I am taking a level from my previous 2D game, and trying to turn it into a 2.5D graphics level.

The things I have done, is taking the simple sprites of the level, and give them normal maps, specular maps, lighting, and to the puddle also reflection.

I have also made them pop out by deforming the geometry with bump maps(only for the walls though).

The next step s improving the scene, so I added ambient occlusion. There is also a version with Bloom+DOF, but maybe that makes the game a bit too blurry and should be avoided?

How do you suggest to further improve the level's visuals?

What is missing? What is too much?

I like the original best. Followed by 2.5D with ambient occlusion, followed by 2.5D without ambient occlusion, with the bloom and dof effect in last place. It just looks so blurry and overexposed that it's almost physically painful to look at.

Thanks.

Maybe I need to make the color brighter as well in the 3D one.

Another Version:

If lighting looks definitely 3D, you need to “upgrade” your cute characters from flat sprite billboards to presumably low-poly 3D models with round heads and self-shadowing. I personally prefer the first screenshot, without dissonant 3D effects; a simple and iconic style is a good fit for tile-based environments,

I also like the first 2D screenshot the most. But adding the lighting effects from the 2.5d version would be nice to add some color gradient to the backgrounds.

The 2.5D perspective projection is no win, but reveals we use flat sprites fro smoke and mirrors. So i'd keep at ortho projection.

Zurtan said:
How do you suggest to further improve the level's visuals?

Some flaws bothering me: Text is not pixel art like the rest. textbox might profit from having a shadow. The yellow background color of textbox is too saturated, conflicting with the other gfx.
Health and blue bars also are too primary / saturated colors. Picking colors from character mouth and blue shirt would do better, for example.

Beside those minor issues, the background lacks variation. Texture is tiling over the whole screen, color is widely constant, result isn't looking that interesting.
Though, improving this would be some work ofc. Maybe the gradual lighting from 2.5d is enough to help it.

Otherwise looks pretty nice.

One subtle issue i see is characters looking like being lit from below, not from above. This is because the dark ‘shadow’ on the nose (which is an interesting style, btw), and also the yellow shadows in the faces. The yellow is darker than the skin, but it also is more saturated. This it looks a bit like a light, not so much like a shadow. Maybe making this skin shadow color more reddish and less saturated would look better.

Thanks,

Yea, I am trying playing with the shaded colors on the character.

In the next screenshot I did too things… I saturated the colors, and made the blonde character shadows more dark/less saturated, though it might need more tweaking.

The main thing you notice between the 2D screenshot and the 3D, is that the 3D, is that the 3D is much more gray or unsaturated.

(Old screenshot for comparission)

New screenshot:

When using 2D sprites in a 3D environment, you should render the sprites parallel to the screen to avoid the “paper cutout” effect. Pretty much every good-looking 2.5D game does this, even Paper Mario, which otherwise embraces the “paper cutout” æsthetic. The character in the center of your screen is OK, but the other character looks all wrong.

Also, in your latest screenshot, the shadows in the hair now blend more with the face than with the hair. When picking colors, make sure that different shades of the same material blend together and different materials contrast.

shadows mate

Adding shadows XD

Look I know game has shadows, just wanted to ask where are the light sources on above picture???