Settlers II replacement graphics

[Merri]

Hello! This seems like a good place to get feedback on these graphics so I thought I'd try my luck for some Command & Conqu... eeeeh... C&C that is.

As this is my first post I guess I'll also introduce myself and this project a bit. As things are I'm not really a pixel artist or an artist at all, but much more of a developer. I've always had quite a broad interest on various things so while I don't see myself as an artist that hasn't prevented me from doing some stuff. I'm not very familiar with many the terms and techniques and I just have an eye for copycatting a style I see. My time for drawing anything is quite limited so I may end up having months between my visits... and what I show here now has actually been done last September so I'm really pushing my memory here!

So this project is a very slow one and mostly the benefit is to give free graphics for the open source Return to the Roots project that now uses original game graphics and thus requires the original game files to function. As a rule I will be using the original game palette and I try to stay somewhat faithful to the style (or feel) of the original graphics. I guess not that many are familiar with the game so you can find buildings here or use Google images to find some screenshots.

As a first step I've started working on Roman military buildings. New Fortress to the right and original to the left:



For inspiration I tried to replicate Roman fort in the game's somewhat cartoon style. Actual Roman forts were quite huge areas so mostly the end result has some architectural features adjusted to being a single building with one exit. While I think the quality is good with what I have I still have somehow a feeling of "something is missing" or "not right". As for the original building it always seemed more like a medieval castle than Roman fortress so it feels slightly odd in the original game - atleast when you start to think about it.

Here is the game palette that I'm using:


Magenta = any color that is different between world palettes and thus not usable.


Edit!
I use Paint Shop Pro 7 as my tool.

[Nmb910]

I can't help but notice that is all the same picture, and none of it is pixel art.

[Merri]

Hmm. Did I have hotlinking block... need to add this to white list if I had.


Edit!

Thanks, I've now removed the hotlink block so the images should appear after a refresh or two

[Arne]

Those look like a lot of work since they're pretty highrez. I'm used to Settlers 1 on the Amiga. I kind of prefer the more stony look of that.

The castle/HQ should probably look special, and not blend in too much with the other buildings.

Your brick and roof noise is sort of even and doesn't add as much structural things of interest as the source graphics manages to.

[Carnivac]

I'm used to Settlers 1 on the Amiga.

That game still ranks highly among my list of favourite pixel art in a game ever and is what furthered my then fascination with making the most out of pixels with the great details they had and the charming animated sprites. 

[Merri]

If you don't know there is open source Freeserf project. It is nowhere completed though, for example there is no AI.

In general I think Settlers went downhill with S3 where they abandoned pixel art and the road system. All the 3D Settlers made since just don't feel right.

The castle/HQ should probably look special, and not blend in too much with the other buildings.

Your brick and roof noise is sort of even and doesn't add as much structural things of interest as the source graphics manages to.

Yup, I guess I should do some of the normal buildings and use a different style on them so there would be a comparison. I might've put too much weight on realism and I should figure out a more interesting structure.

[PypeBros]

I note abnormal contrast and size for the door of the rear tower
I note curious shapes for the battlement, especially near the rear tower
I note lack of shadow under the arch for the entry

The rainbow effect on the bricks is tolerable at high resolution imho, and fits well with roman architecture techniques (afaik), but that'd definitely not work e.g. on retro, lower resolution screens, where it'd be mostly noise.