AuthorTopic: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)  (Read 10918 times)

Offline B-Rokal

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Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

on: January 05, 2018, 04:13:52 am


So this is how the background and Level looks...

Does it look... "Empty", how can I make a good one? I always sucked at background and I donīt know anyone who can get them right (at least not for free XD)

Anyway, aside from feedback, is there a way I can improve backgrounds? like a series of techniques or tricks that can turn the background of my game to a at least descent level?

Thanks :)

(btw, am I spamming this blog? I post almost daily XD if that is a problem let me know)

Edit: OF COURSE you canīt give me feedback without posting the image XD
« Last Edit: January 05, 2018, 04:15:38 am by B-Rokal »

Offline surt

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #1 on: January 05, 2018, 06:32:58 am
The green of the foreground grass is rather too intense for the rest of the scene, could do to be toned down some.

Is the grass surface on the background earth walkable? If so I'd try to make it closer to the foreground grass in style and colour.

The distant background layers could be made more interesting by having parts of the further layers dip behind the nearer layers so they don't all form continuous bands.

Offline questseeker

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #2 on: January 05, 2018, 09:40:41 am
The distant background layers could be made more interesting by having parts of the further layers dip behind the nearer layers so they don't all form continuous bands.
This is a particularly unrealistic aspect of the scene.
In particular:
  • The solid grey band at the base of the closest mountains layer should be shaded like the top and interrupted by valleys, showing other mountains behind them (probably a layer of the same tiles).
  • There should be at least one additional layer of greener mountains or hills, maybe even 2 or 3 layers, closer than the currently first one, which is blue enough to imply a lot of haze and therefore a great distance.
  • Far mountains have no reason to be taller than close ones; in general, the curvature of Earth surface makes them appear slightly less tall on average. They should be visible between the peaks of closer layers.
  • Clouds are layered vertically, not horizontally like mountains. If the sky is cloudy, put them at the top, possibly obscuring the top of all mountains, with holes of blue sky at low altitude (possibly near the horizon, visible through aligned gaps of all mountain layers); with less clouds, put them between and/or above the mountains at all distances.

Offline B-Rokal

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #3 on: January 05, 2018, 06:31:54 pm
The distant background layers could be made more interesting by having parts of the further layers dip behind the nearer layers so they don't all form continuous bands.
This is a particularly unrealistic aspect of the scene.
In particular:
  • The solid grey band at the base of the closest mountains layer should be shaded like the top and interrupted by valleys, showing other mountains behind them (probably a layer of the same tiles).
  • There should be at least one additional layer of greener mountains or hills, maybe even 2 or 3 layers, closer than the currently first one, which is blue enough to imply a lot of haze and therefore a great distance.
  • Far mountains have no reason to be taller than close ones; in general, the curvature of Earth surface makes them appear slightly less tall on average. They should be visible between the peaks of closer layers.
  • Clouds are layered vertically, not horizontally like mountains. If the sky is cloudy, put them at the top, possibly obscuring the top of all mountains, with holes of blue sky at low altitude (possibly near the horizon, visible through aligned gaps of all mountain layers); with less clouds, put them between and/or above the mountains at all distances.

Ok, some thing to note
  • The back Grass is not walkable, is intended to be background
  • What I tried to do with the clouds is that they are at the same level as the peak of the mountains, I didn't noticed the contradiction, if you are tall enough to see the clouds at the same level as you, then the scene should be foggy, that maybe can make up for the "emptiness" of the stage and add some originality

I'll show updates as soon as I fix the Tiled map that is massively glitching, Thanks :D

Offline B-Rokal

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #4 on: January 05, 2018, 10:59:33 pm
I'm making a separate thread for feedback on the hills I want to add (they might be not final but I still want to make them

Offline eishiya

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #5 on: January 06, 2018, 12:23:06 am
I think it would be best if you had all that stuff in a single thread. Context matters.

Offline B-Rokal

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #6 on: January 06, 2018, 02:19:11 am

(Not Pixel-Perfect)

Well, the scenery looks like is taking shape, the hills (despite looking like being drawn by a monkey) give the stage a little more "Personality" (or at least I think so ._.)



The scene so far (both layers of hills are actually the same graphic, I'll make another set of hills later)

I had the idea of placing stuff like wreckages or tents in the hills so they don't look so empty, I also must make the fog (I'm really not sure how but I guess i'll figure out XD)

Thanks again :)

Offline eishiya

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #7 on: January 06, 2018, 04:10:11 am
I don't think you need anything on the hills if you have a lot of those midground cliffs around (like in the top screenshot). It would just be busy.

Depending on how detailed you want them, consider making the colour transitions have a bit of grass texture to them. Some small vertical strokes would be enough, since the hills are far away.

The rounded hill shape looks very unnatural and cartoony, they look more like barrows than hills. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I thought I'd mention it. Real hills tend to have a less hemispherical shape, with clearer ridges and less symmetry, so that might be something to work on if you want a more realistic look.

If you keep the smooth, dome-like hill shapes, it might be good to make the shadows smoother to match. The shadows imply an irregular surface with lots of bumps and troughs, but the hill silhouettes imply a smooth, featureless surface.

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #8 on: January 06, 2018, 05:46:02 am
There is actually something missing from those hills.

Details! Things like flowers, or trees, or rocks... small things to make them feel real. I live in a valley where there's a lot of them and even grassy "pasture" hills tend to have patches of rougher grass or longer unkempt bits.

Play around with details to get the feel you want for each area, try to think of what the area IS. A meadow? A farm area? the outskirts of a forest?
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
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Offline B-Rokal

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Re: Stage Mock-Up (Feedback, Critique)

Reply #9 on: January 07, 2018, 04:38:09 am


Well, I added some detail and trees...

And corrected the shape, I want to put flowers too but... I'm not really sure...

Thanks, is it going well? :)