The Screenshot Thread

[Kicks]

Panda...
Don't just darken the background with black...
Other options include: (1)reducing Hue otherwise called Desaturating. This means you take away color. The caveman version of this is adding grey, but go for a greyish blue or whatever type of color you want.
(2)Cooling off the background with blue or violet go for very grey blues or violets. You could also try other hues/colors, those just come to mind.

Your colors are very saturated, any desaturation will create great contrast and depth.

 

[Sonata]

Holy crap TM, those marionettes make that scene so creepy and epic. Awesome job.

Kicks, that looks so cool man. Your battles instantly seem interesting solely thanks to the visuals.

 

[DopyG]

Here is a pic of my western game based on "A fistful of dollars" ^_^

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w120 ... enshot.jpg[/img]

And this is the main charachter:
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w120 ... -Beard.png[/img]

(He looks like Clint Eastwood doesent he??)

 

[thios]

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/194/98911472bd2.png[/img]
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/2471/49916280ea2.png[/img]
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7391/86062692xg8.png[/img]

 

[Skyla Doragono]

:x  Why is one of your characters Sailor Venus?

 

[Twin Matrix]

The tower looks cool, but everything is raped by those awful colory blurry picturey thingies overlays.

@Sonata: !! Thank you! : D

 

[cheatking]

Lol you ripped them from an XP game. o_O; So go go fix 'm. ;D They're hardly a piece of art, so it shouldn't be too hard to draw a side. (Unless you like, really REALLY suck.)

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/starmies ... hot038.png[/img]

Finished that entrance hall I was talking earlier about.~~
The statue actually blinks lol.

Amazing!


Changing the title might have been mildly amusing if this wasn't a, an important thread and b, a one word spam post. Oh and c, if you weren't a DAY LATE. ~Wyatt

 

[thios]

:x  Why is one of your characters Sailor Venus?

I didn't know it was a Sailer Moon char, I love the character, but I think I will replace her, thanks.

The tower looks cool, but everything is raped by those awful colory blurry picturey thingies overlays.

Well, I like it this way, but thanks for your opinion. 

 

[Ace of Spades]

@Panda:  Your simplistic graphics are nice, I like them.  Your later screens are a huge improvement over your originals, but I might suggest that you keep the horizontal walls, but break them up a bit more.  Instead of huge planks of wood, I'd break them into smaller sections, so it doesn't look as repetitive and bland.

@DopyG:  I've never been been a big fan of VX graphics, but it looks pretty cool, and I like the idea of a western.

@Thios:  That's some very well done mapping, but I have to agree with Twin Matrix and say that a lot of the detail is lost in those overpowering overlays.  I have nothing against the overlays, but the way they are now they completely overpower your potentially good maps and they really just drown out the colors.  If you're going to keep them, I at least suggest toning them down a bit.  Sometimes less is more.

@Twin Matrix:  Not sure if I already commented your screens, but I absolutely love the original graphics.  Your game absolutely reeks of atmosphere, and I love it!  Keep up the great work.

 

[thios]

Oke, thanks, I will change that overlay..

Edit: I changed the overlay, better?

 

[Skyla Doragono]

:x

...now you've got Chibi Moon there...

 

[Despain]

Ok, so I darkened the background, but should I make the panels vertical, or horizontal? I can't decide x_x

keep going. fade the background more. you want significantly less contrast in the background than the foregound.

 

[Despain]

http://bb.xieke.com/files/platformbg.png[/img]

try something closer to that. notice how the objects in the foregrounds (especially the charactes) really POP a lot more

 

[MukanshinBlack]

The back wall is a really ugly color but you're right on how the characters and objects really pop out now.

 

[Kicks]

Here's a better quality vid of a similar combo from my game

Missingno's example pops the characters pretty well by darkening the background, but its still really saturated with Hue. It also worked nicely because the violet complements the yellow of the guy's hair.
So in (A) I took out all the saturation and lightened it a bit. (B) Is purely desaturated with no lightening. I lightened it because it seemed to look a bit nicer. I think this is because 1-the black outlines all over the place pull away better from the lighter value. 2-really dark is sorta like a type of saturation... just different, so going a bit lighter would tone down the background better.
In (C) I tried a different approach. Complements. I inverted the color of the wood and applied it to the background. This creates strong contrast which is good and bad. Contrast separates things, but it can also make things fight making the eye tired. This is why desaturation is nice. The blue complement works because its cool and atmospheric despite being sorta bright. In (D) i added a gradient... this is sorta cheating if you wanna keep your graphics simple. Looks nice though... like SNES games.
In (E) i took the lightened and desaturated one and brought the contrast down. This sort of 'blurs' it without actually smearing the image. This is because all the values become closer together on the value gradient and thus your eye blends them for you. It also mimics atmosphere creating more benefits. The more you lower the contrast the more it pulls back, until... (F). As soon as your lines disappear, that flat value shoots back right behind the wooden platforms and into your face. This is why the horizontal vs vertical is difficult because either one works slightly different with your platforms/shelves. In any case the lines in the background work to pull away from them. In (E) and others, I also weakened the black outlines and light highlights of the windows. This allowed it to fall behind the platforms, but stay in front of the background creating more layers and thus more atmosphere. In (G) i just tried the gradient over the plain desaturated background. And (H) I just tried a different color. Use these techniques in different ways to create the space, atmosphere and mood you desire. You can see that the grey works as a background in many ways. It lays back and allows for the other stuff to do its thing. You can also see that it subtly takes on the hue of the surrounding colors. Good luck!


http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/7318/pandahelpxf5.jpg[/img]

!EDIT!

Started working on a new battle background. Actually, I've been working on this one for a while, but every other attempt I've scrapped, so here's the new start. I can't decide if I like the really intense/saturated background in this one, or the less saturated one in the spoiler. Help me out!
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/7251 ... t36tz7.jpg[/img]

Spoiler: Compare with the other

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3560/screenshot37nw1.jpg[/img]
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5119 ... t38ci4.jpg[/img]

 

[MukanshinBlack]

Yeah, your new background really looks better then the other two.  And good job on the back wall in the Panda's screeshot, showing him a lot of walls to do what he should do.

Also I watched your youtube video with the combo, and despite it being confusing it looks pretty good.  That combo is way over-powered though. XD

 

[Twin Matrix]

^

Nice. I prefer the less saturated background (the first one in the spoilers tag). It has an atmospheric perspective as well, sort of, which the first one is kinda lacking.

@Ace: :rock:

 

[OrigamiRose]

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l104/ ... 006/1d.png[/img]

Based on the book made by David Eddings.

 

[The Panda]

Ok I see now! Thanks guys! BUT is there any way to make the characters stand out while still maintaining a natural wood-like feel. Not really sure how to put it... umm well how bout this, when's the last time you saw a pirate ship with blue walls? O.o the odd colors thrown in there just really don't make any sense to me... while it does give it more atmosphere and detail it's the opposite of what I was going for. They're light hearted cartoony simple graphics and aren't supposed to be all detailed, atmospheric, and oddly colored. While you all say that adjusting this is making it better, I'd say it's taking away from it, I don't mind darkening it a bit so that it doesn't blend so much but I just don't think all the adjusting hues and saturation and such fits it, it's supposed to be bright and colorful not desaturated and contrasted..I appreciate all the help but isn't there anyway to make this work so that it fits what I'm going for AND works with what everyone's saying? ^_^

Edit: I don't know if it matters but I figured I'd just say that the blonde character is a placeholder. I just did him up in like 5 minutes because I haven't designed a hero yet XD

 

[JD_Slasha]

Workin on little things with CC, bio script stuff

http://img32.picoodle.com/data/img32/3/ ... 9a8d88.png[/img]