BG tiles for a Game (Giant robot included :P)

[QuaziGNRLnose]

this is a screenshot from my game. as you can probably see, most of the BG gfx and the floor tiles arent really up to par with the character art.
im having a very hard time finding a suitable pallete and style for some of them, and i was hoping some of the pros here could maybe give me some pointers and maybe even some edits.
im probably gonna redo them from scratch so if you have any ideas on what you think they should look like feel free to whip up a sketch and if i like it ill probably make mine look like that too.

i have no clear direction with the palette yet, so you could even suggest background palletes or use a completely new one as long as it matches.
anyways what im really asking for is someone to tell me how i should go about making these tiles, as i have no clue what would fit the look and style of my current finalized art (robot, and dark BG (allthough giving pallete edits that might look nicer than navy blue would be cool too))
oh yea heres an image of that robot in PA form, hes made of multiple rotating parts in the game engine, but i just quickly attached a few here, for your pleasure

[Pixelized]

Wow this looks fantastic. Only crit I have about the floor tiles (I am by no means an expert ) is to maybe add a little detail. Compared to the foreground character they seem incredibly undetailed and bland. If they are metallic then you could add some highlights, if they are stone maybe add some crumbles or something. Right now they only have 4 off color pixels in each of the corners which suggests to me dull metal, with bolts on the ends. Maybe you could add some detail to that.

The robot looks amazing though. The little guy... or whatever it is ... kind of looks like a washing machine.

[mrToad]

Yea I agree.. you can't tell me that if you can draw that awesome robot and brave little washer machine you can't handle a couple floor blocks. lol 

some highlights on the top-left, a little sheen / reflection.

nice work!

[QuaziGNRLnose]

thanks for the kind crits, and you are close, hes a floor scrubber . the premise of the game is that you ran out of soap, and when you started moving around static started building up (you can kind of see it around him). when you move near the big robot, a bolt jumps from you to it, turning him on, and commencing his scheduled destruction from X years ago since he has accidentally ran out of charge. you run around activating various things to get past obstacles and platforming all the whilst running away from this crazy giant robot bent on destroying you.

as i said and other ppl, the floor tiles suck ass, and im not sure what colour theme would look nice on them or how warehouse floors should look from a side view like this. i really need some examples of good warehousey/industrial ground tiles from some games. i wanna know what would fit well based on some pixel artists opinions.

[Pixelized]

Alrighty then. Here are a couple textures for references

Bing rocks btw

Links cause I dun wanna overload the post with pointless images lol

Metal
http://www.photospin.com/content/illustrations/full/114_2562795.jpg

Random Low Res textures
http://www.poserworld.com/ImageGallery/small_DIGSMLS-RustedMetals-06042009.jpg

Concrete
http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/j/ja/jazza/1120853_concrete.jpg

Randomly Colored Ceramic tiles
http://www.uniquetextures.com/textures/medium/00977.jpg

Embossed Metal (or somethin  )
https://www.photospin.com/content/illustrations/preview/114_2588060.jpg

Rusted Metal
http://www.photospin.com/content/illustrations/preview/114_2546697.jpg


Not exactly the best refs but examples of what you can get out there if ya do a quick search. I used Bing.com for these but whatever your preferred engine is.

[Savaril]

Most of those references are really unrealistic and bad. The "rust" reference is just metal recolored to be brown, and the concrete looks more like asphalt. I don't even know why he'd need ceramic tiles, either.

[EyeCraft]

I find trying to think of things in terms of tiles and palettes to begin with is like throwing blinders on the creative vision. Start off just thinking about the environment and setting itself. What makes sense to exist in the place? What kind of atmosphere do you want? What kind of shapes/forms would be cool? Etc. Brain storm and sketch! Do concept art and go totally crazy with brain storming. Use reference to commence and then guide your creative direction. You should end up with an overflowing brain of ideas.

Then just start laying down the ideas as pixel art. Depending on whether or not you're on a roll it might still help to not really think about the tiles or palette yet, just start laying down the shapes and tones informed by your sketches. Eventually things will start to make sense and you'll see where the tiles will come in.

I find that works best, anyway.

[QuaziGNRLnose]

i guess, its just i really dont know what warehouse/industrial plant "floor" would like from a side view. whats a good way to render pixel concrete? when i come back from school ill make a few tests, using only grays to lay down shading and stuff, like i think you were trying to explain. im just not all that used to painterly approaches to things yet

[EyeCraft]

Hunt down some concrete reference to get ideas for texture. It depends how you want to do the side-view. You can cross section it which will be mainly a focus on texture I guess, or treat it like a drop-off plane, as if its like a wall with its own dark shading. Or combine those two things, which actually now that I think about it is the approach I usually take.

Example:



Uhh, sorry kind of half-arsed. Main point of the image is to show how I would do the concrete, the rest is just tired doodling 

And yes, I play too much Team Fortress 2.

[Red_Mist]

just wanted to comment:

This is one of my favorite pieces I have seen in a while. I really would like to see the giant robot in motion. I'm sure it would be breath takingly scary. good work, and keep it up. I look forward to some updates