Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: KoKos on June 16, 2007, 11:53:33 pm

Title: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: KoKos on June 16, 2007, 11:53:33 pm
Hi guys, seems like it's my first topic in there :), pretty great forums i would say.

I'd like your thoughts about this little piece of pixels and how i could improve it, it's a first concept for a postapocalyptic platformer/metroid-like i'm planning to make.

(http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoastmockup.gif)
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: .TakaM on June 17, 2007, 12:40:56 am
looks to have a nice atmosphere

only thing I don't like is it looks like one of those games where you aim the gun with your mouse.. really don't like those games
I greatly prefer them without using the mouse, if it means only shooting left/right like megaman, or more complex controls like super metroid, both are good ways to go
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Obsidian on June 17, 2007, 01:56:26 am
Personally I much prefer the mouse aiming games, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

I also think the atmosphere is quite nice. Also, I like the great level of contrast between ground and sky; very good to have in a game. Two crits: the enemy is very difficult to read, I'm not even sure what it is. Also, the HUD should be bigger in my opinion, and try to be more creative with it as it looks boring at the moment.

Overall, very nice work, looks like it would be a fun game to play.
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Arne on June 17, 2007, 08:25:01 am
The bright sky BG kills the value contrast in your foreground I think. It's a long value separation between the BG and FG, then your FG has these subtle value steps which becomes lost really. An intermediate BG plane might help. Maybe fogging some of the terrain stuff back a bit could make it clearer what kind of terrain parts are traversable.

(I'm a mouse-aim guy too.)
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: saimo on June 17, 2007, 11:12:46 am
Cool atmosphere and style :y:
I concur that the sharp contrast makes it too difficult to appreciate the foreground.
It's a nice good start, overall!

saimo
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Helm on June 17, 2007, 11:17:26 am
(http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoastmockup.gif)(http://www.locustleaves.com/radioactivetoastmockup.gif)

color edit on the foreground.
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Arne on June 17, 2007, 12:19:27 pm
(http://web.telia.com/~u48508900/kokos-po.jpg)

To note:

Sharpness and contrast brings attention. The abyss leading out of the pic has softer edges to suggest diminishing importance.

The clouds are in the background, and the background is not something the eye should confuse with the foreground. Some blur and/or lowered contrast might be in order at some of the cloud edges, maybe more than I did. At least at the lower levels where "Where can I stand?" confusion might arise. There are no clouds that low though.

The tree has been fogged back a bit. Note that the fog is more intense where the tree meets the ground (well, a bit, and the contrast is lower). A common trick in art is to blur and fog intersecting parts to avoid intersection confusion. This whole blur-contrast thing can be taken further than I did in my Paintover.

The ground has two hues making it more interesting, rock and dirt.

There's now an overall theme with the swirls.

Flowers can make the environment feel more alive. Maybe there's little bee sprites buzzing around them, bringing the environment to life further?


Yes, I didn't pixelate, but the same rules apply to all art, imo. Execution is just... a technicality.
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: LoTekK on June 17, 2007, 01:12:02 pm
Hot, prom. Probably woulda recognised that as your paintover even without a username ^^
I like the overall warming of the pallete, though maybe more temperature contrast could be nice.

Also, adding a vote for mouse-aim (when done right, it's fantastic)
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Arne on June 17, 2007, 01:56:04 pm
Yeah, I think you could probably play the Cool foreground card on the side of the cliffs. In this case, Gray would appear cool because of color relativity, it wouldn't be necessary to go all the way to blue.
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: KoKos on June 17, 2007, 06:13:52 pm
Wow, thanks for the replies, and especially you arne, you just killed me in terms of constructive criticism haha  ;D, really kickass paintover

So I've made some little changes following you guys opinions :

(http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoastmockup.gif)(http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoastmockup2.gif)

And Obsidian, the ennemy is this http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoast_empiresoldier.jpg  :)  But now that you say it. I agree, the readability of the bad guys is quite hard, maybe because the weapon is almost the same color as the armor ?

Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Obsidian on June 17, 2007, 07:19:38 pm
Pretty much everything on him is the same color; some contrast would help a bit. The low readability might also have to do with the fact that the head is very strange, and doesn't read as a head on such a small scale.

By the way, how did you set your avatar?
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Jad on June 17, 2007, 11:42:38 pm
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/jadmadeyes/radioactivetoastmockupedit.gif)

Tried to fix the readability issues on the soldier. The design is uber so I think it should show in the sprite too O:

Played around with the ground and background and so, but disregard that.

Also made the gun flashes and stuff pure white, they have to read well, even against such a colorful background. O:
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: saimo on June 18, 2007, 08:43:23 am
So I've made some little changes following you guys opinions :
(http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoastmockup.gif)(http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoastmockup2.gif)
Nice improvement :y:

Quote
And Obsidian, the ennemy is this http://kokosovar.free.fr/radioactivetoast_empiresoldier.jpg  :)  But now that you say it. I agree, the readability of the bad guys is quite hard, maybe because the weapon is almost the same color as the armor ?
IMHO it's still a matter of contrast: too much contrast between the background and the foreground and too little contrast between the shades of the soldier. I'd say Jad has moved in the right direction to tackle the problem.
Advice: take my words with a pinch of salt, I'm no pro! :P

saimo
Title: Re: [WIP]Game concept
Post by: Elrinth on June 20, 2007, 01:31:19 pm
ever played Abuse? That game handles mouse aiming perfectly. However, the graphics are nothing close in what ur trying to bring forth. :)