AuthorTopic: GR#121 - Cartoon RPG - Gameart  (Read 25575 times)

Offline Dr D

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #20 on: January 06, 2013, 11:13:05 pm
Very much different than your last orthographic mockup, which I really liked. But I really like this one too.  ;D


Some thoughts:

The roof looks good, a bit too contrasty though. Wood isn't that reflective. I would probably tone down the bright highlights a lot.

I think the little bush/small tree is too detailed. Too much noise going on. The normal sized trees suffer a bit from this too, they are quiet busy. I like the trunks.

Some of the cliff edges look strange, it either ends very abruptly when it touches grass, or blends into the dirt. I think you could make it better by adding border tiles for elevated ground.

I don't like the purple shadows on everything at all. The rocks may be an exception.

You have some perspective issues, I think. The trees and characters (both types) are both drawn at a side view, and the roof seems angled much more towards the camera than in a traditional perspective. I don't think the back face should be visible. The rocks, ground and cliff look good. It might not hurt too add an extra pixel row on top of the fence and signs, either.

Another contrast Issue.. I think you're using way too much black here. On the house, the cast shadows, and the trees. It draws attention unnecessarily and isn't realistic. The cast shadow and the shadow on the roof of the house would imply the sun is directly to the hard left of the house, too.

As for the sprites, the left 2 seem to fit the style much better, but they are all out of perspective.

Offline Free Camera

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #21 on: January 07, 2013, 04:24:24 am
Thank you kindly for the reply! I have updated things a bit more and have attempted to address some of the issues you brought up. I think perspective is the most troublesome. I'll probably still lighten the shadows underneath the roof. Biggest changes here are the houses, shadows, and trees.



Next I'll be working on more town objects.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2013, 04:28:43 am by Free Camera »

Offline tim

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #22 on: January 08, 2013, 12:45:30 am
You have three big issues :

• Perspective
Your characters & trees are drawn from front,
almost like a 2D platformer, but not your buildings.


• Colors
I don't know if your screen is calibrated but you colors are very bright, almost fluo.
With more natural / pastel colors, it gets a lot easier on the eye. Also, remove white
specular from all elements that are not white. Wood highlights are never white. It
gives a plastic look and it's really too strong & shiny.


Also, all your shadows need more consistency according to the height of the element.
Trees, character, cliffs, buildings, all feature different shadow color / width.

• Secret of Mana III blue/purple rim lighting
Don't copy. It's not original. You don't learn. You don't think. Why is it blue ?
What atmosphere does it bring ? Why do you want it in a village ? It MUST
have a purpose, otherwise it shows that you copy without prior thinking.
Anyway, I don't see any valid reason for reproducing such a characteristic
part of Secret of Mana's look.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2013, 12:55:27 am by tim »
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Offline Free Camera

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #23 on: January 08, 2013, 02:24:58 am
Thanks for the info Tim. I'm making everything with an nes palette, so it's going to look saturated. That's my intent and I like it that way.
vs

My biggest struggle is with perspective for the characters. I want to keep features in that are visible via the more horizontal view. For example your edit is effective but a lot of the features are lost. A lot of the older small rpg sprites were quite forgiving in this regard? I might see what I can get away with.

Back-lighting, well I didn't really have seiken densetsu in mind when I was doing it, more kind of comic book thing. Regardless if it serves a purpose at all it's obviously style not realism. I'm going to keep developing the tiles until I reach a point where I decide if I'm going to stick with it.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2013, 03:34:17 am by Free Camera »

Offline Free Camera

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #24 on: January 08, 2013, 05:23:36 am
So here's where I am at for today.


I changed the character a bit, added more elements, etc. Will continue to do so.

Offline NaCl

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #25 on: January 08, 2013, 07:02:37 am
This is looking really great. I love the colors, they're very vibrant and fun. I wouldn't worry about the perspective of the characters too much, they look fine as they are. Everything is intentionally symbolic.

Offline Crow

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #26 on: January 08, 2013, 08:29:10 am
• Secret of Mana III blue/purple rim lighting
Don't copy. It's not original. You don't learn. You don't think. Why is it blue ?
What atmosphere does it bring ? Why do you want it in a village ? It MUST
have a purpose, otherwise it shows that you copy without prior thinking.
Anyway, I don't see any valid reason for reproducing such a characteristic
part of Secret of Mana's look.


I don't think of that as such a big issue. Shadows in real life are not completely "gray" either. Depending on light, they shift a bit towards blue/purple-ish. Also, in this case, it kind of adds to the whole comicy character of the whole thing.

Free Camera: I'm absolutely in love with this. The colors are wonderful, the style is awesome, the level of detail is beautiful. Slight nitpicks: the contrast/color of the highlight on the stones introduced in your latest mockup is a bit too high/bright. Looks out of place and somewhat noisy/not very well readable. Also, the character on the right blends in with the background too much, as he has no black outline like most other things. Intentional?
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Offline PypeBros

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #27 on: January 08, 2013, 08:50:00 am
This is looking really great. I love the colors, they're very vibrant and fun. I wouldn't worry about the perspective of the characters too much, they look fine as they are. Everything is intentionally symbolic.
Same here for the colours: although Tim is globally right, I feel like de-saturating also kills the "cartoony" mood of the piece.
As far as perspective is concerned, characters might welcome a slight adjustment (e.g. head 1px lower on the body), but again, the proposed re-engineering would prevent any expression to be conveyed on the face.
I think there's something to be done about the perspective of the house's roof to match the rest of the piece, though.

Offline r1k

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #28 on: January 08, 2013, 10:10:50 am
I wouldnt worry about the characters perspective, but I think in perspective it would look sort of like this

I guess basically its just in moving the face lower on the head to imply that youre seeing more of the top of the head.

Mock up looks great so far though.

Offline Free Camera

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Re: [WIP] Cartoon RPG [C+C]

Reply #29 on: January 08, 2013, 05:43:18 pm
Thanks for replies!

@Crow- Unintentional, I basically forgot to chop the character on the right out when I posted the last pic. I'll fiddle with the stone highlights as well, maybe remove them.

@PyreBros - I like the roof edit. I'm going to give it a go!