Nice comments crimsane, also learning a lot even if it isn't my topic 

Thanks for this, it's very educational. Will follow your topic and hope to learn a lot from it !

Just wanted to say great art men !!! I really like the style and use of color.
Esp. the first picture, whit the parrot shooting. Whats the name of the game and platform ?

Colour edit: I've got the feeling that #1 readability problem comes from the darkness of the ground tiles. "Light" areas have lower saturation and higher value, which imho helps sprites and bonuses to stand out. Your new "greyish" tileset is likely to address that already, but unless we see elements put together in a mockup, we can't help much.

Regarding your lego blocks, you might want to avoid value-only-shading for yellow and opt for a yellow-to-brown shading instead.
I note, too, that your shadows do not affect "plots" the way it should, giving the feeling that bricks "hover" above the ground, rather than being "stuck to" the ground ... or is that a perspective issue ?

Okay thanks, I will make a mock-up with the new blue guys and the new set... Time is my biggest enemy here

The hover thing is probably indeed the chosen perspective, but I agree with you there, they seem to be hovering.
I already tried different shadow types but this one seemed to be the best.
But a suggestion how to change is welcome, cause I can't seem to find the "mistake".

UPDATE: Made the mock-up


This project is on hold at the moment cause of another project (01-06-2010)
But it will go on as soon as I have time again !!

Another 2 days have past and I managed to spend even more time on the gfx.

As promised the parts department has also been upgraded since yesterday:
What did I do:

- I changed on of the purple colors in for a green/greyisch version.
- I replaced the dither shadows with solid color once which I think is a hugh improvment (correct me if I'm wrong)
- Changed some walls (esp. on the bottem)
- Made a mesh / fence look in the wooden jail



I could use some idea's of what to place more in the maze, items wise. Like plants, trees, small things like barrels, wooden block's.
Just to make it a bit more atractive

Thing is that I am thinking of re-building the whole sheet since it is a mess but okay I will focus on the gfx and afterwards on the layout...

C+C and other idea's are welcome too...