Screenshot of the Week 313

William

Link stops-off for a quick bite to eat at the Diner before setting off on his "big adventure".

Twinblake


Nuvo


Ebola Zaire

Robin assures me that waterfalls freeze.

Votes for Ebola. Excellent shot! It really looks life like and so alive! Williams shot is awesome as well, as usual. But I've seen to mant Winter shots like that.

ALRIGHTY THEN. Shot of the Week. Let's take a look 'ere.

William - 7/10 - A lovely winter GB shot. I think I've seen something like this before. Overall, it's very good, but there are just a few little things wrong with it, I think. On the right of the screen, those mountains are just a tad too high. It looks like Link's walking up a really steep hill to get to that house. And on the top-left part of the screen, that pillar there that's supposed to be behind that tree, it's bottom half is missing. By the looks of it, you're using layers for the tree-tops, so that should be an easy fix, no? Also, it looks like on that reddish tree on the left, near the center, has a couple pebble tiles layered over it. Looks rather awkward.

Twinblake - 5/10 - It's a good start, no doubt, and it's obvious you put effort into making it look more exciting via all the detail on the ground, but it just seems sort of empty. I recommend maybe putting a few more trees in, scattered around? With a little work, this could be a fine GB forest shot.

Nuvo - 9/10 - Just fantastic. Everything. The palette is beautiful, the detail is exquisite, I don't see a single measly error, and it gives me a very sort of adventurous feeling. Only ways I could see this improving much is maybe some enemies, a better subscreen, and maybe some taller, more detailed Link tiles. But this is about the screen-design itself, and you've done marvelously there. *Votes

Ebola - 8/10 - A very nice winter DoR shot! I've noticed people are liking winter more and more lately. Who knows, maybe they'll outnumber forest shots one day? You've done a fine job here, I quite like it! Some little things I find odd about it though, is that there's snow on the regular grass, but no sign of any on the taller grass, and the trees are completely without it as well. At least, aren't there snow-covored variations of those bigger trees? But anyway, other than that, it's fine. I'm really liking the idea of a frozen waterfall. I don't think we've ever seen that in ZC. Not like this, at least. It looks fantastic!

Edited by Beta Link, 13 March 2011 - 10:51 PM.

Damn, how did I forget?

Holy s*** Ebola, I never thought of that. You bastard. Palette is awkward though, mostly the green.

I thought Nuvo's deserved a comment too. Your shot looks very peaceful, I would love to play it.

Tie between Nuvo and Ebola. Voted for Ebola in the end. I think his shot just looks a little more special.
Also, Ebola, let me guess, you got tired of designing deserts? Quite a drastic change of scenery

Voted for Nuvo over EZ because of the reasons Beta Link listed. You made a good choice with the waterfall tiles too (not just saying that because they're mine, but because frozen waterfalls have a similar step effect, and the skinny vertical lines resemble icicles fairly well).

I doubt that severely, haha. But yes, we have been getting more than a few lately.
The idea at first was to create an environment that was explicitly cold (via the ice) but not snowed on, but there was really no palette native to DoR that gave me the right colors for both the ice and the grass; thus, I just kind of ended up with this weird amalgamation of unsnowy objects on white grass. I'm still kind of playing with it.
It's not so much that I'm tired of it as I just don't think people would be interested in seeing another. The last time I entered I got a few comments about how I'd really beaten desert screens to death and they wanted something different... ask and ye shall receive! Plus after I had the idea for the frozen waterfall I couldn't rightly not act on it, y'know?
Glad to hear you approve. Always sort of wished that I'd have chosen to use them over the DoR mountains in Absalom because you don't need as much space, but the DoR mountains are pretty forgiving, despite their perspective.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to reply to this one.
Huh. I was actually sort of displeased at how static it turned out, but if you want to tell me different, that's fine too.

I ended up voting foe Nuvo. Ebola's shot was a close second. The only thing that bothered me was the green grass and trees. Apparently they were unaffected by the snow. :/

Maybe you could put the tall grass in Cset 4? Also, I don't like how the mountains are just "flat" on the ice, without any shadow or such, maybe making the outline (of the mountain touching the ice) icy blue would work. Otherwise this is the best shot this week. Lovely, so I voted.

William: It's a great screen you have there, but there were a few things I didn't like that much. For example, those statues in the lower left corner... They look really off because of the snow block. Nor I like that snow block on top of ice.

Twinblake: Not really much to say about it... It's just really empty.

Nuvo: First of all I don't like the palette. Next to that the forest brush surrounding water doesn't look so good to me, especially when the brush is just 2 tiles wide.

William - 7/10
Another nice Gameboy shot. It's cold, but in a good way. Great for any quest overworld screen of that kind. I'd let Link travel through it.

Twinblake - 5/10
Doesn't look quite right to me when viewing the screen as a whole. The bush details almost look like the grass details, as if they are almost the same thing. The water looks more like a flooding than it does a pond or lake, probably because the grass details look like they are crawling under the water, which means there needs to be a border of sorts that works right with that transition. However, nice action and I like how you kept it simple enough with the trees. Just needs a little more work and thought put into it, which starts with more self-critique, looking for the right tiles for each facet (especially for the transitions), if you know what I mean.

Nuvo - 9/10
Absolutely amazing! I am blown away by this so much, I can't speak properly. It just feels so complete, and everything seems pulled off in all the right ways. As for the palette, my eyes think they are wonderful. My vote without a doubt.

Ebola Zaire - 8/10
Also very well done. I especially like the frozen waterfalls (it looks more like a snowy cliff face to me, but I like that sort of thing too) and how it was put together. It would have been my vote, but Nuvo beat you to it for me.

Funny how I just realized that Beta Link and I rated everything the same. I guess we were thinking very similarly.

Generally when I see forested areas, I notice how more stuff grows around where water is, so that's what I was trying to emulate.

Anyway, overall, I'd say Ebola Zaire has submitted a fantastic shot and I have no problems with losing to him



It's technically a town shot, but I can see how no one could see that given the context. Also, it's a bit generic right now mostly because I started the project 2 days ago. Thank you

William : A magnificent shot ! I always loved GB screens. I would have voted for this one, but there's three little problems that kept me from doing so : first, the missing column piece. It's the thing that catch my eye everytime I look at your screen. Second, as Beta Link mentioned, the mountains are too high for the perspective. And last, at some places, the grass details replace the path's borders and it's quite weird.

Twinblake : It's not bad for a simple gameplay screen, but it's really average for a SotW shot. Maybe putting in some flowers or a sort of path...I dunno, it's kinda empty.

Nuvo : I get the best feeling out of it. It feels alive and natural, there is enough variety to keep it interesting and...I like the palette. I'm not sure what I could say other than : it's amazingly beautiful.

Ebola Zaire : Another fantastic screen. But I couldn't pick it. I never really liked vivid colors and the lack of snow is bothering me. In a "not very winter-y" way. No misunderstanding though - it's really nice. Maybe just trying to fix the grass blades; the two parts where it ends suddenly is strange.

Yes, I saw that problem with the missing column piece, but it was too late for me to change it. Sorry. As for the perspective problem, I actually did that on purpose. I got the idea from one of Moonwhisper's old shots that he won SotW with back in 08-09. About the grass detail replacing the borders, I did that on purpose, too. I actually did it to make the path seem more warn-down, and to give it less of "tamed" look. But, if you say it looks weird, maybe I shouldn't do it. Thanks for the criticism, I always appreciate it.

Ebola Zaire has far the best because of the palette used in the tiles, as well as a good subscreen at the top. The grass is really out of place in my book. Snow on the ground would also cover the grass, and some of the grass is out of place.
Perhaps the sword could have a pommel or a twig-and-leaf representing that it's wood?

For those who're submitting shots in jpeg format, it's really obvious because it distorts your pictures. Distortion = ugly.

I voted Ebola. It's a great winter shot, and I can respect that. (I've always had trouble making winter look good...)