2D Graphics Preview: Need Feedback

[Varine]

Would it be possible to add some kind of a lighting system? If you added in a couple of sources, like the icons, that gave an ambient glow to the room and a reflective or occlusion map to the wall textures you might have a more intensive atmosphere. Or directional sources in the corners of the room systems focusing on the icon. I know you're going for that retro thing, but it just is coming off almost as generic to me.

 

[Accname]

I dont know. I will get it to work first and then I will see if I can add gimmicks.

 

[Jokker]

I am doing everything so far. Last year I started teaching myself openGL and openAL from online tutorials and examples. Until now I have been building a solid 2D / 3D graphics engine for my future projects.
But I take my time, I am not rushing it.

I started my own project as well about a month ago. I am still dealing with logics and I don't really have any experience with graphics ( thinking about OpenGL or SDL for this project, but not sure yet). For the fact that you take time and don't rush it - it's for the best (if it's a side project).
Anyway, I am similiar in the case that I have been making computer graphics for about 10 years or a little more so I will be most likely making the graphics myself as well.

Ok, pretty much a pointless post for you but take it as a motivator for me. Thank you for that

Anyhow, I wish good luck to you, good sir! Keep us updated.

 

[Accname]

Is probably going to take a while until the next update. I am also working on some other projects for university or with other people in a team. I only work on this if I find some consecutive hours of spare time in between.

 

[tom_mai78101]

Hoping you don't end up alienating your teammates, like me. I wish you the best in giving what you've got.

 

[Accname]

For anybody who is still interested in this. This is the newest design I am using right now. Much has changed from the very early and crude design from the past. (with every version the rooms become bigger and bigger!)

The Icons for the systems are now translucent (50%). The rooms now have a perspective like in "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past".
The different colours around the rooms indicate the armor plating of the hull. Red borders have the toughest plating, green is the weakest.
The miscellaneous objects which decorate the walls of the rooms are generated randomly depending on the system, they have absolutely no effect on the gameplay.
The orange doors are animated and open when somebody wants to pass.
The big engine is always below the room which has the "Engine"-System installed. If you have more then one engine then those will be shown as well.

Feedback is very much appreciated.

 

[Varine]

Looks better. The orthographic (I guess it's not really orthographic, but I can't think of another word... it's been a long day) walls is kind of throwing me off guard, in that you see both sides of the door. It gives the illusion that the walls are thicker at the floor than the ceiling. It's a little distracting.

 

[Accname]

As I said, I wanted to imitate the "A Link to the Past" look:

 

[monoVertex]

I really like the look of this last one .

 

[Accname]

Yeah, its neat, but I dont quite like the engine yet. It doesnt quite fit with the style but I just have no idea how to make it better.

 

[Accname]

I got some advice from somebody and reworked the design with more contrast and some noise.
What do you guys say:

 

[Varine]

I like how you got the lines for the squares all slightly offset, making a nice series of swastikas around the floor.

 

[Accname]

Yeah. I noticed that too, but this is the best way to make them work as tiles. These lines are only 1 pixel thick, if I made a complete square around them it would look stupid if the tiles were put next to each other.

 

[tom_mai78101]

(Optional) The lines may be hidden for official gameplay, but for level editors and/or development versions, those may be included/shown. To counter this, the best way to stay gridlike and allows the lines to be hidden is to highlight the area as a square marker.

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(Optional) Another orthographic technique is to make all artwork face towards 1 direction only. That is, doors at the south can just be marked with a carpet on the floor. Windows can be adjusted so that they look specifically what a window will look like if the player is viewing in 1 slanted direction, and not just straight through the screen. Example given below: (Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire)

Notice that all items in the room are viewed from a slanted angle from above. You can try a hybrid view of both orthographic view and angled overview.

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All in all, I think it looks good enough to warrant the beginning of the next phase of development.

 

[Accname]

Heres a little mockup using the current graphics.
What do you guys think? It went pretty far from the original drafts but it still has the old feel to it:

In the game I would add some random doodads to the room to make them more appealing to the eye. But all in all it would look somewhat like this. The system icons would still change color to indicate damage, the shield around the ship would become more / less translucent depending on its power. And of course, there would be lots of HUD elements clustering up the entirety of the screen.