So, now I am sick and tired of trying to figure out a good way to move on with my project.The graphics have been through a polish, down res, demake, remastering and devolutioning to the point that I was even thinking of moving it into the greenish Gameboy style.
But at least I have learned a few things.
Each graphical style for any game must serve its gameplay purpose.
Even upping the the resolution means tons of more work.
Even low resolutions means tons of work and is just as much "art" as anything else.
For my current project, the game is centered around characters emotions, and atmospheric environment. This means full 3d is the best,
So let's start using the scientific method: Study the details.
I have tried making 3d hair countless times working for days and weeks before failing and running out of energy for it, but this time I spent 3 weeks and came as close as I find comfortable. I can make a hair like this in approx. two days and that ain't bad.
However, having such hair in the game puts higher pressure on all other assets in a full 3d game, even down to small assets such as the remote on the table, the chairs, curtains and books in the book shelf, or else it looks out of place. So I ditched it as an idea.
This is an example of a scene fitting for the hair. Notice that it has minmal amount of assests, and it has to be at least double. For every scene! This scene was at least 3d dynamic.
This is another test render for a prerendered style. That means things can also be drawn directly into the scene, but it will all be static and 2d except for small animatable objects
So I tried to go smaller down to about 320x200 px.
This is a hallway with sort of a flat perspective. That means things can easier be drawn in straght lines which is faster and more accurate.
...And then a demake again, trying to make a full scene in 2d with the frontal flat perspective. This however ruined the feel of the game totally. It requires a cartoon like character and the darkness in the story will not shine through as I want. Also here I sumbled across the same limitations as in the isometric approach. Small rooms have to be placed side by side and that is very illogical when looking at it.
...And then I upscaled again keeping the same resolution as the previous, focusing on the kitchen which gave the right feel in this attempt. But alas, the 2d character got to such a size that it looked awful.
Aaah I'm going crazy!
But at least I have learned a few things.
Each graphical style for any game must serve its gameplay purpose.
Even upping the the resolution means tons of more work.
Even low resolutions means tons of work and is just as much "art" as anything else.
For my current project, the game is centered around characters emotions, and atmospheric environment. This means full 3d is the best,
So let's start using the scientific method: Study the details.
I have tried making 3d hair countless times working for days and weeks before failing and running out of energy for it, but this time I spent 3 weeks and came as close as I find comfortable. I can make a hair like this in approx. two days and that ain't bad.
However, having such hair in the game puts higher pressure on all other assets in a full 3d game, even down to small assets such as the remote on the table, the chairs, curtains and books in the book shelf, or else it looks out of place. So I ditched it as an idea.
Unity 5 viewport
I'm going to make a tutorial on this at a later point.
This is an example of a scene fitting for the hair. Notice that it has minmal amount of assests, and it has to be at least double. For every scene! This scene was at least 3d dynamic.
Unity 5 viewport
This is another test render for a prerendered style. That means things can also be drawn directly into the scene, but it will all be static and 2d except for small animatable objects
So I tried to go smaller down to about 320x200 px.
This is a hallway with sort of a flat perspective. That means things can easier be drawn in straght lines which is faster and more accurate.
Then I moved back up again making the hallway more hi-res in isometric persctive. Full 3d rendering meant I didn't have to draw perfect lines diagonally. But that too required too many assets.
Another isometric test shot. You can just imagine how many 3d objects have to be made to fill this livingroom... Here I discovered that the isometric perspective have a severe limitation for small spaces with realistic dimensions. Walls have to be removed not to block the character! When moving through even smaller rooms it looks damn ugly.
...And then a demake again, trying to make a full scene in 2d with the frontal flat perspective. This however ruined the feel of the game totally. It requires a cartoon like character and the darkness in the story will not shine through as I want. Also here I sumbled across the same limitations as in the isometric approach. Small rooms have to be placed side by side and that is very illogical when looking at it.
...And then I upscaled again keeping the same resolution as the previous, focusing on the kitchen which gave the right feel in this attempt. But alas, the 2d character got to such a size that it looked awful.
Aaah I'm going crazy!
So I close it up for now with a vegan soy burger...
