Village Hall - Updated

[Atelier]

Today I added all the objects together to give the first signs of a finished background.



The large area of wall on the right will be filled with a banner for the village's Giant Vegetable Competition, and perhaps a few other paintings. The floor has been left white, because I wanted to check that everything was right before I finished off. Please critique as usual!

PS. I really struggled making tables and chairs that were in proportion with the men, but I'll have another go in the next few days.

[Danman]

Could you put this pic into .GIf or .Png rather than jpg. Cause jpg has a problem with
quality and debris.  : .It is hard to make sense of all the details with such a small picture in Jpeg.    
Looks good though anyway.  
(Just like to help everyone else criticize your hall)    

Edit:  Sorry U click on the picture  :. 

[DoorKnobHandle]

Do you mean a game on The Great Gatsby with "Gatsby game"? If so I suggest making your room like rooms looked in the Roaring Twenties (unless you want to take the topic and shift the setting to today's world).

[Atelier]

Danman - Ok, I'll upload a full version that doesn't need linking later. (But you are supposed to click it first )

dkh - Uhoh, I wasn't aware of any other games called Gatsby. But no, I was inspired by an entry to a Background Blitz a while ago, but the story is original. To tell you the truth I've chosen to do it as iso because that's the only other type of graphic I'm slightly acceptable at.

[DoorKnobHandle]

Ok, nevermind then. It's a classic novel by the way.

[poc301]

I think it looks pretty good.  I am not sure why, but for some reason when I first look at the image (every time I look back at it after looking away), it REALLY messes with my eyes.  I don't know if it is the color scheme, the size of the things, or what, but it makes my eyes kinda swim.  After a second it normalizes and I can see it fine.

Dunno if it is just me, but after my vision calms down, it looks good.

**EDIT:  Maybe I'm dying....**

-Bill

[Atelier]

Yes, it's working! My isometric-hypnosis is working... First the forums - then the world...

That sounds very odd - it could be the curtains? Over the next couple of days I'm going to work on adding some of my own doors and windows, perhaps a piano by the stage, and make everything look less like it has been copied-and-pasted (namely the floorboards). So thanks for the replies.

Edit: I also made a template for the characters, so I'll have to scale the room accordingly. I want to go small because the game is more of a walkie-talkie type (there won't be much pixel hunting), and it's much easier for me to deal with.

[Anian]

I think the floor has a bit too much detail (texture wise), for example the table at the bottom, on the other hand, has a lot less. Maybe make the floor a bit more blurry or less detailed, less colors. The red of the stage is too bright, stings the eyes, and the chair on the right - both look kinda cartoonish compared to the floor (which looks cool) more realistic/textured) so try to balance that a bit so it seems like it belongs together.

Needs more furniture in there in the middle, or something to maybe pull the eye away from the empty middle...unless there's gonna be a lot of people there. Maybe put 3-4 rows of chairs looking at the stage (doesn't have to be too crowded just make some contrast and seem "realistic".

Not an iso expert (or even close) but it looks alright from technical point.

Hope that helps.

[Jim Reed]

I tried to edit some of it...

The character is way to small for the background, and the background is an eye sore because you sometimes use gradients and sometimes don't.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but you should ditch the gradients, and use less colours. If I judge correctly, you copy&pasted some of that stuff ( I mean the curtains), so that's why it looks inconsistent. The curtains look too cloned. They all look the same, and you can't find that in reality anywhere. Much of the same advice applies to the floor.

I say you should delete the texture from the curtains and floor and leave only the line art. Then mix up thoose lines on the curtains to give it a more natural look, and use just a few colours to draw the texture again. Also, desaturate the red while you're at it because it sticks out from the rest of the room. Scale things according to your character, and you should have a solid result.

3x:

[Wonkyth]

dkh - Uhoh, I wasn't aware of any other games called Gatsby.

Aww, you had me all hyped with your sig....

[Danman]

Danman - Ok, I'll upload a full version that doesn't need linking later. (But you are supposed to click it first )

Oh  sorry I forgot to mention I am an idiot.   
Yea Jim reed got it right I would take his advice about the curtains and wood textures. 

[Atelier]

Thanks for replying everybody, it's been really helpful. I'll change the gradients like a few people suggested and edit this post when I'm done.

Edit: I've redone the stage and added a blank man to show scale. In-game the stage cannot be accessed but it will play a very important role at one point. What do you think?

[Ryan Timothy B]

The color choice and added detail is obviously a huge improvement.

[Jim Reed]

Great improvements! You did a nice job there.

And now for me to be nitpicky again =P


You forgot the shadows. An do try to loosen up on thoose black outlines a bit.

[Victor6]

The common mistake with ISO backgrounds is to forget it's origins, and as a result forget the expectations of the viewer. Classic ISO games were tile based, and while that means no overall shading gradients it's commonly countered with variety.

For good examples look at jagged alliance 2 or FOT, by breaking up the floor textures with random tiles you remove the 'hypnotic' effect of the background and created a better individual image. The trick is to pack the screen with enough individual detail, even if it's re-used later to give a unique effect.

[Atelier]

Thank you for the replies, and thanks Jim for doing that shading. Coincidentally I made some paintings to hang in the room, and also a door.

The paintings are pretty small, but really fun and easy to make. As usual, please leave any feedback!

PS. Thanks Victor for pointing out those ISO examples, they should be really useful guides later on.

[Jim Reed]

You're welcome. The door looks real nice. Thumbs up!

[Atelier]

Today I added all the objects together to give the first signs of a finished background.



The large area of wall on the right will be filled with a banner for the village's Giant Vegetable Competition, and perhaps a few other paintings. The floor has been left white, because I wanted to check that everything was right before I finished off. Please critique as usual!

PS. I really struggled making tables and chairs that were in proportion with the men, but I'll have another go in the next few days.

[Jim Reed]

3x


Adjust height of table and chair legs if needed, add colour and texture.

Nice work AG!

Cheers!