AuthorTopic: [C&C] Blacksmith props  (Read 1746 times)

Offline startselect

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[C&C] Blacksmith props

on: November 21, 2018, 12:15:17 pm
Created a set of props to show a house as a blacksmith. I have made different signs for all item categories a blacksmith could create in my game and plan to switch signs depending on their skill and the color of the metal in the sign to the best metal they have at their disposal. Just a fyi that it isn't a general blacksmith sign :)
All critique welcome!

Edit: Didn't see the off-white pixels above the tools table when working with white background, please disregard xP
« Last Edit: November 21, 2018, 12:18:15 pm by startselect »

Offline eishiya

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Re: [C&C] Blacksmith props

Reply #1 on: November 21, 2018, 02:08:20 pm
Some of the bricks on the oven look too detailed. Try to avoid giving brick a shadow and a highlight, as it creates an overwhelming about of detail. In particular, bricks in shadow should generally be fairly flat (no highlights), since there's less light hitting them. You could also reduce the contrast on all the bricks a little, e.g. by eliminating the brightest highlight colour.
The same is true of the tiled roof, it feels too detailed. Keep things simple, add detail only where it's important to avoid distracting the player.

I like that you added some detail to the silhouette of the bricks, but I don't think you went far enough. Those single-pixel dips between the bricks can look like noise, especially when butting up against other objects. Try to have 1-3 pixel gaps, and maybe even have some spots where the gaps are deeper than a pixel, or have some bricks be thinner and not reach all the way to the edge.

The bricks on the slanting, shadowed part of the oven should probably be slanting rather than horizontal.

Will the roof and the oven always be together? If so, it would be a nice touch to have the roof cast a shadow on the oven. The slanting surface would make for an interesting shadow, and it would make the scene feel more cohesive.

The highlights on the barrels feel a bit flat since they have horizontal tops and don't "wrap" around with the perspective.

Lastly, watch for tangents. If you have every prop reach the edge of its tile, you'll have a lot of objects line up, which can hurt the readability of the scene and just looks very artificial. Have some of the smaller props not reach the edge, so that they're always a pixel or two from nearby props. Maybe have some of the props be rotated rather than perfectly aligned to the tile grid, to make the location feel more organic.

Offline startselect

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Re: [C&C] Blacksmith props

Reply #2 on: November 22, 2018, 12:16:34 pm
Hehe, I keep making the same mistakes yet you never tire of helping me, thank you so much!

- Reduced the detailing on the oven and made the irregularities larger.
- Removed highest highlight from the roof shingles.
- Tried to get the slanted bricks be slanted, that was super hard but at least I think it looks a little better now.
- Redid the barrels. (they were older props I just added in to get a feel for the location)
- Redid the boxes (also older props)
- Tried to do 15px or 30-31px wide props and move them around a bit. Can't do it to much due to grid based navigation.
- Darkened the handles of the hammers on the tools table because they blended in with the table.

Didn't try casting a shadow from the roof to the oven, though they will always be together, didn't ignore the advice, just ran out of time today :)

Offline yrizoud

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Re: [C&C] Blacksmith props

Reply #3 on: November 22, 2018, 12:29:51 pm
Overall, I think you need to be careful of the global lighting that affects everything. If the most important source of light is an overhead sun, every surface facing up must be significantly lighter than vertical surfaces of the same material.
ie. I think you chose a good contrast for the top of chimney vs the vertical stones -> The same contrast must exist between the top of a barrel and its side, or the top of crates (borders) and their sides.