HollowKnight's is great. Not the most unique thing I've ever seen, but it's interesting and the colors aren't too bad. I actually kind of like the way the sea in the background contrasts against the sunset. I suppose realistically the entire sea would be turning orange if the sun where setting, but who cares? :> It looks good aesthetically and having some blue in there breaks up any potential color monotony. That's all that matters.
Pabru's screen is a perfect example of how a bad palette can ruin an otherwise excellent shot. That dirt color is just really really bad. And the color of those trees and grass is just WAY too saturated--it's practically #00FF00 green. I hate to be mean, but color choice is the thing people notice in a screen at first glance, the #1 thing that contributes to atmosphere, and it should be the starting point for every screen. It really surprises me that I'm saying this about one of Pabru's screens, too; the palette in your submission last week was one of the best I've seen in a while. They were unorthodox color choices, yeah, but perfect for a dreamy sort of area and they weren't overly saturated and they contrasted well. So what happened?
The positive: the layout is great and the tiles are rarely seen. They are kind of cartoony but if that's the style you're going for then that's fine.
Cukeman's has an interesting concept and it wouldn't be terribly bad if it weren't for the layout issues. I can understand why there'd be open patches of dirt in it if you're trying to give the impression of a house that's been ruined or is dilapidated, but there's no
transition--that, and even in a ruined house, the orientation of the floorboards wouldn't just randomly change direction. I know they're supposed to be "repairs", as you said, but just flipping the tiles ain't gonna cut it if that's what you wanna convey.
Perhaps some dilapidated pieces of wood with visible nails drawn on top
over dirt (where you can still see the dirt beneath peeking through a bit) might work, yeah? Roughing out the edges of the wooden bits to show decay would work pretty nicely too, I think.
The house is a little too open, too, I think. I don't really like how the top half of the screen cuts off on the left, and ... I'm not normally too strict on corners being open, but this isn't an example of a screen where open corners actually work.
And I know it may seem a little rude that people are criticizing the design of the screen without understanding the origins, but lemme be honest here: This is a screenshot contest.
The only thing that matters in these contests is eye candy (and I wouldn't take it
too seriously for that very reason). It may be a great screen functionally, and a great homage to Resident Evil 4 (not that I've played the game, but...), but if it don't look good, people ain't gonna vote for it.
Jared's is... well, it's
good, but I basically echo Pabru's sentiment on it. It's one of those screens where all the details and stuff are in the right place but it doesn't really come together as an amazing screen. It's still
solid though, just not incredible. It's just one of those screens where... it probably looks good in the context of a quest, but in the context of a screenshot it doesn't really lend itself well. Yeah? Don't take this to mean it's bad or anything, 'cause it's a good
screen.
I don't really like the palette, though. I never have liked that palette. Or any of the Pure Dark World palettes. I still think the best "dark world" palette in any ZC screen I've seen is... uh... the LTTP one being used verbatim in the LTTP Tileset.
Edited by Rambly, 05 August 2011 - 01:48 PM.
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