Levels & Items Art

<!--quoteo(post=268574:date=Jan 16 2009, 12:48 PM:name=Vincent)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vincent @ Jan 16 2009, 12:48 PM)

About the bush, it is very possible to do that effect in Illustrator!
(I'll explain that once you get online is just a 3 command method)[/quote]

How about smooth the animation out a bit with a few more in-between frames, so it doesn't look so jerky - or would that make the other flowers look a little odd when they're moving (by comparison)?

 

I'd like to add at least one frame to each of them eventually, but for now the goal of the project is to finish the game's original art first. I added a couple to the daisy only because of how simple it was (and because Vincent requested it).

 

<!--quoteo(post=268350:date=Jan 16 2009, 12:23 AM:name=Polygon Jim)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Polygon Jim @ Jan 16 2009, 12:23 AM)

That is how the bush should really look, transparent.[/quote]

<!--quoteo(post=268510:date=Jan 16 2009, 06:17 AM:name=Sciz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sciz @ Jan 16 2009, 06:17 AM)

My first problem is that I'd like to have the translucent shading overlay the leaves and then have Illustrator cut out the gaps in between so the shading remains only on the leaves. This seems to be impossible.[/quote]
Also, these 2 posts made me think about what the creators were actually trying to achieve when they designed this bush/shrub.


I know this is probably pretty obvious, but I though I'd post it anyway.

Because of the pixel limitation of the engine, I would imagine they wanted to make it look like a shrub yet they needed it to be see-through. Why? The most logical reason would be because it would obscure/hide your character (which wouldn't look good, nor be practical from a gaming point of view), and also needlessly hide any monitors that happen to be behind a shrub.

Such as this one, for example [or in this case, not know exactly what monitor it is, as you'd still be able to see the top and bottom parts of this monitor].

 

v1/new

edit:



This is still very much a work in progress. The shading isn't nearly smooth or strong enough, and the edges are rough around the edges (redundancy, yo).

 

Haven't we gone through this "interpretation process" already?

Where's the previous work in progress-es? There were some really nice ones.




EDIT: You won't be able to see those tiny squares in the bush, at the resolution the game will be running.

 

There were a couple mockups prior to this, yes.



The look of the one on the left is nice, admittedly, if a bit chunky. Vincent's working on that idea, among others.

The 2x2 square version doesn't scale down well, but I personally find them visible enough at full resolution like this. I'll probably throw together a version using 4x4 squares before I'm done, though. As for interpretation, I see this as being like the grass; neither of them scale directly to 4x very well. At the moment I'm trying to maintain the checkerboard appearance rather than treating each square as a leaf or something.

 

<!--quoteo(post=268768:date=Jan 16 2009, 04:17 PM:name=Sciz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sciz @ Jan 16 2009, 04:17 PM)

The look of the one on the left is nice, admittedly, if a bit chunky. Vincent's working on that idea, among others.[/quote]Ah, that one. I love how that looks even if it's just a preliminary mockup...

 

<!--quoteo(post=268791:date=Jan 16 2009, 04:05 PM:name=ICEknight)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ICEknight @ Jan 16 2009, 04:05 PM)

The look of the one on the left is nice, admittedly, if a bit chunky. Vincent's working on that idea, among others.[/quote]Ah, that one. I love how that looks even if it's just a preliminary mockup...
[/quote]

It makes me want to cross my eyes :P

Still, really nice for a preliminary mockup.... I like it.

 

Nope... sorry, that's not it, Sciz. I dare saying the 16-bit squares were the exact height. Try going for the mock-up look and add a nice little trunk base to it.

 

I for one, am not liking these ideas for the shrub, the squares look very strange in HD art. Maybe it could look more like leaves while still being translucent?

 

I think that making it checkered and 3D-like, rather than more realistic with actual leaves, fits perfectly with Sonic's world of back then.

 

To me the top one looks more like a cloud than a shrub there, Sciz - nice concept, though.

 

The culmination of hours of collaboration between Vincent and myself:



Shading needs work and we haven't decided what to do about the leaves on the corner yet.

 

Aaah, there we are! For the leaves on the corner, why not...

 

Perhaps four slightly-tilted square "polygons" could do?

Something like this, but well done:

 

So much depth you'll hardly believe we didn't actually model and texture a 3D sphere. :D

 

I'm liking that revision there. I think it's still missing something though, just can't figure it out.

 

A background color that's actually accurate can't hurt.