AuthorTopic: Game Palette, need opinions  (Read 2871 times)

Offline dookillyou

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Game Palette, need opinions

on: August 27, 2017, 04:28:33 pm
http://imgur.com/UAIpMu9

Trying out my own palette for my game and could use your guy's opinions
I have no clue on how to post the image on the site   :P
Thanks!

Offline eishiya

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Re: Game Palette, need opinions

Reply #1 on: August 27, 2017, 04:43:02 pm
Here's the code to embed the image:
Code: [Select]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/UAIpMu9.png[/img]
There's no better way to see whether your palette is any good than to make some art with it. You can always tweak the colours later, as you modify the palette.

Potential problems I do see in just the palette:
Your blue, teal, and orange ramps are very dull, with very little hue-shifting.

You have no dark colours. Aside from the dark blue, all your ramps end at the midtone.
You have no very light colours. Even your "yellows" are pretty dark.
The 4 steps in each ramp cover only midtone to light-ish values, which means the colours in each ramp aren't very distinct. That can be good if you're planning to make very large assets (though then you'll want to add more dark and light colours), but if you're making small assets, the colours will probably just blend together.

The lightest blue and teal are nearly identical, there's no point in having both.

All the ramps are independent, they don't link or tie together at all. This means that as you use this palette, objects are likely to not feel very unified.

Offline dookillyou

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Re: Game Palette, need opinions

Reply #2 on: August 27, 2017, 04:53:51 pm

"Your blue, teal, and orange ramps are very dull, with very little hue-shifting". -Alright I'll look into that
"You have no dark colours. Aside from the dark blue, all your ramps end at the midtone" -I see, but would you consider the brown also be dark or a midtone
"You have no very light colours. Even your "yellows" are pretty dark."- Ohhh. Okay I see what you mean on that one

Thank you for taking your time to dig and explain, looking at it a far your points all make sense. I'm just wondering how could I "unified" this palette while I fix the errors that you pointed out
Thanks again!

Offline dookillyou

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Re: Game Palette, need opinions

Reply #3 on: August 27, 2017, 05:24:04 pm

I took what you said and tried to unified the palette while focusing on what you said eish and it transformed into this^
would love your thoughts on it

Offline eishiya

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Re: Game Palette, need opinions

Reply #4 on: August 27, 2017, 06:43:12 pm
Better! You've got good coverage of all your values now.

Unfortunately, now you have even more redundant colours! Your two dark purples are nearly identical. Ditto for your dark browns+greens, and your two lightest teals.

There is no sense of a consistent light source. This may not be a problem, depending on how you intend to use this palette - this is why developing a palette together with assets is important. I personally like to have hue-shifting that gives the palette the feel of all the lights being lit by the same light source, and all the darks being affected by the same ambient light. Usually it's just as simple as hue-shifting all the lights towards one hue, and all the shadows towards another. Your palette, on the other hand, shifts the shadows of two ramps towards purple, and the two other ramps towards warm green, which will make it hard to draw green objects next to blue ones and still have them feel like they're in the same environment.

What is the purpose of the green ramp? You're ramping between cool light green and warm dark green. What is this for? Again - applications should drive the palette, you should choose colours with purpose. Even "general-use" palettes often choose colours based on the most common applications. The reason I'm picking on your greens specifically is that the most common use for greens is plant leaves, but in most cases, the hues on foliage are the other way around - cool shadows, warm lights, and warm dark greens are usually avoided because they look a bit poop-like. If you're going for a specific mood with cool lighting, then your ramp can work. So, once again - application is king, think about how you'll be using each colour you choose, don't just choose colours for the sake of having those colours.

Your purple ramp has a similar issue in that it's hard to imagine a lot of applications for it, unless your project has a purple-heavy theme (in which case, why not shift all your darks towards it?).

I strongly recommend drawing some assets for your game before you spend too much longer on the palette, using impromptu colours or the colours you already have in this palette. It'll be easier to see and fix the issues that way.

Offline dookillyou

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Re: Game Palette, need opinions

Reply #5 on: August 27, 2017, 07:31:31 pm

Man o man does this remind of class  :lol:
I never thought of that idea, of thinking of the application of the palette before you sprite. I do in painting, but never pixel art for some reason...
Main reason why everything is cool to fit with the theme of the art assets I'm going to make for the game. But I won't know till I actually apply it like you said.
I'ma take a mental break and watch some anime and come back tomorrow prepared to make some assets out of this palette
Thanks for everything eishiya. I can't wait to gain more of your knowledge : )

Offline Teriyaki

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Re: Game Palette, need opinions

Reply #6 on: August 27, 2017, 10:17:19 pm



I like this palette. Maybe a bright light tone for the brown / orange range would be fine  ;)

Offline dookillyou

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Re: Game Palette, need opinions

Reply #7 on: August 29, 2017, 01:17:17 am



Hey guys, just wanted to update of what I been working on with my palette. I created a player sprite and a tileset. Would love your opinions on it. Feel like I missed up on the tileset alittle