Steampunk mockup

[kriss]

Hello it's been a long time i don't post here ^^

So this is the next step about my steampunk game : environment !

After lonnng search about a great athmosphear, i found this picture and it really like it.

Heroe is in an undeground and very controlled city (dystopia story), so colors reflect the oppressive athmosphear ( grey and blue/brown )
i want a victorian style, because in this isolated city, (and controlled !) all the citizen use "art" to free their mind.
Citizens live for the city, and the city is like alive so there will be lot of organics/mechanics devices

So how is your feeling about desing and colors?

- the big head will be used to launch flying robot (like a hive) when alarm is activated
- the castlevania's style elevator is an old one : i'll change color and make it more simple (with less colors)
- i'm in trouble with background color: i planned to make some rock design but i'm afraid to put too many dark color
- I don't know if i should keep red color for statue

thanks for any critics and suggestions 

I tried to change red in white for the hero.. i don't know wich is better...
edit : maybe i need an outline for the heroe !

Light come from the top !



the original

[Pix3M]

Just to double check, you are theoretically aware that the original is concept art of long-abandoned ruins of an extinct race of 'dwarven' elves, from a game of Skyrim, right? 

[yaomon17]

Just to double check, you are theoretically aware that the original is concept art of long-abandoned ruins of an extinct race of 'dwarven' elves, from a game of Skyrim, right? 

Can confirm. Have tons of dwemer cogs.
As for the piece, it seems fine though the top rocky border is very awkward since it makes it seem like there is light coming from below. I think you best bet is to have the piece fade to dark the further up it is like in the concept art.

[Grimsane]

character is coming along nicely. 

You've got to ask yourself the practicality of the head, in the Dwemer concept it's actually an automaton dispenser, and if it's just to achieve gothic motifs I think you might want to make it much smaller.
 
 Another thing I notice is the angled piston rods look unbalanced, and they kinda read more like modern hydraulics than industrial era pneumatic tech, when I think steam age  I also think of rotary pistons like on steam trains and the like
eg: Spoiler

I also think if you had giant piston rods like that, they'd need a compression engine of some description driving them,
something like this nearby or this.

And if they are just support beams for the ceiling then it seems incredibly illogical.

and some steam tech detail like this wouldn't hurt either


if you want a definite steam powered vibe, you can make it so there is a central steam engine within the complex powering all the machinery, in which case you'll need to route a lot of steam pipes and valves all over for that to be believable.

also in relation to the rest of the design the girders read odd to me, not sure if these edits are better or not, 2 different detail levels and styles


keep posting updates if you can, interested to see what direction you take it all

[kriss]

thanks for reply and critics 

Pix3M: until yesterday i didn't know it was a skyrim concept (never play this game  ), i just like colors and  athmosphear seams very close to my "underground city with full of robots ^^ ).
So my objective isnt to make a ruin, but a living city with too many mechanics (this part is important because citizen have abandonned their freedom to gain technology)

yaomon17: you're right about top rock, i'll remove the lighter part and add darker

Grimsane : The head is a hive with flying little robot inside . It's also part of the city, because it means "we're watching you" : when an alarm is ringing, the mouth is open and let the robot coming out. I need a big size in order to use it this way.

About girder i like the 2nd edit 

About piston, i agree i could add some compression engine, but why it's unbalanced or illogical?
Maybe they are to close each others

 i saw this disney restaurant :


Of course i'll post soon !

[Grimsane]

lol wow that Disney restaurant, [kinda unrelated]Had a lighting TD from Disney at my college awhile ago doing a Disney animation studio lecture, he took the opportunity to show a few of the weird places at disney, including the really weird themed workspaces[/kinda unrelated]

and I was thinking it was to hold up the mine etc, but it reads illogical in the sense that if they place these things as; if they mine to ensure shaft integrity then how would they put them on structures? unlikely they would clear an area build structures put up supports dig further, and I'm not sure how authentic those support arrays really are either however the pure vertical one reads appealing enough on it's own, so putting them around would probably read nicer. (one thing happening at the moment on the angled pieces is the central brace thingy is at a different angle than the protruding rod)

and regarding the face, wouldn't it be more appropriate if to reinforce "we are keeping our eyes on you" the robots are in fact dispensed from the eyes? maybe each socket is only stocked with 2 drones, one per eye?

I went to scribble a suggestion and ended up with this 

maybe the alarm sounds upon open mouth i dunno, when the alarm finishes the mouth closes, if it wasn't some nightmarishly bizarre idle animation, it would swap to the drone sprites spawn animation on top, and yeah it'd obviously be bigger, but i actually recommend going for a more circle or square shaped and motif'd design, not feeling the current one (atleast in it's current stage)

[Manupix]

There are some important workflow issues here I think (disclaimer: I never worked on a game or serious tile based mockup!)

Is this tile based? I guess it is because creating pixel-art game bgs would be a daunting task otherwise, yet I don't see any obvious tiling grid except in the top and bottom rock. Not sure how oblique shafts of various sizes could be tiled, for instance.

Also you already have highly detailed parts but no current wall structure yet, and also without having resolved big options such as color and contrast.

You need to tackle these questions first: make some tests with various options before deciding on one and getting started on the main bulk of work.


For good readability of sprites, I'd keep the bg contrast low and the colors in a limited palette (the greys and pale bronze of the ref). This answers some of your questions: don't go too dark; no red statues. Beware of the orange girders too, unless they really need to stand out in the game.
Look at the ref colors: the bronzes have lower saturation than yours; there is a warm grey tone that bridges between the 2 sets of colors (mostly in the image top): do that!

Detail like the wrought iron bannisters is probably too busy, and also out of style. Look at the ref: the bg 'detail' is in fact much more coarse than on the character, and it's also made up of rough bunches of lines, mostly 0-45-90° plus a few circles. You want to suggest textures and machinery without actually showing them.

Shape-bluffing may or may not be relevant   

[kriss]

Hello here my improve after several (maybe more ^^) tests.

So : i make all rock the same color (both up and down) because this is the first plan (i just remove the extra light part)
The back is full of metal instead of rock.
I don't want to make light because i don't know yet if it will be dynamic light (program) or not and some game like mercenary king don't use the kind of light !
I want a fun game so i try to use flashy color (but not too much to keep a realistic feeling ^^ )

Maybe i should change grey door color but it need to be different from the back.

I make a light effect for test on the green back door, but i really don't know how make reflection with light up

Why stone wall ? to be honnest, since the start i have the feeling i need to use stone wall to make player feel is moving in a huge "city" factory (it's my main objective)

[Fizzick]

-snip- i am wrong

[kriss]

Here the newwww version :

- i changed the ground perspective : more like metal slug
- as this city is underground, i search lot of mine pictures : rock behind and metal part to support.
- wall is only to protect mechanic behind
- door + security access
- i try some gaz pipeline (gold) for lamp but it's just a test.. it's really poor design 
- i try to make light by using only shadow => i don't add light in the wall, instead i make the wall darker when there isn't light
- metal plateform is flat and i have no clue to change it  : in most platformer game use perspective only for the base ground and other plateforms don't have.

About my character : some people told me colours don't match the scene, but i don't see why.. if somebody can confirm me if the colors/contrast details are off.

Thanks by advance for critics