Home 3D Art Showcase & Critiques

Untitled Pirate iPhone Game

polycounter lvl 18
Offline / Send Message
odium polycounter lvl 18
Hey guys, just starting a new thread as I didn't want to post WIP media and discussion in the low poly art thread, gets a bit crowded and its not fair to spam that up.

Ok, well the general gist is that MetalMind and myself are creating a Zelda styled, RPG-lite for the iPhone. The general rule of thumb is that it will play just like the old Zelda: Like To The Past game, but with visuals and style more akin to the new DS games, hence the view angle and what not. The iPhones got some meat behind it, but even still everything we are doing is made so that it will (hopefully) look nice but still be smooth and playable. A huge issue with most iPhone games is the control, and thankful I've got a nicer solution to that than huge onscreen buttons that never work.

Anyway, heres some of our current art. Everything is always WIP, so feel free to offer suggestions and if possible, we can look into changing them :p

(Sorry, hosting is still down so having to use Image Shack):

Our hero model. This is made slightly higher res than the world as its seen often in close ups (Shops, talking with people etc), so it makes more sense to have it a little nicer:
iphonepirateshero.jpg

The heros home that displays in the world (I have a lot of world WIP stuff but I'll post that later)
iphonepirateshouse.jpg

Moh's Church that displays in the world:
iphonepirateschurche.jpg

Church Interior:
iphonepirateschurchinsi.jpg

A couple of our misc objects:
iphonepiratesmisc.jpg

Finally a mock up of the view, angle and height, to give you some idea of how things display:
iphonepiratesmockup.jpg

Replies

  • DarthNater
    Offline / Send Message
    DarthNater polycounter lvl 10
    Looks like a winner so far. I don't think your use of texture space could get any better. Why don't you make this for droid instead, then I can play it :P
  • Wells
    Offline / Send Message
    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    I'll just toss out my thoughts, sorry for the chaotic order

    I'm curious why you have redundant textures. You've made two walls [with the windows] that are nearly identical. Same for the triangular eve pieces - mirror the uvs, not the texture.

    looks like the uvs on the corner pieces need to be flipped vertically, as well.

    props look nice.

    all your textures are very monochromatic at the moment, though, and are coming off a bit sterile. everything is a flat color shaded with black and white.

    roof textures look great tiling.

    the church windows, and their sill/rim, don't stand out enough from the stone wall. they need some heavier shadow/border to help them read.

    i think the stained glass could be much more saturated and bold, to really pop.

    coffin, or the stand it's on, shouldn't be the exact same tones as the wall. it's getting lost.
  • nightshade
    that last image reminded me of the 3rd legend of zelda, right after rescuing the princess.
    http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/1483/zelda3000.png

    anyway, it looks really good right now, aside from what was said above.
  • Sam Hatami
    Offline / Send Message
    Sam Hatami polycounter lvl 16
    Sectaurs wrote: »
    I'll just toss out my thoughts, sorry for the chaotic order

    I'm curious why you have redundant textures. You've made two walls [with the windows] that are nearly identical. Same for the triangular eve pieces - mirror the uvs, not the texture.

    looks like the uvs on the corner pieces need to be flipped vertically, as well.

    props look nice.

    all your textures are very monochromatic at the moment, though, and are coming off a bit sterile. everything is a flat color shaded with black and white.

    roof textures look great tiling.

    the church windows, and their sill/rim, don't stand out enough from the stone wall. they need some heavier shadow/border to help them read.

    i think the stained glass could be much more saturated and bold, to really pop.

    coffin, or the stand it's on, shouldn't be the exact same tones as the wall. it's getting lost.

    Ah thanks for the feedback guys.

    I guess I have to explain this one a bit since I made the outside version of the church. When I made the church model I didn't actually think that far ahead as in making it as modular as possible. So you are quite correct that its redundant to have two very similar wall textures (I actually noticed this myself but got to lazy to change it). Point is that they differ in width :P. Thanks for the rest of the points, all very valid.

    EDIT: Actually, I remembered why I did it that way, it's cause of the shading from the roof and the ground grit. Maybe its just not that noticeable
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks for the kind words and feedback so far guys. I'll address somne points and we can work on others :p

    I'm curious why you have redundant textures. You've made two walls [with the windows] that are nearly identical. Same for the triangular eve pieces - mirror the uvs, not the texture.

    I assume this relates to the outdoor church model. The triangular ones were not mirrored simply because its a focal point in a way, but mostly because, well, we had UV map room to spare for it. The two walls look the same on a quick glance but are actually different with different grime patterns and trims.

    looks like the uvs on the corner pieces need to be flipped vertically, as well.[b/]

    Which corner pieces, and on which asset?

    all your textures are very monochromatic at the moment, though, and are coming off a bit sterile. everything is a flat color shaded with black and white.

    There is colour in there, but I wanted to keep it as even in terms of colour/texture/detail as possible. When working on a handheld screen (remember the iphone screen is 480x320 pixels, 3.2inches wide) you want things to stand out a little more and not be totally over the top and busy. That means that while looking at things on a high res it may look a bit odd, when viewed at the correct res it does fit in a lot more. HOWEVER, if there are any serious eyesores by all means point them out and ill give them a once over :p

    the church windows, and their sill/rim, don't stand out enough from the stone wall. they need some heavier shadow/border to help them read.

    i think the stained glass could be much more saturated and bold, to really pop.

    I thought the same things myself.

    coffin, or the stand it's on, shouldn't be the exact same tones as the wall. it's getting lost.

    Again, I feel the same way, the trouble was "WHAT do you change a concrete coffin too, if not grey?". I did think about making it a wooden one instead but then it stands out too much imo.
  • Cap Hotkill
    Offline / Send Message
    Cap Hotkill polycounter lvl 13
    Aye aye captain ^^
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    Ok a few new progress shots, a lot more going on but not exactly near final so won't show those yet, such as the outdoor areas and what not, that needs more polish. Anyway...

    First up is the hero's home where you start the game. Every house has an indoor, where you cna find anything from items to people to speak with. As this is the only thing on the screen, I went with a little more detail seeing as I could push for that here (NOTE: The green on the texture is currently unused space for other things that will show up in the homes. Notice that the texture also includes a bookcase, which isn't seen here):
    pirateshomelarge.jpg

    Heres what it looks like with correct final perspective and resolution:
    pirateshomemockup.jpg

    And heres a new enemy set, the turtle. It comes in two styles, normal and spiked, the spiked hurting the player a lot more if you touch it and its faster:
    piratesturtle.jpg
  • ae.
    Offline / Send Message
    ae. polycounter lvl 12
    looking good bro!
  • Slum
    Offline / Send Message
    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    Pretty cool. One thing I'd say is its looking very grey and flat right now. You could definitely push the hue shift and saturation in the shading of the textures.

    It also might not hurt to play with overall colors. The floor, walls, and fireplace are all bleeding together because they are very similar hue/value range.
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    Thats something I've been fighting with since day one, I can't seem to strike a good balance up that looks right? It either blends too much, or not at all and looks wrong... Can't put my finger on it. Do you have an example of say the indoor of how I could push it differently but still have it look correct and readable?
  • dur23
    Offline / Send Message
    dur23 polycounter lvl 19
    The problem is your ambient. You have no cohesive ambient in the whole scene. Your shadows are grey/black. And most of your objects that you painted some darkness into you used greyish black. Try a dark purple or blue instead. Right now everything is just too diffused.
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    Dark purple/blue shadows? Prey tell what the fudge that would work like as I've never heard of those but am always interested in new styles :p
  • Slum
    Offline / Send Message
    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    Blue shadows come from ambient light bounced by the sky. Might look odd in this interior but give it a try.

    Odd example but it shows somewhat the hue-shift for shading. Notice the brown walls shadow color shifts toward purple.
    http://zs.ffshrine.org/album/link-to-the-past/screens/14.gif

    Half decent trick for cheap cop-out (that I am not fully endorsing but its a good example), is in photoshop when you pick your shade color shift down the hue, and your hilight color shift up the hue. So green would have blue-ish shadows with yellow-ish hilights.
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    hmmm... I dunno, I don't see any purple on that screen at all...? But what I do see is shading that worked best with limited hardware back in the day...? I'll give it some tests though see if I cant come up with something...?

    EDIT: BTW, actual shadows are alpha planes, not into the actual texture, so theres only so much I can do with most as they have to work in all situations.
  • dur23
    Offline / Send Message
    dur23 polycounter lvl 19
    Purple/Blue shadows are real, and are a result of ambient reflections. Not really a style. Grey/black shadows, for the most part, don't really exist (above ground), because the environment is always reflecting light.

    I'll do a quick paint-over on your scene.
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    Thank you. I did do a quick saturation test and I noticed that this scene was VERY flat toned... So I've upped the saturation quite a fait bit.
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    A few changes, still not 100% sure about what to do in the bottom left but tbh I don't want to overfill it:

    pirateshomelarge2.jpg
  • MainManiac
    Offline / Send Message
    MainManiac polycounter lvl 11
    Thats really cool, such simple textures make for perfect eye candy.

    Hand painted or what?
  • Target_Renegade
    Offline / Send Message
    Target_Renegade polycounter lvl 11
    Looking cool, maybe its because the church is mainly grey, the last shot looks more vibrant.
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    Yeah its all hand painted. I did at first try a combo of handpainted with photosource but it just didnt work.
  • Wells
    Offline / Send Message
    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    don't make all the wood the same 'brown = wood' color. even if it's a tiny tweak, i think having the table/stools different from the beams will make a big difference.

    that last shot is looking very good compared to the others. great progress.

    only thing that stands out is the side of the chimney/fireplace. and the light from the fire shouldn't have such a harsh edge, soften it up a bit.



    oh, and that tiling texture on the ground looks very nice. can't really tell it's tiled.
  • TheMadArtist
    Offline / Send Message
    TheMadArtist polycounter lvl 12
    I would almost up the saturation on the floor a bit more, like so

    64541706.gif

    Really nice texture work, the light from the fireplace projected onto the floor is a nice touch.
  • elementrix
    Offline / Send Message
    elementrix polycounter lvl 15
    here is something I did a couple of years ago with little sprites I found on the internet, maybe some inspiration

    http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn288/el-ementrix/lowres-1.gif

    I love this stuff, I'll be following this thread
  • SHEPEIRO
    Offline / Send Message
    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    can you use vertex colours as a multiplier? if so it woudl really be helpfull to add a bit more form to the rooms it wouldnt need many more polys at all is amazing what you can get away with

    roompaintover.jpg

    churchpaintover.jpg
  • serialkiler
    wonderful love this one
    maybe u dont mind to share some wireframes :D

    good job keep it up!
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    No not at all, I'll share any wireframes you like. I'll post a few up in a bit.

    Shep, I love the colour in those screens, they really come alive. The trouble is I'm trying to keep this as fast as possible, while still looking good, hence the vertex lit look it has. Adding light sources to the scene and shadow would increase my overall scene complexity, and ATM I'm aiming for a solid 60FPS no matter whats going on with the action/scene, which it WILL hit. Adding light sources and shadow will mean I can use less overall polygons. I could use lightmaps, but I don't really know how the overall hit would be...

    See, deving on a handheld is a lot less complex than a console but at the same time a lot more brain hurting... My main list of "things to hit" are in this order:

    1) Must control well (Ala Zelda DS)
    2) Must have a smooth frame rate (i.e. unlike most 3d iPhone games)
    3) Must have fun, but simple gameplay (Again like the old snes Zelda, why over complicate it?)
    4) Must look good.

    As usual, its only two guys working on this, so its quite a challenge... The difference is, its a bloody fun one, as I'm used to working with high end next gen stuff, so fitting everything into such tiny limits... Its... Well its actually quite relaxing, and even when somethings hard, its more like a puzzle. I love it.
  • Sam Hatami
    Offline / Send Message
    Sam Hatami polycounter lvl 16
    odium wrote: »

    As usual, its only two guys working on this, so its quite a challenge... The difference is, its a bloody fun one, as I'm used to working with high end next gen stuff, so fitting everything into such tiny limits... Its... Well its actually quite relaxing, and even when somethings hard, its more like a puzzle. I love it.

    Well said brother, well said :)
  • Acumen
    Offline / Send Message
    Acumen polycounter lvl 18
    yet, the thing TheMadArtist did with the floor texture along helps bringing this scene to pop more. i'd definately consider this, it totally helps to tell the different pieces apart and get rido the onecolorpalettestyle ;)
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    To my eyes he made the saturation of the floor far too high, however I'll gladly look into going some place between see if it helps :p

    As requested heres some wires:

    hero360.gif

    swordbn.jpg

    shieldj.jpg

    homemq.jpg
  • SHEPEIRO
    Offline / Send Message
    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    ive done a bit of DS and handheld development in my time and its completely possible and very fast to render the scenes like i painted there using vertex colours alone, you would need to add a few cuts but nothing the scene couldnt cope with maybe 20 extra tris in the room and a few more in the church but still you can get away with very few to give a big effect, absoloutely no need for lightmaps

    the lightsources in the church (torches) could be simple images on alpha planes

    a good way i found for painting meshes with shadows cut in is to split the mesh here and create a selection set for the shadowed faces then its really easy to go in and change the shadows after painting the rest of the scene
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    I just think it over complicates things and will increase the time each scene will take too much at this stage. I like the visual warmth it provides but the workload is already quite a lot :(
  • jkxjkx
    Hi I like this work and I will be following it. Just wondered if you don't mind me asking what software packages you are using for this project including any engines as I think that I would like to experiment with this kind of stuff one day. :)
  • linkov
    Offline / Send Message
    linkov polycounter lvl 10
    perhaps you could mirror left side of that fireplace, and make some room for unique folds on the right side of the bed.

    something like this

    texfix.jpg

    symmetry won't be that obvious, as with the bed.
  • odium
    Offline / Send Message
    odium polycounter lvl 18
    The beds ok to mirror because of the geo, so it makes sense. The fireplace however, is quite obvious that it would be mirrored, as I tested that out before. :(

    Plus theres the whole "Putting a 2x1 object into a 1x1 space" issue :p

    BTW Guys if it seems like a lot of stuff I say "no" with dont take offence, I'm trying to fit a LOT in at the same time as making it better and some changes I know wont work as I tested then before :p So thinks like "saturation/contrast shifts" I can do in a few seconds, but larger geo changes are sometimes more hard, and if I tested them out previously its ok :p
  • serialkiler
    this is amazing nice to see low-poly is still apreciated :D
  • urgaffel
    Offline / Send Message
    urgaffel polycounter lvl 17
    I think it would be worth spending a little time vertex lighting the interiors, it will up the quality considerably and you should be able to do it fairly quickly. It looks good now, don't get me wrong but flipping between sheps edit and the original shows what some tinted vertex colouring would do even without any extra cuts.

    Btw, the coffin could be a differently coloured concrete, add a hint of blue or something.
  • nullfed
    Offline / Send Message
    nullfed polycounter lvl 9
    Chiming in on the vertex colour stuff - you'd be suprised how much difference it would make to almost all of your stuff without very much effort. Even just applying some custom colours into the corners and other occluded areas of your scene with a vertex paint without going into too much effort with geometry cuts and such.

    You'll also get much more reuse and variation out of your textures: the comments about the coffin base, for example: just applying some colours on that area would differentiate it nicely from the the rest of the scene. In general it will help to give focus to the areas you want to pop.

    It is all looking pretty cool though - keep it up!
Sign In or Register to comment.