I'm having trouble deciding on how to complete this scene. (Note: this is only a small portion of the level, I just think it looks a bit bland). At the moment I think it's a bit too repetitive as in everything seems to have the same type of texture. Also, I'm stumped as to what kind of background would suit it, (the solid colour background is only temporary).
I'm not really interested in changing the structure of the scene at this point, but any opinions on how to make it more interesting would be great.
You've got plants growing all over the tiles, put something growing outside the tiles. Maybe vines dangling down? Drape-y plants laying around on the ground? Maybe other broken objects on the ground (not just pillars)?
How about using a randomly generated background?
I was thinking something like
Run once while event loops
Start loop 'generate_bg', 200 times
on loop 'generate_bg'
set xpos 'Create' to Random(Screenwidth) // It might need to be bigger if you want it to paralax
set ypos 'Create' to Random(Screenheight)
Create 'stone' at object 'Create'
Always
set frame of 'stone' to Random(12)
Paste to background
Destroy
Then you could use the Screenshot extension to capture the background, and later import it as a Active picture with a paralax effect.
More contrast between the colors for starters. Play with hue shifts. Reduce colors (2-3 maybe 4 shades TOPS on tiles.) I was going to make an edit, but noticed that all of the tiles are super blurry so I don't have time at the moment.
Torches, plants, rocks, cracks in the tiles, flowers/gardens, pots, insects.
I think people have already pointed out the main things.
It definitely needs a lot more contrast - I'd make the background black for the most part, and just add small areas of detail.
It also needs vines and other details - you may even be able to make them interactive in some way, which is always nice. eg. swinging on vines, loose rocks that fall from the ceiling, carnivorous plants, etc.
It needs to be a lot less uniform - instead of having lots of little bits of green evenly spaced over everywhere, you should have some parts of the level completely overgrown, and some left as bare rock. You are using the same tile far too much. The floors look especially bad, the way there's a layer of solid grey, then a layer of solid green, then a repeated pattern.
The stone columns need to be shaded much beetter - they just look flat at the moment. Also, if they're in the background (ie. if they are not obstacles) then they should be much darker.
I'm not sure about the big stripey thing at the top of the frame either - I'm guessing it's meant to be a shaft of light, but it doesn't work - fix it or lose it.
New tiles would be nice, but I think before you start drawing new graphics, you should concentrate on the colours first. Right now the image is way too saturated (is it underwater?)
Below I've increased the contrast of shadows/highlights on the tiles, lowered the background colour, and slightly edited the colour of the pillars.
Thanks for the opinions so far. As for what I've updated, the background has been darkened, the light shaft has been somewhat improved, columns shaded darker, and various vines/plants have been added.
So to compare the two:
I know some of the vines/plants have just been copied and mirrored across, but I can add some variation later, this was just to get an idea of how it might look. I'm planning to add a little more plantlife later on.
alistair john jack: I like the idea of adding more broken objects other than pillars, I'll think of a few things to add.
OMC: Great description, I know exactly what you're talking about
Gamester & Nim: I agree, it needs a lot more contrast. And yes, I was also thinking that it looked like an underwater scene . I like your edit, especially the contrast of shadows/highlights on the tiles.
Sketchy: You're right about the green being too evenly spaced. I definately need to add some variation in the tiles.
After darkening the background colour I think the rest seems washed out, I'll go for a much more contrasted feel.
If anyone has any more comments or suggestions to add at this point that would be really helpful!
Once again, thanks for your opinions!
Edit: Must also fix up the flat appearance of the columns.
It's way undersaturated and since you've made the background darker, you need to add more contrast in the bricks - they look washed out.
I like the plants though
This is a *really* quick edit just to show roughly how I'd go about it:
Sketchys edit looks nice but I'd work on the light shaft because your edit destroyed it imho. I like the sharpness of J's original but his remake looks like if it was animated correctly, it would be beautiful.
That's it after increasing the contrast, improving the pillars, and then I added a slight gradient to the whole thing.
I think all I want to fix at this point is the background.
If anyone wishes to suggest any final touches I'd be more than happy to hear them!
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Edited by GamesterXIII
