GR#206 - Sideview Houses - Gameart

[YellowLime]

Google Sketchup is good for visualizing 2d 'casting' of 3d shapes simply and fast, but I think you shouldn't use it for shading reference
I'm almost sure that it shades faces prioritizing the differentiation between them, and not necessarily a correct light source.
(and in any case, I believe the lighting isn't modifiable anyways (direction, strength, dissipation...) so even then it would only be useful for 'high noon'-type scenes.)

Your house is shaping up nicely.
The colors you use should depend on:
1. the atmosphere of the game (darker and less saturated = spookier)
2. the rest of the scene (a background element shouldn't stand out too much, with some exceptions)

I feel as if there should be a bit more roof in the left side of the house, if you know what I mean.
Right now, it looks somewhat unbalanced to the right, to me.

[jahasaja]

Thanks for the feedback!

Yellowlime, Yeah maybe you are correct about the roof, I will try to add some tiles.


Atraldata: What can I tell you, the residents like axes :-). And as you and others have asked about the whole scene. Here is a screen-shot from the game:



Also here is video to see the Parallax scrolling (which is pretty bad in Game maker for some reason but that is not relevant here).

[HarveyDentMustDie]

Nice  , I like the atmosphere (cows are nice touch) and fight mechanics but final kill should have more frames, after peasant is on his knees he should cut him down or trust through him to make better impression on player.

Clouds are bad and generic. Try to make larger cloud forms and don't put them on each plane, randomize their position. You can easy find good reference.

Also road is too much "rocky" for that type of environment. Even if it's stone road it should have some grass patches and it shouldn't be so yellow.

[KAT]

This project reminds me a great Polish side scroller game on amiga called Doman Grzechy Ardana. Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Slf1QML_E

Awesome work!

[jahasaja]

Thanks for the input!

HarveyDentMustDie:

after peasant is on his knees he should cut him down or trust through him to make better impression on player.

Well I guess that depends on the player (you really are the Joker ). But I do agree that my fall animation has problems. I do not want to make it too gory though.

Clouds are bad and generic? I agree that they are not so good but I have not found any clouds that look like this in a game. Actually the clouds have been a real struggle for me. I have not been able to make ones that look really good even though I spent hours looking at clouds and other peoples work. Any C&C is much appreciated (or should I make a new thread about that??): 



I will look into the walk path.

Thanks for the nice words KAT that game looks cool, They don’t make them like they use to :-P!

[astraldata]

There are two ways to fix your clouds -- either larger cloud forms on a single layer as suggested by HDMD, which would allow you to achieve the detail level you seem to be going for with them, OR tiny clouds like you have right now, but more sporadic (waaay fewer clouds), with more similar shapes (although the sizes and spacing can still vary) with no straight lines on their base (a cloud shouldn't look like it can sit flatly on a table after all) and fix the spacing of them to look more natural (also some can be above or below moving at a slower pace, but on a different layer where they don't overlap with the others -- it looks really bad when they overlap).

The latter option would allow you to keep more of the look you're going for, multi-layer parallaxing and all, but the former option would give you the freedom to detail your clouds further with texture if you want a more detailed and textured look to your clouds instead of an SNES-era look (which I find nostalgic and personally enjoy the multi-layer parallaxing look for the fun of it). In the end it's up to you.

Though, that aside, I really like the look of this game, as well as the play style -- no further crits here; you've got a great-looking game there man.

[Mathias]

Wow, wasn't expecting you to just dump such a finished looking mockup on us so quickly. Nice!

LIGHTING
Since a 2D platformer, careful with your primary light source - the more overhead it is, the easier it'll be to create assets you can mirror horizontally without contradicting your light source.
You've chosen to light this scene with a prominent light coming from the left. As a result you can't have characters mirror (when they walk left or right) and still look like they're honoring the scenes lighting.
Even those closer trees. You can't mirror them now because the lighting will look wrong.
And I do like how you used the blue-ish tinted shadows on the houses' right-facing walls, but now you need to tint all shadows like that.
It doesn't make sense to only have blue-tinted shadows on the houses and nothing else.


I don't think the perspective of the houses matches the ground. Seems like we should see more ground if the angle of the houses' right-facing walls slant up that much.
By themselves, the houses look fine, but not once added to your scenery. Perspectives are clashing.


And I second the issue with the clouds. To start off, just try simplifying them. Less detail, less colors.

[jahasaja]

Wow all the positive feedback makes me very happy. 

However, the clouds still remain. I am completely stumped. The look I was going for was actually really flat clouds which is quite common.

example:

However, I am the the first to admit that I have not succeed. all the difference stiles that I have tried have come out bad. When I try to make clouds with fewer colours the style feels completely wrong for the game.

Mathias: actually all the enemies are done and they are all with lightning from the left. And no characters turn around in my game (I save that for the sequel :-P) so it should be fine.

as for the angle of the house. Perhaps I can add some more grass to make it look more natural?