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Development Info Dead State Design Update: Meet the Team

Joined
Oct 19, 2010
Messages
3,524
Glad to see lots of constructive criticism in this thread.

concept1n.jpg


- The artist has not decided on the positioning of light sources beforehand, so each character and object is lit in a different way. Next time sketch the position and the direction of the light source in before adding shadow, highlight or colour. Same problem occurs with the hills outside, which looks like a painting rather than a window with depth.

- Not defining the perspective formally has made you lazy when drawing things like the cork board, the chair and the frame of the window. They all contradict the perspective implied by the walls.

- The woman with the gun would have been easier to draw and would've looked a lot better if she had been holding the gun in front of her, angled downward, and this is a valid place to load the gun from, which is the suggestion you want from it.

- Chain link fence is metallic so you can get away with the brightness from the specularity. Don't both drawing shadows onto it, but you probably should reduce opacity when the chain is so thick

- Drawing the whole image in a single layer will encourage you to be lazy with definition. Next time put distinct objects in separate layers so your outlines are preserved. This will help in appreciating the lighting of each object better as well. The people outside even look like they are playing soccer or dodgeball or something. The poor guy at the window looks like he is disappointed that he can't go out to play with them.

- Photoshop is your friend. Learn the filters and layer effects to complement your hand-drawn detail as they help you be consistent and the process will be more economical overall

- I would have gone for a wider shot that is more zoomed out, and added in more characters. It feels cramped which although might make sense to some, does not in a school with a handful of survivors. It should feel hollow and abandoned

- Soft light, shadow & outline makes the image appear to have less definition even when it doesn't. A common mistake for those without experience, and the old adage of 'less is more' is an important lesson to learn in putting detail into your images...

...


...You are obviously still learning so this really wasn't directed at you the artist, but to Jaesun who doesn't understand that just because someone voices their dislike of something without a wall of text like this, doesn't make them wrong or irrelevant in their opinion.

If the artist of the image above is the same artist of the portrait images, then you have shown a lot of improvement already. Still, I am not a fan of the art style shown, partly because it makes me think of the Goosebumps art (Chucky-esque and made for children) and partly because it is too disconnected from the visuals of the 3D world. There is nothing inherently wrong with it, I might even like it if I could see it reflected in the rest of the game.


Anyway, many artists obviously make the work go faster, but be prepared to be picked apart for inconsistent visuals, because that is where you are at the moment.


Looking forward to hearing some of your music.
 

TwinkieGorilla

does a good job.
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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pathfinder: Wrath
The graphics don't look like Mass Effect 3! Not even close to Mass Effect 2! That means the game will be terrible! How can someone make a game today with such old graphics! And what about that interface? It's 2012! Where's my windows aero look?! Turnbased is already bad enough for immersion but with such graphics the game is gonna become terrible!

Nice scarecrow, dawg. What you use? Straw?
 

Morkar Left

Guest
The graphics don't look like Mass Effect 3! Not even close to Mass Effect 2! That means the game will be terrible! How can someone make a game today with such old graphics! And what about that interface? It's 2012! Where's my windows aero look?! Turnbased is already bad enough for immersion but with such graphics the game is gonna become terrible!

Nice scarecrow, dawg. What you use? Straw?

It's called sarcasm.
 

Saint_Proverbius

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Behind you.
I am actually very excited about this game. Zombie burnout?? I don't play (well, with some exceptions) FPS so I only had the opportunity to play one game with zombies.

They're not limited to FPS games. There's Atom Zombie Smasher(which rocks), Burn Zombie Burn, Zombie Driver, the Zombie Shooter series, Project Zomboid(which is awesome), Space Pirates and Zombies(which kinda counts, and is awesome), The Walking Dead(the game), All Zombies Must Die, and so on. If 3rd person doesn't count, there's Dead Rising series, and Dead Island.

The problem with most of these are they feature FAST ZOMBIES, because FAST ZOMBIES R KEWL or something. Seriously, if you're going to use fast zombies because you think they're scary because they're fast, just use tigers. Tigers are faster, jump higher, and have scary fangs.

Fast zombies are also easier to make a game about since people are used to action games where mobs run at them. It's a no brainer. Just toss a zombie model on the fast moving AI and you have a game with zombies, so you're good to cash in on the zombie craze. It's much harder to bring out the tension of a zombie movie with the typical slower zombies that someone has to do something stupid in order to get eaten or get everyone else eaten.
 

mbpopolano24

Arbiter
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
183
Thanks Saints for the list of games on zombies. I checked some of them but I did not make myself clear. I meant I don't play action / driving / puzzle / arcade / .... games. This is why I am excited about a game with zombie in a genre that I can digest (RPG / strategy, mostly turn-based). On zombies in general, I agree I don't like the current trend to use fast zombies (movies or games). This is why I like to walk, because WHEN the zombies will come (it is just a matter of time, we all know that) the only way to survive will be to outrun them. Sorry, no clever dialogues will save you....
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
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Since this is about the team, how the fuck you guys got together anyway? IIRC there's people from all over the world working on AoD and Dead State, I really would like to know how that worked out...
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
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Jan 7, 2003
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28,035
If you build it, they will come.

That's the magic of the internets. Say, you want to make an awesome trailer. You can do it yourself and pretend that it doesn't suck or you can look around and see if there is a guy who has talent in this particular area. Then you tap him on the shoulder and ask if he likes gladiator movies...
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
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:iseewhatyoudidthere: :lol:

Still, that's not that simple on years-long projects like developing a game...I've seen shorter projects fall apart due conflitant personalities, people slacking of or losing interest. I guess luck/perception on finding reliable people plays a great part, :salute: for you guys getting so far like this.
 

Trash

Pointing and laughing.
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About 8 meters beneath sea level.
I read the Dead State forums a few months back. It looks like it's going to be pretty nifty. The only problems might be ZOMBIE BURN OUT, if that's even possible.

About the only thing I noticed that I thought was really silly was that setting zombies on fire in the game would be really a bad idea since you get a zombie that does fire damage too. Given the game has zombies reacting to sight and noise cues, you'd think it'd be more along the lines of getting a blind zombie that hears very little other than fire crackling in his ears plus fire damage. But that's just me.

This has a very creepy That is not dead which can eternal lie, yet with stranger aeons, even Death may die vibe and all.
 
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The problem with most of these are they feature FAST ZOMBIES, because FAST ZOMBIES R KEWL or something. Seriously, if you're going to use fast zombies because you think they're scary because they're fast, just use tigers. Tigers are faster, jump higher, and have scary fangs.

It's not because they're scary, but because zombies are the classic "mob" monster that can be thrown at the player in seemingly endless hordes.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
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Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Slow zombies could work very well with a "group" movement of opponents. You know, how ToEE sometimes will seemingly allow lots of enemies to move at the same time?

The tactical difference is nil to basic turn-based but i bet the "feel" of a mob moving in lockstep towards your team would be very different, especially with audio/environmental effects
 

Saint_Proverbius

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Behind you.
Look at games like Nation Red where they throw hundreds of millions of fast moving zombies at you and tell me why that game couldn't have slow moving zombies with the "make a noise, attract zombies" idea. It seems to me they want to make most zombie games these days an adrenaline romp as opposed to the traditional Romero-style zombies. I believe it is a twin stick shooter, but you could still make a game fun by making it so the player can get overwhelmed by zombies if they stick to one spot. A reload mechanic alone would make sure the player gets murdered for camping. Instead, they seem to steer more towards arcade-y, "hold the fire button down for the win" style gameplay. I'm sure it has it's place, but GEEZ. Is that all developers can do?
 

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