Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: zerogravitas on February 02, 2012, 08:38:16 pm

Title: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: zerogravitas on February 02, 2012, 08:38:16 pm
A mockup of a level for a game I've been working on.

(http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u488/zerogravitas77/GraveyardMU.png)

Critique and suggestions very welcome :)



Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: jams0988 on February 03, 2012, 12:01:59 am
It's not bad, but is it actually pixel art? It seems like there's an awful lot of AA going on here, and it's making the image look a little blurry to me. I thought you saved it as a jpg at first. = \
It's definitely nice, though. I like how you went with a plain black sky. Looks like a chilly night, with the black sky and giant moon. =)
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Xamllew on February 03, 2012, 12:10:44 am
I really like the trees aside for the fact they they're really bright for such a dim moon.
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: zerogravitas on February 03, 2012, 09:33:32 am
Jams0988: Aargh, Photobucket did something to the upload, something to do with the size maybe? Not used it before. Here are some smaller images showing details from the main image.

(http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u488/zerogravitas77/GraveyardMUsmall.png)
(http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u488/zerogravitas77/GraveyardMUsmall2.png)
(http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u488/zerogravitas77/GraveyardMUsmall3.png)

Xamllew: You're right, they are too bright. I'll work on toning them down.


Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Nitrogen on February 03, 2012, 11:15:37 am
I think the trees look awesome, I'd rather say that the moon is too dim:

The reason a moon would normally be dim would be that it's close to the horizon, in which case it would pick up the atmospheric scattering and become more orangey. Otherwise it would be diffuse because of clouds or mist.
In the scene you have here, I'd like to see the moon very bright yellow, at the moment it looks like it's dirty or faded... What you could do is add another brighter yellow layer to the moon which would show details together with the faded yellow you have now...
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: kriss on February 03, 2012, 12:35:06 pm
about the moon, i'm thinking it's a lot "green"
about photobucket, when you upload a picture, it resize if the resolution is too big !

this cemetary don't have a lot of tombs :(
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Sharm on February 03, 2012, 02:45:52 pm
Ghosts and Goblins!  I like the colors (except for the moon), and I like the direction your going.  It looks unfinished to me though, like you're not sure how to zoom in and refine it.  The biggest offender is the floor tiles.  The medium sized tree is my favorite.  The small and thin trees look unrealistic in shape.  Even manicured trees don't look quite like that.  I'd suggest looking up poplars for the thin one.  The clouds look like they're melting.  Look up "contrast cloud" in google images, you should be able to find some good references for clouds that are back lit like you're going for.  The stars are incredible!  Love them so much.  I've tried to make a sky of stars that looked like that many times, and I've never once managed it.
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: surt on February 03, 2012, 03:13:39 pm
I would suggest something more along these lines:
(http://img.uninhabitant.com/zerogravitas_graveyard_edit.png)
No bright green!
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: ErekT on February 03, 2012, 04:28:56 pm
The pixel tech needs tightening up. There's banding here and there and in many places it looks like you didn't pay much attention to how your pixels work together to best effect. The result is a nicely drawn and atmospheric scene that's let down a bit by an unrefined look. This thread here has a lot to say on pixel clusters:

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=8110.0
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Mathias on February 04, 2012, 03:09:46 am
Instantly realized your inspiration (http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/66255.htm). Clouds even.

Work on your visual priority. Midground elements look like they're foreground. The dark blue fence is a good way to deal with bg gfx, but the rest needs reduced focus, too.

Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: zerogravitas on February 04, 2012, 11:34:12 am
Wow! Lots to think about, thanks guys.

Mathias: Yup, you're spot on. That was my initial inspiration, hoping not to ape it too much though. It's a great piece but I'm trying for a different style. I'm pretty new to pixelling so hopefully I'll be able to develop this.

I'm going to go away and work on some of your suggestions. Hope to be back soon with some improvements.
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Lilyo on February 04, 2012, 04:05:42 pm
Wow that looks amazing, though the lighting on the trees looks a bit overdone. I would move the highlights a bit higher so that the light only hits the top of the tree, and not most of the tree like it does right now. If the shadows are bigger on the underside of each leaves part it will make the lighting seem a bit more dynamic.
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: zerogravitas on February 10, 2012, 03:10:40 pm
Small update. Redid the statue and ground tiles. Changed moon colour. Recoloured the crypt. Trees and clouds are pretty rough, just want to know if they're headed in the right direction. Still a long way to go...

(http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u488/zerogravitas77/GraveyardEdit.png)

Cheers :)
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: kriss on February 10, 2012, 04:21:13 pm
There is something i don't like in your mockup, but it's hard to explain this feeling. I can't see your work like a spooky cemetery.
Maybe it's not your intention (so it's normal i don't have this feeling), but for me this kind of cemetery should be looks like thoses exemples:

(http://www.macgamesandmore.com/screenshots/redemptioncemeterychildrensplight.jpg) (http://fast1.onesite.com/capcom-unity.com/user/distortedshrine/blog_photos/4fdeb2a94bb93ace75033a93ddcee9f7.jpg?v=60260)

So the tree should looks like dead,
some fog could be added
Ground colors could be near brown/green and not blue
I'm thinking your sky is too dark.

You wrote this is a level for a game you are working on, but the player will never see the moon ? (like the demon's crest screen)
If your mockup is a 1:1, so the hero's sprite will be very small !
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: MattB on February 11, 2012, 10:17:23 pm
I honestly like the higher contrast of your original image over the toned downed colors of your second. The design of the ground tiles is improved, though.

I agree with kriss, that your cemetery looks rather serene compared to most video game cemeteries. The only think giving it a slightly ominous vibe is the lynched half skeleton and pile of bones.

If this is supposed to be a dangerous, haunted cemetery, perhaps add more signs of defilement and decay like your bones. If it's supposed to be a safe area where the player might encounter a friendly NPC or something, then maybe ditch the skeleton?

Edit:
Oh! And like everyone else is saying, the trees look really nice. So do your updated clouds! All the art does.
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Helm on February 11, 2012, 11:31:37 pm
(http://locustleaves.com/GraveyardEdit.png)

I debated internally if I should even post this because I am not sure it's any better. But I do think more contrast in darkness might be a good thing. The shadows should eat up the forms, that's the basis of all occultation.
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: zerogravitas on February 22, 2012, 09:46:03 pm
Hello again. Another update, tried to address some of the issues.

(http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u488/zerogravitas77/GraveyardEdit4-1.png)

Helm: Glad you decided to post it, I really liked the idea of the shadows eating up the forms of the objects. Tried to do something along those lines.

MattB: I liked the high contrast too, but it did look very bright. I've tried to increase the contrast and darken things up a bit.

Kriss: I Agree that it's not very spooky, hoping that the new, darker look helps with that. There will be more signs of death and decay, hanging corpses, piles of bones, etc. in the full level. Just trying to get the look of this section right at the moment.

You're right about the proportions though, I just threw the mockup together without giving enough thought to how it would look in game. As this is just a cropped section, it's still not quite the right ratio but I've altered it so that it's nearer to what it should look like. I've also added fairly rough versions of the HUD and a couple of sprites, to better give a sense of scale.

Thanks for all the comments, keep them coming, hopefully it's going in the right direction :)

Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Helm on February 23, 2012, 09:22:46 am
Much better now, I think. It looks like nighttime now! Do you think you will refine things on a pixel level though?
Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: kriss on February 23, 2012, 10:59:46 am
i like a lot this new update.
Dark green is good, the ghost and the yellow eyes are really great idea  :y:

Title: Re: [WIP] Graveyard Mockup (C&C Welcome)
Post by: Facet on February 24, 2012, 07:26:10 pm
Nice scene, great improvements ;D

Whilst near-black for the sky is a common pictorial trope; if the moon is the primary light-source for the scene then the sky should be lighter than the ground. Reserving the darkest portion of the palette for some bg sihouette to lend more depth I think would be prudent. The clouds & foliage are a bit amorphous, noisy at the moment I'd concentrate on making things read nicely in big simple shapes before adding too much detail. The whole thing is pretty huge though, cleaning things up is going to pose quite a challenge.
 
Quick masked edit:

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