Feedback: mooktown backdrop idol

[mooktown]

Hi, this wont take up too much of your already stretched forum trolling time! :D

I have some backdrop images that we're using on our next game, a casual audience is the target and we are aiming for a bejeweled2 style zen atmosphere. I want to determine which of these 8 images are peoples 3 most appealing and 3 least appealing: mooktownblog (http://mooktown.blogspot.com/)

Please reply to this post with your list of 3 favourite and 3 least favourite :)

I'll start you off:

like:
backdrop02
backdrop05
backdrop06

dislike:
backdrop03
backdrop04
backdrop07

cheers!
Papamook

[papillon]

Basically, I don't prefer yellow/orange tones.

So I like:
Backdrop 03
Backdrop 07
Backdrop 02

And I am less fond of:
Backdrop 08
Backdrop 05
Backdrop 01

I believe there have been studies showing that people find blue/green more relaxing and yellow more anxiety-inducing, but I could just be making that up. :)

[Nexic]

I like:

02
03
06


Dislike (but still think are pretty good):

01
04
08


I believe there have been studies showing that people find blue/green more relaxing and yellow more anxiety-inducing, but I could just be making that up.


Sounds true to me, I find that red makes me feel a big anxious and blue makes me laid back. All depends on what feeling you are trying to induce I guess :)

[fog4711]

Very nice images.:) Did you create them yourself? I like the general extraterrestrial athmospere of the pics. However IMO some of them
have way too bright suns. Staring into the sun is not my idea of ZEN.
Rather a recipe for blindness :eek:

like:
backdrop02
backdrop03
backdrop06

strongly dislike:
backdrop01
backdrop04
backdrop05
backdrop07

Just my 0.02 €
:) fog

[TheMysteriousStranger]

As for the colour studies - it's an age old design philosophy. I'll see what I can remember from my college courses....

It's all about association. Some colours become associated with commonplace ideas or things...

Red = anger, warning, danger
yellow = energy, happiness
green = growth, nature, is usually considered relaxing
blue = calm, quiet, cold
white = clean, healthy, purity
black = sorrow, regret, emptiness
dark purple = royalty, power, influence

There are also combinations of colours that invoke reactions, such as black and yellow means danger and stay away.

As for the backdrops:

like:
01
03
06

dislike:
08
04

And I'm indifferent to the rest.

[AnthemAudio]

So.......lens flares, huh?

uh-huh...

anyway...I like
02
03
04

dislike

01
08

[Christian]

I think that variety is good for your game, and it is true that some colors induce people to feel different, but, in games you actually want that!, because monotony is boring, too much of the same allways is boring, so, i say that all images are excellent, use them all.

[mooktown]

Very nice images.:) Did you create them yourself? I like the general extraterrestrial athmospere of the pics. However IMO some of them
have way too bright suns. Staring into the sun is not my idea of ZEN.
Rather a recipe for blindness :eek:


Yep, I've been a bit stressed out lately and was told to spend less time working at the computer, so, I took up landscape 'painting' to relax me a bit. These pics are the product of that, which in turn is now livening up a project I had in mind a while back. Funny you mention extraterrestrial as backdrop02 always makes me think of ET :D

In regards to staring at the sun, you're not the only one, but when the images are ingame they are behind a dark transparent game grid image with the game pieces moving ontop of that, so, they're not so blinding when its all together ;)

Thanks for your votes guys, this has been very helpful, I now see that backdrops 1,7 & 8 arnt up to scratch. I'm gonna dump #7 & #8, and I'm going to do some extra work on #1

As for the psychology of colours, this is an area that I hadnt really thought about as I was just out to create things that looked pretty, but, it certainly is something that i'll be thinking about. Cheers!

Round 2 is next Sunday :P

[svero]

Just curious... What tools were used to create these? Mojo world? Anything else

- S

[mooktown]

Paint Shop Pro, 3dsmax and Vue.

[Surrealix]

ick lensflares

There are certainly some I find more appealing to others, but possibly it's good to have an amount of variation as well, as it seems I've gone for the blueish/green backgrounds.

like:
(most of them)
but especially:
03
07
08

(01 and 02 are also quite nice)

dislike:
04 and 05
They make me want to squint against the glare!

[svero]

Paint Shop Pro, 3dsmax and Vue.

What is Vue?

- S

[mooktown]

What is Vue?

- S

its a 3d package used mainly for outdoor natural scenes by e-on software (http://www.e-onsoftware.com/)

a rundown of vue and a really cool video showcasing its features can be found here (http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_5_infinite/)

[soniCron]

a rundown of vue and a really cool video showcasing its features can be found here (http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_5_infinite/) Wow. I'd heard about Vue before, but never looked into it. It looks amazing (http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_5_infinite/video/Vue_5_Infinite_480x270.mov)! And it's only ~$600?! Wow! Now I know what I'm going to get myself for Christmas next year! :) Thanks for introducing me to it, mooktown!

[fog4711]

Oh, now I notice you're located in Australia. Lucky you :cool: Guess you guys 'down under' are used to constant sunshine ;) Anyway, the dark grid seems like a good idea. I would definitely have considered some of the other pics if they handn't been so bright.


In regards to staring at the sun, you're not the only one, but when the images are ingame they are behind a dark transparent game grid image with the game pieces moving ontop of that, so, they're not so blinding when its all together ;)


fog :)

[mooktown]

@Sonicron: no probs Daniel

@Fog4711: Oh, now I notice you're located in Sweden. Lucky you :cool: Guess you guys there are used to beautiful blonde masseuses :D Anyways, thanks for looking, I wanted the pictures to be judged without any game related graphics getting in the way. A demo is a while off yet :)

[mooktown]

The second batch of 8 backdrops are ready for judgement. Again I'm looking for your 3 favourite and 3 least favourite of the 8.

Last weeks judging was very helpful to me as I dumped 2 pics that were no good and updated one pic significantly, without your help I probably wouldnt have noticed they wernt up to scratch! So, I'm hoping that this second excerise will be just as much help :)

All comments and suggestions are welcome!

Cheers,
Papa Mook

[Surrealix]

I like 9, 10, 13 and 15, although 15 could mabye do with some small ripples so we can see that there's water there.

11 doesn't really seem to fit with the rest.

[Sillysoft]

I like:
12
14
16
8

dislike:
9
11

In general, they are all quite nice.

[mooktown]

thanks for the help, i was expecting more, but i guess because i couldnt change the topics title people didnt realise there was more help needed.

I agree about #11 not fitting in with the crowd, its axed, and im not too sure about #14 & #16, maybe they just look a bit dark?

i'll add some slight ripples to #15 and see how it goes

cheers, Paul