60 replies to this topic

[William]

Let that guy be, he is just a troll looking for some laughs.

Those are some strong words, bud. I'm pretty sure if he was just a troll, he wouldn't be here. I, for one, don't think he's much of a troll anyway. But calling people names is just bound to cause problems.

[Radien]

That's like, really rude.
IT'S NOT EVEN THAT DARK.

It may be visible if you are playing the quest in a ZC window that takes up most of the screen, which would give your eyes a chance to adjust... but against a nearly-white background, it's very difficult to make out anything. A professional game would never release a screenshot like that; they would lighten it first.

Here is what I would recommend. Now, this would require the use of an image editor, but I think even MS Paint is capable of it:
Open the screenshot up in an image program, and increase the "brightness." It might help to also increase toe "contrast." That should make it easier to see the details of the screen without actually changing anything vital. After all, brightness and contrast are both settings that can be applied to any monitor or TV. That's what you would do if you were playing a game that was too dark for your screen.

[Taco Chopper]

Let that guy be, he is just a troll looking for some laughs.

That's a bit harsh upon him, isn't it? He just gave his opinion of his shot and you're just assuming that everything he says he's a troll based on a) his personality and b) things he did two years ago? That's extremely shallow and close-minded. As Sheik said, he's always honest (in fact I'd go as far as much to say he's blunt, but not James Blunt, because that's just harsh to Lithium ) with his critique, so if you can't handle his bluntness and what have you, just block him and carry on being shallow. Good Day Sir.

It's probably your computer. Like I said, when I look at it on my Desk Top, I can't see anything. But when I do it on my Lap Top, I can see it just fine.

I'm on my laptop though, and it isn't an LCD screen or anything.

Also I just realised the nice reference to Mogwai. I'm gonna have to get you a trophy eventually Zaire~

[Shane]

What's so bad about the darkness? It's not that dark on my screen. In fact, it's too bright for the feeling I'm getting. You can't really blame Jared for trying to make something that can't be seen on other people's screens .
If you can't see it brighten up your computer screen or something .

[Taco Chopper]

I'm gonna re-iterate my first post.

it'd be good in-quest, but for a SotW entry... maybe not.

It doesn't really matter if it's brighter on one computer than another or not. The general consensus is that it's just a bit too dark, and again, my opinion is that it's a very good shot for a quest, but for an entry, it just doesn't feel right.

[Jared]

Alright, PLEASE, no fighting!
I already sent in my screen for next week, anyway. It's better, and in a tileset in the making.

[William]

Alright, PLEASE, no fighting!

That's like, really rude.
IT'S NOT EVEN THAT DARK.

In all fairness, you really did cater to the fighting...

I'm in agreement with Taco, anyway. The screen would look fine in-game, but on SotW... Not so much.

[Jared]

Yeah, I guess you guys are right. Sorry.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Let that guy be, he is just a troll looking for some laughs.

Wow, that was totally uncalled for. Drop that o.O

Anyway, I'm in agreement with most here, this week was pretty bad. Cukeman has a really interesting idea, though I can't say the way it was pulled off was too amazing. I'd love to see something similar done, only with "proper", or better design. Granted, there's only so much you can do when it comes to making a "working" Escher-screen, but it can still be done to look better than Cukeman's screen. So yeah, love the idea, but as a screen it really doesn't look all that nice.

Lynker's shot is too dark, and as Radien pointed out, in-game (especially in fullscreen) it might not be so hard to take in the entire screen, but with such a small picture, and the white background that comes with it, it really is way too dark. You want viewers to see what's going on, so giving it a lighter palette, even if only for SotW, would have helped greatly. The screen itself looks pretty basic, and not all that interesting. The lighting has been done before, and it isn't really all that pleasing to the eye. I did the same in THP back when I was using DoR, but I think if I were to do that now, I'd probably make up some new tiles for that effect, seeing as the ones you're using just looks kind of odd.

Keiichi, your shot seems to have some tile errors, and I think the flow is off. It just doesn't look right, and as Daniel pointed out; why is the forest brush floating in mid-air over the mountain's edge? That doesn't make any sense o.o

Aaa2: I'm sorry dude, I really don't quite understand what happened there. That must be one of the worst screenshots I have ever seen entered into SotW. I really have nothing else to say about this, I'm speechless

Digipro, your screen doesn't have any "problems", as in tile errors that I spot right off the bat, but the design is just so bland and boring. It's not engaging me, and there's nothing about it that tells me that "I have to play this quest".

Yoshidude, fairly okay shot, but without the transparent effect it's really nothing but another boring Gameboy screenshot. Its design isn't really all that nice, and you don't quite seem to understand how to use the waterfall tiles, and the mountain tiles that comes with it (which you didn't use). Looks boring and unpolished, had it not been for the overlay I think it would have been even more obvious.

linktopower, there's really not much to say about this shot. It's a pretty straight-forward Zelda 2-type environment.

Those I didn't mention; same as aaa2, I just don't really have anything to say about them. They're not as bad, but there's nothing there to grab my attention.

[Twilight Knight]

That's a bit harsh upon him, isn't it? He just gave his opinion of his shot and you're just assuming that everything he says he's a troll based on a) his personality and b) things he did two years ago? That's extremely shallow and close-minded. As Sheik said, he's always honest (in fact I'd go as far as much to say he's blunt, but not James Blunt, because that's just harsh to Lithium ) with his critique, so if you can't handle his bluntness and what have you, just block him and carry on being shallow. Good Day Sir.

You know very well he intentionally writes things in a way to flame people. He might as well have said "I think the screen is to dark to see, I don't like it"... And you guys supporting him all the time just sickens me. Bleh. He can say what he wants, but why does he intentionally put it in a way to offend? I call that trolling.

Edit: I'm usually even nice to him. Most people are. I don't understand such ridiculous behaviour.

Edited by Twilight_Knight, 20 July 2011 - 08:54 AM.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

You know very well he intentionally writes things in a way to flame people. He might as well have said "I think the screen is to dark to see, I don't like it"... And you guys supporting him all the time just sickens me. Bleh. He can say what he wants, but why does he intentionally put it in a way to offend? I call that trolling.

Edit: I'm usually even nice to him. Most people are. I don't understand such ridiculous behaviour.

And I told you to drop it. No one is trolling anyone, your accusations are not grounded in reality. He has every right to express his opinion, and you can't call him a troll just because he used a different wording than what you would have done yourself. Now, can we please stop pointing fingers all the damn time, it is seriously getting old. And that goes for everyone, everyone.

We should be able to work as any other internet community, yet people keep finding completely pointless and trivial things to complain and fight about. We may not all be adults here, but can we please at least try to act more like an actual community? Please? Now, let's not drag this on any further.

[aaa2]

Somehow i think people dislike colorful things. I got my inspiration colorwise from Might and magic 5 and other colorful 16bit games. I always felt bad that colors are so rare in todays games. However i do agree that my screen was a bit lacking detail and was a bit bland i hope i am allowed to reenter the screen in the future featuring even more color and a lot more detail. I want the style to be a bit like the style in this video http://www.youtube.c...h?v=6vLSoU0E07M . What i totally wanna avoid despite trying to be colorful is to have results that look like this http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Somehow i think people dislike colorful things. I got my inspiration colorwise from Might and magic 5 and other colorful 16bit games. I always felt bad that colors are so rare in todays games. However i do agree that my screen was a bit lacking detail and was a bit bland i hope i am allowed to reenter the screen in the future featuring even more color and a lot more detail. I want the style to be a bit like the style in this video http://www.youtube.c...h?v=6vLSoU0E07M . What i totally wanna avoid despite trying to be colorful is to have results that look like this http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

Lack of color in modern games? God am I tired hearing people say that. Sure, there is plenty of titles that go for the gritty "brown" or "gray" look, but the entire medium is not limited to that at all. Ultimate Spider-Man is a pretty colorful game, and so is say; Crysis 2. It's just that back then, the systems had more limitations, something which also affected their usage of colors.

Anyway, your problem isn't lack of color, it's that you're placing down graphics using the wrong color sets. That last link you linked to has the exact same problem as your screen, it's simply discolored and that looks really bad. If you want your graphics to have different colors from those already in the tileset, what you should so is add more (or edit others) colors in the palette, and then recolor those by hand. Switching c-sets is a reeeaaaally bad way of achieving that "effect".

Horrible, horrible color choices aside, the screen itself, as you mentioned, could use some major touching up in the design department. It's bland and boring, but I've used those words enough in this weeks SotW already You know what I mean though, I am sure. The screen just isn't very good, and it wouldn't have been even if you had used the right colors. It would have helped, obviously, but yeah.

Here's a nice tip I don't think I've really shared: don't design the middle of the screen. Ever. Imagine making a tower-cake, you have to start with the bottom layers before you can put more levels onto it. You can translate this same technique into screendesign, by starting with the "outline" of the shot, be it mountain tiles, forest brush, trees, water (though water alone is never a good idea in a 2D-top-down perspective). Once you've got that down, then you can start putting actual objects and things into the shot. This helps making the screen more "natural" as well, as you start out with a 100% natural area, then say, if it's a village you "build" the village on-top of said area, while doing some landscaping editing in order to make sure the houses and such fits in nicely.

Of course, no one is saying you have to do it that way, but I've seen people make an empty screen then just adding all the detailing into the "middle" of the shot without really caring for what's around it. Your shot has that problem, though I can't really tell if that's the way you constructed it or not. Either way, putting more thought into your design =

[Ventus]

I'm on my laptop and i can see Jared's screenshot fine now good job Jared

[Moon]

I can see Lynker's screen just fine, but I think it would be good to make it brighter.