Monday, July 15, 2013

Binding of Isaac - Composition


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9 comments:

  1. I think it's nice you stepped out of the all-technical zone for a bit. Readability is a very important aspect of a game and it's a universal art not dependent on any tech.
    I welcome more examples like this.

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    1. Good to hear you like it :) Yes i think it's important to think about how the game is presented and often it's really hard - especially when you not know where the player looks at :D

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  2. I believe there are some kind of fundamental aspects lacking in the above games as well. From the screenshots you can tell they don't render in a sorted way and that ruins the depth impression quite much as well. Painters algorithm should have been applied. Rendering the furthest away first and the closest last. Essentially meaning in these cases they should have sorted the rendering according to the Y-positions.

    Just a heads up to anyone trying to do something similar. Having proper drawing order would give you a bigger benefit!

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    1. Good point! The overlapping is of course an important part of composition! :)

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  3. Two comics I can think of, from the top of my head, that try to "guide" the viewer's eye in their composition:
    Little Nemo
    and
    Cartoons drawn by Carl Giles
    ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Giles )

    Of course they're not the only ones.
    Comics have been around for centuries by now, so most of them understand composition. Most forms of art do! Comics, movies, manga, architecture, music, furniture design, clothing, video games...
    Two 2D game examples that spring to my mind:
    Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee/Exoddus
    and Rayman.
    Though "top-down" 2D games, like your examples, will probably have a bit more trouble with composition.

    I really like reading your posts, by the way! You make all this feel a lot less daunting, and a lot more interesting. Your cheerfulness comes off perfectly. You should write for Gamasutra or something!

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    1. Thanks for your comment!

      Yes, comics are one of the master classes because they simplify everthing and there's mostly no place for "eyecandy" to prevent the eye from seeing the errors. Also together with a friend i looked at old woodcuts and these are also very cool. Especially when it comes to folds - they were able to create a very volumetric effect by using so little strokes :)

      Thanks man, i don't know what to say. That's a very big compliment and i can only say: Thanks :,)

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  4. Wonderful post, I loved your site.
    Rochell Smart.

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  5. Comics have been around for centuries by now, so most of them understand composition. Most forms of art do! Comics, movies, manga, architecture, music, furniture design, clothing, video games...

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  6. Hello sir, I think it's nice you stepped out of the all-technical zone for a bit. Readability is a very important aspect of a game and it's a universal art not dependent on any tech.

    ReplyDelete