14 replies to this topic

[The Satellite]

Lightwulf

Link follows a mysterious person up to Balfor Peak.  The person isn't there, but he left some tracks in the new-fallen snow.  Link determines to follow them, avoiding the crows, octoroks, and lizard-men.

 

Dwarlen

Anybody home?

 

Zahalfor

Link: "There you are, Epona. I've walked a thousand miles looking for you!"

 

justin

They said that winter had come, and an avalanche had closed off the mountain pass.  They might be right.

 

Rastael

The pour part of hyruletown.

 

Demonlink

Presenting Edlen Highlands... Yep...

[nicklegends]

Lightwulf
It's okay... I imagine running into obstacles close to the edge of the screen would be a little annoying as you enter. I like the little story snippet you introduce the screen with. The location definitely looks cold and treacherous, so you got that part down.

Dwarlen
The colors are appropriately dark and dingy and you used the ground–water transition tiles well. There's not a whole lot else to talk about. Is there a reason the moss is brighter facing one direction than the other?

Zahalfor
This is a nice setting, but you may want to put a little more work into the horse sprites.

justin
I'm not around snow that often, but is it actually common for the top of a tree to have more snow than the bottom? Something about the usage of snow in this screen strikes me as inconsistent.

Rastael
You use the whole screen well, though there's nothing particularly striking.

Demonlink
Nice colors and details; however, I think your shot would be improved by showcasing a more interesting landscape.

Voted Dwarlen after much internal debate.

[Dawnlight]

Demonlink wins my vote. 

 

You continue to amaze me with your screens.

[ZeldaPlayer]

It was between Demonlink and Dwarlen. But I voted for Demonlink. He wins my vote. Good design!

[Rambly]

I voted for Lightwulf because I was about equally impressed with most of the screens and I'm in a really wintry mood, and not kinda-wintry-but-still-bright like justin's shot, I mean really really wintry.

[David]

Great turnout this week! I eventually voted for Dwarlen, after quite a bit of thinking.

 

Lightwulf-

• Pretty decent screen design. Visually, though, there seems to not be enough variety of plants and objects and it seems to mostly be snow, snow, and more snow. Also, some of the obstacles near the edge of the screen could be annoying as you enter on that side. Try putting the obstacles at bit further from the edge of the screen. Otherwise, the execution and design of the screen are good.
• 7.8/10 (Good)

Dwarlen-

• Now this is a really good dungeon screen. I like the dark-ish atmosphere and the colors reflect that accurately. The vines also add a nice extra touch to the screenshot, albeit some being slightly brighter than others for some reason. However, the screen does appear to be a bit tight, but overall, this is a really great dungeon screen that I'd like to see in a quest.
• 8.9/10 (Great)

Zahalfor-

• A pretty decent screen, I have to say. The screen structure is good and there is a nice variety of objects and obstacles that blend nicely with the grass. The horse sprites are, however, a bit subpar in my opinion, so I suggest you make those better if possible. The mountains could also use a greater variety of curvatures and bends rather than being all straight. Also, perspectively, the mountain tiles do not look as if they were used correctly, though I wouldn't know how to fix that since I don't use DoR as of yet. Also, the open corners could be filled with trees so that the screen doesn't look too "empty" at the edges. Otherwise, the setting and screen structure are nice.
• 7.0/10 (Good)

justin-

• This is a good screen, albeit some aesthetic and execution problems. The screens is very good structurally, with the river, stairs, and trees all placed very nicely. However, the usage of snow in this screens is very sporadic and inconsistent. It looks very weird to have half of the screen be snow free and the other half to have snow; in addition, the transition between those two halves is very abrupt. Also, the trees on the non-snow half should not have snow on them. Other than that though, this is a decent screen structurally.
• 7.2/10 (Good)

Rastael-

• Overall, this is a really good screen, though nothing is really "wowing" to me. First off, the structure of the screen is very good and the entire screen is used really well as a whole. Aesthetically, however, the screen is not the most appealing due to the repetitive usage of dead trees (poor parts of town should still have trees with leaves!) and there is simply too much brown on the screen, even though there are a few random but inconsistent green spots. Other than that, this is a pretty good screen.
• 7.9/10 (Good)

Demonlink-

• This is an excellent screen by Demonlink, once again. Aesthetically, the colors, palette, and details are all really amazing and everything seems to have been carefully planned out. However, I have to agree with nicklegends here; the screen as a whole could be improved if you showcased a more interesting landscape, as quite a few of your submitted screens seem to be very similar although all incredible. Also, there seems to be a lack of trees for my taste. Otherwise, though, you use DoR incredibly well in almost all aspects; in the mountains, water, paths, grass, etc.
• 8.8/10 (Great)

 

As you can see above, it was really difficult for me to choose between Demonlink and Dwarlen; in the end though, I choose Dwarlen for his great dungeon screen. Good job to all the participants, however!

[justin]

Re: The snow covered trees. Yes, it is a little odd, but it does happen. Typically, especially by the sunny afternoon, the snow would have melted off the trees, but still be on the ground. However, if it's a dense conifer forest the trees can be snow loaded while the ground relatively snow free. Not likely the case with my screen shot, but it's a video game, so creative liberties with reality - plus that's one of the tree options in Firebird, and I don't believe there is an option for ground snow with non snowed tree.

The story behind the shot is that it had snowed here recently (still snowing at higher elevations), and at some point an avalanche had came down, the abrupt snow line is the avalanche terminus. Ya, avalanches would have taken out some trees, but again reality only goes so far...

I would have voted Demonlink, always beautiful and inspirational screens. Runner up Lightwulf, one of those screens that just looks enjoyable to play, aside from the walking into stuff issue mentioned.

[DCEnygma]

Lightwulf - The screen is kind of cluttered with enemies, honestly. I like the composition and the idea of following footprints in the snow is a neat idea. My question would be doe Link also leave behind footprints? I can understand there's some restrictions that might go into that, obviously, but it would certainly be a neat addition. Overall, a nice screen, though not spectacular.

 

Dwarlen - The door at the top of the screen is very distracting to me, probably because I'm so used to seeing the door a tile further down. I think the entire room would look better if the top wall was moved down 1 tile, actually. Other than that, I do like the colors and style of the room, though it feels maybe a bit too symmetrical. Changing up the pool a bit or having some of the floor tiling broken up on one side might help.

 

Zahalfor - This is a perfectly fine screen for a quest to have in it, but doesn't really do anything for me as a featured screen. The horse sprites are okay, but the area feels very cluttered and claustrophobic. Not really my cup of tea.

 

justin - The screen looks... okay? Something feels strange about the transition with the snow. Ultimately it's a fairly nondescript screen, one that would fit fine into an overworld but isn't really special as a standalone screen. Honestly the subscreen bar at the top is more interesting to me than the screen.

 

Rastael - Wow this town has seen better days. The patches of green are kind of interesting to me, especially how the one is surrounding the rabbit. Almost feels like the rabbit made it appear? I dunno, might be looking too much into it. Out of context, the screen raises a lot of questions about why there are some patches of green and everything else looks dead. It might make sense in a story perspective, but right now it just seems... odd. Despite that, it's a nicely composed screen.

 

Demonlink - A very nice field adjacent to a lake, but ultimately, like many other shots this week, nothing that really stands out or makes it's presence felt.

 

 

There are a lot of screens this week that just didn't really feel like good featured screens, though most would work well within an actual quest. The only one with elements that really jumped out to me is Rastael, as it made me ask some questions. As such, my vote goes there.

[Nathaniel]

When it comes to screens that make sense in ZC, all six of these certainly pass.  Now for the rest of the commentary...

Lightwulf - Entrance into snowy mountain area, or the next ledge of it.  Very clear what the purpose of this screen is.  Snow details are done just right.  Mostly just snow, with hints of tracks and other details to compliment the rest of it.  For snow, that works very well.

Dwarlen - A well planned water dungeon screen.  Good detailing, including the third dimension.

Zahalfor - Normally I am not a fan of screens that are too singled out like this, as the edges clearly block off anything going on in nearby screens, but I think it works for this purpose.  This one is all about the one screen by itself.  The straight lines are acceptable here, due to it all being what is created by man.  But even with everything you are trying to include, relying so much on the fixed size of a ZC screen, you find that you have no choice but to make it a bit crowded.

justin - I really like this transition style screen.  Well done, and just the right amount of details for good taste.  If I could vote for more than one, this would certainly fit the bill.

Rastael - I find it hard to come up with the right words here.  I see a combination of good and not so good here.  The obvious details are clearly there.  The main dirt details do feel monotone, since it's just one tile for that purpose.  The overlapping of some of the road over the green grass in the upper left does look awkward.  The screen design is also pretty dependent on ZC sized screen dimensions, with the two sides being blocked off while one is almost completely blocked off, thus creating almost a rectangle for what is within it.  The screen is clearly designed for just the one screen, without much dependence on a bigger picture, for what easily could do so.

Demonlink - This is mostly about showing off screen design skills with common overworld occurrences, and it's done well.  Excellent detail, as you clearly know what you are doing with this tileset.  A screen that isn't any sort of hot spot can still look very nice, so it's good to occasionally see what people can do with that.  Again, if I could vote for more than one, this would be selected.

Not an easy choice this time, but the answer for me is Lightwulf.  Excellent design with GB for a screen that has a lot going for it, and proves it can compete well with screens from flashier tilesets.

[Eddy]

Very tough choice this week, but in the end I had to vote for Demonlink for the amazing screen design, yet again lol

 

As for 2nd, place, there were quite a lot of options, but everyone did really well this week. Well done!

[Zahalfor]

Thanks everyone for the great reviews! Thank you nicklegends and DaviAwesome for encouraging me to work on the horse sprites some more,. I wasn't quite happy with them myself and have made some changes to them now that make them look better. DCEnygma, you said the screen appears cluttered, I agree. I would have loved it to be more spacious, but, because of the quest it accompanies, I really shouldn't expand it and need it also to hold the appearance of a village. Thanks for the critique though and I will hold it in mind for future villages . Thank you Nathaniel for your kind words, I believe you understand exactly where this screen is coming from and its purpose.

 

As for the other entries... everyone did a great job! Here's a few of my thoughts on them:

 

Lightwulf-I want to know where those footprints lead!

 

Dwarlen-great dungeon screen.

 

justin-I'm wondering how badly Link wanted to get on the other side of that avalanche and how long it will take to dig through it!

 

Rastael-this screen strikes me as a little bit spooky, actually, what with the faces on the trees, hole in the ground, and that skull thing! Link better watch his step.

 

Demonlink-I like the looks of it, very pretty.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing their pictures and thoughts on them

[justin]

justin-I'm wondering how badly Link wanted to get on the other side of that avalanche and how long it will take to dig through it!

 

 

its not link.

and she isn't trying to get to other side of the avalanche.  she entered the valley by that pass, and now is stuck here...

[Rastael]

Thx for your comments

This was one of the first Screens I designed, so I'm glad that some People like it. And you're right, the grass really look akward, I will Change this. XD

 

 

Aaaaaand I nulled, because I'm in the contest (my favourite would be Zahalfor).

[Shane]

I voted for Demonzeldalink. Though, I don't think the mountain shadows are consistent in height/length/whatever. 

[The Satellite]

With 30.43% of the vote, the winner of Screenshot of the Week 485 is Demonlink!

 

 

Congratulations!

 

Voting totals:

- Lightwulf (9 votes [19.57%])

- Dwarlen (13 votes [28.26%])
- Zahalfor (2 votes [4.35%])
- justin (7 votes [15.22%])
- Rastael (1 votes [2.17%])
- Demonlink (14 votes [30.43%])