[WIP] night scene mockup

[edu1337]

hello, this is my first post here. been a lurker for too long

I'm doing this mockup, its supposed to look like the courtyard of some XVI century palace in spain. the character is some kind of rogue (don juan) who makes his way into the damsel's rooms. the game would be kind of like metal slug, with some prince of persia sword fighting elements. I have 3 different tiles for the floor part, while all the rest is just a big tile made of 32x32 tiles. I'd like to make this into a flash game, but I'm not good at programming so I don't know if that will ever happen. Anyway I'm planning on animating the little dude and his foes, but for now I'm just doing this mockup. Maybe that way I can "sell" the idea to some ActionScript programmer.

the look of the background should be more detailed than the character. I'd like to break up the monotony a little bit, right now it's too stiff, I might need to get rid of the black stripes in the floor. I need to work some areas, especially the small trees or bushes, and maybe and some AA to the background. I could optimize the pallette a lot, too. the wall needs some spicing up too.

I'd appreciate your advice and critique very much, thanks in advance and my apologies for my english writing!

[Helm]

Hi! Welcome to Pixelation! Very impressive mockup you've got there.


Some ideas



1. If there were was a time for mirrored lighting, this is it. I'd equalize the sideways lightsources, pretty much. Don't be afraid to contour-light these columns, it's quite atmospheric. The palette could use some work, but keep on rendering this and leave that to the end I think?

2. Avoid single pixels on highlights! The end result is noise. Connect those clusters on the brick road, make them mean something. And yeah, those black stripes give you nothing.

The rest as I see it so far is a matter of rendering/finalizing shapes before I can give you more critique. Don't be afraid to make this look *slightly* more videogamey than it is now is my hunch.

[edu1337]

thanks for your critique, it is very welcome. Somehow I knew I should be using mirrored lighting, but I was afraid to use it, good thing you reinforce this thought.

I'll get to work on this later and come back here

[edu1337]

I worked for a while on this. I broke the perspective a little bit, I think it's much less stiff now and seems more natural. I also gave the doors a slightly more cartoony look, it looks better in my opinion. I should break this into 32x32 tiles which shouldnt be too difficult, I was a bit careless but I didnt completely forget about it so it's quite doable. Now it looks good enough to me, let's see tomorrow when I come back to it. next up would be an enemy and an interface.

edit: forgot to add the image, lol

[Helm]

That top space is kinda dead. What's going on there, is it a second floor? Might want to describe that a bit more.

Don't forget to deal with the detailwork on the grey stones that are directly hit under the lightsources. Those little bits could use some AA smoothing and generally a bit more mindful configurations.

Is it possible that the highlights on the cobblestone are too high a value jump from the directly darker color in the index row? Just something to consider. They pop, but they might be popping too much.


Good work though, this is shaping up

[edu1337]

thanks for your advice helm, you're very helpful

this is the latest version, I followed some of helm's suggestions. The details on the grey stones... I just removed it, I think it's cleaner now. Cobblestone might need some fixing, I rushed to remove the dithering and some parts dont have good clusters now. The part that's giving me the most trouble is the wooden molding on top of the pillar (which I moved to fit 32x32 grid, I also changed the perspective). I just cant get that to look right no matter what I do. I can tolerate it now, but Im still not satisfied. Added some atmospheric perspective to the wall-doors part, but I'm not sure if I watered it down too much. I might need to revisit the pallette. Last, I remade the window/corridor part, and I'm quite happy with the result

[big brother]

Just wanted to say, I love the stark style, especially on the player sprite. It makes the scene feel lit with harsh moonlight.

A stylish HUD could be a good polished touch, something to think about for the future.

The perspective looks twisted to me. I look at the second floor straight on and little above it, but the door/pillar distance implies that everything is sticking out to the right, an isometric-like angle. I would try to add cues for the second floor, too. Maybe a few boards rest higher than the others so you can describe slightly diagonal lines along their edges.

I would love to see the sky in this, but I understand why that wouldn't work. Just make sure to have some sky segments in other parts of the level. It showcases the contrast between being enclosed or free, and it could make the level very dynamic and fun.

[edu1337]

I see what you are saying. I'll try to do something about it, lets see how it turns out. anyway now I'm thinking of fitting everything into a 32x32 grid so its more of a tileset and I can add some variations and stuff, just in case this becomes a level in an actual game, that would require a few major changes im afraid

[edu1337]

here's the latest version. I have to do something about the cast shadow on the wall, but I'd like to avoid adding a tile for the lamp pole, this way it's hidden on the shadows and I don't need it. in that very same tile, I also need to add some life, its too straight and perfect right now. maybe I need to add an extra tile for variaton, but I still intend to avoid the lamp pole.

now everything fits in 32x32 so a mapper can add some variation. I need 4 tiles or so for extra details that can be added every once in a while. columns are also tileable and slimmer now. changed the top and bottom pieces.



I thought about the sky and I might be doing more stuff to fit this and have bigger variation throughout the level, I was thinking of something along this lines

[Demian]

hey it looks very nice, the only thing i notice right now is the perspective on the column's base, it doesn't fit with the rest. Keep the good work!