Twinsen Graphics

[.TakaM]

It's an understatement to say that Twinsen has simple graphics, other than that, they're severely out of proportion.
I have had an overhaul planned for a while, and it's time to kick off.
First, the current tiles:

Coherent? yeah I guess, but boring.

my first attempt at a revamp for the cliffs and grass was pretty bad

admittedly I haven't done any tiles for a while, starting a new style is always a bit tough, but re-making a set with a similar but new style in mind is tougher.

my second attempt, I thought I'd go for a corrugated cardboard look, kinda like Yoshi's Story/Island:

Really doesn't fit in, I think if I had redone the background layers it'd look better, but I don't like it enough to do that.

And tonight, I went back to something similar to my first attempt:

simplified more, I think it will look great once I've got the rest of the tiles and parallax layers edited accordingly.
But I'm still not sure what to do with the grass, I don't like the current grass, too droopy and uniform, but I've got the feeling this 'hedge top' grass I'm using now is a bit too strange.
what do you guys think? Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[Akira]

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/4889/tilesnk3.png
^ my favourite out of the bunch

I think whatever you choose, you need more depth. your colours are pretty subtle so i think depth wouldn't distract the eye too much.

[dragonrc]

I think the grass looks better, but the bushes looked more in place in the first one. I think you should use some very dark green in the outlines of the bushes. (the same dark green you used in the outline of the platform.)
I like the new platform, but I don't like what you did with the parts where the platform stops:

But I like how you did it on your first revamp. Maybe you could mix them a bit.

I had some other idea for the platform, why don't you let some stones stick out here and there? Maybe that's a good alternative for a texture.

[ndchristie]

the trouble with your first doing attempt is that the light places it in front of the platform rather than under.  just tweak that and it's your best thusfar.

[.TakaM]

I think the grass looks better, but the bushes looked more in place in the first one. I think you should use some very dark green in the outlines of the bushes. (the same dark green you used in the outline of the platform.)
I like the new platform, but I don't like what you did with the parts where the platform stops:

But I like how you did it on your first revamp. Maybe you could mix them a bit.

I had some other idea for the platform, why don't you let some stones stick out here and there? Maybe that's a good alternative for a texture.

You don't like the lighter stone patches? any specific reason?

the trouble with your first doing attempt is that the light places it in front of the platform rather than under.  just tweak that and it's your best thusfar.

I thought the tiles I did decide on embody what you suggest, albeit simpler.
I personally thought the more jagged style in the first one looks too hard and dry for this area where the presence of water is always apparent, let me know if you do feel otherwise.

The revamp is still going strong

I'm really enjoying redoing the graphics, Twinsen's bizarre perspective is an interesting challenge, and the simple fact that I know I have a game all these graphics will go straight into makes it fun

rock by faceless

One thing I'm not sure what I'll do with is the fact the bush layer in the background is lighter than the playing field, we all know darkness gives the illusion of depth, but if I continued at the pace the trees and houses have gotten darker, I think it will hurt the atmosphere..

[Faceless]

I'm an unofficial helper of sorts , and here are the suggestions I made to .TakaM, so if people could comment on those changes it would be helpful.
I haven't touched the trees, but I think the far one's trunk needs reworking.

[Arachne]

I really love how this is coming along!

One thing I'm not sure what I'll do with is the fact the bush layer in the background is lighter than the playing field, we all know darkness gives the illusion of depth, but if I continued at the pace the trees and houses have gotten darker, I think it will hurt the atmosphere..

Why make it darker? Things tend to fade into the blue with distance. Giving the bush layer a hue closer to blue should help separate it from the foreground, I think.

[ndchristie]

the two things faceless idd and the idea of blue are both excellent suggestions.

[dragonrc]

You don't like the lighter stone patches? any specific reason?

It's not that I really dislike the lighter stones, I just think it doesn't look that good on the edges. I like how it looked on your first revamp attempt. Maybe you should try putting stones at some random points instead of a row that fills up the whole edge of the platform.

[ndchristie]

What happens when you intersperse dark stones among the light, with a more mauvy tint for the darker ones for a cute little hue shift?  I think it might give you just a little bit of an extra boost for the edges.  Take then the mauve then as your base color for "back wall" stones and you can have fun with the perspective, too.