Need advice on game look

tcla75

Hi guys below you can see a screenshot of the game I'm working on. Its a against the timer type game like tiny wings so so far that is what the whole game will look like with the trees and hills on the bottom scrolling as you move.
As you probably know when you are close to your own game it is always hard to judge it.
I've seen some of your games and a lot of them look fantastic. So what do you think? Is it a bit bland? Any advice on how I could make it better?

entersimon

consistency is very important in creating an environment that draws in the viewer. If I were you I would finish up the gameplay and then rework all of the graphics. Add the gradients, and fine tune them until they look EXACTLY like you want them to. There is never a good excuse to cut corners. Make sure everything looks like it belongs in the same game. It looks like you spent a lot more time on the main character compared to the rest of the graphics.

Also, perhaps limiting your color palette would help create a stronger visual impact. Look up some paintings that you enjoy and notice how the colors are used. And remember, warm colors move forward to the eye, cool colors push back. Keeping this in mind, and using it will help keep the depth consistent.

You aren't doing a bad job, just keep working them over. Give them life and it'll reward you in the end.

Best of luck!

tcla75

Thanks. Ya your right I spent more time on the character and I don't mind the background but I'm not fond of the trees or black hills in the foreground. Good tip about colour temperatures.

JeffreyShimane

What are the blue and purple ovals in the sky? Are they supposed to be planets?

Warlock

Good start so far but consider adding a highlight on your artwork to counter the shadows. Also, shadow is never truly black so try a very dark version of the color instead. Best of luck with your game:)

mangaroo

Without totally new art some photoshop and planets as actors + animations can make it look less bland.

a quick mockup:



planet follows actors co-ordinates via another global attribute constrained to the actors x/y positions +displacement. the background would need to scroll as well to complete the effect. add a half mountain on the left hand side to make the scroll more seamless

also have the trees spread out on a large image and have that scrolls as a layer infront but have the branches that stick out lower down so not to obstruct the view too much.

Make the background green a gradient darkest at the top slightly more so you can add some small star animations. add some light work to the mountains (in the form of the bottoms of the mountains a slightly darker brown) and should be good to go! .. also the colours if you can change the hue of the planets platforms - have a look at images online and use the eye-dropper to use the same colour palettes...there are sites for that too

http://www.colourlovers.com/

Hope some of that helped, good luck

devjohnson

Add more detail and texture to the background. Continue polishing your images, the planets and the platform really standout from the background as being different styles.

Your mountains and trees are really jagged and have tight lines. Your platform and planets look smooth and really round.

What I would do is focus on making a detailed platform. Perhaps a small layer of grass with ground beneath it crumbling. Add detail to the mountains by giving them snow caps or other features such as water. You can add detail to the planets by adding land or clouds on them that you can see. You can also improve the ground by putting holes or notches in the trees and perhaps rocks or grass on the ground.

Good luck.

LumpApps

I would not use standard PS filters. If you are new to PS don't bother trying to soup up your graphics with it. I agree entersimon. Limit your color pallet.
Perhaps try some brighter colors to, your colors look kinda 'dirty' which is a graphic term for adding black. That is OK if you want to create a dark game.
But I don't believe that this game is dark.