35 replies to this topic

[Radien]

Yoshidude:

It's a solid, simple screen. Nothing's wrong with it, but unfortunately we've seen many, many Pure screens like it. The MC/DoR Oktoroks look good here, though.


cremeens1000:

Also a simple screen, but you've got a bit more going on. The water objects, clouds, and wind all look nice. (Although it's hard to tell it's wind unless you know the DoR tileset...) I like that you used PrinceMSC's "lumpy" mountains; I don't see them often enough. Also, the island is both detailed and unique enough to be appealing.

It's been commented that those clouds don't look good as translucent. I'm going to have to agree. The bottoms of the clouds are shadowed, and that usually looks bad in translucency. Also, ZC's rendering of translucency is imperfect; it works best when one object is much lighter (or darker) than another object.

Tip: Those fish are only intended for rivers. There has to be an implied "current" for them to be swimming against, even if it doesn't affect Link.

Minor nitpick: the bottom-leftmost part of the screenshot shows the mountains at two different heights in relation to the water. It'd be easy to fix.


Jupiter:

A decent use of DoR. Thoee are some nice treetops; I'm going to assume they're ripped. Am I wrong? Those alligators are also a nice ripped addition, with the problem that they look like they simply act as islands. Do the mouths open? If so, you should work some cycling damage combos into the mix, if you haven't already.

As with the previous screenshot, I recommend that you only use those fish in places where they are swimming upstream against a current. They are not designed for still water. Basically, think of salmon swimming upriver to spawn.

I like your puddles. Good addition for a wetland.

Now, I assume Link won't have the Flippers yet when he first comes to this area? navigating it might be a little more awkward if the player character can swim. Not harder, just more awkward.

Anyway, good shot, though a little busy.



I voted for cremeens1000. I found it to have the most appeal as an individual shot. All three quest designers suggest from their screenshots that they have quite playable quests, though.

The image isn't the "correct" size by default; he submitted a large image.

When I click "View Image" in Firefox, I get a 512x354 sized image. That's half the width of my laptop's resolution, and yet in the thread it is just wider than the post box area. Of the two pieces of information my browser is giving me, one has to be wrong. I don't know which.

[Jupiter]

Jupiter:

A decent use of DoR. Thoee are some nice treetops; I'm going to assume they're ripped. Am I wrong?

You're sorta wrong . I ripped a tree..did some editing to it...then Linkus saw what I had done, took it and completely redrew it. It doesn't look anything like the original really. It's more accurate to say that Linkus drew it.

Those alligators are also a nice ripped addition, with the problem that they look like they simply act as islands. Do the mouths open? If so, you should work some cycling damage combos into the mix, if you haven't already.

No, they just slowly open and close their eyes. Yes, if their mouths opened and snapped with some cycling damage, that'd be very cool...I don't feel troubled that they are just islands now though, I still like them as such.

As with the previous screenshot, I recommend that you only use those fish in places where they are swimming upstream against a current. They are not designed for still water. Basically, think of salmon swimming upriver to spawn.

However they were intended, I'll use them as I wish. And I wish to have lots of fish . I don't think it looks like there is anything wrong with them just sitting in the water.

I like your puddles. Good addition for a wetland.

The height of my personal drawing skills.

Now, I assume Link won't have the Flippers yet when he first comes to this area? navigating it might be a little more awkward if the player character can swim. Not harder, just more awkward.

Nope, no flippers.

[Titanium Justice]

I voted for Jupiter's awesome swamp shot.

[Soarin]

My vote goes to
cremeens1000 this time. nice job.

[Tree]

My vote goes to
cremeens1000 this time. nice job.

Thanks a bunch! i love it when people are not annoying and just say its horrilbe...

[Shane]

Thanks a bunch! i love it when people are not annoying and just say its horrilbe...

When people say horrible they mean the terms of Boring witch indicates that people don't like it maybe a few improvements here and there and if you talking to me I wasn't being annoying nor did I say horrible.

This is called Truth.

[Tree]

When people say horrible they mean the terms of Boring witch indicates that people don't like it maybe a few improvements here and there and if you talking to me I wasn't being annoying nor did I say horrible.

This is called Truth.

i know i know its not all that good, i made this in like two minutes.
my screens in the real game are MUCH better then this....garbage!

[Adem]

Cremeens1000 earned my vote. As previously stated, the clouds could go, but I love the feeling of the shot. Even if it's "garbage" to you, it has a feeling very similar to WW. At least to me. Very nice job.

M_K: I think you're being a bit too hard on him. Not trying to snoop or anything of the sort, but he did a decent job and it's not like he's been working with ZC a really long time. Cut the guy some slack.

Nice shots this week, by the way. Even if there's only a few of them, none of them suck.

[Radien]

You're sorta wrong . I ripped a tree..did some editing to it...then Linkus saw what I had done, took it and completely redrew it. It doesn't look anything like the original really. It's more accurate to say that Linkus drew it.

Okay, fair enough. Anyway, it looks good, I was just making a guess.

No, they just slowly open and close their eyes. Yes, if their mouths opened and snapped with some cycling damage, that'd be very cool...I don't feel troubled that they are just islands now though, I still like them as such.

Eh, slightly disappointing, but I understand if you can't draw that.

However they were intended, I'll use them as I wish. And I wish to have lots of fish . I don't think it looks like there is anything wrong with them just sitting in the water.
The height of my personal drawing skills.

No need to be belligerent. You can do whatever you want with them, but that isn't going to stop people from commenting that they look wrong.

The problem is that they *aren't* just sitting there. They're kicking their fins wildly and yet going almost nowhere, and there's a stream of water current visible against their heads from parting the water against a heavy flow.

If you wanted them to just sit there, it'd be easy enough for someone to edit.

[Jupiter]

Eh, slightly disappointing, but I understand if you can't draw that.

Not a chance, but agreed that it's a let down . But if anyone out there with the skills to pull it off wants to go at it, I ain'tch stoppin ya...

No need to be belligerent. You can do whatever you want with them, but that isn't going to stop people from commenting that they look wrong.

The problem is that they *aren't* just sitting there. They're kicking their fins wildly and yet going almost nowhere, and there's a stream of water current visible against their heads from parting the water against a heavy flow.

If you wanted them to just sit there, it'd be easy enough for someone to edit.

I did not intend to come off as belligerent, or anything approaching such--and thought that should be clear given my rhyming second sentence, plus smiley. Anyway, I get that they are supposed to look like they are swimming up stream, but I think if you just plug them in there in a lake or ocean then they still look fine. I've posted them in tons of shots on this site in such situations and you're the first person to comment on them--so I'm assuming they don't look egregiously off to others, as they don't to me.

But, you're right, it would be easy to make them not move front to back and just sort of flap in one place...that, I could pull off . Fish often flap their fins and barely move or just kinda tread water though...

Edited by Jupiter, 05 May 2010 - 11:16 PM.

[Shane]

Cremeens1000 earned my vote. As previously stated, the clouds could go, but I love the feeling of the shot. Even if it's "garbage" to you, it has a feeling very similar to WW. At least to me. Very nice job.

M_K: I think you're being a bit too hard on him. Not trying to snoop or anything of the sort, but he did a decent job and it's not like he's been working with ZC a really long time. Cut the guy some slack.

Nice shots this week, by the way. Even if there's only a few of them, none of them suck.

I know he did a descend job and all its a well made screen but I telling him that people are not going to say "Wow thats good no complaints ." Those people aren't contrastive people look at Lemon for instance he is pretty contrastive with words on the previous SotW its just my two cents .

[Radien]

Not a chance, but agreed that it's a let down . But if anyone out there with the skills to pull it off wants to go at it, I ain'tch stoppin ya...

Since this isn't the first time I've seen it done, I figure people really want fish shadows in still water, so I took a moment and adapted the tiles. Seriously though, this didn't take much in the way of artistic ability; all I did was remove the ripples and adjust the tile positions so that the fish stays in one place.



4 anim frames,
I recommend anim speed 26 (the fish looks like it's just relaxing and floating there).
Two animations are included. Flip for south- and east-facing combos.

It's not exciting, but it's a simple fish shadow for people who prefer not to have cartoony fish jumping out of the water, like Pure and DoR have always had.

I did not intend to come off as belligerent, or anything approaching such--and thought that should be clear given my rhyming second sentence, plus smiley.

Ah, okay. I'm sorry I didn't catch that. Didn't even notice the rhyme. Sometimes people rhyme on accident.

Anyway, I get that they are supposed to look like they are swimming up stream, but I think if you just plug them in there in a lake or ocean then they still look fine. I've posted them in tons of shots on this site in such situations and you're the first person to comment on them--so I'm assuming they don't look egregiously off to others, as they don't to me.

Well, no offense, but that is what I'd call "getting away with it." People will easily overlook small inconsistencies in video games. However, a really good game designer will think of things the players hadn't considered, so the players will be even more impressed when they finally see it. Gamers like to be surprised with good detail, even if it's something not everybody would notice right away.

[Jupiter]

Since this isn't the first time I've seen it done, I figure people really want fish shadows in still water, so I took a moment and adapted the tiles. Seriously though, this didn't take much in the way of artistic ability; all I did was remove the ripples and adjust the tile positions so that the fish stays in one place.



4 anim frames,
I recommend anim speed 26 (the fish looks like it's just relaxing and floating there).
Two animations are included. Flip for south- and east-facing combos.

It's not exciting, but it's a simple fish shadow for people who prefer not to have cartoony fish jumping out of the water, like Pure and DoR have always had.

Hey, thanks for doing that Radien...FWIW, you quoted me saying "not a chance" on drawing something--I was referring to drawing the mouth of the alligator opening and closing, that's not something I could do (or it's hard enough I don't want to try)...I actually said I could draw the fish just floating there, since as you say, that's not a hard one. But I'm happy to take these that you have kindly done and donated already.

The fish jumping out of water are great, it's just that some variety with them just swimming or them not jumping fits some areas better.

Well, no offense, but that is what I'd call "getting away with it." People will easily overlook small inconsistencies in video games. However, a really good game designer will think of things the players hadn't considered, so the players will be even more impressed when they finally see it. Gamers like to be surprised with good detail, even if it's something not everybody would notice right away.

Oh, I wouldn't argue with this in general. I mean the new tiles you donated here will probably look a lot better for these reasons. But in some cases I'm quite happy to "get away with it". Somethings are "close enough for government work", and while I wouldn't discourage anyone from tending to details, using the stream fish in a pond or open water is definitely "close enough for government work this hobby."

[Mitchfork]

When I click "View Image" in Firefox, I get a 512x354 sized image. That's half the width of my laptop's resolution, and yet in the thread it is just wider than the post box area. Of the two pieces of information my browser is giving me, one has to be wrong. I don't know which.

I don't know if this is still an issue for you, but those dimensions are correct and it appears the correct size on my screen. I'm not sure why it's being rendered large for you, while the others aren't.

I threw my vote at Jupiter this week, as I think it has the most appealing design and color scheme; in addition, it's the only "complete" screen here as Yoshidude and cremeens1000 submitted either cropped ZC shots or ZQ shots (I can't tell easily on Yoshidude's).

Yoshidude also had a competitive design, although the upper right-hand corner ends up being negative space and therefore imbalances the screen. Also (and this is minor) there is a mountain error where the west-facing front merges with the south-facing front at the lower left-hand corner. You need an inside corner tile to make the mountain bend into the new direction.

cremeens1000, here are a couple of tips for your screen:

• First of all, I don't think it's "garbage." A lot of people, especially people that haven't submitted to SotW very much, do get defensive about their screen because the criticism is usually pretty dense; sometimes that means that the author then just chunks that screen out and moves on. However, it would probably behoove you to be a little bit more open to the criticism, as most if it is given respectfully and it can help a lot. My personal experience is that the more willing I was to listen to what others had to say, the better my screen design became.
• Do you see how the island edges line up with the screen edges on the north and east side? This is bad because it draws attention to the border, which says "Hey I ran out of room!" to the player. Either expand the island a screen or two (recommended) or shrink it a little bit so that everything fits comfortably. I don't like to do one-screen islands out of personal preference but make your own decision.
• As others have said, the transparency doesn't work to well, but the clouds are positioned in such a way that you could easily make them solid and it wouldn't affect visibility at all.
• Grass detail isn't much of a problem, but you should layer the tiny "corner" pieces over certain areas like the grass that hangs close to the bottom vines. If you need more of an explanation for what that is feel free to ask, it's hard for me to really explain what those tiles are.
• There is a minor mountain height error here. The mountain height that the player climbs on the vines is two tiles, but in front of the large rock it's three tiles. You should probably shorten the entire thing to two tiles, since you're already short on space.

[Sheik]

Why is cremeens1000's shot zoomed to 200%? I viewed the image directly and it's the correct size. Reloading the page didn't help, and Ebola's BBcode didn't tell it to resize. Is anyone else seeing what I am?

SOTW commentary tomorrow.

Eventhough it's a little bit unfair for the people that do crop their images, I would appreciate it, if the SotW-crew cropped 'em themselves if the person participating failed to do it. They don't have to cut it clean, but shrinking it down to 100% would be great. If you don't feel like dooing that, which I can totally understand, than I would say that a seize-rule for entrys would definately be a good thing. This would be for the better, I guess, because almost everyone does enter images of the correct seize (100% zoom) and the few entrys that are extra large are looking disturbingly out of place. It might only be me, and I would've kept my mouth shut, but Radien seems to share that opinion, which means that at least 2 people think that big screens next to small ones look bad in SotW, which makes me believe that even more people might think that way. Ebola's comment also suggests that he would've liked a smaller entry better. So why not enforcing a rule on that which helps to prevent this (fairly minor) accidents?
My two cents.