logo, rasterized it and did some smudges/swirls in Photoshop. If you did this in vector, keep it in vector so it's resolution remains infinite, creating raster-stylized versions only where necessary.
-That curl manually added to the "e"  in Hammerdale doesn't work for me; doesn't match the scripty style of the typography.
-Try adding in some ornate olde english or celtic knotwork flourishes to frame in the letters; occupy the negative space inside the logo's implied rectangular bounding box.

I offer crit because I like it, and I hope you can improve it a bit. It is a very interesting logo, it just needs to be reigned in a little.

ROCK

ON

[fortunato]

It's legibility is way too low, yes.
...
One quick improvement he can do is get rid of the yellow stroke inside the purple letter shapes and let it all be purple. Nice use of nested strokes via Illustrator but come on naow.

try this. this would make it a lot more readable. the first time i saw the logo, i couldn't read it at all until i read the name of your game. even then, i could still barely make it out. if you want a logo to be successful, it has to be instantly understood and readable.

also, i'd have to agree with Mathias. i like the first version's colors better.

[TheMonsterAtlas]

It's in all honesty the font style's fault. We aren't able to distinguish what exactly each character is suppose to represent. Taking out a lot of the loops and outer branches would make it a lot better to read. The first logo is my favorite so far, It adds a darker tone to the game.

[winged doom]

guys thanx for critique of logotype
it's sad, but now i don't have any time for correction of that ugly logo, i do it later

some scetch from current stage of work

[pistachio]

Latest update seems confusing. What is it, exactly, that is in ruins? I would expect to see some sort of ruined castle. It's good nonetheless, very 3-dimensional and I like the way you've made use of planes (angles) there.

[winged doom]

Latest update seems confusing. What is it, exactly, that is in ruins? I would expect to see some sort of ruined castle. It's good nonetheless, very 3-dimensional and I like the way you've made use of planes (angles) there.

i think believe it's sedimentary rocks (or ruins may be) inside some goblin cave
but i'm not sure really, it's just a scetch

[Mathias]

Yeah, I'm digging that rough mockup. Really cool.
You seem to be using diminishing perspective, which will give you prblems if your character walks around the world enough and everything pans. Angles will get more and more extreme as she gets away from the central points. I'll just have to wait and see what you're doing here.


Also, you're already using this type of perspective projection:



Are you going to mix perspective types for this game?

[The KKM]

May I also add that the logo used in those mockups is infinitely more readable than the large one, perhaps for it's use of only one colour.

[winged doom]

Are you going to mix perspective types for this game?

if it will be possible
coder of project will answer this for me soon



picrandom

May I also add that the logo used in those mockups is infinitely more readable than the large one, perhaps for it's use of only one colour.

oh yes! :D

[winged doom]

[winged doom]

[PypeBros]

maybe a secondary colour on the dungeon wouldn't hurt ... it's a bit all-monochromatic, right now (although it's marvelously rendered).

[jams0988]

I don't know why this isn't getting more comments. This is some great work!
I love how you did the stone walls, and everything else is very well done, too.
I'm not sure the ground tiles fit as well as they could with the wall tiles, though. The wall tiles look like an old dungeon, but the ground tiles look more sterile, like a hospital or something. Then again, it gives off a weird atmosphere like this, which, judging by the creepy mouths in the floor, might be what you're going for, heheh.

Cool set, either way!

[MattB]

Jourvpy Tohammemale?

[Edit: The art looks awesome, but I have to jump on board with everyone else about the logo]

[rikfuzz]

Looks fantastic as everyone's said, love the rocky texture - just replying to point out the top right of the shadows is showing a horizontal where it should be a diagonal like its opposite corner.  (Can do a diagram if that's not clear).

[winged doom]

but I have to jump on board with everyone else about the logo

i agree with you, just too busy now

I'm not sure the ground tiles fit as well as they could with the wall tiles, though. The wall tiles look like an old dungeon, but the ground tiles look more sterile, like a hospital or something.

it's something like a hall from cave to underground city =)

Looks fantastic as everyone's said, love the rocky texture - just replying to point out the top right of the shadows is showing a horizontal where it should be a diagonal like its opposite corner.  (Can do a diagram if that's not clear).

oh! thanx for the correction!

[winged doom]

 

[slym]

Don't animate her boobs. For one, female players dislike it. Plus it doesn't really look right at this sprite size. Just my advise though!

[tehwexxl0rz]

There's no problem with animating her breasts slightly to add believably, but if you make it gratuitous, you are going to alienate a lot of players (not just women.)
That being said, the only thing really gratuitous about it ATM is the flashing sign and the new thread title.... I mean, seriously? >_>

Overall, the walking animation is very static. There's a LOT more you can do to add some life to it (skirt movement, hair movement, etc.) so bouncing breasts should be low on the list.

Regardless of the animation, I suggest changing the shape of the hair so it's not perfectly round. In character design, a strong silhouette is critical and the hair is killing it right now.

EDIT:



Hope this helps!

[jams0988]

Don't animate her boobs. For one, female players dislike it. Plus it doesn't really look right at this sprite size. Just my advise though!

I don't think there's a problem with bouncing boobs...I think there's a problem with the outfit. Why would a knight have her boobs hanging out? Some games can get away with this sort of fan service, but (like you said) with a sprite this small, I don't think it's really worth it trying to go with unrealistic sex appeal - I can't even tell they're bouncing at this size.

So, yeah! If this is the main character, I'd get rid of her boobs altogether. Cover it up with a breastplate if she's a knight or whatever. She looks like a bartender fishing for tips right now, which really feels like showing boobs for the sake of showing boobs. Girls in armor are hot in their own way, anyway: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=soul+calibur+4+hilde&um=1&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=916&tbm=isch&tbnid=gX1rN3MWUXvJJM:&imgrefurl=http://soulcalibur.wikia.com/wiki/Hilde&docid=kKUP0QVIIJ67oM&imgurl=http://images.wikia.com/soulcalibur/images/a/a4/HildeSC4.jpg&w=1400&h=1600&ei=YzEmT7DKHabV0QH11eHICA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=165&vpy=152&dur=620&hovh=240&hovw=210&tx=137&ty=123&sig=107225778435442496790&page=1&tbnh=113&tbnw=99&start=0&ndsp=48&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0 (Check out Caska from Berserk, too. :3~ )

Your character is cute right now, winged doom, but she'd probably be even more charming if she was dressed realistically!

And as an aside, to texwexxl0rz: Your title a FLCL reference, by any chance?

[winged doom]

Don't animate her boobs. For one, female players dislike it. Plus it doesn't really look right at this sprite size. Just my advise though!

So, yeah! If this is the main character, I'd get rid of her boobs altogether. Cover it up with a breastplate if she's a knight or whatever. She looks like a bartender fishing for tips right now, which really feels like showing boobs for the sake of showing boobs.

Ok, i understand you, but what do you think, guys, if in game will be a boy as second main character? Girls-players can play with Boy Main Char and boys-players can play with Girl With Boobies - like Lara Croft or Nina Williams from Tekken or Ivy from Soul Calibur!

Your character is cute right now, winged doom, but she'd probably be even more charming if she was dressed realistically!

I don't want realism in the game, because it goes beyond style.

EDIT:

Woooooow!! It's soooo cool!!!!!! But... why did you removed the animated belt? Animation looks a lot better with him:

[winged doom]

Finally i took up the correction of the logo. At first, I removed all unnecessary - the colors, strokes, bevels etc. And tried to start to increase the space between letters, the logo began to read:

[slym]

Put more space between the "to" and "hammerdale". Right now it reads "Journey Tohammprdale". You also really need to give priority to the words. It's not often that you see a logo with all of the same font size. I would either make Journey larger and shrink "To Hammerdale", or make Journey much smaller and "To Hammderdale" larger. Preferably the second one because if the "To Hammerdale" is any smaller it may become impossible to read.

[Sharm]

I dislike the belt animation.  It implies a pelvic thrust in the walk which is just weird.

[Mike]

It's not a pelvic thrust.  At least it doesn't look like that to me anyway.  To me it looks like it's being used to accentuate the hip twisting as she walks.  The idea is sound but perhaps the execution isn't quite right.

[tehwexxl0rz]

There are two big problems with the belt 1) it's twisting in the direction of the torso when it should be twisting in the direction of the hips if anything 2) the torso doesn't rotate nearly enough to warrant such an extreme counter-rotation. Even if it did, the waistline is the articulation point, so it should be facing forward.

[winged doom]

Put more space between the "to" and "hammerdale". Right now it reads "Journey Tohammprdale". You also really need to give priority to the words. It's not often that you see a logo with all of the same font size. I would either make Journey larger and shrink "To Hammerdale", or make Journey much smaller and "To Hammderdale" larger. Preferably the second one because if the "To Hammerdale" is any smaller it may become impossible to read.

So, which variant is better?

[jok]

there are two weak points in light between letters - ey (in journey) and r in hammerdale)
general shape looks nice but is hard to read - more space between words should help a little imho
(tommorow i could submit edit if you want)

[StarRaven]

Don't animate her boobs. For one, female players dislike it. Plus it doesn't really look right at this sprite size. Just my advise though!

As a female gamer, I would like to refute this. I have nothing against boobie jiggle. I do have to agree that it does look strange at this sprite size, but I think the real problem is that they are swaying side to side or something. You don't want that. It's unnattractive. It makes her look like she has flabby granny boobs. If they're going to bounce, they should be bouncing up and down. The other thing is that she doesn't seem to be moving very fast. She's just walking. You have to get to a nice bouncy jog before you start to get boobie jiggle on the level that would even show on this sprite.

Anyway, other than that, it all looks great. I like #2 for your logo. I like that long tail on the H. You could decrease the size of "to" if you wanted to. That would help separate it from "Hammerdale."

[winged doom]

there are two weak points in light between letters - ey (in journey) and r in hammerdale)
general shape looks nice but is hard to read - more space between words should help a little imho
(tommorow i could submit edit if you want)

oh yes i want! )))) if it will help you i have a source of logotype http://rghost.ru/36349872 =)


@ StarRaven: thanks for very detailed answer!
i see about what you have written and i should think on this
owing to criticism in this thread i got added evidence that to return to previous variant of animation

[winged doom]

This template will be used for various messages in game, like notes, schemes, puzzle tips etc…

[winged doom]

Icons for site (on left side of pic) and for in-game map (on right side).

[winged doom]

[winged doom]

Just want to thank three persons for their feedback and help in my work on J2H.
tehwexxl0rz - for his animation edit of the main character. I'm not sure that i will work in offered direction (may be if i got a free time), but his version of girl is more pleasant to me than mine

astrospoon - for more readable version of J2H logotype. I should realize it!!  

Bones for his idea add animation to "floor mouth" object. At first was no any animation for mouth-object, only two conditions, two modes - opened and closed (check 01:01 and 01:14 minute in this video). When i have seen animation edit of Bones i has understood that should animate "closed mod" of mouth- because it looked more logical:

[winged doom]

i need your fresh look, guys! this is Raider and his walk animation:



is that ok?

[Cupcake]

No edits from me (yet?) but those don't look like the same sprite to me. The animation feels very different between the two - and the sprite itself as well! The shirt changes colors, and you go from the deep shadows between the pauldrons and helmet to the very disconnected-feeling pauldrons on the right one. Shading changes a lot elsewhere as well (sword is most obvious.)

The right-facing animation feels more like a collection of loose parts sliding around than a moving character.

[PypeBros]

you could easily increase the movement of the front-side animation: even if that's a bit unrealistic for the perspective, make legs move more, make shoulders circle a bit, etc.

[Grimsane]

one thing is the positioning is inconsistent, pushing him back and forward that much doesn't look so good, and also your attempt at animating the horns isn't an efficient one either, they just move, and not in synch with the body,

these are reasonably minor alterations, just making the positions more consistent frame to frame, adding an alternating 1 pixel down head bob on frames #1-#3, and quickly putting together a better approach to the horn animation, animate it in synch with his arm swing, because that would be the direction his body would swing/rotate.

also the forward animation has quite alot of head bob at the moment you want to make sure it is synchronized with your side on animation, before the edit, your side on had no head bob, so it clashed with the forward animation. also the arms and seemingly the legs too have much more extreme motions in your profile/side on view than they have in the downward one, you should try make them consistent with one another.
the overall design of the character is quite appealing.

the perspective matches your main character. but I'm not entirely sure about the colours. the colours on your main character look more subtle and desaturated, in this character they seem high contrast and vibrant in comparison, on their own both colour schemes look fine, but I'm not sure they mesh together perfectly

[winged doom]

Sorry guys, i don't have a time to answer, but BIG THANX everyone for your replies, specially to a Grimsane for edit!  It really helped!!!
So, i have some progress - new edit based on your good advices:




And new animation of attack (east direction):




I know they are not ideal. Many details need to be corrected, but I tired from this work and have to switch to something else.

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

For the attack animation I would have the actual sword take only 1 frame to get to the other side but have the smear take a few. This will make the animation seem quicker.

[hopoo]

Some things to consider:
-You generally do not want the mid-swing frame, because it slows down the chop and makes it seem much slower.
-Try swinging a "sword" in midair and stop it at an exact time; you'll find that you cant. You cant instantly slow down a swing.
-It helps to 'break' some joints at the impact of the swing in order to convey strength more
-I don't know your animation limit, but consider some more build-up and perhaps a frame from after the swing to neutral again

A dirty edit:

[Grimsane]

'specially to a Grimsane for edit!  It really helped!!!

glad it did.

although I've noticed quite a few things I think you could improve



badly done but hope it illustrates it sufficiently there are quite intense colour differences in the different views, the most profound being the darkness of the shoulders in the front view and the darkest tones which are no where near that level of presence side on, and the head positioning seems to be slightly contradicted in either view relative to the body, maybe it is just the downward view is a tad too top down at the moment (which when compared to the player might be true) or the side on is conversely too side on, the top down one is definitely the easier to adjust. at the moment side on he looks a bit overweight and from the front he looks broad shoulder and muscular.

also the sword in the side view has foreshortening when it is tilted that looks a bit too extreme, maybe lengthen it a pixel or too, i find the shoulders neutral neutral *suddenly both going in different directions (back and forth)* slightly strange when noticing it and only one portion of his torso is animating. and the backward most action on the legs seems strange with the pixels flaring from his pants

and your colour count is quite insanely high at the moment, even going 32 bit style, your main character sprite has a good balance of colours. 48 compared to triple digits for the current versions of your brute,

but I will say the side on animation has definitely improved quite considerably ^ ^ hopoo offered some great advice regarding the sword swing animation

[winged doom]

hopoo, Grimsane - thanx for advices and for edit too, I keep it in mind! I will back to raider animations, but later - at this moment I want to take a break from this and switched to a new animations:





not perfect good, as allways, so i keep working on this

[winged doom]

work still in progress

Crow animation+city mockup and gui. I used chest from this pic by DawnBringer and map from Chaos Engine as reference.

[rikfuzz]

Looks wonderful as always.

Not sure if there's enough contrast between walkable areas and the walls - I would probably take the highlight off the main walls, so they're more like the building one from the left (which looks amazing).

Also the tiled roofs would probably look a bit better if you could see a small slice of the other side. 

Best of luck with your projects!

Rik

[Ymedron]

As a counterpoint to the earlier, I'm a female and I actually am quite annoyed by gratuitous boobs, because it makes me think the developer wanted to smack their device over the main character. Also it's very unoriginal at this point, everyone has a female character with a huge gaping boobhole in their armor. It would be nice to be treated a bit more respectfully and realistically in that sense.
It wouldn't be a point that I would drop a game over, but it does certainly reduce my respect for the developer. :l Also feels like a terrible disappointment that they could actually have made the decision to avoid this but decided to go with it anyway.

A post someone made that also makes a good point on a similar topic: http://weiss-rauschen.tumblr.com/post/40098127483/why-do-you-hate-the-shape-of-breasts-in-plate-armor-so

[big brother]

I agree that there's a history of nonsensical female armor design in video games. However, tiny sprites can more effectively convey information about the character they depict when they're abstracted from reality. The art has to serve the design first, and readability is key. Maybe cleavage isn't necessary, but realistic armor (that deflects chest blows rather than guiding them into the sternum) would be visually ambiguous.

[Ymedron]

Hm, that is true as well. Though I feel that there is a solution for this that wouldn't really hurt the character design. I don't think having the gray area on the body extend higher up would hurt the readability much at all.

*shrug*

[winged doom]

Best of luck with your projects!

Thank you!

*shrug*

but.. IT'S A BOY!

I don't think that is gratuitous boobs.  I must say that Elsa (main character) is girl kind of "bavarian" body type. She's a bit plump and small and this describes her constitution.

Also it's very unoriginal at this point, everyone has a female character with a huge gaping boobhole in their armor.

I'm not trying to be original, but doing the game of my dream. So in this game all things (including her boobs) looks like I want and as I see it. Sorry ^__^

I agree that there's a history of nonsensical female armor design in video games. However, tiny sprites can more effectively convey information about the character they depict when they're abstracted from reality. The art has to serve the design first, and readability is key. Maybe cleavage isn't necessary, but realistic armor (that deflects chest blows rather than guiding them into the sternum) would be visually ambiguous.

If we're talking about realism, the claim is true, sir!

[Ymedron]

Hm, I kind of expected that style of response, and am disappointed to see my expectations come true.

I personally would find it incredibly obvious that the character was a female overall, during gameplay as you can see the breasts on the sideview without the skin showing. The face and hair are also pretty feminine.

But it is obviously useless to argue this fact, so go on then.

Edit: I also apologize for my crass tone, it is an important subject to me but it's no reason to be rude.
Good luck in the future.

[Lilyo]

I find the perspective to be very confusing right now. I would suggest messing with the contrast or saturation or hues or something to make the area where you walk more apparent, also to separate it from different layers like those that are higher up. I love the art style though.

[winged doom]

@Ymedron
Not seen any rude in your messages, so there is no reason to apologize. ^_^ Thanx!

@Lilyo
You right! I should work on this.

[winged doom]

Hey there! The problem is in the western gates:



they are not read as gates and become as obscure line or something like that.   

How to improve the readability of that gates, any ideas?

[PypeBros]

well, if anything, it looks to me that we should see spikes end-to-end, and that we won't see any of the lower part of the grid, shouldn't we ? You also have more room to show what that grid is attached to, like large strap of metal, or something.

Thought about a statue that holds spears instead, if it still doesn't help ?

Personnally, I'd be more concerned about the uncandy effect of dark-bg-AA'd gate on the lightblue floor to the South.

[Southend_boi]

adding a bottom to the gate helps me tell the difference.

[Parkerbaby]

One idea could be to have some certain marks on the ground that indicate a gate is there. Like three lines perpendicular to the gate or two dots or something.. or even an arrow.

[winged doom]

Thought about a statue that holds spears instead, if it still doesn't help ?

Not really imagine how it might look. Can you give me an example/reference?

Personnally, I'd be more concerned about the uncandy effect of dark-bg-AA'd gate on the lightblue floor to the South.

Actually it is not so big problem as western gates, south floor on pic that i post is wip. And I had a good imagine how to solve this problem (with shadows for example), what I can't say about the western area.

adding a bottom to the gate helps me tell the difference.

Thanx! It's good idea! Also, this will solve the problem with different styles of floor/tiles. I'll try it.

One idea could be to have some certain marks on the ground that indicate a gate is there. Like three lines perpendicular to the gate or two dots or something.. or even an arrow.

Maybe three dots? Like that? (floor under north gates):



Also, alt version of gates - block from the floor:


Is that not too idiotic?

[Cellusious]

Wonderful pixel work as always,
Is it only me or does the perspective weird as in;

Moved the block base up a few pixels and copied the top and placed it under to give the illusion of the pillar under it being higher. ?

[ptoing]

I think the block works best. Nice and iconic looking. Btw, I hope you will change those double pixel dither shadows on the trees, they look really clashy. The trees in general stick out a bit.

Great stuff though overall, and the game looks like something I would probably enjoy playing

[winged doom]

Wonderful pixel work as always,
Is it only me or does the perspective weird as in;

Moved the block base up a few pixels and copied the top and placed it under to give the illusion of the pillar under it being higher. ?

You right! Actually reason of this is in map grid, most of tiles are limited to a 32x32 px size. Thanks! I will fix it.

I think the block works best. Nice and iconic looking. Btw, I hope you will change those double pixel dither shadows on the trees, they look really clashy. The trees in general stick out a bit.

Still can't find time to fix it.

Great stuff though overall, and the game looks like something I would probably enjoy playing

If you like puzzle games =) Thank you! 

[PypeBros]

block works well.

It could recycle those spikes, that draws attention.
It could have the keylock on the top so that one doesn't try and walk on the tile just under the block.

[ptoing]

Btw, I hope you will change those double pixel dither shadows on the trees, they look really clashy. The trees in general stick out a bit.

Still can't find time to fix it.

Come on, seriously? They stick out so much. Don't make me fix them for you! 

[winged doom]

block works well.

It could recycle those spikes, that draws attention.
It could have the keylock on the top so that one doesn't try and walk on the tile just under the block.

Oh, good idea! And it's much more logical! But on the other hand, the block is more visual than the spikes, it's easier to put the focus of gamer on it. Also, we will use spikes as trap.

Btw, I hope you will change those double pixel dither shadows on the trees, they look really clashy. The trees in general stick out a bit.

Still can't find time to fix it.

Come on, seriously? They stick out so much. Don't make me fix them for you! 

Haha, yes, seriously! Most of my time I work with the gameplay, maps creation, preparation of necessary graphics and other routine. By the end of day I so tired that couldn't bring myself to do anything (and then I start draw NES mockups! ).
I'll fix shadow then will cut a tree on a branches that will sway like on wind. =)

[winged doom]

So, here it is:



Bored with this stuff and need your fresh look, guys. Animation of waterfall looks dirty, ragged and not aesthetically.  Will be grateful for good advices and good references.

I made it dark and muted because it's just a decoration. Don't want to distract player from puzzle places on left side of location:



(Wip, I have to remade a lot of this pic.)

[ptoing]

I think the main issue is that it does not really have a direction esp in the darker part. The blocks of shading just jump up and down. I would suggest either for more pronounced downward movement or a kinda shimmering up down highlight thing in certrain areas.

The top where you actually pixelled stuff out works, the rest, not so much.

[winged doom]

Thanks for advice, ptoing! I'll try first variant, because can imagine how it might look. 

[Pix3M]

I got to sit down at a waterfall garden one day. Lemme scribble down what I observed...



A waterfall, I've noticed starts calm and orderly on the top but it gets more chaotic as gravity and water's cohesion property starts doing stuff.

The cohesion property bunches the water up into sections since water wants to bunch up into itself, not stretch itself apart. Waterfalls will also be narrower on the bottom than on the top.

The gaps in between these sections gets bigger as gravity stretches them farther apart and as the cohestion property pulls water together.

Water won't split up perfectly into these clearly identifiable sections but starting at waterfalls, but looking at them paying attention to the 'big picture' lead me to notice that there are visible 'waves' in waterfalls.

Of course, my notes from staring at waterfalls and not from still photos that may be useful as well.

[winged doom]

Pix3M, thanx for advice! I'll try it next time, because left the idea to fix this animation. I had a several failed attempts then I realized that the main problem is that it's a game. I can't even saturate it with details because it distracted player from dominants on this location - current puzzle (primary) and npc (secondary).
So, now this thread is just my game pixels dump 

Guess that it's time to finish with this stuff, final version: