Elvish Town

[Piranhi]

I still haven't got a name for this project and it's a long way of completion. It wasn't meant to look like WoW, but I think the tree's pretty much put the project on those rails at the moment. I'm still playing around with lighting and adapting the textures, at the minute they are very simple.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/296/92685804.th.jpg (http://img52.imageshack.us/i/92685804.jpg/)http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/452/19293128.th.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/19293128.jpg/)http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5011/53939229.th.jpg (http://img522.imageshack.us/i/53939229.jpg/)http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6176/20427326.th.jpg (http://img88.imageshack.us/i/20427326.jpg/)http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/5954/25811604.th.jpg (http://img192.imageshack.us/i/25811604.jpg/)http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3766/94414924.th.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/i/94414924.jpg/)http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/3254/64476227.th.jpg (http://img20.imageshack.us/i/64476227.jpg/)

[UnspoiledWalnut]

Looks more like Fable to me, Warcraft uses a lot of bright colors. This feels a bit darker.

[heyufool1]

I agree with Unspoiled, and WoW is much more cartoony and nothing is really correctly scaled where yours is more realistic. Aside from the WoW similarities it looks great!

[KazeoHin]

Great use of mood lighting, however I would advise a bit more environment light from the sky. Great mood and atmosphere. Can't wait to see more work.

[danimal']

Woot color! Reminds me of Rivendell tbh, I can imagine you sitting with some stills from LOTR in the background for inspiration :) The only thing you could do to make it WoW'ish would be to start using too much pink/purple post, lighting, or fog, so just don't do that! Yay for color and saturation.

[UnspoiledWalnut]

Blue and pink and red roofs FTW!

[BorisK]

wow thats really good mate. youve always been really good with ur lighting too
soo jealous u have more time than me aha

[SageHunter]

The only thing I don't like is the sharpedged vegatation/leaves. Everything else looks awesome!

[GRoss]

looks great!

[Kaldrick]

Hell, I really could use someone of your talents in my project ;P

[McTavish]

I agree with Unspoiled, and WoW is much more cartoony and nothing is really correctly scaled where yours is more realistic. Aside from the WoW similarities it looks great!

It does look like WOW or it doesnt ? :P

Nice work dude ! I love the building design, the roofs especially lol

[UnspoiledWalnut]

It's doesn't look like WoW!

[Winwarproductions]

I really like your "Elvish town." The only thing that stands out that can be easily fixed is the leaves alpha where some leaves are cut off. Also maybe shrink them as well. I like how colorful the level is. I like games you have to explore and to where you have room to explore. It does have a Fable feel to it. Sadly I haven't played Fable but I seen the trailers.lol. Anyway good job.

[SageHunter]

I really like your "Elvish town." The only thing that stands out that can be easily fixed is the leaves alpha where some leaves are cut off. Also maybe shrink them as well. I like how colorful the level is. I like games you have to explore and to where you have room to explore. It does have a Fable feel to it. Sadly I haven't played Fable but I seen the trailers.lol. Anyway good job.

Fable 2 was... a bit disapointing. Not nearly as much exploration as I expected. And it's way too easy aswell. Should atleast have a hard mode.

[Drevlin]

Pretty cool. I like some of the designs of the buildings. :)
A few crits though:
- In my oppinion, theres a bit too much bloom in the scene, and wheras I usually say "More colour!!!!" in pretty much every crit I ever post, i think this scene is a bit too busy. Like in this picture: http://img192.imageshack.us/i/25811604.jpg/
I just find it really hard to look at it, because every element in the picture is screaming "LOOK AT MEEEEE!". I think you could tone down some elements to make the really important stuff pop more. But hey, thats just me. :)

- The trees doesnt work at all. This picture, put a bit bluntly, does not look good due to trees repeating quite obviously and you can clearly see the alpha planes: http://img7.imageshack.us/i/19293128.jpg/

- Some materials look kind of flat. Like the floor in this picture. The wall/arch on the left looks kind of low res as well: http://img522.imageshack.us/i/53939229.jpg/

Overall, good work. Hoping to see more!

[UnspoiledWalnut]

I think the higher bloom makes it look somewhat realistic. If anything it should be brighter.

[iniside]

For me it's more like LOTRO. Still, looks pretty.

[TheOneandOnly]

Architecturally it does look rather like WoW, graphically it doesn't. Either way it look amazing.

[UnspoiledWalnut]

Architecturally it does look rather like WoW, graphically it doesn't. Either way it look amazing.

It looks like a lot of things architecturally. I thought of Fable more than WoW because of the lighting, but it does have that cartoonish feel to it. Reminds me of the Gypsy camps in Fable 2, and a little bit like Witchwood from the first one but a lot brighter.

You need some Balvarines in there I think. Maybe an Earth Troll and some fat little hobbes wobbling around. THEN it would be Fable.

[heyufool1]

It does look like WOW or it doesnt ?
It doesn't :) I was just pointing out why it doesn't, I guess I did word it weirdly

[ilidrake]

I like it. Too many times people are always saying something looks like this or looks like that. Of course you can find ways to compare any work with anyone else's work. Does it matter? I think it looks great.

[ThePriest909]

Looks good Piranhi!
Now regarding the comments on what it does look like from the existed games or what should be changed from the tech/art side or not... That's up to Piranhi really.
Besides, noone else but us (moders and developers) pay attention at those stuff in majority. The rest of the world just wishes for a good game.

[UnspoiledWalnut]

No one else pays attention to what the game looks like? I don't think that's true at all....

[ThePriest909]

No one else pays attention to what the game looks like? I don't think that's true at all....

That depends on the amount of detail you 're talking about... Most normal people can not realize that the environmental color looks unbalanced in a a scene in comparison with the sky if it's not a "screaming" difference. They still have something in the back of their head bothering them about the looks of it but they can't realize what on earth that is...
How many people have noticed the UV stretches in Crysis stone models when it came out? That's my point...
Anyway let's not highjack this thread.

[Drevlin]

Looks good Piranhi!
Now regarding the comments on what it does look like from the existed games or what should be changed from the tech/art side or not... That's up to Piranhi really.
Besides, noone else but us (moders and developers) pay attention at those stuff in majority. The rest of the world just wishes for a good game.

This is a game dev forum. If you dont want crits from your peers you shouldnt be here. :) Unless specifically stated "DO NOT GIVE CRITS!" in the post Ill be sure to give crits when I feel like there is something I can pinpoint that could be better. References to other games always come about, certainly more so (as proven by this thread) when the original author actually points out that he think it looks like wow.


That depends on the amount of detail you 're talking about... Most normal people can not realize that the environmental color looks unbalanced in a a scene in comparison with the sky if it's not a "screaming" difference. They still have something in the back of their head bothering them about the looks of it but they can't realize what on earth that is...
How many people have noticed the UV stretches in Crysis stone models when it came out? That's my point...
Anyway let's not highjack this thread.

Players might not be able to pinpoint what feels "off", but I think they sure can feel that something is not right when they play a game that is lacking in composition, technical know-how or a general lack of polish. Not saying the project in this thread is lacking in any of that, just replying to your statement.

[Piranhi]

Cheers for the comments guys.

I appreciate and take on board all crits, it's the reason why I post here. Obviously you can't cater for everyone's likes and the designer chooses how the map will eventually turn out,I think that's what ThePriest was trying to get across.
I'm actually in the process of trying to turn this into more of an artistic piece by using post process effects to make it look like a painting, an idea I got from Dave Prout. The April build has also slowed me down as I've pretty much dissected the GDC map to the atomic level.

[ThePriest909]

This is a game dev forum. If you dont want crits from your peers you shouldnt be here. :) Unless specifically stated "DO NOT GIVE CRITS!" in the post Ill be sure to give crits when I feel like there is something I can pinpoint that could be better. References to other games always come about, certainly more so (as proven by this thread) when the original author actually points out that he think it looks like wow.
Players might not be able to pinpoint what feels "off", but I think they sure can feel that something is not right when they play a game that is lacking in composition, technical know-how or a general lack of polish. Not saying the project in this thread is lacking in any of that, just replying to your statement.

Devlin obviously my intentions were Not to say that comments and crits are not wellcome. Besides that is why the sub forum is named "wip". And I personally have post work of mine only for let someone else highlight mistakes I can not see on my own.
All I meant is that the crits should be more constructive and less a personal point of view (or a "super-scan" of super little details just for having something bad to say .... I'm sure you know what I mean), which is something to be changed rapidly as the discussion moves on.

[Piranhi]

Having a play around with post processing, seeing if I can get a sort of painted feel, not cel shaded.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7764/pant3.th.jpg (http://img215.imageshack.us/i/pant3.jpg/)
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8924/paintklol.th.jpg (http://img62.imageshack.us/i/paintklol.jpg/)
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/9388/paint5a.th.jpg (http://img695.imageshack.us/i/paint5a.jpg/)
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5220/paint5.th.jpg (http://img683.imageshack.us/i/paint5.jpg/)
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3935/paint4a.th.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/i/paint4a.jpg/)
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7776/paint2j.th.jpg (http://img38.imageshack.us/i/paint2j.jpg/)
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4910/paint4g.th.jpg (http://img519.imageshack.us/i/paint4g.jpg/)

[JamieG]

Love it! That looks great. It would be cool to start maps with the painterly post-process and transition into the realistic... ;)

[prophet64]

/wow

The originals were amazing, but I never knew you could do this with Post Processing. It reminds me of that level in Oblivion were you go inside the painting.

[ThePriest909]

Impressive Job Piranhi. Just make sure that the effect won't get player's eyes tired.
May I ask if those fallen leaves are decals? (screenshot 1)

[Piranhi]

Cheers, the fallen leaves are just ground clutter. Simple meshes that I add to the foliage layer on the terrain. The ones lying on the meshes are just hand placed, although a decal would probably work better and faster, they don't really give much depth.

[ThePriest909]

Thanks for the info Piranhi! I was looking for an alt way to give some depth to my fallen leaves. I've been using decals but they don't look that good.

[Drevlin]

Devlin obviously my intentions were Not to say that comments and crits are not wellcome. Besides that is why the sub forum is named "wip". And I personally have post work of mine only for let someone else highlight mistakes I can not see on my own.
All I meant is that the crits should be more constructive and less a personal point of view (or a "super-scan" of super little details just for having something bad to say .... I'm sure you know what I mean), which is something to be changed rapidly as the discussion moves on.

Not sure if youre directing that to me or it its just a post in general.
I think what I wrote was as constructive I could be. I try to point out what I feel doesnt work and I explain why. I rarly write "Do this by altering this value to this number" because, well... Theres plenty of tutorials on the net for that and Im not about to do somebody elses R&D. :)
I never write anything with the intention of bringing people down or just so i can complain. I know that I often stare myself blind at the scenes I work on and often miss details, and in turn am thankful when people point out stuff that I otherwise wouldve missed. I dont think the things I wrote were nitpicking though so not sure where that came from.

I did point out in my post that it was not "wrong" or "poorly made", just that I personally would like it better if done differently. And everything I ever write is subjective. If you can point me to the "Game Art Bible" or "Game Design bible" that holds all the right answers I'll be sure to read it, but untill then everything I ever say will be subjective, and I wont apologize for that. :)
If what you wrote was just a post made to the general people around the internets, go for it. Alot of people are assholes whos just out to stop other peoples creative juices from flowing. "Haters" is the term, i think. If it was directed at me then sorry, but I am not one of them. Enough of this tho, we dont want to steal the thread. ;)

[ThePriest909]

Not sure if youre directing that to me or it its just a post in general.


No no! I wasn't directing that to you. Never meant it that way :0)
All I meant is that I'm sure you have noticed similar feedback "comments" around the sub-forum.

[Drevlin]

Alright, then ignore my overpowered defense speach. ;)