See our main post. I'd like to throw some images out there to see what people think of them. These are only 2D composite images; they include the baseline GUI and show off *slightly* different visual styles (the look & feel). Please comment on any/all. Thanks, Brickhouse bricklayer developers, llc Number 1Number 2Number 3Number 4Number 5

for me 5th picture is realy nice. background facture gives immersion that it is painted on canvas which looks nice with landscape with plants.
2nd picture is also very nice. it has VERY nice rainy clouds (looks best).

i don't like 1st one. picture just look as 2 separated pictures, when seeing it I concentrate only on background or only on foreground, they doesn't match.

i haven't seen much difference on picture 3 and 5. was some very soft oil-paint filter applied? (could use larger brushes)

you could add some depth to gui buttons, they look too flat due to the fact that they are opaque. i would add some shading so they would look more like 3d objects.

mini-map looks ok (but has no map:))


[Edited by - silencer3 on July 30, 2006 9:41:35 AM]

I have no idea what I'm supposed to be critiquing.

I see the images, I mean, what am I supposed to be critiquing? Is this a 'pick out the photoshop filter' game? Well then the second looks to be colored pencil, hatched, or angled strokes. The third is some angled strokes, motion blur, and gaussian blur? Is that an emboss on the background in the fourth? And the fifth has a noised, embossed, and overlayed layer?

I don't understand how each image changes the 'look and feel.' Is this a question on what post-processing filters you should be using? Adding filters to something doesn't change the visual style, or the art style. If you want to change the look and feel, you are going the wrong route.
First, get a concept artist to paint a mock-up screenshot or simply a painting of a game environment. Then, do things like change the brightness/contrast/hue/saturation of layers, etc., to change atmosphere, ambience, effects, etc. That is the most basic form of changing a 'look and feel' (for an example, check out the 'concept of a concept' thread in this forum). If you want suggestions on the art style, well, then you actually have to try different art styles, not different filters.

What boggles me is that, as far as I can tell, your team has the talent and ability to do these things, but for some reason, and I'd hope its not your concept artist who made this decision, you chose to go the 'which filter looks best' route that is so common in underachieving university-level classes. Sorry to be harsh, but my experiences with people who have done exactly what you are doing and passing it off as exploration or work has earned my ire and is a particular sore spot for me.

Perhaps I should have been more specific. Or perhaps more general. As in "Hey everyone, how do these look? Is it pleasing to the eye at all? What are your feelings on the scratchy, canvasy "look"? How does it make you "feel"?

Each of the images was created by using, yes Professor, post-processing filters on an overlaid images of different varieties of tree bark. I also applied filters to the base image in a few of the shots. (Professor, you did a decent job on your self-invented "pick out the photoshop filter" game, but you didn't get 'em all right.) See, trees are an important part of Fountaindale, and I was experimenting (one may even say "exploring") the possibility of using different kinds of tree bark (used as an overlay perhaps) to effect different feels in the visual representation. This was an experiment for me, something I'm exploring more, and I thought I'd stick it up here to get some initial direction and thoughts from folks. Maybe I should have included this little spiel in the original post.

While our team does have a concept artist, she's busy cranking out pencil sketches. Perhaps I should leave this kind of work in more capable hands, or at least in the hands of people who know what they're talking about.

No need to apologize for being harsh, Professor. What doesn't kill me just makes me tougher (and yes, I stole that little line).

So, with that said, are there any more suggestions out there besides changing the brightness/contrast/hue/saturation of layers, etc.?

Overlays usually don't do well in effecting the overall feel of an image or video. Yes, some sort of post and image correction is often desireable, some post-filters such as Glow or whatnot might make it look nice, a Texturizer can make it look like canvas, etc. But generally, for finding different aethetics, overlays come out extremely cheesy. Because they do exactly that. They are overlays, nothing of actual substance. I wish I could give you suggestions or comments based on the new background you've brought to light, but I really can't.
If the overlays were to be used as some sort of gameplay mechanism, though, then perhaps we could say 'this one looks best for this mechanism," etc., but other than that, I'm out of things to say.

Art Direction is something i am looking at getting into.

If you were trying to get a visual style for your project i would suggest using renders of 3D models.

Just create a simple environment then tinker with different ideas. I tend to play with:

-Textures (Hand Paint? Photos? A mix of the two? Lighter/Darker? Detail?)
-Lighting (Remember more subtle lights create better effects that a few strong)
-Blenders and Shaders (I am just starting to look into these)

Using these factors you can really change the feeling of scene.

If you wanted something less in game then Professor's method sounds like a plan to me.

Good Luck.

[Edited by - bam104 on August 14, 2006 8:49:13 AM]