Screenshot of the Week 312

Isdrakthül


Ornlu

They said that winning SotW four weeks in a row couldn't happen... Well I guess I showed th-

Rover

The Armoses guard the forest...

Furion

ʒaтì sðцк ʄorxaëɣгт

Voten for Molten this time. Not a very good SOTW this time...

Mefff, my screen wasn't good at all. Why did I even submit that I have no idea. Anyways, I'm in a rush so I'll just say my favorite. I like Ornlu's the best, Isdra's seems a bit plain, and Furion's is excellent but I don't really know if I like the idea Furion was going for or something, I like sidescroller screens but if feels a bit bland for some reason.

Good shots guys.

Isdrakthül: I enjoy your concept. But with so much of the cliffs using the majority of space, it deflowers as a feel. Perhaps if you added more detail or contrasting color, such as blue flowers, it would have been very decent.

Ornlu: It is a wonderful shot. But I dislike the palette, seems very bland. The black outlines aren't looking to shabby, either.

Rover: Bad idea with the screen being so crammed. The player has little movement flow, and the very wide use of green does not appeal much.

Isdrakthul, it's a good start to using that set. You look well on your way so I'll just give you a few pointers:

• The cliffs are meant for CSet 4, so that they're bluish-grey.
• Same with the rock paths.
• Add some trees, man!

Rover, it's, uh, very cramped. I'd definitely recommend reversing the flow of your screen. Stick the trees on the outside instead the inside. A player should never have to walk around the outside of the screen for extended periods of time. It doesn't make for good gameplay.

Furion, now that's what I'm talking about! It looks like someone's gonna give me a run for my money.

Isdrakthül - 6/10
Interesting graphics choice. Nice job on elevations. Ground detail is pretty basic, though.

Ornlu - 6/10
It's hard for me to explain this one. There is certainly a lot going on here, which is generally good, and there is plenty of detail. However, something about it doesn't feel quite right. Perhaps the screen is trying to do more than it can handle? Maybe the pond is overcrowding the surrounding elements, thus they can't shine as much as a result.

Rover - 6/10
Looks like a lot of fun to play through, and I love BS, but other than that, it isn't anything too special for SotW.

Furion - 8/10
I'm going rogue this time, if you can call it that. It's nice to see something you haven't seen before every now and then. This is nothing like any metroid screen I have seen. Then again, my experience with the series is pretty limited. I don't normally vote for sidescrollers, but this is excellent. It certainly looks like you put the effort into it too, and that it wasn't the tile choices alone that could speak for it. The stalactites that are closer and further do give the screen a really good sense of a third dimension, despite gameplay being only two. My vote for this week.

Voted for Furion. Caught my interest much more than the others.

Isdrakthul:
Nice job. The tiles are all used properly, and stuff is happening on the screen. I had to look a moment before I figured out what those arches were. Nice way to get the player to pay attention to the screen.

I do think you have gone a bit overboard with the screen divisions. By my count, this screen is divided into 6 sections the player can potentially occupy, with ten different ways to enter or exit the screen. I tend to avoid having that many, because time spent warping is time spent waiting. Also, excessive screen warps tend to confound the player who wants to know what the edge of the next area looks like.

Ornlu:
Hmmm. Another town screen. Well, in this case you didn't overpopulate the screen with Oracle NPCs, and you used a wider variety of tiles than most would, but it's still just a few common elements thrown together: a road, a bunch of trees, a house, and some people. You had a few triumphs that made me think better of this screen, but not enough to fully get my vote.

Rover:
Well, this doesn't LOOK bad, but you encountered a couple of pitfalls here:

1. The entire screen is made of small objects (single-combo and 2x2 combos). Interlocking combos are pleasing to the eye, but you don't have any.

2. It's cramped. Fighting armos statues in such small quarters ought to be a pain. In particular, I HATE being crowded against the edge of the screen while fighting, because it's easy to accidentally activate the side warp, which in this case would reset all the armos statues.

All in all, I think it's better to scatter armos statues among a screen with other enemies, and give a little more space to move. Fighting armos statues is not terribly interesting on its own in ZC.

Furion:
At first I was going to vote for this one, as it depicts a nice Metroid scene that all comes together pretty well. However, first I noticed the lack of a subscreen. Then I noticed the lack of enemies, sprites other than Samus, and anything that even hints at how this quest is played.

In the end I decided that it looked far too much like a showcase of ripped tiles and not enough like an actual screenshot.


So... not the most incredible turnout ever, but I voted for Isdrakthul for a job well done. Be careful with your screen divisions, and you'll do well with that tileset.



I can't necessarily say I agree with this advice.

First of all, I think the cliffs look just fine in brown. They were originally drawn in bluish-grey, but brown rock is just as easy to swallow as grey rock. The same goes for the rock paths.

Perhaps trees might help, but it depends on the area. There have been times when I was really tempted to use a particular screen element, but it didn't fit my concept for the area.

I firmly disagree for the need of a subscreen in SotW. I don't judge subscreens, because the idea of this contest is to show a screen of your quest in action, not how much health you have, or what items are being used.

My stance on the role of the Subscreen in SotW:
- If I have a hard time voting between two or more screens that look almost equally good to me, I might use the subscreen as a tie breaker. After all, it's not required in my eyes, but it can mean all the difference in a close call.

- No subscreen included is about as good as including a standard non-custom subscreen. It only gets brownie points from me if something about it is custom or goes above and beyond the standard cookie cutter swill. It's like comparing Guinness to Budweiser. One has a recognizable flavor, and the other tastes like many you have tasted before.

Any can agree or disagree, but that is my philosophy on it.

I generally agree with Nathaniel (as usual).

Please note that I actually VOTED for a shot with no subscreen this time. It would have been better with a subscreen, yes, but Isdrakthül did make sure his screenshot demonstrated the screen in action, rather than just a still pose. Since he used an action shot, I'd consider it as good as having a default subscreen (since subscreens are the simplest way to tell a shot was taken in the ZC player).

Like Nathaniel, I usually use subscreens as a tiebreaker. Sure, you can enter without one, but if your shot is tied with another, I'm going to vote for the one with a subscreen. Preferably not a default one.

When I first looked at Isdraktül's shot, I though the screen was unfinished. It needs trees and dirt paths!

Voted for MoltenOnyx.

Edited by Avataro, 11 March 2011 - 08:37 PM.

Says who?... Not all hilly areas have trees, and not all traversable areas have been visited before by other people, hence the lack of roads and paths.

But it looks too empty in my opinion. At least there are enemies and rupees. Otherwise the screen would look "wrong".

Edited by Avataro, 11 March 2011 - 10:28 PM.

No it's not "wrong" it's actually there is nothing "wrong" with the screen. The detail with actually make the screen over-bloated in my opinion. And gameplay will be not so good. Here is some proof quoted from Robin:


Through there opinions/designing theory witch means there not facts and requirements witch you have to do. Anyways I voted for Furion through all the shots were good.

Edited by Midnight_King, 11 March 2011 - 11:05 PM.