Handpainted RPG environment feedback

Royall

Dear community,

For the last couple of months I am working on a RPG game in a oriental/samurai setting.

Im working hard to improve my hand painted texture skills and doing everything myself including scripting.

I want to show of this little environment because I need a little feedback.
Note that the game has a semi toptown view.





Hope you guys can help me improve the scene a little

elementrix

I think you've already accomplished quite something but I think you should take a step back and look at your scene as a whole, the individual textures don't look that bad but when you blur your eyes you'll see that everything is more or less the same value and it becomes one big green blur, it makes it pretty hard to read the scene.

I think it would really help if you bring in darker shadows and paint some darker textures here and there, make the path where the character has to walk the brighter part so you can put a focus on those parts.

Next to that I don't really get a oriental/samurai vibe from what I'm seeing, what reference did you use in the concept/asset creation process?

Royall

Do you mean some darker grass or something?

I did not had any concept art reference. Im also missing this 'vibe' but can't really figure out what is missing

LaurentiuN

the scene doesn`t look bad, but as elementrix say`d you need some color variation some points on the scene to focus on, and about the reference ....you really need some reference when you want something to look really good. keep up the good work.

Odow

It looks nice, but i can definitely tell you didnt do much research. If you havent told us its a oriental/samurai thing, no one could guess it looks way more like a medieval scene. Windmill and house look really european, the vegetation either, I get the bonzai style, but why would some tree be red and the rest super green, even japanese maple tree arent that red in summer time.

Royall

Yes, I know got to work on tree colors. The green tree represents an oak. And the red one a maple. The windmill was bit of an issue cause I wasn't able to get some oriental reference. Maybe because they didn't use midmills much because of rice. Could be wrong

Fenyce

Odow is right. The scenery doesn't feel asian to me either. Since samurai are japanese you should look at a lot of japanese photos to get a feeling for the environment. And by environment I mean foliage and architecture. Maybe search for a photo-blog about japan or samurais I guess there are a few with great photography on them.

Royall

Thanks for the feedback, as of now im trying to give it a more asian vibe. I designed a new house and added some bamboo yesterday


What do you think? Also planning to rework the well and windmill...

I am also thinking about creating some rock boulders to create cliffs... Tryed many things but can't seem to create something that matches the environment and is easy tilable. Does anyone have an idea?

Dennispls

I agree with the others here that the scene lacks proper lighting and oriental atmosphere.
Try to use vertex colors to simulate lighting. This could help you pop out protruding rock areas and grassy hills more. The grass and the trees seem to use the same color green. Try a darker shade of green so the leafs do not blend in with the floor.

Royall

Dennispls wrote: »

I agree with the others here that the scene lacks proper lighting and oriental atmosphere.
Try to use vertex colors to simulate lighting. This could help you pop out protruding rock areas and grassy hills more. The grass and the trees seem to use the same color green. Try a darker shade of green so the leafs do not blend in with the floor.

What do you mean with vertex colors?

Tobbo

You should take a look at this post from Jeff Parrot's blog. I think your scene is lacking in value separation as Elementrix has already mentioned.

http://blog.environmentartist.com/?p=1127

Dennispls

Royall wrote: »

What do you mean with vertex colors?

Vertex coloring is exactly what it says. You can give a vert a color.
For more information have a look at the article below:

http://www.alkemi-games.com/a-game-of-tricks-ii-vertex-color/

Fenyce

I really like that new house and the bamboo-tree looks sweet, too!

Maybe you could add some flat stones along the path, like they often do in japanese gardens (so you don't walk on the grass or sand or whatever) just a few maybe somewhere between the lantern and the well.

Some gradients could also help ground the assets. Like a gradient along the trunk of the bamboo.

Odow

Well windmill came from Netherlands. If i'm not mistaken, they were a doing commerce with japan during the christian rebellion. So they do existed, but they were rare and totally not iconic of the japanese culture. They used watermill way more.

Even if it looks nice in the scene, bamboo doesn't grow randomly, they grow as a forest even more in japan.

The architecture you used for the house isn't an house architecture, it's a castle/temple architecture as it cost A LOT. House looked like that in the feudal japan http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/12405400.jpg. (and this is a middle class house, not a poor one)

The lantern you put for lighting are made of paper, it's only use during festival or in some small street of town, for decoration as they break easily. It would be a huge waste of money to put some in the country.

Hope it help

Royall

Odow wrote: »

Well windmill came from Netherlands. If i'm not mistaken, they were a doing commerce with japan during the christian rebellion. So they do existed, but they were rare and totally not iconic of the japanese culture. They used watermill way more.

Even if it looks nice in the scene, bamboo doesn't grow randomly, they grow as a forest even more in japan.

The architecture you used for the house isn't an house architecture, it's a castle/temple architecture as it cost A LOT. House looked like that in the feudal japan http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/12405400.jpg. (and this is a middle class house, not a poor one)

The lantern you put for lighting are made of paper, it's only use during festival or in some small street of town, for decoration as they break easily. It would be a huge waste of money to put some in the country.

Hope it help

Yeah, I get your point. But you may forget it's a game with a cartoon feel so it doesn't have to be that realistic. Your right about the houses, will also make some hay ones as well.

Do you have ideas for some alternative windmill prop. I want to make some veggie or rice paddies as well to let it look like a little house farm.

Royall

Fenyce wrote: »

I really like that new house and the bamboo-tree looks sweet, too!

Maybe you could add some flat stones along the path, like they often do in japanese gardens (so you don't walk on the grass or sand or whatever) just a few maybe somewhere between the lantern and the well.

Some gradients could also help ground the assets. Like a gradient along the trunk of the bamboo.

Thank you! Love your idea about the flat stones, will create some soon! :poly121:

Royall

Tobbo wrote: »

You should take a look at this post from Jeff Parrot's blog. I think your scene is lacking in value separation as Elementrix has already mentioned.

http://blog.environmentartist.com/?p=1127

Hmmm interesting. Not really sure how to apply this technique but I will search some more

Xainkrif

Nice setup! It is a little green though. Good work all in all however. Look forward to future creations!

Odow

Just because something is cartoon doesn't mean it doesn't have to be realistic, you're mixing two things.

A style : Cartoon vs realistic
And the "setup": Fantasy vs historical period based.
(sorry i'm not native english and i'm having a hard time searching for the right term haha)

Just because you're style is cartoon hand painting doesn't mean you have no research to do. The more research you does, the better everything look. Knowing to search for reference or taking inspiration is really important. Just throwing things in because you feel like it isn't always the best way. It's often the small thing that look useless that make the biggest change.

I'm not saying that to be an annoying brat or something like that, i'm saying that to you because you have talent and your props look nice, but together as a scene it just doesn't fit.

Tobbo

Royall wrote: »

Hmmm interesting. Not really sure how to apply this technique but I will search some more

You might try adjusting some of the values on your textures to see if you can get a little more separation.

Royall

What do you guys think of this:



Created some rock boulders and did a rework on some colors to give a little contrast..

redcap

Looking much better already. Again though, don't be afraid to use bolder contrasts, especially in a stylized environment. For example, look at the wheel barrow, it looks almost like a sold brown shape. I can't see individual boards, or where the wheels actually are. Put a few VERY dark strokes into it and some very bright highlights. Without bold lights and darks the scene just starts to get a washed out look. Another example is the roof. Deepen the dark blues and lighten the light blues.

Tobbo

It's looking better Royall! I'm really liking your grey rocks. Maybe make the bamboo trunks a bit different color or value than the bamboo leaves?

Royall

redcap wrote: »

Looking much better already. Again though, don't be afraid to use bolder contrasts, especially in a stylized environment. For example, look at the wheel barrow, it looks almost like a sold brown shape. I can't see individual boards, or where the wheels actually are. Put a few VERY dark strokes into it and some very bright highlights. Without bold lights and darks the scene just starts to get a washed out look. Another example is the roof. Deepen the dark blues and lighten the light blues.

Yes, already had plans for the wheel barrow to redo it. Also has a very low res texture right know.

Royall

Tobbo wrote: »

It's looking better Royall! I'm really liking your grey rocks. Maybe make the bamboo trunks a bit different color or value than the bamboo leaves?

Thanks! That's a good one, will do

Royall

So I created some more props!

Here is a bridge:


And a Torii (wip):

Poinball

Nice job ! Look very cool

Royall

After some time of coding, I am back on the art side of my game. Still, I am not satisfied with the overall feel of the environment, colors and textures.

The overall scene looks to 'green' and it has a bit of a tropical setting to me which is not the look I wanted it to have. I am trying to create a stylized oriental setting, and I think it still needs some tweaking.

Hope you guys can still give me some directions

This is the scene I currently have: