Apparatus graphics WIP thread

[Perihelion]

I've been pixeling a lot lately, so I figured I'd make a thread. Working on a new tileset now.

The sky panorama is the same one I did a while back. I'll prolly make one of a cityscape eventually. Anyway, do those look like windows, or do I need to add some diagonal shinies? I tried it and didn't like how it came out. The angle looks weird with the hexagons. I also just noticed I forgot to add a lip to the bottom of the windows, but whatever, I'll do that tomorrow.

I'll probably be expanding this into a fancy office/apartment tileset. I've got some plans already, but I'd welcome any ideas or neat pictures of futuristic/ultramodern furniture or whatever else. I might make a hex window door and then have a glassed-in corridor that can lead to other buildings, but we'll see.

 

[Juan J. Sánchez]

That is freaking beautiful. Is this for your game or just some random work?

 

[coyotecraft]

I'd recommend having any objects in the room casting long downward shadows if the major light source is coming from the windows. Depending on the panorama you use I think the window seals should be darker in contrast with the light outside.
Having hexagon shadows cast over the whole room wouldn't be possible or practical, but a glare in the wood paneling that is only a few tiles high would be do-able.
The diagonal shinies would probably be too much if you put them in every hex, and it wouldn't look right if you only put it in some. If you really wanted, treating the whole wall as one big glass sheet would look best I think. Meaning have one or a couple big long diagonal shinies. But that would be going at different angles through each hex, meaning individual hex tiles or somehow put the shine on a layer behing them. Maybe on the panorama if its stationary.
Actually a glare that moves as you move up and down the map might look cool.

 

[Toams]

aren't you forgetting something?

(left) (window borders)
quick edit, not the right colors, not the right perspective, but you get the gist

 

[Perihelion]

Yeah, I was thinking about doing a floor reflection, but it's gonna be a pain in the ass to tile and I don't wanna use a gradient. Maybe a script, as long as I'm making things reflective? Your edit does look really nice even if it isn't pixeled. Hmm. I'll mess with it later. Shinies on the window would help readability a lot, I think, except that they look stupid. Also, good point about the window edges, Tomas. I'll add those in. Dunno how I missed that, but thanks for pointing it out!

Juan, this is for my game.

 

[Jeronimus]

I love the giant wall of hexagonal windows, but it does really need lighting effects for it to work. And if you revisit the scene when it's night it'd need completely different lighting, though. Like most of the things you do, it looks kind of pretty.

Then again, is your world a high-tech future where there are expensive offices (?) high in the sky, or should we maybe imagine this room atop a high skyscraper in the middle of a lot of higher skyscrapers in a city filled with smog? I like the clean-ness of this though (when comparing it to those factory-esque tiles you showed months ago), so I'm guessing there's a sort of contrast between an upper-class and a working class? I dunno, just thinking of where to place this room in a story-context, but it's looking good.

 

[Perihelion]

There's kind of a gradient between classy areas and slummy areas. This particular tileset is for a government outpost/embassy building (one reason the windows are so thick is for protective reasons), and I would probably use it for expensive apartments or something too. There is a pretty big divide in terms of area niceness. Much of the city is ruined or run-down as a result of a civil war, but some areas are still kept up, and I'm going for a kind of ultramodern/greenspace aesthetic for those. The area I posted last time has the primary purpose of housing people in pods, so they don't really keep up the interior decor. I'm thinking about retooling that tileset to be cleaner-looking, but I really like it, so maybe not. I'll probably have several city districts with their own aesthetics. Like you might have a classy area, an industrial area, and a slummy area or something.

I was thinking about nighttime. I definitely want to do a night version, but I'm going to need to sprite a new panorama. I want to do a cityscape but want to wait till I solidify my vision of the city more.

Anyway, I did this, but I forgot the shadows and will probably adjust the highlights more. Man though, they really make a big difference. Thanks for pointing it out, coyote!

Working on some solid wall tiles now. Then I'll probably do more furniture and make an apartment-like mockup. I'm not really sure what else I want to add for the office. Bookshelves? Well, you can get an ebook reader that is literally a physical book whose writing changes when you load a new book into it, so I figure actual book collections are a bit like record collections today. Filing cabinets? Everything is digitized. Maybe cubicle dividers or something, or plants or whatever. I can probably use some of the apartment furniture once I make it. Any ideas, though?

 

[Perihelion]

Have a bonus desk animation.

Most flat surfaces can be turned into displays in my setting. I wanna do more with this, like windows moving around and stuff, but will wait to see what I need. In retrospect those windows really should have vertically scrolling text, not horizontally scrolling text, but meh, I'll change it later maybe.

 

[Jeronimus]

Ooh, that looks very fancy. It works. I like the idea of having various city districts too.
And I do like the way this looks. The greenhouse idea makes sense as well, if this is one of the expensive places where there's actually still sunlight or something like that.
Especially if some parts of the world don't know what sunshine looks like, the effect would be greater I imagine. And then for contrast to spacious bright areas like this, I'd imagine a lot of tiny rooms where there's only imitation lights and a lot of people live cramped close together. But anyway - your tiles get me imaginative, so at least that's a good thing.

I'm thinking of the materials now - there's a large wooden floor and a wooden desk, so does that make it extra expensive or are there still a lot of trees in this world? (Or do they, like, grow trees high on top of skyscrapers to reach the open air? Man, would that be an awesome sight. Damn, my thoughts are drifting off again.)
Still, a difference in material use in the different areas is probably a good idea too. I imagine a very typical dystopian future street view, though, grates everywhere, smoke blowing out of open pipes in the walls and - SOMEONE STOP ME FROM THESE THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD.

Also, egg chairs. Everything always needs egg chairs.

And the every-thing-is-a-display idea is actually kind of cool, that could provide a lot of really cool opportunities I guess!

 

[Perihelion]

There are totally gardens on top of skyscrapers, probably with trees. I decided a while ago that a lot of these greenspace areas are now full of squatters who cultivate food on them, so maybe there are a few abandoned skyscrapers that are really overgrown now with big trees and stuff. That would be cool--an overgrown post-apocalyptic feel.

As far as materials go, synthetic wood is probably widely available, but this place would probably use real wood. That doesn't make it extra expensive, though, really. But the entire world isn't covered with cities or anything. I figure most of the world's population is concentrated in cities, which have become extremely condensed with things like arcologies rather than spreading out tremendously in terms of area.

The greenspace thing isn't so much a class division as it is the direction architecture is actually moving, but now that you mention it, it totally works as a class division as well. I've been playing with the idea of having some areas underground or inside big arcologies, which would totally play up the contrast if my rich areas have huge windows and sunlight and plants everywhere, so maybe I'll do that. If space is at a premium, then it makes sense that the arcology would be the low-class area if the goal is to cram as many people inside as possible, since most of them wouldn't have access to windows.

In general, I'm trying to think about what the future might actually look like and avoid generic cyberpunk aesthetics, but they'll probably creep in anyway. See the last tileset I did. The street view in the downtown area will have lots of greenspace and white and vegetation around. There might be a more cliche cyberpunk industrial feel in the industrial area, but I'm not really sure yet what I'm doing for exteriors.

Btw, the hex windows with the vines were inspired by this:

This is a thing proposed to be built in Seoul. I have several folders full of sweet real-but-futuristic architecture that I'm drawing inspiration from. May post more pics.

Re: egg chairs, I tried some cylinder couches, but they looked funny, so I got rid of them. I'm gonna do some futuristic furniture for sure, though. I might move the current chairs into the industrial area or something.

Also, thanks for your questions! You're really helping me figure out some worldbuilding stuff, so by all means, keep asking. Man, I'm glad I made a thread for this instead of just posting it in WIPs.

 

[Perihelion]

As long as I'm here, I'm gonna toss up the other graphics I've done for this for the sake of completeness. I totally encourage people to ask me conceptual questions as well as critiquing from an art standpoint.

Four party members + three important characters, maybe more to come:

The sprite design in that is slightly outdated, but whatever. I guess this would be in the industrial area. Maybe I'll have the industrial area underground and the slums in an arcology and the fancy area on the surface. It kinda makes sense to design it that way from an aesthetic standpoint.

I may redo the computer to be more consistent with the other computers, but it's possible that's an outdated model or something.

 

[Jeronimus]

Okay, if you want some more of my insane ramblings...!

No, I think it's probably a good idea that you don't want to do the traditional cyberpunk thing - it's been done a lot and it's probably the first thing you think of when you hear "dystopian future!". Still I was thinking along the lines of the previous tileset I saw of yours, which had a very tech-y, gritty, industrial feel to it.
That maquette looks really cool, it's a good thing to draw inspiration from awesome things.

You could treat the industrial areas like places no one should ever really be (maybe a lot of the world is automated and doesn't need a lot of workers. Then again, people need jobs. Or maybe they don't have jobs. Mh.) and work with the underground idea - keeping them concealed to conserve as much space as possible. I'd imagine that might be a thing? The rich people just have more room and want as much room as possible (forcing others in smaller places? I don't know. A lot of selfish motivations, I guess?) Or maybe keeping the machinery hidden in small spaces between rooms or wherever people won't reach them because it might just be dangerous and not meant for people to reach? I don't know what you've got in your mind yet, though, so I'm just throwing a lot of stuff out here.
Diversity in a city is probably a good idea nonetheless. Is there a big divide between rich and poor or is there a middle-class section? Is it an aristocracy where the rich are in control of everyone? A business-ocracy?
Seeing as plants can grow in imitation light, it's not far-fetched to have plants in the "slums" as well. Maybe don't "pollute" the air too much? Or maybe do?
I dunno, there's a very Gotham vibe for a lot of the things in my head now, and there's a certain game to blame for that, so my thoughts might not be steering too clear.

Ha, okay, I see, one of the people in a pod, floating, that's cool, looks a bit eerie. The tiny animating bits are probably my favorite thing about that tileset, though. And I quite like the little animating of the sprite nudging the glasses, for some reason. I really, really, really dig the aesthetic you've got going on with the characters.
In terms of color schemes; thinking of whites, greys, metallics, blacks, browns? Or some more bright colours somewhere in there? Unless somehow at some point we in the future do decide colors are pointless. Neon lights? (That flicker you've got in there really does make me happy.)

 

[Perihelion]

Okay, I should probably back up and explain some stuff about the setting.

Spoiler: tl;dr

Okay, the city is called Izmena (Slovianski for change), name subject to change. It's the largest planned city ever built and is the biggest population and commercial center in eastern Europe (located in a carefully undisclosed fictional country, perhaps somewhere in former Yugoslavia or a former Russian satellite).

Izmena used to be the headquarters of many large corporations, which are basically entities unto themselves, providing company housing and stores to lure in immigrants from the country and other parts of eastern Europe. But then the world had a major economic collapse (man I so called this shit with the global economy before all this Greece stuff started happening), and suddenly no one had any money! Jobs dried up almost overnight in Izmena, small businesses went under, etc. It got to the point where anyone who wasn't employed by a major corp, and many of the people who were, had a really insecure work position. This paired with the advent of genetically engineered children (company employees were given incentives to genetweak their kids), who were seen as being specifically designed to take jobs away from less fortunate people, caused some serious anti-corp sentiment.

Long story short, the economy got worse, shit hit the fan, and there was a really nasty and prolonged civil war. When it ended, there was a major power vacuum, which led to the rise of a collective (a metamind made of many people linked together; they're a major setting feature) that reestablished order but did some weird shit and wasn't very popular.

Meanwhile, the remnants of the armies are still around, but they've metamorphosed into mainly criminal organizations that control different parts of the city. The vast majority of the remaining population is destitute from the war. Industry exists again, but since the economy is still pretty weak, most people don't get paid much. There are a couple old corps with corp employees still around, constituting a meager middle class, and a few wealthy individuals who profited off the war. The game itself is more about ideological warfare than class warfare, but the modern issues are certainly rooted in class conflicts.

So with all of that in mind, I think it could make sense to have the fancy area be where the remaining white-collar corps and few richies are based, the industrial area can be where the poor people work, and the slums can be where the poor people live. Maybe. I have three major factions vying for control of the city and kind of wanted to give each one a district to be their territory, but we'll see. I might add a fourth and have one be a no man's land.

 

[Perihelion]

Oh, sorry, didn't see your edit before!

Ha, okay, I see, one of the people in a pod, floating, that's cool, looks a bit eerie. The tiny animating bits are probably my favorite thing about that tileset, though. And I quite like the little animating of the sprite nudging the glasses, for some reason. I really, really, really dig the aesthetic you've got going on with the characters.
In terms of color schemes; thinking of whites, greys, metallics, blacks, browns? Or some more bright colours somewhere in there? Unless somehow at some point we in the future do decide colors are pointless. Neon lights? (That flicker you've got in there really does make me happy.)

Yeah, I'm totally going to do lots of little animations around. They really add a lot. For this one, I'll probably animate the leaves on the vines and have the panorama scroll. It tiles horizontally. I'd like to have a few objects around that animate if you interact with them, too.

As far as color schemes go, I'm trying to make the characters as distinct as possible while maintaining my vision of them, which is kind of a tough compromise. I feel like I've overused white. Well, I might revisit a few of them. I definitely don't want to only use subdued colors, though. Cyberpunk games tend to be really washed out, and I like looking at vibrant colors.

 

[Jeronimus]

I wouldn't go for the subdued colors too much either. Though it depends - if you've got different areas, you can really try getting a completely different feel for each by different color use. The industrial looking rusty, gritty and metally, the rich looking clean, bright and spacious because of the brightness. Going the right way, I'd say.

Spoiler: more questions n shit

Oh, wow, yeah, that seems really cool. I love the idea in the backstory of luring people into the city as if it were the Metropolis of the world, the city where job opportunities are aplenty, and then having that dry out as science evolves and manages to genetically engineer better workers. (And in cases like this, always cool to show a before and after, maybe through some sort of recording of an old advert or some old billboard or poster that's only still around to highlight the irony, to show how quick things can change.)

So the Collective is in charge of things? Or it just served to end the war? I'm sorry if I don't completely get it - is it like a digital idea, (like some sort of supercomputer that stores the ideas of discarded individuals and builds them together) or just some sort of parliament-structure with a few superpowers in charge? It's some sort of think-tank of shared ideas anyway, right, even if it's literally or figuratively?

So each side has their own goal, sort of? The conflict has calmed down, but it's still stirring in everyone's hearts, so to speak? It seems like there'd be a lot of hate from the unemployed and the barely employed towards the rich-folk who are in charge of things. I like the thought of having a no-man's land in there somewhere: it makes sense to me that if there was a heavy war there'd at least be an area of the city that was completely ruined and that no one is willing to bother to fix.
You know in that thought, if there's been a war, I'd imagine a lot of broken stuff to be scavenged. Like, bits and pieces of discarded technology that the poor use craftily because perhaps the rich think it's worthless now, and there's no need to waste money on it? I don't know.
You've got a war (a civil war, but a war nonetheless), so the aftermath of that is probably something that could be pretty well illustrated. And part of an ultramodern city in ruins would look pretty anyway.
The arcology thing is pretty cool though, it could work really well and it fits what I was thinking about, of putting as many people together while using as little space as possible. You've got a good thing going here, Peri!

 

[Perihelion]

Spoiler: I guess spoilers are cool so there is a better art:wall of text ratio

Actually, China does that kind of thing with luring people to factories today, which is where I got the idea. Build a factory and then get people to come work for you, but if there aren't local workers, you need to provide housing for them and such. And since this was a planned city, there wasn't already a population base to draw from, so they had to attract people.

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have pre-war remnants around in some of the ruined areas. There are lots of areas that are totally trashed as a result of war damage. It's probably a miracle the arcology and the tunnels are still inhabitable, although many areas likely aren't.

The collective was in charge of things, but someone actually gives it a big kick in the nuts right at the beginning of the game, and then the rest of the game is all the various factions vying for control of the city. But yeah, it's basically a think-tank, except that it's a bunch of minds that function as one. Collectives are really good for idea generation, which leads to rapid technological development, which sometimes leads to them being in charge in areas (either through economic control or more direct means). This one probably used some of both due to the unstable nature of the city at this time.

The three factions are:

1. The EU, which isn't really the EU anymore. It was largely supported by a government AI before the economic collapse, and since many of the member nations went under, it's taken more authority onto itself and now runs the organization. The workings of this are actually pretty complex and interesting imo, but I digress. It basically functions as a peacekeeping organization now, and it intervened in the civil war and helped end it.

2. The remnants of the corporation side in the war, which also has most of the tweaks (genetically engineered people). They've got their fingers in many of the remaining corporate pies and sort of function as a high-class syndicate, maybe with ties to the Russian mafia.

3. The remnants of the poor people side in the war, which is currently based in the slums. Might be involved in drug trafficking or something, idk. I need to flesh out #2 and #3 more.

Good idea about scavengers. There's probably a scavenger economy in some of the poorest areas. I'll make a note of that.

Glad you approve!

 

[glorious caesar]

i want to make a really long and helpful post but i honestly don't have a real lot to say because all of this is very good. i mean the deep wood texture seems like a really harsh contrast against the hexwindows but i know you'll be making a lot more tiles that will help tie everything together nicely. on a whole the green architecture concepts are cool-looking shit and i've enjoyed looking at that stuff online so seeing you do more of it as a game environment will be fun.

i gave you lots on the characters and stuff in irc so there's that :blank:

i read all your setting stuff here and i like it. i get seriously bugged by the anti-corporate message but other than that this is good shit—your vision of the future is on the realistic side of scifi. keep doing what you're doing.

 

[Perihelion]

It's not really anti-corporate, although I can see how it reads that way from my description. It's anti-everyone. What I'm going for is a bad situation that wasn't really anyone's fault to start with but escalated due to people sucking in general. I'm trying really hard to keep it as morally ambiguous as possible but without making all of the characters unsympathetic. So it'll be a delicate balancing act.

Anyway, thanks!

 

[Perihelion]

Okay, so:

I like the concept of the hex walls but am not sure about my execution. It makes me feel like I'm looking at the inside of a spaceship or an airplane or something, and I wanted something that felt a little, idk, cozier for the apartments. I was thinking about having low dividers in a big space, but meh, I don't really like where I was going with that. I might try recoloring the walls to not white and see how that does. Conceptually the windows probably just tint dark when you want solid walls, so you might be able to toggle them in-game if I can be bothered animating them.

As for the furniture, I'm going to add green accents. Should be slick when it's done. The flowery-looking thing is a floor lamp. There'll be plenty of other furniture too. Man, though, it feels weird not to have bookshelves. Maybe there can be books in the future. I dunno.

Got a math test on Wednesday, so I'm not gonna be spriting for a couple days, but I'll post updates when I have them.

 

[Perihelion]

Okay, I've decided to put the tileset on hold for now because I want to work on demo stuff. I made this instead:

I think the leg animations still have issues, but my attempts to fix the template weren't very successful, so I'm calling it good enough.