AuthorTopic: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)  (Read 5755 times)

Offline Teknogames

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So this is a tileset for a level of a game I'm working on, and the actual boundary blocks call for more interesting and complex structures than what I have provided. What kind of tiles can I make to give it more flow and variation?



« Last Edit: October 10, 2009, 01:19:33 am by Teknogames »
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Offline Mathias

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Re: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)

Reply #1 on: October 10, 2009, 03:35:12 am
Sorry, but you pose a very silly question. You're obviously neglecting one of our most effective tools: reference. Go dig up as much futuristic scenery as you can possibly stand. If you're a creative person, you'll get plenty of ideas on what to do. Judging by your tiles, I assume you'll have no problem once you get out of the box you're stuck in. Take off those tunnel-vision blinders and go embark on a visual journey, surf randomly, find lots of useful stuff. It's certainly out there.

On your tileset, I think it's great. Fairly interesting in and of itself, well-enough pixeled. Though, like you already acknowledge, it's not very exciting, all very boxy, lacking exotic quality, buncha shipping cargo container block. But that's not a bad thing really, you just don't want to overuse the set, that's all. It's monotony will bring focus to your more outlandish sets.

I find your sky bg equally insipid. It doesn't suggest "futuristic". Only thing I can think of to save it would be to animate lightning illuminating huge portions of it at random. Can't go wrong with nifty light effects.
« Last Edit: October 10, 2009, 03:39:48 am by Mathias »

Offline Dusty

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Re: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)

Reply #2 on: October 10, 2009, 07:48:39 pm
I'd seriously recommend looking at the 2D Metroid games.

However, while what you had here doesn't look bad, it also doesn't make much sense. It looks completely random.

Offline Mathias

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Re: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)

Reply #3 on: October 10, 2009, 08:08:32 pm
I'd seriously recommend looking at the 2D Metroid games.

Yeah, but it doesn't make much sense to consciously attempt to derive inspiration from the product of someone else's inspiration, not in this case anyway. Matter of opinion maybe, but I think an artist just needs to observe, absorb input, and experiment, creating his own vision by doing so. Teknogames needs a way out of the box he's in, not hop to another one. Seeing the techniques other game devs employ to create tiles is helpful, but to glean concepts themselves I don't think sounds productive. I wish I was free to think up some spacey futuristic tile concepts, but I'm simply not.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2009, 03:22:20 am by Mathias »

Offline Dusty

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Re: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)

Reply #4 on: October 11, 2009, 03:48:57 am
I'd seriously recommend looking at the 2D Metroid games.

Yeah, but it doesn't make much sense to consciously attempt to derive inspiration from the product of someone else's inspiration, not in this case anyway. Matter of opinion maybe, but I think an artist just needs to observe, absorb input, and experiment, creating his own vision by doing so. Teknogames needs a way out of the box he's in, not hop to another one. Seeing the techniques other game devs employ to create tiles is helpful, but to glean concepts themselves I don't think sounds productive. I wish I was free to think up some spacey futuristic tile concepts, but I'm simply not.
Why not? Inspiration and reference is something done all the time, even here. Why not in this case? Where he is stumped with ideas? It would seem like the perfect time, actually.

Also, what different would it be if he gained his inspiration from your tile concepts than from Metroid?

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Re: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)

Reply #5 on: October 12, 2009, 05:14:55 pm
It would be that the artists that made the metroid tilesets were inspired by reality. So it's second-hand regurgitation, and while this happens a huge lot in our small-game/indie/fanboy circles, it's actually pretty much bad form when it comes to creative direction. Don't look at other games, look at improbable places for inspiration. I bet if you took a trip to a nearby basement and took some photos of pipage and stuff you'd be on a better path than if you just look at the games that everyone's looking at.

Offline Mathias

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Re: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)

Reply #6 on: October 12, 2009, 05:54:40 pm
It would be that the artists that made the metroid tilesets were inspired by reality. So it's second-hand regurgitation, and while this happens a huge lot in our small-game/indie/fanboy circles, it's actually pretty much bad form when it comes to creative direction. Don't look at other games, look at improbable places for inspiration. I bet if you took a trip to a nearby basement and took some photos of pipage and stuff you'd be on a better path than if you just look at the games that everyone's looking at.

Seconded emphatically.

Offline Teknogames

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Re: Tileset: Futuristic shouldn't mean bland (Help with idears?)

Reply #7 on: October 14, 2009, 12:35:34 am
Aye! How ridiculous I feel. Reference is something I would normally look for when doing stuff other than pixel art.

I suppose the biggest problem is transferring what I observe into tiles, I always have problems making things flow on a grid.
But. alas I will go out and pick up some pictures, thanks for your response.
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