[FILLED] Looking for artist(s) to develop new style for A Valley Without Wind.

[Huaojozu]

Okay, so here's a couple of pieces that Studio G is working on.  More cartoony than I'd like for the characters, but there are some interesting new techniques in here that I think we can make work from a technical standpoint.  Having some depth to the ground layer is pretty cool, although it would require introducing some new rules to the actual procedural generation to prevent grounds that are too small, etc.  That's a substantial amount of technical work, but it would just really be a layer over top of what we already have, so that's not the end of the world.

This. Is. Gorgeous.

[x4000]

Excellent points on the angled grounds being really problematic and for the reasons you noted; it's not something I've ever experimented with before, so it's good to have some better explanations of why that doesn't work.

Meanwhile, studio H has more concept artwork (this is what they do before handing to their pixel artists so that the pixel art then goes faster).  See attached.

The Sniper2 was something that they submitted a while back but it wasn't the right fit for this time period; still, I think it could be an interesting monster for somewhere else in the game later.

[zebramatt]

You're right: those are more in keeping with the current style.

I've also been leaning towards the more technological sniper drones until that last one. Now I'm thinking something just slightly more technological than that but still very organic would be perfect!

[x4000]

This is the latest from Studio G.  Their comments:

I have attached some variations.
In AVWW_1.jpg the character has a sharper shading, while the others are smoother. The other difference between them all is just the background color.
The grass is not created as tiles yet, it's just a quick draw, but the grass tiles won't be much different from that.

[Coppermantis]

Those are GORGEOUS. I don't like the red lighting on the last one but the others are all great. The Studio H ones are also nice, but the mechanical Sniper drone is better than the Biological one in my opinion.

[x4000]

Yeah -- I'm seriously in love with what Studio G is putting together here.  And very quickly and cost-effectively, I might add.

[yllamana]

It's still a really unfair comparison without larger comparison pieces from the other studios, though. That said, the style is fantastic (though Darren is way better in pink).

And yeah I wasn't offended by the little block guy either. He's cute!

How well these animate will probably be a big question as well, but it's very promising that they screenshot much better than the current game. I think one of its bigger problems is it looks so much better in motion right now.

[goodgimp]

Extremely impressed with those Studio G shots. Not to dismiss the others, I find the other studio work to be pretty amazing too. I have no no artistic talent myself, being somewhat equivalent to week-long frozen meatloaf in terms of ability, but my eyeballs are duly reporting nice things.

I'm not one to complain about AVWW's current graphics, but what I'm seeing in some of those shots I think is really appealing and could go over really well with others who has qualms about the game's look. They look very stylish to me.

[Fiskbit]

That's a substantial improvement over the last version, both in terms of gameplay and aesthetics. Definitely a nice style that I think works well with the game.

[Nypyren]

Whoa, I really like that art in post #258!

[Mánagarmr]

Yeah, the last ones from Studio G was honestly quite spot on. That was some class work right there! Without doubt the best so far.

EDIT: I feel I need to emphasize here a bit. I wasn't a fan of Studio G's earlier renditions with the more "cel-shaded" kind of plastic look. But these latest example just hit the mark spot on. Excellent atmosphere, dimmed colors...I love it to bits. If AVWW looked like that, I'd never stop playing for the simple reason of the awesome eyecandy xD

If I was the one calling the shots, I'd definitely go with Studio G's latest. It feels very much "right" in terms of feeling, atmosphere, coloring and "heroism". Studio K had something going with that monster sprite though. That was really cool too, but I'm finding I like the more soft look of Studio G's latest more.

[Coppermantis]

It's still a really unfair comparison without larger comparison pieces from the other studios, though. That said, the style is fantastic (though Darren is way better in pink).

And yeah I wasn't offended by the little block guy either. He's cute!

Yeah, I'd like to see the Studio H art in-game. The Block Guy is cute, yeah, but AVWW is not a cute game. I like the sprite itself, but it just doesn't fit.

[Mánagarmr]

After having scanned them a fifteenth time, I find that either the first or the third of the latest samples are the ones looking the best. I like the sharped shading of the first for gameplay reasons (easier to see, stands out from the background etc), but the third "looks" better to the eye.

[Jerebaldo1]

Another big upvote for studio G's work; the improvement to Darrel is perfect, like a more badass megaman X!

[Dizzard]

This is the latest from Studio G.  Their comments:

I have attached some variations.
In AVWW_1.jpg the character has a sharper shading, while the others are smoother. The other difference between them all is just the background color.
The grass is not created as tiles yet, it's just a quick draw, but the grass tiles won't be much different from that.

Wow these are really cool. I've been a bit of the AVWW loop for the last while so it's really a huge surprise coming back to all these changes.

I think the third one is my favourite out of all the pictures so far.

Although I personally prefer how the ground/grass looks in the previous more cartoony works. The grass in these newer pics look a bit flat. Apart from that I like the latest ones the most, so much more detail on the buildings and the character.