[WIP] Dungeon Scene

[zaphyr]

Well, after my overly colourful first attempt, my second project tries to nail down some lighting effects and work with a reduced, more subdued palette (11 colours so far). It reminds me of the Atari ST.

Heavily WIP...

Also, I couldn't emboss the smaller text because I'm working one pixel thick, so I stippled it and it looks crap.  what should I do here?

C+C much appreciated, thanks guys.



Latest:

[EvilEye]

Pretty nice work on the floor.

The wall looks really flat though. Except the window ( it's a window right?? ), which looks like it goes on for a mile. You need to reduce the number of rocks between the frame and the window. Also make the window bigger ( if it's not a window then, it needs to look more clearly like whatever it's supposed to be ).

The part where the wall meets the floor is way too straight. You should use the stones to break up the floor line. Right now it looks like the wall is pasted on top of the floor which kills the 3d effect.

[zaphyr]

Except the window ( it's a window right?? ), which looks like it goes on for a mile.

doh! it's supposed to be a door with a corridor and portcullis at the end, but now you say it, i see a window, too...
Removing the step and maybe just extending the flagstones on the corridor floor out into the outside will hopefully help cue it in. Who would put a big trip-you-over block like that in a doorway? .

The wall was a cut and paste job, and yep, it certainly looks that way.  I also just noticed the scale is wrong for the bricks- they're much bigger on the outside than the inside, so maybe I'll replace the whole wall with deeper, massive, castle-like breezeblocks, since i am really not liking the current effect at all.

Really helpful feedback, thanks!  I will re-work it tomorrow.

[infinitegames]

Hey, I like it. The last one you have up there looks cool.

I think you should reduce the dithering. It's much too obviously-dithered. Try to add some other colors (if you can) to smooth it out. Also, try to make the rocks look a little more pock-marked. It will add depth and make the whole place look older.

[zaphyr]

Well, I removed the step leading into the passageway, and I think that helps the continuity of the piece, any thoughts?

And, to infinitegames, (thanks for the post!)

Hey, I like it. The last one you have up there looks cool.

Thanks

I think you should reduce the dithering. It's much too obviously-dithered.

Yeah, I definately agree, especially.  I'm kinda new to the whole pixeling process, and I'm trying to keep it at 4 bit colour, so I'm learning the trade offs as I go.  I only have 3 colours left though, so I will have a go once I'm happy with the scene itself.

Also, try to make the rocks look a little more pock-marked. It will add depth and make the whole place look older.

Yup, absolutely.  The only reason I haven't is my arm nearly fell off shading them yesterday so I didn't get round to it

[zaphyr]

Here's a first stab at adding pockmarks to the cobblestones:


I'm still thinking about what to do about the wall, it's on it's own layer and i'll be throwing it away and starting over. Definately the next major thing though, it's ruining everything.  Any ideas? Example pixel art would be really helpful.

[st0ven]

id say before you go any further with detail pixel work, i think you should consider throwing a lot more color theory at it and see what sticks.

so youve got this tunnel of light/fire which breathes warmth out onto the otherwise grim, ghastly dungeon-like cobblestone environment. yet the only evidence of the warmth that i see is some minor ambient light blobs being cast on the upper edges of the cobblestone. Take a look at the cooler tones used down the length of the corridor... they share the same purple hue that you are using for the foreground open room area. if you want to give that room back there some real fire, try keeping the shadow tones in the orangish/reddish area (if youre an advanced color user, using a lot of desaturated greens or magentas might lend well here just the same, so long as theyre more grey than saturated). Right now the purple creeps up too closely to the intensely heated room behind the distant door.

Another thing which will punch some life into this to really make the eye catch the heat in the distance is to really darken that tunnel to a near black , particularly in the middle of the corridor where the light from either room isnt able to quite reach very well. its this play of light to very dark to back to light (very quickly) which is going to establish that strong contrast youre going to need to really make this reddish fire look like its searing, piping hot.

In general, subduing the saturation of the purple, more particularly in the mid and shadow tones, would do this piece well, and would help give it more of a natural feel in its lighting.

when i get home ill mock up some examples.

[zaphyr]

Ah colour theory, something I'll admit I know next to nothing about aside from a vague memory of pairs and triples of complementary colours, which only gets you so far in life.

Still, I'm keen to learn, and look forward to your edits.  I'm also very interested in what you would do with greens and magentas, as I can't imagine how that could work at all.  If you could provide some terms for the principles that you are applying that I can research either on the net or at the library, that might help me get up to speed too. I'll see if I can get any milage from the more basic suggestions for now. Thanks a lot for your comments st0ven!

[st0ven]

just posting a really rough experiment focusing on getting a more gritty atmospheric dungeon feel here. im afraid im not trying to make points for pixel prety presentation,  but im just trying to alter some of the texture a bit to give you some idea of how both the brick i the textures could be shaded with color to give it more of a painterly vibe, and also to experiment with some more atmospheric use of color and light. even my example isnt really currently all that exciting when it comes to the lighting, ive hinted at some things that could evolve into interesting bits, notably the brickwork on the wall and the molding near the floor, but its remaining relatively a little dark even still. what this piece needs to shine is a really strong sense of foreground lighting scheme that will cast interesting and powerful light and shadow. ive begun to block that out on the wall, the floor in general is left a little lacking. in fact the way the rock texture in itself exists, the perspective is rather broken. when you have an evident horizon as you do in this image and you have a cobble/stone floor texture, in order to maintain the illusion of depth, the actual rock textures have to grow larger as they approach the camera's fixed point or else the illusion of depth is ultimately shattered. i think its worth redoing the cobble work completely to get a consistent and accurate perspective on the stones, otherwise this piece will not work no matter how well its detailed. you can achieve some pretty dramatic lighting effects in the foreground, and so long as that tunnel remains very dark you wont completely  lose the brilliance of the light at the end of the tunnel.

i feel a bit apologetic that im leaving it rather half unrendered still, but im more or less just trying to help illustrate the points is all. will be checking in here n there to see how it turns out.

[zaphyr]

Wow, that's one hell of an edit, cheers!  Still retaining my 4 bit constraints, I reworked the palette to use your warmer orange and moodier dark gray tones, and trying to emulate your pixel work on the interior of the passageway, (stuff outside the passage hasn't been touched yet).  I'm much happier with the result:



I'll post updates as they come, although i'll probably be a bit slow for a bit.  Thanks again!