Pixel Joint Forum: Beyond The Gates Title Screen [WIP][CC]

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AnimusRex
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 05 August 2016
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Posts: 8

Topic: Beyond The Gates Title Screen [WIP][CC]
Posted: 04 June 2018 at 8:28pm

Hoping to get some feedback on this title screen I'm working on. I want to add more to it, but every time I do, it seems too busy.

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eishiya
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Joined: 04 August 2022
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Posts: 1109

Posted: 05 June 2018 at 4:20am

The AA in the foreground swords is inadequate. When you're dealing with long "steps" (i.e. a line that's just slightly off vertical/horizontal), the AA has to be longer to match, otherwise it doesn't really help make the edge smooth.

From the PJ Pixel Art Tutorial:

The lightest colour on the mountains is barely distinguishable from the middle one, I think they'd look fine with it gone.

The texture on the ground is both very intese for something that is probably a low-importance element, and has the wrong perspective xP Consider not drawing out the entire ground texture, but rather just suggesting it here and there with spots of texture, and at the edges of shadows and such. If you do that, you'll probably make the entire piece less noisy, and thus be able to add more visual elements safely.

You could make the sky both simpler and more interesting at once by texturing the bands of your gradient instead of or in addition to blending between them. You could suggest fog or clouds, or you could use abstract shapes that improve the mood.

What is the light source?

What sort of things do you want to add? Instead of thinking about adding more details, consider the composition as a whole, what would improve it? I think it could use some large framing foreground elements, and something in the far background and maybe something between the foreground and the current background, to better show the scale. You might also want something lighter in front of the character (or to lighten the mountains, e.g. add some atmospheric perspective haze, or some fog) so that they stand out better, as they currently blend into the dark mass of the mountains a bit.

The towers and moon(?) are rather far off to the side. If they're meant to be important, I'd move them a bit away from the edge. I'd also scoot the character in a little as well. That would keep them from drawing the eye off the image, and help fill in the massive empty gap that is the middle of the image.

If the moon and towers are meant to be connected (I thought they might be due to the shared blue colours), maybe centre the moon on top of the middle tower? The moon could use some AA or reduced contrast between the black and light blue outlines on it.

Not sure if it's part of this, but I found the logo a bit hard to read. I'd move the hook on the T in "GATES" down a bit, so that it doesn't overlap the E and gives the stem of the T enough straight length that the letter is recognizable at a glance.

The animated red texture on the letters is a little dizzying. I think it looks cool, but could stand to be darker so that it doesn't stand out so much. It's not a big problem if it stays as-is though.

The step thicknesses on different letters don't match, which looks odd.

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AnimusRex
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 05 August 2016
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Posts: 8

Posted: 05 June 2018 at 10:41pm

Thanks for the feedback!

Do you have any examples of what you mean for "suggesting" a ground texture? I can't think of how it would look good.

The light source is to the left, though it could use some more clarity/work. I originally wanted the moon to be sort of "sucking away" light, but it was a difficult effect to work with.

In terms of sorts of things I want to add; I don't really know. I was going to add some glowing runes to the foreground swords that only showed up in a few frames as they lit up or something, but also any weird hellscape-type stuff. I was looking at some of Barlowe's Hell work as inspiration, so any weird sh*t. A caravan of demons, weird colossus's in the background.

Thanks again for the direction!

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eishiya
Commander

Joined: 04 August 2022
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1109

Posted: 06 June 2018 at 8:20am

Don't have time for an edit this morning so here are a few examples in a variety of styles:

http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/120493.htm

http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/23563.htm (on the left)

http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/53873.htm (in the background)

http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/90396.htm

Notice how in all of these cases, most of the area consists of clusters of solid colours, but there are some details that break them up. The basic idea is that you don't need to draw every single crack, just the bare minimum that the area reads as having cracks.

That'll also help you get away with not calculating the perspective, since all those cracks don't have to be connected in a logical way, cracks of differing sizes due to perspective can just have solid colour between them.

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WIP (Work In Progress)
Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : WIP (Work In Progress)

Author	Message
AnimusRex Seaman Joined: 05 August 2016 Online Status: Offline Posts: 8	Topic: Beyond The Gates Title Screen [WIP][CC] Posted: 04 June 2018 at 8:28pm
	Hoping to get some feedback on this title screen I'm working on. I want to add more to it, but every time I do, it seems too busy.
	IP Logged

eishiya Commander Joined: 04 August 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1109	Posted: 05 June 2018 at 4:20am
	The AA in the foreground swords is inadequate. When you're dealing with long "steps" (i.e. a line that's just slightly off vertical/horizontal), the AA has to be longer to match, otherwise it doesn't really help make the edge smooth. From the PJ Pixel Art Tutorial: The lightest colour on the mountains is barely distinguishable from the middle one, I think they'd look fine with it gone. The texture on the ground is both very intese for something that is probably a low-importance element, and has the wrong perspective xP Consider not drawing out the entire ground texture, but rather just suggesting it here and there with spots of texture, and at the edges of shadows and such. If you do that, you'll probably make the entire piece less noisy, and thus be able to add more visual elements safely. You could make the sky both simpler and more interesting at once by texturing the bands of your gradient instead of or in addition to blending between them. You could suggest fog or clouds, or you could use abstract shapes that improve the mood. What is the light source? What sort of things do you want to add? Instead of thinking about adding more details, consider the composition as a whole, what would improve it? I think it could use some large framing foreground elements, and something in the far background and maybe something between the foreground and the current background, to better show the scale. You might also want something lighter in front of the character (or to lighten the mountains, e.g. add some atmospheric perspective haze, or some fog) so that they stand out better, as they currently blend into the dark mass of the mountains a bit. The towers and moon(?) are rather far off to the side. If they're meant to be important, I'd move them a bit away from the edge. I'd also scoot the character in a little as well. That would keep them from drawing the eye off the image, and help fill in the massive empty gap that is the middle of the image. If the moon and towers are meant to be connected (I thought they might be due to the shared blue colours), maybe centre the moon on top of the middle tower? The moon could use some AA or reduced contrast between the black and light blue outlines on it. Not sure if it's part of this, but I found the logo a bit hard to read. I'd move the hook on the T in "GATES" down a bit, so that it doesn't overlap the E and gives the stem of the T enough straight length that the letter is recognizable at a glance. The animated red texture on the letters is a little dizzying. I think it looks cool, but could stand to be darker so that it doesn't stand out so much. It's not a big problem if it stays as-is though. The step thicknesses on different letters don't match, which looks odd.
	IP Logged

AnimusRex Seaman Joined: 05 August 2016 Online Status: Offline Posts: 8	Posted: 05 June 2018 at 10:41pm
	Thanks for the feedback! Do you have any examples of what you mean for "suggesting" a ground texture? I can't think of how it would look good. The light source is to the left, though it could use some more clarity/work. I originally wanted the moon to be sort of "sucking away" light, but it was a difficult effect to work with. In terms of sorts of things I want to add; I don't really know. I was going to add some glowing runes to the foreground swords that only showed up in a few frames as they lit up or something, but also any weird hellscape-type stuff. I was looking at some of Barlowe's Hell work as inspiration, so any weird sh*t. A caravan of demons, weird colossus's in the background. Thanks again for the direction!
	IP Logged

eishiya Commander Joined: 04 August 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1109	Posted: 06 June 2018 at 8:20am
	Don't have time for an edit this morning so here are a few examples in a variety of styles: http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/120493.htm http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/23563.htm (on the left) http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/53873.htm (in the background) http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/90396.htm Notice how in all of these cases, most of the area consists of clusters of solid colours, but there are some details that break them up. The basic idea is that you don't need to draw every single crack, just the bare minimum that the area reads as having cracks. That'll also help you get away with not calculating the perspective, since all those cracks don't have to be connected in a logical way, cracks of differing sizes due to perspective can just have solid colour between them.
	IP Logged