[WIP] Tiles

[JonathanOfDrain]

I think these tiles are coming out kind of lousy.

I made a scene in hope of being able to cut it up and use them as tiles. Didn't work out to well. I think the grass part turned out really bad and the colors are directly out of crayola box. Should I make it more green/brown?

I'm really lost with what to do.

[Zero]

That cliff is looking really good, and I like the other rock tiles. I'd say just drop the grass altogether, or have small amounts of it; there wouldn't be that much grass growing on rock, especially not bright green grass. But small clumps of low-sat grass could work.

[TomF]

Almost reminds me of that mock-up by Jad, which is a good thing! I think the problem lies in the colours, the grass is just green and the earth is just brown. While this is pretty much correct in real life, it doesn't make for very intersting graphics. I would suggest including a variety colours in there.

In fact lets look at Jad's: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=2465.0

See how the rocks have a sort of yellowish tint to them, and grass is also a little easier on the eye. We need a mood, an atmosphere, something more than just green grass and brown earth.

I think there's good potential here though. 

[JonathanOfDrain]

I saw his an loved his. I'd really like to keep the grass if I can so I changed the colors to fit a bit. I think I'll continue to play with the color ramps.

Maybe I should add vines or something to show plant life could easily exist here.
Any ideas, C+C and edits are welcome.

[bengo]

That grass is wayyyy too green in my opinion.

[JonathanOfDrain]

Quick Edit:


Thanks Ben, I think it looks much better. Not too green anymore?

[bengo]

Oh yeah, its looking better, ground looks a tad too bright though, tone down the brightest color.

[Dusty]

I see absolutely no reason why the grass should not be lively green.
It is done in so many games I don't think yours should be any different.

[bengo]

I think it just helps set the mood more is all, since it kind of has that 'dark' look.

[Dusty]

I don't really see anything that sets a 'dark' mood. The only thing dark is the use of a lot of dark brown to fill space, and that's typical in many platformers.

[bengo]

The sky doesn't look like it's in the middle of the day, it looks like it's closer to the early morning, the green would look a little grayer.

[EyeCraft]

The grass looks too kempt, imo. Perhaps try a clumpier, more wild-looking grass.



Probably not the best example, but hope you get the idea. I might do an edit...

EDIT: I had a go at the grass. Also fiddled with the palette, basically just hue shifted and whatnot.

[JonathanOfDrain]

Thanks to everyone who has made a comment, critique or edit. I played with you edit of the grass (and will continue to do so) and changed the colors a bit. The brightest rock highlight seemed a little too bright for me, to yellow too. The blues became more blue and less purple. How's it looking?

I'm gonna go start adding some items and things. I'll be practicing my sub-pixel animation.

EDIT: Ok so not sub-pixeling just yet but I'll try with this:

[zeid]

I saw that cliff and immediately felt a need to help in anyway i could just so I could comment on how nice it looks, thats how awesome that cliff looks .



Pretty up the grass, I think this looks good but really up to you. I ditched the second darkest shade and instead added an additional highlight. Also fiddled around with the colours.

[junkboy]

Nice work, especially on the cliff like others have mentioned. I much prefer the first version of the grass though (after the color adjustment).
Right now the grass appears to be this big, fluffy carpet. Kinda like this:


Edit:
Actually, the first version had this look too, so I don't know what I'm trying to point out here.. Uh, try to avoid it? 

[Ben2theEdge]

Google image search is the artist's greatest weapon!
http://www.outnabout-ni.org.uk/photo_album/wallpapers/files/Cliff-Wallpaper.jpg

It's good to have more than one reference, but this one has a nice clean line between the grass and the rocks.

[Stwelin]

Indeed, mountain grass, as we're calling it, is actually more like moss than grass, since it's growing in a less fertile environment. Although carpet-y moss is justified in the situation, the resemblance to the inside of a 60's era Volkswagen is less so. It needs to have some sort of anchor point, like parts of the grass drooping over the side, etc, to make it look less uniform, perhaps.

[JonathanOfDrain]

Thanks to everyone who took their time to make a comment.

@Zeid, as you can see I'm about to start playing around with the grass a bit, I think a highlight was necessary. I'll keep referencing yours as I work on it.
@Junkboy, I tried to take care of that lack of connection thing, looks a little better. Still suffers, from lookslikeacarpetitis but maybe varying the grass tiles will hide it a bit.

Thanks for your help so far I'll throw a mockup together soon enough.

This was intended to be cut up into tiles, is there anything I should keep in mind when making tiles?

EDIT:
The "health icon".
 Playing with the grass.