[WiP] Pirate Airship (or Skyship depends which is less cliche')

[Grimsane]

just got net back huzzah,
wanted to get community feedback on this the other day but couldn't so after a few hours and no readily available encouragement or feedback i stopped,
16 colours
no reference used* (but sure it looks like something else more than likely, subconscious or coincidental i assure you)

recently started to mess with Construct Game Engine, i created a scene with 3 layers of parallax  water and sine bobbing movement on a sea boat (really rough non pixel scribble of a boat), and i had a concealed sea creature with ball based tentacles it looked fairly good but i lost it when the program crashed  (its in beta, so my fault for not backing it up, although the auto save feature had reverted to off because of a previous crash  ),
, So i took the really rough idea of the ship and evolved it was planning on remaking the demo in pixel art, its fairly early and i decided to impose a 16 colour palette for a challenge. and before i knew it the rough idea evolved and I am actually motivated to finish it
some WiP images:

earliest save 8 colour:
Palette change :
Latest iteration :

all C&C is encouraged and appreciated
things i am aware of:
a) the mess on the deck doesn't make too much sense/not very readable as anything in particular started to make it into some form of steam engine or something but it will likely radically change. ideas would be welcome.
b)from what one person has said the mast/bottom of the sail(/ee thing) is too high, although seeming as its an airship and doesn't adhere to traditional ship design i don't think that's not entirely relevant actually my father said that i should mount a fan aimed at the sail on the captains quarters heh
c) probably everything else, i am still somewhat a pixel newb and if there are any really blatant bad techniques or flaws in there please point them out

here's to getting better 

oh and for those who actually read all this semi-coherant ramble-laden post  thanks, and those who didn't i don't blame you 

[Jad]

Welcome to the forums! The sail feels utterly flat much since it keeps the same values throughout the whole area of the object.

Why don't you try to sculpt it further in 3d space by changing the lower color value threshold where it would 'bulge out' somewhat? O:

[Grimsane]

Welcome to the forums! The sail feels utterly flat much since it keeps the same values throughout the whole area of the object.

Why don't you try to sculpt it further in 3d space by changing the lower color value threshold where it would 'bulge out' somewhat? O:

thanks! and ummm kinda get what you mean, same time i am only half comprehending what you mean O:
i will try and remedy the issue, tbh when i originally made the sail i was just like WEEEE and just randomly did it lol in a sense it was a place holder i forgot to mention (and didn't post coz it looks HORRIBLE ) I also tried a zeppelin balloon on top instead, i didn't have any reference so it looked like a giant inflatable sausage well i am gonna do an edit now thanks for the crits, keep em coming

//SNIP* moved to its own thread on Jad's advice 

[Jad]

Feel free to keep your two pieces in separate threads, as long as they're separate projects you're free to post another thread for your game mockup! O: I think you should, it'll make the feedback more focused.

[Grimsane]

ummm quick edit i tried to improve it but ended up ditching most the sail because it failed, didn't get what you meant entirely, whether you meant change my palette and increase the colour count to have a more complex ramp on the sails or whether to change the shading to adhere more strictly to a directional light source or whether to just increase the contrast,   so i just massacred it instead..

tried changing it and alot of the overall ship design, better worse? what should i pursue? also should i do a blimp/zeppelin instead?   i really need some reference of a profile view sail ship, because i have no real point of reference and i am just winging the whole thing...

Feel free to keep your two pieces in separate threads, as long as they're separate projects you're free to post another thread for your game mockup! O: I think you should, it'll make the feedback more focused.

umm okay seeming as judging by your response there will be some genuine interest i will do that

Edit: did some more work totally started again on the sails and then started to design some banisters and mod the shape, instead of just edit edit i reded out the next iteration of improvements because i am dead tired (its nearly 5am here in Aus and i haven't slept yet) so :
  critical critique as long as its constructive, and any ideas welcome too, I am willing to spend as much time as i have to to make it a great piece. I'll also most likely be extracting the ship itself for that demo i mentioned earlier
goodbye 4 now ppl hope to get some feedback when i get back