AuthorTopic: GR#174 Cosmos-X game Mockup - RPG view Gameart  (Read 18969 times)

Offline Probo

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #10 on: February 17, 2014, 07:32:01 pm
i think the space station(?) could reasonably have its own light source off-screen, and you could keep the background - the space stations floating rig of angled spotlights wouldnt illuminate the planet. yeah i think thered be a little backlighting from whatever lightsource is behind the planet, but personally with your style here i wouldnt worry too much about making the lighting conditions super realistic, just consistent.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2014, 07:33:46 pm by Probo »

Offline big brother

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #11 on: February 18, 2014, 02:38:56 am
The lines on the floor tiles align with the edges of both types of raised platforms, and flatten the image. I think the blue edges should be a tad brighter (especially along their outermost edge, since the existing colors seem to imply rim lighting) and thinner. Right now they almost look the same size as the floor tiles, which makes the grid much more obvious. I would also darken the floor and put some small random lights on them to reinforce the setting. Might be worthwhile to turn the crates at angles, adding visual interest and breaking up the grid.

Sprite designs look fun, I like the variety in their silhouettes.

Offline cels

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #12 on: February 19, 2014, 03:38:40 am
Thanks so much for your help, big brother & Probo

- Tried to add a more realistic texture to the planet in the background. Going to be hard to find a balance between completely photorealistic and pixel art strategy game-y.

- Changed the tiles for the edges / sides of the platforms. I think this looks much better, let me know what you think. The imaginary light source would be coming from above, and I think that helps illustrate that the blue walls are vertical tiles, not horizontal tiles. Having them the same size as the floor tiles makes it easier to combine the two for multi-level platforms.

- I've darkened the floor a bit. Added some small red lights, but I'm not very happy with them.

- Good idea about the crates. Tried to do that, though I'm not sure I got the perspective right.

- Made a few more changes to the menu on the right.

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #13 on: February 19, 2014, 03:42:58 am
This is a really great idea for a game Cels. I dig the sprites a lot. Looks like the planet will be a challenge; semi- realistic would look good I think.

About the lights, maybe you could use that maroon/burgundy color you have on the fire for the glow; or just add another color if you need there.

Offline cels

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #14 on: February 19, 2014, 09:30:58 pm
Thanks a lot! I tried to modify the lighting from the warning lights a bit, to tone it down. It's slightly better, I think, but they still look very... tacked on. Not like part of the installation.

Also adding another sprite. You can't have russian retro sci-fi in space without huge, communist robots helping the people do heavy lifting. With a small risk of malfunction causing them to kill all humans, of course. But maybe they don't look robotic enough. I was very much inspired by Liberty Prime when I drew these, so maybe I need to copy the skinny arms and legs to illustrate that it's a machine.



Offline Manupix

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #15 on: February 24, 2014, 03:25:04 am
I like this! The (apparent) simplicity and strongly constrained perspective are appealing. You should be careful to preserve them from interference. For instance: I think the blue edges are now overdetailed compared to the 1st versions. Many small items are inconsistent. The bg and meteor 'free style' strongly contradict the style premise.

Generally and without giving it too much thought, I found I wanted it to lean towards those classic ptoing pixels:

   

The emphasis on 45° lines, strong volume rendering despite near abstract perspective and shading, importance of highlights on edges: these do or could apply to your piece, at least potentially. Of course you might choose a different approach, this is just what jumped to my mind ;) Whichever, consistency will be key.

Perspective: your 'impossible' postulate being that both vertical and horizontal surfaces are rendered undistorted as if seen frontally, there can be no foreshortening, squares must remain squares.
Consequently, the platform at center top should have 45° corners like the main floor and everything else; the spaceship reactor casing should be as 'wide' as it is 'tall', etc.

Light: good thing to have flipped the floor tiles edge highlights from back to front, as these now look like bevels lit from above and help perceiving the tiles as horizontal (compared to vertical before). I would like to see lower contrast on the dark lines to help them read as the opposite side bevels.
Generally I see this with a top-down light source for whatever is on the platforms, and another (blue?) source from below for the platform edges. This would impact the spaceship side too.

Background: this is going to be hard! How to keep it from being a distraction, consistent yet readably different? No clear idea but it might be worth trying washing out any details, either in bright light or darkness:

   

Have fun!

Offline cels

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #16 on: February 28, 2014, 05:12:55 pm
Thanks, Manu. Tremendously helpful as always.  :)



- I really like those ptoing pixels. I'm going to try to use those clean and crisp lines, hopefully creating similarly interesting textures without too much detail.
- I'm experimenting with some new blue walls in this piece. It's dead hard to create an interesting texture without too much detail, remaining crisp while being consistent with both a top left warm light and cold blue light from underneath.
- Fixed the platform corners at center top. It wasn't actually an attempt at creating a different perspective before, It was just a corner with different angles. But this looks better now, less confusing, more coherent.
- Started adding some highlights to building corners, etc.
- Toned down the dark shadows on floor tiles.
- Started working on the background..
« Last Edit: March 06, 2014, 12:55:55 am by cels »

Offline cels

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #17 on: March 06, 2014, 12:54:51 am
Some more progress.

« Last Edit: March 06, 2014, 12:59:20 am by cels »

Offline Manupix

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #18 on: March 06, 2014, 01:14:42 am
Good progress!

The earth limb is too bright and very distracting. It's even looks brighter than anything else in the foreground, no?
What about making the whole planet a totally different hue? It doesn't have to be Earth, or does it?

Offline cels

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Re: Cosmos-X game mockup

Reply #19 on: March 06, 2014, 01:56:05 am
Thanks!

Started working on the ship now too, just to show that the crude mockup wasn't something I intended to keep. Although it's going to be hard to find a design that doesn't crash with the simple, angular style, yet remains faithful to my retro-sci fi vision (think 1960's soviet sci fi)

The planet is already pretty far removed from Earth, so I guess I'm free to make further changes. But what other hue would be appropriate? I thought blue would be least distracting and help unify the whole image. How about purple?





EDIT: Made changes to UI
« Last Edit: March 06, 2014, 12:23:19 pm by cels »