Senior Year Development Thread

[EwanG]

OK, here's what I've done by taking the original image, setting brightness to -127, setting the contrast to 76, using the "Intelligent Scissors Tool" (which lets you select along the lines between colors), and trying to fill in with some appropriate sunset orange and lights coming on colors.

Is this acceptable, or do I need to take it to another level?

[Jake]

I know what you mean...there's a term for that that should be googlable

"Chroma Key"/"Colour Keying"?

But yeah, if I were doing that I'd probably enlarge my image by a factor of four, zoom in and be patient with a polygonal-select tool and then resample down by 0.25 when I was done.

[DaFool]

Hmmm, if the orange fill is on a separate layer you can smooth it a bit by touching it up with Eraser tool and Smudge Tool, trying not to make the picture look edited (though that's essentially what we're doing.). Also apply an overlay gradient (brighter nearer the horizon where the sun is supposedly is). If you can do a two-color gradient where the orange becomes blue at the top all the better. Though I haven't done a sunset myself.

[EwanG]

OK, that gives me a few ideas to try out. I'll see what I can do tomorrow, and try to have a better version for y'all to critique then.

Just when I thought I was finally finished with my artwork...

[EwanG]

OK, went with the slightly easier version to try out some techniques, and this looks much more like what I was hoping for. Let me know if you agree...

[DaFool]

You may want to zoom in and clean up the rough edges, but from afar it looks like an original picture.

In other words, good job!

And another thing, don't forget to make night versions of your character sprites.

[EwanG]

And another thing, don't forget to make night versions of your character sprites.

No, see, my characters are always standing right under the lamp. Yes? Please?

[EwanG]

Weekly Status Update 11-18 to 11-24

Finished all the character art this week, and did add some more customized backgrounds to cover sunset and evening backgrounds. Am surprised that given the variety of backgrounds out there that so few have sunset or evening skies. In fact, the only ones of the generics that do are for some of the school settings. And I find it less likely you will be at a school after dark than at a theater. On the other hand, it continued my development of my Gimp skills, and so I'm probably in better shape if I need anything else.

Made some additional coding progress, but still haven't gotten to Annette's intro. That's a fairly major milestone in this game, in part because it's the only case where you have just one chance to get the girl.

So, that's where I'm at this week. Hope that folks are enjoying keeping up with my progress.

[EwanG]

OK, since there were no responses to the last posting, should I assume that folks actually aren't that interested in a weekly update on the game, and just want to know when I'm ready for vocals and for beta testing?

[magi]

Hmm, I wanted to see some pictures. <---- a visual person here. :3

[PyTom]

I enjoy reading the status reports, even if I have little to say in response.

[dizzcity]

Status reports are actually a good habit, I think... although more for personal edification than actual notifying of the community. They would probably be very useful for determining how long you would take for future projects, serve as a source of good memories during development, and generally keep you accountable to some sort of goal. Plus, it helps other newbies see what production from the inside is like.

I don't always have time or inclination to comment, but I usually read through your reports.

-Dizzy-

[DaFool]

Status reports are actually a good habit, I think... although more for personal edification than actual notifying of the community. They would probably be very useful for determining how long you would take for future projects, serve as a source of good memories during development, and generally keep you accountable to some sort of goal. Plus, it helps other newbies see what production from the inside is like.

I don't always have time or inclination to comment, but I usually read through your reports.

-Dizzy-

Maybe not posting status reports to the general community, but definitely posting status reports to teammembers in collaborative projects go a long way even if just to say "I'm still here I haven't abandoned our project yet."

[mikey]

Well I can say that I do read them, but usually there's nothing to add. And just saying "yeah, cool, keep it up" for the sake of saying something is kind of silly.

Status reports can be a good way of attracting potentional team members - when they see your work is steady, that you can manage the time, they are more likely to participate than when for two weeks things explode and stuff is happening - but then all the bubbles are gone and the project stands still.

[monele]

I also read them and usually have nothing to add since things seem to be going smoothly ^^. But I'm a very feedback-needing person, so I understand the frustration ^^;