Levels & Items Art

Regarding the realism in texturing, I didn't think that it looked exceptionally real in the first place (the lighting is artificial after all). And if it's too real then this is a slippery slope; how can we justify using, say, anything that sounds remotely like an orchestra if we can't justify anything that looks remotely like rock?

Here's a quick mockup involving grass, although the proportions don't look quite correct because the block is a group of four of the unit tiles.

 

Eh... sorry, but that looks very ugly. Both the excessive blurring on the grass and the needless texture on the rocks are completely out of place. It kills any personality the original art had and quite honestly it's not very pleasant to look at.

 

Meh, I keep wondering if we should add texturing to the blocks at all. As burpingcat said, there isn't any in the original art and there was an artistic decision in that. Perhaps we should respect that decision. If they wanted to add dithering like they did with the tree trunks then they could have done so, but they didn't. So, in light of the difference of opinions about how much texture is the right amount, the real answer is probably "none." In fact, what would the artists think if we defaced their blocks with any sort of texture? I doubt they'd approve of it.

So my point is, what can we do to these blocks to make them look HD and not just HQ4X, something that the artists might approve of? I'm inclined to think that we've been focusing way too narrowly on texturing and that it isn't the correct approach.

 

I think that a little texturizing would not kill the blocks.

 

I apologize; my last post came off a bit belligerent.

One reason I raise the point about no textures is that in the higher resolution remake of GHZ (which the EHZ/HTZ tileset is based on) in Sonic Adventure 2, SonicTeam decided not to add textures to the checkered blocks (even though they added textures to the grass surface). After I noticed this I realized that any sort of natural-looking texture would be out of place with how SonicTeam imagined the blocks. I think the same applies to EHZ/HTZ.

Another example is to look at the AIZ blocks in Sonic 3; these are very heavily textured already and we would be right to expand upon this texturing if this were S3HD, but in retrospect I'm finding it difficult to justify adding a natural-looking texture to the EHZ/HTZ blocks when SonicTeam so clearly textured the blocks they wanted textured. We are trying to re-imagine this as SonicTeam might have done had they had our capabilities, but that doesn't mean some of the original design choices would change.

Perhaps they should have a geometric texture and not a natural texture? That approach might keep the "cartoony" look better.

 

I'd rather see high lites on the corners or something subtle like that, rather than having HTZ look like fake granite counter top (lol, Counter Top Zone). I still say the grass would look nice in Hill Top Zone, because it matches the trees.

 

I've also noticed that the bricks in ARZ do have texturing so if the Sonic Staff would have wanted to add texture to the HTZ bricks then they certainly would have done.

However when I look at the very little texturing Master Emerald added I do like it.

 

My WIP Emerald this time based on the Sonic Retro Logo. 35% Completed.

 

Wait, I have to finish it first!

 

It looks beautiful so far!

 

Is it better now?



And I would like to highlight I had to use gradients beacuse it is a gem (obviously).

 

Yes, that is very ice! I can see where it is still unfinished, but if you can't finish it tonight then upload it to the database please.

 

I have uploaded it! HERE (No I'm not Rickrollig XD)

A preview of it in the game:



My new HTz blocks:

4X:


The size I use to work:

 

Looks good!

 

About the springs, the sprite where the spring is coiled looks like the original and all, but shouldn't the coils be visible? it just looks like a stack of metal cylinders until it is extended.

 

Something very important that I would like to highlight is that the current EHz blocks are not equal to the original. Why? Because they have square edges, and the Genesis version don't have them only the SMS/GG. Lets compare:

In black we have the side view. The SMS/GG blocks are on the right and the Genesis ones are on the left.



We can se that they use the same resolution but with a limited color pallet.

I like the blocks but they don't transmit the personality the original art had.

 

Master Emerald, I love your gem, it looks priceless and nearly perfectly cut.

 

<!--quoteo(post=207722:date=Jul 17 2008, 12:24 PM:name=Master Emerald)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Master Emerald @ Jul 17 2008, 12:24 PM) </a>

We can se that they use the same resolution but with a limited color pallet.

So I don't like the EHz blocks because the don't transmit the personality the original art had.[/quote]

Point taken. I have to ask, does anyone else feel this way about the EHZ blocks? If so I could work on changes. If not, as of right now they're considered done.