Post your screenshots thread

[LakeFeperd]

@Gungriffon Geona

thanks, really

i've edited the colors and i made it a little bit more "stone-ish"

[P3DR0]

It looks great ingame, but those trees need to go. They seem too offplace now... Maybe redoing then or something, I dunno.

[Carl Winslow]

I can try and give the trees another shot, but I'm not sure how well it will go.

[Ristar]

the thing with those kinds of trees is that the branches actually grow upwards http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/8176806/2/stock-photo-8176806-pine-tree.jpg

remember that the tree isn't flat, it's 3-dimensional so some shading to suggest that the "middle" branches are closer to us than the outer ones. like the shading on this http://www.softchalk.com/lessonchallenge09/lesson/geometry/clipart_cylinder.jpg except more tree-ish.

[BlazefireLP]

I don't see why not. it's your game after all. if you want I'll get the other pillar started too.

EDIT:

did some changes to the first one

[qimg]http://i.imgur.com/wcxmd.png[/qimg]

EDIT2:

did the other one anyway because I was bored

[qimg]http://i.imgur.com/PugCo.png[/qimg]

Dude, that's more like it! I think it matches the style completely now. Now everything else needs to be at the same Level.

[Delta Hedgehog]

I thought I should let you guys know the progress on SEOD.

Well... not good.

I haven't been able to get in touch with SuperBliz in over a moth. He hasn't replied to any of the messages I've sent him on Youtube. He's pretty much disappeared without a single trace. Without any sort of communication between him and I, I can't inbox the engine to those who volunteered to beta test it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Apricity]

Has he given up on you? Did he leave any clues as to his dissapearance? Suck man D;

[Falk]

remember that the tree isn't flat, it's 3-dimensional so some shading to suggest that the "middle" branches are closer to us than the outer ones. like the shading on this http://www.softchalk.com/lessonchallenge09/lesson/geometry/clipart_cylinder.jpg except more tree-ish.

I've had an observation on retro Sonic art direction for a while. There are two very distinct methods of lightcasting the environment:

The first is the 'embossed' look, where two directions (generally top and left) are lighter than a surface facing the player, while the other two (bottom and right) are darker. This was how Sonic art started out, really. The vast majority of Sonic and a good portion of Sonic 2 uses this. In the Green Hill shot, observe lighting carefully. Everything that is symmetrical doesn't have the same lighting on its left and right halves. Even the shading on the center of that sunflower thing sources light from top left.

Chemical Plant sources the light from top and slightly to the right instead of top left.

The second is the 'closer is brighter' method, which works 'okayish' with rounded objects and really badly with faceted ones. Very rarely do you have a surface facing off to the left or right which is brighter than a surface facing the camera. It loosely translates into a 'light emits from the camera' look. S3&K moved more into this territory with its graphical overhaul.

Obviously surfaces which are curved vertically still have brighter top than bottom surfaces, but if you compare to the Chemical Plant shot the difference is obvious. -None- of the shading/art on CPZ's cylinders and rounded objects are vertically symmetrical.

Now, considering that retro graphics aren't all that realistic in the first place and cartoony by nature, suspension of disbelief will help 'make sense' of clashing light sources (Look at the shot of Mushroom Hill, the bigger trunks are literally sillhouetted, implying the light source faces the camera instead of the opposite suggested by the rest of the graphics) And obviously sprites will have sourcing coming from the wrong direction when mirrored, but I think for the purposes of maintaining a cohesive art look and feel, you'd want to pick one or the other and stick with it for as much of the art assets as possible.

Personally I really can't jive with S3&K's art style, as awesome as the game(s) is(/are). I'm one of the guys in the camp that feels the franchise lost something artistically in the transition from S1/S2/SCD.

edit: In the midst of typing up a long post in order to look like be a snooty know-it-all, I totally forgot to say: I'm liking the new stone pillars heaps! It still looks enough like SSH to be an obvious homage, yet fits in with the artistic direction of the level.

[Delta Hedgehog]

Has he given up on you? Did he leave any clues as to his dissapearance? Suck man D;

I don't know. I talked to him last in the beginning of December, and haven't heard back from him, neither Youtube nor Facebook.

[Carl Winslow]

I tried, I really did.

I don't think this will work though.

[BlazefireLP]

@Gungriffon: Maybe if the saturation of the shades matched between the trunk and the tree itself? Since I can tell that isn't pure green right there. Probably a hue-shift of Green + Blue.

@Delta Hedgehog: Can you do any programming yourself though?

@Falk: That was very informative. Thanks for the information on that.

[toaster1]

Falk: Totally with you buddy, I didn't like S3nK's art style either. It was dissapointing to me, after hearing it really hyped up by people. (I didn't play Sonic 3 until 2010, when I got it for Wiiware.)

[Delta Hedgehog]

@Blazefire I can program simple things, but graphics are my main expertise.

[Apricity]

@Falk, totally agree and that was an interesting + informative read <3

@Gungriffon, the base is fine but I think the leaves and foliage have way too many colours for a genesis sorta styled thing.

I doubt my 2 min edit really helped but meh xD

@Delta, I can't really program/remember how to use the dash engine so I'm afraid I can't really help. Sad to hear it bro. D;

[Sparks]

The detail on the tree is great, but the branches are repetitive.

Gungriffon, Lake, if you end up not using it, let me know

<_>

[Ristar]

it's times like this we should reference other sources, for example, the trees in hill top zone: http://info.sonicretro.org/images/8/83/Hilltop.png

the trees have shading beneath their "layers" and the shading gives the trees their cylindrical quality.

there's not an amazing amount of detail either, it's all just nicely suggested which helps them blend into the background.

[Sparks]

Testing a new color sand.

Original tiles done by Gamernerd Advance, as always. Revamps and touch ups done by me.

[BlazefireLP]

Looks incredible Sparks. By the way, what did the original tiles look like?

[Sparks]

The original tiles are here: http://www.sonicfangameshq.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7130 I was in a rush and forgot to give special thanks to Tech for helping keep the sand pallet ROM friendly, Dad needed me to be a grease monkey (help with the car) for a bit.

Some things were scaling up and not lining up very well as 16x16, 32x32s and 128x128s including the sand and bridges, so I rearranged, and majorly edited them to accommodate. GNA had a computer crash recently (this was before Kaosu, GNA, Lark and I began using Dropbox) so we're trying to make do with what we got right now.

[luksamuk]

[qimg]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43346058/test2.png[/qimg]

Testing a new color sand.

Original tiles done by Gamernerd Advance, as always. Revamps and touch ups done by me.

This is looking neat, although I think there's something missing on it...

Nah, forget that, you won.

And you finally replaced that water (: Love it.

[Sparks]

Actually I was just digging through Zeros files on Dropbox and found that version, I dunno where it came from or when it was made, but it sure is better.

[Strife]

Which do you think is better? I'm leaning towards either the center petal or the yin-yang.

[BlazefireLP]

@Sparks: When you say "ROM Friendly" do you mean within the Genesis graphical limits?

@Strife: 3rd one, I dig that shape it has.

[ECLIPSc70]

I'm not too sure on which style looks more presentable: A- Black boarder and darker tone, B- Black boarder and darker darks/lighter lights for the more cel-shaded look, or C- No border and a solid scale of color.

[P3DR0]

@Gungriffon Geona:

The problem with the tree is the lack of Variation. It seems like a LEGO tree where you just stocked a piece on the top of another piece.

Generally pinetrees tends to have their branches bigger in the botton and smaller on the top, creating that awesome triangular shape on the whole tree. But in the case of yours the tree looks like a cylinder and that's why it doesn't look as good as could be. Does't have that natural look to it.

@Sparks:

Looking great, I think I'd never seen a sprited sand that I liked the color or the way it's sprited. But You did awesomely well.

Also, FINALLY you replaced the water. >:C

@Strife:

3rd one is the better, but it's not "good" to be honest. First of because of the color. Red is a very common color used in sprites, tiles, etc and somehow just works on darker or brown-ish scenaries (example: Alice Madness Returns) because normally isn't one of the colors that pop-out in a colorful enviroment, for instance yellow neither, that's why Sonic Rings spin around. Also I didn't liked the shading much. It's not looking natural. If I were you I would give that a little bit of a rotation, making it point to the top more diagonally and would change some of the colors (not really sure for what, but I would).

@ECLIPSc70

B