Capturing the ideal atmosphere Options

[Vexus]

Hi there, I got some ideas for my next planned project when I get some progress done on the current one and I'm posting here to see what people think about it.

To keep it short I'm planning on a survival horror game but unlike the rest of the projects I've seen mine would be all in black and white apart of the red colour (Ala sin city).

Here's a screen utilising said idea using a map of somnium:


(I'm going to use more modern mapping, this screen was only a test to see how it looked.)

What do you people think about this?

Also should the red be only visible for the blood or for more stuff would be better? (Like flowers, red roofs from houses, banners, flags, etc etc)

This post has been edited by Vexus: Mar 7 2012, 06:05 AM

[amerk]

If done right, red will stand out very well with a black and white background. While I don't think you should overdue the red so it detracts from the rest of the atmosphere, I think you should probably do more than just blood. Find a theme that the color red will work for, since part of a gaming experience is for the player to search beyond the physical surface in order to find hidden meanings.

For example, if your game was more about the evils that befall certain members of society, red could represent blood, lust, passion. Imagine what people would think if red was for both blood and roses in your game. The blood would be obvious, but now the player is attracted to the meaning behind roses as well.

Anyways, just some ideas to help you along.

[Vexus]

Currently I'm only just planning in my mind but I have no real motive on showing red on flowers, roofs etc just thought it might make the scenery more "creepy".

[Kaust]

Its a good idea, especially if used thematically as amerk suggested.
Personally I wouldn't go with red as its a little cliche and so is the idea of emphasizing blood with it. I think for a more subtle overall horror I'd go with a dark shade of blue, I don't know why, perhaps its just my aesthetics but it strikes me as creepy. I suppose while colour signifiers are specific to the individual you could probably find a general colour~emotion guide out there (red for anger, that kinda crap, ahem, stuff) if thats a route you end up interested in.
In regards to that screen specifically I found it kinda strange there was no red for the residual heat of the fire (its still smoking after all) but I cant really think of too many red things you'd find in a forest anyways

[Vexus]

I somehow agree with you kaust, the red might be a bit cliched but if the game is going to be black and white like I'm planning I can't use a darker colour else I would have probably tried something like black blood.

In the game house of the dead you could change in the settings what the colour of the zombies blood looked like and the 2 colours that made them more disgusting was black blood or greenish blood.

A new screen still using somnium map as example as I don't want to spend a lot of time on it for now is this:



How the blood looks on the corpses, still not sure about the red on the flowers but this is why I posted a thread here since it's still a theory.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Mar 8 2012, 05:48 AM

[Cleril]

I somehow agree with you kaust, the red might be a bit cliched but if the game is going to be black and white like I'm planning I can't use a darker colour else I would have probably tried something like black blood.

In the game house of the dead you could change in the settings what the colour of the zombies blood looked like and the 2 colours that made them more disgusting was black blood or greenish blood.

A new screen still using somnium map as example as I don't want to spend a lot of time on it for now is this:



How the blood looks on the corpses, still not sure about the red on the flowers but this is why I posted a thread here since it's still a theory.

Nope, throws me off, the flowers are terrible in design of what you're going for.

Order of events: Oh, a red flower, fog, spooky, noire, I like. What's that on the oh dear god so much red!

Either use less flowers or just make blood the only thing have color in your game. That much red is just so terribly put to use. Remember: Highlights, not extensions.

[Vexus]

Like I said twice the screenshot is an example with the black and white with red effects on a map of somnium, don't take what the map looks like as if it will be like that as I'm going to try and do it in a more modern environment.

Anyway I thought the same, having too much stuff in red would be distracting or make the red more common than I want it to. This is why I did a thread here because it's something different than I've ever worked on and I'm trying to start with a more planned out plot instead of mapping first think later this time.

Apart of the flowers colour does the corpse blood look good?

(I'm not trying to offend you or anything, I'm sorry if it sounds like that.)

[Cleril]

Like I said twice the screenshot is an example with the black and white with red effects on a map of somnium, don't take what the map looks like as if it will be like that as I'm going to try and do it in a more modern environment.

Anyway I thought the same, having too much stuff in red would be distracting or make the red more common than I want it to. This is why I did a thread here because it's something different than I've ever worked on and I'm trying to start with a more planned out plot instead of mapping first think later this time.

Apart of the flowers colour does the corpse blood look good?

(I'm not trying to offend you or anything, I'm sorry if it sounds like that.)

Blood is nice and subtle, which could also aid the theming of the game. I at first didn't even notice the blood of course.

[Kaust]

Either use less flowers or just make blood the only thing have color in your game. That much red is just so terribly put to use. Remember: Highlights, not extensions.

Agreed, to an extent (I would have gone with less flowers but it is just a sample map). You have to keep in mind Vexus that if you do just use colour for blood then visually mapping will fall into the background, so to speak, whereas you dont want to make too many things red and become inconsistent with its use later.

The zombies look great blood-wise, very effective. Maybe have a few different ones though? One's lost an arm, one has blood round its mouth, that kinda stuff. Not massive changes just altering the first sprite a little. Also maybe a few female zombies.
Also perhaps a few consequences to the environment (yeah its a sample map I'm just riffing ) a corpse or two lying around (never get why these don't become zombies themselves in the films) some blood on the floor, even the walls, that sorta stuff.

[Vexus]

I only tried experimenting on one zombie for now but currently I found 3 different sprites (Well one of them has very few blood but I'll add some) and editing some blood or missing body parts won't be that hard when I have some examples.

Not a bad idea on having some zombies with an arm bitten or with only 1 arm (Could try also some crawling ones) I'll be sure on trying that.

Yeah lying corpses on the ground will be a tough call since they should "technically" be zombies too, maybe making down corpses with their faces/body splattered into pieces to make some "sense".

I'm still searching for some modern maps (All I can find by modern is medieval or sci-fi as if these are modern >_>) but I will do some forests in the project, it can make the game more intense when your running away from some zombies in the woods thinking your safe then suddenly you get surrounded because you couldn't see there where more wandering into the forest.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Mar 8 2012, 12:22 PM

[Vexus]

Say kaust(Anyone) what do you say about these different versions I made just now of the same one:



(They are complete on all sides but I want them exclusive for my project.)

Now the only different pose I don't know how am I going to do is a crawling version (Also some versions with some of the torso torn/bitten off)

This post has been edited by Vexus: Mar 10 2012, 01:10 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

Either that, or have thematic use of color. One of the Dragon Quest games had a dark world, but the fire and water were both their natural colors. I'd suggest getting two flower colors, and having all but one of these flowers grey, drawing attention to that one.

[Kaust]

They look really good man, I'm impressed how quickly you got them done.
I think the middle one would look better with like one quarter/half-arm or something, looks a little too clean cut to have the same amount removed from both sides, but its no big deal really.
For crawling have you played the COD zombie game? They have crawler zombies if its hard to imagine how they'd move. They'd probably be a real challenge to animate with sprites though. You could try a one-legged zombie if crawlers don't pan out I suppose. Hoppings a little too jovial for a horror game though, and why should the zombies have all the fun?

[Vexus]

Yea I could use the cod zombies but I was kinda looking more for an example on rmxp so I had a better idea on the measurements but all I could find is one for the vx or a baby which "crawls" but I can maybe think of something as work around.

I'll try and edit the arms on the one without them (And also thinking on editing the face/hair for the different versions)

[Edit]

Face edit almost done on the armless zombie.

[Edit 2]

Done, showing front and side:



This post has been edited by Vexus: Mar 10 2012, 05:02 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

How do you do partial greyscale tilesets anyway (the easy way, I can't draw)?

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 10 2012, 05:46 PM

[Vexus]

Photoshop

First you open the desired tileset with photoshop, check if all the transparency is still there before starting any work. Make a copy of the layer and then go image, adjustment and depending on what effect you want to give to the tileset there are several choices like hue, greyscale, colour balance or variations.

Then finally (The tedious part) you check between layer 1 with default colours and erase on the edited one the pieces that you want with default or different colours than the rest of the tileset.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Mar 10 2012, 06:56 PM

[Kaust]

Hmm well you could tint your screen and then rip from your own game?
Never tried it, might be more longwinded than actually using editing software, sounds like it could work though.

Edit: ^Vexus beat me to it while I was coming up with my unnecessarily convoluted plan xD

[bulmabriefs144]

Don't have/use photoshop (I found it somewhat limited in most cases I used it, possibly because I had the trial version). I use this.

http://www.irfanview.com/

And also iDraw.

The first one does in fact do full greyscale conversion (and some really neat formatting where you can change to lower quality without losing color, for 2k3 since it doesn't support true color). But it has no real art tools. The thing that usually goes wrong is that all color switches to greyscale and I'm stuck (I even tried importing stuff).

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 10 2012, 06:47 PM

[Vexus]

Sorry never used that program but I have to warn you about 1 thing about the photoshop method.

I tried also turning some autotiles into black and white and the water ones stopped working together :/ (Tough I tried on rounded ones but they work together before being edited).

I don't know what else to suggest you because before trying this method I asked on another forum if it was even possible to make a screen tint while certain colours being trespassed but none could give an exact answers apart of "Could be possible but would be hard".

[Edit]

Made some more edits on the different versions of the same zombie:

I posted earlier a version with the face skin bitten/torn off would like some feedback on that one and now a version with the torso bitten off:



Let me know if they could use some more editing.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Mar 11 2012, 07:16 AM

[SteveJobs]

I like the black and white idea with only red standing out, but the red would have to play
a big role in story or game play imo.

Maybe if you make the colors a bit darker the red would stand out more.
I like survival horror so hopefully I can see this game in later development
good luck!