[WIP] Simple city store

[Stupor]

Just thought I'd get some critique on a city store I'm working on for a platformer.

I tried a different approach than the usual on this one: I made a model of the store in Google Sketchup, turned on shadows, and took a screenshot. Then I moved that to Photoshop and drew/colored under it, using the screenshot of the model as a additive layer. This means two things - one, the shading is exactly based on a single point, with the shape of the building casting a fitting shadow on itself, and two, the image is in true perspective as opposed to regular parallel perspective. I'm not too sure if that's appropriate for a game - if I get enough feedback telling me to do so I'll surely change it to parallel.

[Mathias]

This has 140 colors. Check the pill-shaped thingy under the window - it's highlight was done in NPA.

Try to use standard pixel art angles. The diminishing edges of the teal roof areas are a jaggy mess. You'll either have to AA them or use a standard angle.

Perspective of roof and ceiling area supported by columns not matching - got a little accidental cubism going on: I can see both the top of the roof areas and also up under the column ceiling area.

Depth lacking.

That's an awfully strange place to mount your "SHOP" signage. I don't see that ever happening in real life, but you never know.

Think practically about the masons that would've constructed this building - there wouldn't be 3/4 height blocks cut off where columns are, same thing going on with window's bottom edge. Most likely, there would only be whole blocks; no cuts. It's less distracting, too.

You used Sketchup for this, eh? You crazy 3D guys crack me up.

[StaticSails]

This has 140 colors. Check the pill-shaped thingy under the window - it's highlight was done in NPA.

Try to use standard pixel art angles. The diminishing edges of the teal roof areas are a jaggy mess. You'll either have to AA them or use a standard angle.

Perspective of roof and ceiling area supported by columns not matching - got a little accidental cubism going on: I can see both the top of the roof areas and also up under the column ceiling area.

Depth lacking.

That's an awfully strange place to mount your "SHOP" signage. I don't see that ever happening in real life, but you never know.

Think practically about the masons that would've constructed this building - there wouldn't be 3/4 height blocks cut off where columns are, same thing going on with window's bottom edge. Most likely, there would only be whole blocks; no cuts. It's less distracting, too.

You used Sketchup for this, eh? You crazy 3D guys crack me up.

Agreed.

There is some nasty banding on the door too! I know it's a game, but has anyone seen a round top door recently? Seems kind of jarring. Maybe some automatic sliding doors? Where I live most of the shops have glass doors.

[Stupor]

Heh, the 140-color thing was me getting lazy with the Photoshop drop shadow. That and the pill-shaped barrier shall be fixed.

The perspective thing is definitely bugging me, though the roof might be misleading - it's not misaligned perpective, the roof is angled. I'll see if I can make that clearer 

As for the door, that's the door I already have programmed into the game - I just overlaid it on the sprite for looks' sake. I know what you mean with the rounding/banding, though that's a bit of the style I'm going for, actually - old mixed with new and shiny.

I'll be remaking it with these remarks in mind and updating this post when it's done.

[Stupor]

Fixed the perspective, shaded and drew out the bricks, fixed up my colors and removed all NPA. There should now be 59 colors, still a large number but much better than before.

One problem I can't think of a good way to fix: As I mentioned, the roof of the store isn't a complete perspective disaster, it's actually supposed to be beveled. Since the building is viewed from the direct front, I didn't draw the top, as it would be directly perpendicular to the view. I can't figure out how to make the shape of the roof clear - it's supposed to be simple, almost cartoonish, the turquoise parts are left untextured for a reason, at least for now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Urgh, I'm sorry, that was supposed to be an edit on the last post, not a double. Sorry
- EDIT2: One more thing, the ideal zoom is 2x

[michelcote]

Interesting experiment here, your edit is much better overall.
The pillars on the far left and the bricks in the entrance (around the door) clash with the perspective quite a bit. I think only showing one pillar and aligning the bricks around the door with the rest of them might fix these issues.
The SHOP sign looks odd on the left that way. Keep the height the same but center it according to the roof or the entryway.

[Im King Louie]

The pillar in the back needs more work.  It shouldn't meet the ground at the same place as the pillar in the front.  If you were to put your fingers on your desk and look at them from the same angle as the pillars in this picture, how can you distinguish where your closest finger and farthest finger are touching the desk?

[michelcote]

Could we see the initial screenshot you took to paint over? Maybe discussion about the original angle could help people get a better idea of how to help you.

[Stupor]

Could we see the initial screenshot you took to paint over? Maybe discussion about the original angle could help people get a better idea of how to help you.

To be honest, I ditched the Sketchup idea for this piece. The perspective was an interesting experiment, but it didn't work well for a platform game - plus pixeling from a screenshot filled it with jagged edges and hundreds of extra colors.