AuthorTopic: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles  (Read 9440 times)

Offline xerus

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 14
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Lavos 08
    • View Profile
    • kyle pulver

[WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

on: April 07, 2009, 09:53:31 pm


I seem to have problems at crafting even the simplest ground tiles to have some sort of coherent style.  I really like where the grass is going on the bottom set, but I'm having a hard time making the ground underneath it match. I don't want it to just be a solid ground color under the grass, but I'm not really sure what to do other than rocks.

After working on the tiles in the upper part of the image, I realized that they are pretty damn noisy and therefore ugly, so I went for more of a sloppy/blobby/paintery style with the grass below that.

I don't really know exactly what I'm looking for here, but maybe just a little guidance on how to approach the ground below the grass, or any comments on any of it that might be helpful to me.  I've never ventured that far out of the realm of super lo-fi stuff and I want to make my next project look as good as I can possibly make it!  ;D

Updates:


« Last Edit: April 16, 2009, 06:19:03 am by xerus »

Offline willfaulds

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 217
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #1 on: April 07, 2009, 10:44:26 pm
Here' some thoughts for you.

I prefer the simple shading of the lower variants - much less distracting and the grass has a simple style  :y:.

I had 2 thoughts; patterns and a ant farm link cut-through. Patterns didn't work so well but I think could if you carefully choose the right pattern...



Also edited the skin tone - its really hurting the readability of his face. It doesn't need to be this stereotypical a colour bu its merging with the hair at the moment.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2009, 10:47:04 pm by willfaulds »

Offline xerus

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 14
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Lavos 08
    • View Profile
    • kyle pulver

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #2 on: April 08, 2009, 02:16:14 am
Hmm, the cut through may look pretty cool.

For now I tried to change the shading on the rocks to make them not look like they're sticking out so much.  Also added some blocks I can scatter around.

Pretend scene with old rocks:


New rocks:


Pretend scene with new rocks:


His skin tone and hair.... ugghh yeah there's a problem with those two colors.  But I love them both so much!  :I

Offline Overkill

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 105
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • i make video games

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #3 on: April 08, 2009, 03:08:59 am
Heya Xerus!

I made an edit to your image.


I made changes to your palette so that there's more contrast and color saturation, and added a fourth shade to your rocks. Your colors were pretty good, they just needed a bit more nitpicking to make the foreground areas to stand out more as in front.

Also I redid the block pattern for fun. I'm not fully impressed with the patterns I made, but it's the best I could come up with on short notice. Point being, your blocks need a little more character :D

I hadn't really edited your dude at all, he looks pretty good for the most part.

<3 this. Keep up the good work!
« Last Edit: April 08, 2009, 05:53:03 am by Overkill »

Offline Derek_Reaves

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 24
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #4 on: April 08, 2009, 05:08:16 am
I was having this exact same problem last night.

Just wanted to say thanks to Xerus and the people that have helped so far for this awesome thread as it helped another user as well =].

Offline Dr D

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 415
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Not a real doctor.
    • View Profile
    • PJ Gallery

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #5 on: April 09, 2009, 01:22:37 am
Xerus, do you 'need' to have rocks? Why not just go with dirt, it would likely more commonly be found directly underneath grass anyway, and you could probably accomplish a smoother, cleaner, and flatter look with the dirt, because the grass on the side looks like it is pushing on the screen, like a clean cut cross section.

I don't think the rocks are cutting it, although you might want to experiment with tile variation if you're not fond of the repeating patterns, if you haven't already.

Offline Mathias

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1797
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Goodbye.
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/9542.htm
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #6 on: April 09, 2009, 03:37:13 am
Charming mockup. Not diggin the overall jittery noisiness of grass, trees, sky. Hopefully just a WIP issue.

Offline robotacon

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 222
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • robotacon
    • View Profile
    • It Got Dark

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #7 on: April 09, 2009, 11:20:45 am
Add contrast to the different depth layers.
My suggestion would be to make the foreground darker and the background lighter.
Keep the "middleground" with the character and the top of the "grass" and the two trees the color you've got now.

Offline xerus

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 14
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Lavos 08
    • View Profile
    • kyle pulver

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #8 on: April 09, 2009, 09:32:05 pm
Heya Xerus!

I made an edit to your image.


I made changes to your palette so that there's more contrast and color saturation, and added a fourth shade to your rocks. Your colors were pretty good, they just needed a bit more nitpicking to make the foreground areas to stand out more as in front.

Also I redid the block pattern for fun. I'm not fully impressed with the patterns I made, but it's the best I could come up with on short notice. Point being, your blocks need a little more character :D

I hadn't really edited your dude at all, he looks pretty good for the most part.

<3 this. Keep up the good work!


I like the palette shift change a lot, I think the block tiles though look a little off to me.  Although at this point I've been looking at this thing for so long that I don't know what looks right at all!  ;D

Xerus, do you 'need' to have rocks? Why not just go with dirt, it would likely more commonly be found directly underneath grass anyway, and you could probably accomplish a smoother, cleaner, and flatter look with the dirt, because the grass on the side looks like it is pushing on the screen, like a clean cut cross section.

I don't think the rocks are cutting it, although you might want to experiment with tile variation if you're not fond of the repeating patterns, if you haven't already.

I guess I don't need to have rocks, but having the solid brown didn't really look that pleasing to me.  I guess I went straight for rocks because I didn't really know where else to go with it...

Charming mockup. Not diggin the overall jittery noisiness of grass, trees, sky. Hopefully just a WIP issue.

Arrghh, you're not?  The grass trees and sky were my favorite parts...  :(  Any suggestions?

Add contrast to the different depth layers.
My suggestion would be to make the foreground darker and the background lighter.
Keep the "middleground" with the character and the top of the "grass" and the two trees the color you've got now.

Alrighty, I'll give that a go.

Also, here are some edits done by members of a different forum:
Quote



from "Evil-ville"


from "Jim"

So now I just have to figure out how to take all the feedback I've gotten and apply it to the image... oh ho, not an easy task... ;D

Offline Mathias

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1797
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Goodbye.
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/9542.htm
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Pesky Ground Tiles

Reply #9 on: April 10, 2009, 04:41:14 am
Eh, I'd just call it a matter of taste, don't worry about it. My suggestion would of course be to use "blobbier" forms, less realistic. I just find that my eyes default to exploring the busy textures more than they should.