[WIP][C+C] Waiting for Godot Scene

[melbow]

I'm a programmer trying to make a really simple, somewhat interactive art piece (not really a game). It's based on the play 'Waiting for Godot' (film version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuU3RrGj3Lc). It is supposed to be dark and dreary and only have a road, a rock, a tree, and a pair of shoes.

I took the palette from http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17176 because I liked it so much.

[melbow]

An update:


I added a highlight on the ground and refined a couple things very slightly.

What I need help with mostly in my opinion is the ground. I'm not sure how to keep it simple and not take away from the foreground while still making it interesting. Also, I was wondering if that path reads as a dirt road or a river? It's supposed to be a dirt road.

[Nmb910]

Not a very skilled pixel artist, but since no one commented in about 15 days, I'll give it a shot.

I thought that was a gravel/stone path, unfortunately, so I thought I'd try a more 'brown' color.
As for making the ground interesting, I was thinking just added a small plant, or moving the rock.

Here's the quick mockup I did of those, for you to look at.

[BatElite]

Quick and sloppy edit just to show some ideas.

-Altough there is a horizon, most things aren't in perspective (mine probably aren't either). It's most notable with the path, which should shrink as it recedes into the background.
 The boots and rock woud probably be too tiny to see near the horizon, while the tree would be very small.
-The height between letters is inconsistent
-If the tree is being lit by the moon, it would be mostly dark (my trunk is still very wrong).
-There was a lot of barely noticable noise with the more used colours.

As far as the grass goes, you might want to imply some tufts to break the monotony. Exaggerating the worn away grass at the edge of the path would make it read better.

[Parkerbaby]

Right now they're walking away from the edge of an enormous cliff. The boots and the tree are sitting right at the edge of the cliff, about to fall off the side of the flat world. 

If you're not going for that scene, you need to correct the perspective issues.



I added a bunch of "buildings" or something, because the fact is, if you're not looking out at the ocean, you seldom see the true horizon line. It is obscured by hills or buildings or trees etc.

And since the viewer can see so far forward, if you have the path going straight back, you might have to put its origin there so it's not ridiculously long, or curve it until it's obstructed.

Now, I've not studied perspective or anything so I can't do it perfectly, but I'm just speaking from experience.

[heyguy]

So some people have already brought up the perspective "issue". I say issue in quotes because really you can find tons of examples of games breaking or combining perspective. I like the detail of your characters but the scene seems sort of flat. What I would recommend is create a clearer foreground, middle ground and background. I like the edits the others did. What I'd do is add a long straight tall stone wall that you can tile towards the back (behind the tree) and add a building or anything behind that wall.

Since we're talking about perspective, I figured I'd share these game related game perspective links  I can see side scrolling brawler perspective from this scene.

http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs3152/2013sp/lectures/15-Perspective.pdf
http://opengameart.org/content/chapter-3-perspectives

[RadicalDreamer]

I actually like how so much of the sky is showing. I think sometimes the rules are meant to be broken.

[melbow]

Thanks for the great feedback guys. I hope to have time to work on this over the weekend. I agree the perspective is an issue and I need to work on my light source.

I'll try to embrace the side scrolling brawler look while adding depth to the scene. Will post when I have an update! 

[melbow]

I haven't done as much as I want to this piece, but it's been way past the deadline of when I wanted to post an update, so I'm just showing what I have.



I plan to make the road have a more interesting shape and to refine the shading on the tree more. I did some work on the people that may or may not be noticeable.

I'm now still not sure about the detailing on the ground, and also not sure about whether everything at the right size. Should the tree be bigger? The mountain smaller? The road bigger up close?

Thanks again for all the input. I think it's much better now than before.