Sign of the Vool

DoomJedi · Post by **DoomJedi** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 13:15

Love the background, looks fantasitic

guynietoren · Post by **guynietoren** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 13:34

I like the 3rd one the best.
Perhaps if the background pattern bent on the edges so it doesn't look flat. Or was that what you were trying to figure out how to do?

Post by **Ceilick** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 17:05

The goal:
To break up the forest background with an interior background while retaining 'proper' perspective.

Benvolio wrote:Would a glass 'dome' really be expected to have a clear foreground and an opaque background? Or would you expect the front to be made of the same stuff as the back?

Some of the domes are 'perfect' glass domes; glass on all sides (the first dome in the image). Others are partial glass domes; glass on one side, other material/structure on the other.

Observations:
1. The dome itself seems to be designed with improper perspective/a lack of depth, particularly the 'roof' parts, possibly the walls.
2. The background is very flat in appearance and doesn't add depth.

Solutions:
1. Redesign the dome roof/the entire structure.
2. Indicate curvature in the background.
3. Create a second, opaque dome in the background to add depth and give sense of a larger structure.

I'll try some of these when I get home today.

guynietoren · Post by **guynietoren** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 17:22

Also the opening on the left side of the dome helps show the curvature a lot better than the right side. Although I'm not sure there's a good way around that with the perspective.

Post by **tulip** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 20:26

Yeah the opening on the right makes no sense, here's a quick edit to show how it might look better. Also a third highlight on the top might work, but I'm not sure.

Post by **Ceilick** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 1:24

Thanks for the demonstration, Tulip, really helped polish it here:

The entrances add a lot of perspective, I've modified the background on the left side to indicate curvature (may do this very slightly on the right), added some space on the top between the dome and where it meets the opaque 'back' side in an attempt to add more depth.

The floor pattern will probably be modified at some point. Thanks for the help, guys!

DoomJedi · Post by **DoomJedi** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 8:27

Looks great. Love your work

troublesomekeen · Post by **troublesomekeen** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 9:02

Ah there we go! A tremendous improvement! Turned out quite nice!

Tormentor667 · Post by **Tormentor667** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 16:27

Ceilick this is looking brilliant, really!

I know, it's not the right place for doing "UIT-Praise" but now that I've finished the trilogy I must say that this is piece of art and you've all done an amazing job with that. I felt like being 7 years again! Thank you and your team for this experience <3

lemm · Post by **lemm** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 21:58

What's a Vool?

Post by **tulip** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 22:41

A Vool is a Vorticon asshole.

Benvolio · Post by **Benvolio** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 23:15

Not to be confused with a Koop.

Post by **Ceilick** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 23:29

This is a Vool

Benvolio · Post by **Benvolio** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 0:21

Ceilick, your sprites are really excellent these days! Thal Vool looks... cool! Cartoonish yet vaguely unnerving. As for the thing in your avatar, it is definitely one of the most sinister-looking things I've seen in Keen-related materials to date. I take it that it will feature in 'Sign of the Vool'.

Gridlock · Post by **Gridlock** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 0:34

Cool sprite

Those glass structures are kind of tricky because having that blue background doesn't really make sense when the rest of it is supposed to be clear glass. The curved version is definitely an improvement.

Now this may sound like a radical suggestion, but what if you were to incorporate greater use of transparent colors? For the background, perhaps the black could be made completely transparent and the blues changed to transparent blues, so that that background behind would still be visible. Even more difficult would be to have the foreground tiles include a transparent pattern that would appear in front of Keen. Although, that might cause some challenges, especially with things like doors (for whatever reason, I discovered that door tiles don't work when they are set to "front," at least from what I found in AR.

I'm glad to see you haven't given up on this. It seems so difficult to find the time to mod these days