RPG Castle Tiles

[baccaman21]

yup agreed... but there's also the argument that be blinded by sceince may put people off... but I'm glad you've explained the details as at the time I was a little preoccupied... (as I'm sure you could imagine)

[Ted]

Well if you want to get technical, the back of the castle should appear smaller than the front, but for the sake of simplicity, I've chosen not to go that route.  So the same can be said about the landscape fading as it nears the horizon.

Besides, I doubt there would be a very noticeable difference unless there was a very large distance.  The shading I put on the bricks at the bottom just comes from the fact that the sun is on casting light from above, causing those bricks to get less light.  Although the transition is a little too blunt.  I think I'll try to make it a bit more subtle.

In other words, I could go with real physics here, but I'd rather just go with aesthetic appeal.

[Jad]

I'd say increase both lightness AND contrast as the tower grows higher, that way it'll simulate focus in a simple and effectful way :O

[baccaman21]

Well if you want to get technical, the back of the castle should appear smaller than the front, but for the sake of simplicity, I've chosen not to go that route.  So the same can be said about the landscape fading as it nears the horizon.

no, the point I'm making still stands... you're taking me far too literally... and, as I said in my original post regarding this I said...

"You can apply this on the small scale regardless of what you're drawing, be it a still life*, or a landscape, the fact remains that distant object are lighter and nearer objects are darker"

Perhaps I should make myself clearer about this notion, the point is to push things in and out of a page, or a screen, you apply the concept of depth cueing, or increase/decrease of tone/saturation/contrast...

Additionally, I'm well aware that to keep things simple it makes sense to not put things into perspective when dealing with tiles and limitations.

PS. you've still not said what format you're doing this for... is it for anything or is it for pleasure? (I just got the impression it was FOR some project or other)

*i.e. A bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers.

[ndchristie]

videogame art is all about exaggerating some aspects to make up for the lack of others.  you aren't going to put perspective lines into a square grid, so you need to explore the use of color and contrast. 

your piece has crazy issues with depth and "simplicity" doesn't dispel them.

your piece also has a lot of noise that confuses the issue without adding good texture.  noise without purpose is almost like saying "im not sure if this area should be light or dark, so ill make it both!"

if you take out that noise in favor of descriptive shapes and lighting, you'll have much less difficulty reading the scene.  i would recommend this first and foremost.  THEN explore what you can do with contrast, color, and detail to establish priorities.

[Ted]

Sorry I never mentioned the format.  I'm doing this for an RPG in RPG Maker XP.  So basically, my only limitation is the tile size.  That, and there can't be more than 3 layers of tiles.  (4 with events; 5, if you want to go reeeally extreme, but I don't plan on going through the trouble)

But yeah, I guess you're right about the perspective stuff.  The only reason I'm reluctant is because I really have no idea how to do it.  Could someone maybe give me a quick example?


Also, about the noise, that was supposed to be my idea of realism.  If you zoom in on a photo, you don't see many big blots of single colors.  But I guess I can rework that.  I just didn't want to make it look like tall grass, but I didn't want to make it look like a green plastic floor like in Zelda ALttP either.

[Jad]

It's a good idea, but the way you're doing it now, it creates lines in the grass that really emphasize the grid. O:

[ndchristie]

noise does not amount to realism.  noise is just amateurish.

i wouldnt be so harsh if i hadn't made dozens of crappy, noisy tiles myself.

here was the edit i began before reading your post, you can see how im simplifying the forms to make them easier to read :


if you want realism, you're going to need to add a lot more colors and get down with how to describe forms.  realism in pixel art is hard, because you need to suggest forms that you don't have the physical ability to represent.  there are ways to do it with few colors, but i haven't shown them in this edit....