ADVICE REQUEST: Title Screen

Discussion and analysis of graphics, story, levels, and so on.
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XkyRauh
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ADVICE REQUEST: Title Screen

Post by XkyRauh »

hey guys, i spent a couple hours whittling away at my title screen concept (it was originally a solid white bitmap with a black "sketch" pencilled in) and i came up with this:

Image

now, it looks okay, i'm satisfied with Keen's pose, the colors, etc... but i think it's incredibly lackluster and boring. there's no excitement. what can i do to make it more interesting? i'm open for suggestions :-) i want my 2nd mod to be better than my first, so i need help!

thanks in advance

--Xky
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Stickmanofdoom
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hmm...

Post by Stickmanofdoom »

With the name of "episode null" you'd think it's supposed to be boring ;)
if i had to change/add something i would have enemys peeking out from behind the text/blocks. thats the best i can come up with right now! looks pretty good already!
Scizor CT
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Post by Scizor CT »

It'd help if we knew a little more about it...
You've got floating cubes and a target, so I'll assume that this is going to be a bit wacky. Throw in other random things floating around in the gray area to fill space and add a little more depth to it. Not large enough to detract from Keen, but still adding a less dull background.
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Post by KeenRush »

Wow, I like it as it is! :) *drool*
But if I had to, I would suggest the same than others, make something enemy or collectiables there.
Edit: Oh, and maybe some other forum section could be better for this topic.. :)
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JosephBurke
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Hey, awesome logo!

Post by JosephBurke »

Wonderful title screen, as always; though there are some things.

1 - That orb its angle is different from the rest of the screen.
2 - The title at the top is great, but it could use a bit more 3dish; you might try adding a thicker black border and giving it a bit of shade, like the dark yellow on Keens helmet.

It's a little difficult to say anymore, without actually having played the game though.

Since the title screen is the least your problems good job.
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XkyRauh
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re: Topic

Post by XkyRauh »

thanks for the advice, guys :-) next time i've got some free time, i'll see what i can do about enemies + points. the "orb" isn't really an orb, it's a Target--the objective that Keen is striving for. i'm probably going to ditch the red block drifting left and put the green block with Keen over that way, so i can put more stuff in the middle to make that more clear ;-)

btw, KeenRush, you said this should maybe go in a different forum: is this more of a "General" type of thing? :-) there's no "Advice" forum--but i think that's not a bad idea on a modding board lol

--Xky
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Post by KeenRush »

I meant the "General", and seems that it's now moved there. :)
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adurdin
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Post by adurdin »

I'd reckon that having something in the background other than blank grey would help a lot. Perhaps add more things in the background, but don't use black outlines on them, so that they don't stick out as much?
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XkyRauh
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re: title screens

Post by XkyRauh »

alright, here's what i started with:

Image

and everyone said i needed to toss some enemies in, and some stuff in the background (not outlined in black) so here's what i came up with:

Image

but that still seemed a little empty, so i really took a risk and added this:

Image

but it still didn't look quite right... so i reviewed it with a couple artist-y folks i know, and now:

Image

ta-dah! whaddaya think? does the Narln look okay?

advice / comments / etc?

--Xky
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Post by KeenRush »

Wow, the final result is pretty cool! :) I couldn't ever draw anything so well..
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adurdin
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Post by adurdin »

I can't see any differences between the last two...

Anyway, the end result is great -- except for the target. It still looks like it's not a part of the picture. Everything else in the picture is at an angle to the 'camera', and there's a bit of perspective. Maybe making the target at an angle, and adding some shading to it would fix this.
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XkyRauh
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re: differences

Post by XkyRauh »

*laughs* everyone i've asked to look at it says "what's the difference between the 3rd and 4th picture?" ... check out the shading on the foreground Narln's nose. in the 3rd picture, his head is shaded differently. in the 4th, he looks more organic and round.

--Xky
Travis
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Still...

Post by Travis »

It's still hard to even see a difference even after you tell me... Heh, both look great though.

Edit: Oh, yeah. I looked at it again, and the 4th one looks a like better. I saw a difference this time :p
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Post by Ilsoap »

Which episode is this mod for? You might have a difficult time matching up the bitmap with the tiles for a Keen 1-3 mod (and using up the whole screen will use up quite a few tiles that could otherwise be used in your levels).

It looks great, though.
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Keen2

Post by Travis »

I believe his mod will be for Keen 2 since Episode X was for Keen 1, but I could be completely wrong... I'm sure Xky will correct me if I'm wrong.
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