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

[Mánagarmr]

Awesomesauce! Bring on the goodies!

[Martyn van Buren]

By the way, something that worries me a bit --- how are we going to know from the samples given that any of the studios' work will look good when chopped up and remixed by the procedural engine?

[x4000]

By the way, something that worries me a bit --- how are we going to know from the samples given that any of the studios' work will look good when chopped up and remixed by the procedural engine?

Well, most of the major elements don't actually get chopped up: characters, buildings, backgrounds, enemies, objects, etc.  Only the ground really has that happen, and the grass on the ground, and the doodads that would newly be placed on the ground to break up the repetitive tiling.  Beyond that it's just a matter of how things are arranged, now how they are chopped up -- most things are not tile-based in this game.  In act, the only things that are is the ground.

[Martyn van Buren]

So to take G as an example, there are two buildings in the near background, one of which is the start of a row of buildings receding into the distance.  I've been assuming that these are two separate "blocks" of scenery and that the bright buildings at the front are going to be the enterable buildings of the town.  Am I reading it right?  The darker buildings in the background, are they going to be repeated as a block every few times the front building turns up?  Or are they actually part of a single repeated background we're going to see in the same form in every abandoned town if we go with this design?  Sorry if that doesn't make any sense.

[x4000]

It's pretty much like now.  G's scene is actually built out of stuff that tiles (aside from their grass, which was a rough sketch).  So that means there are the following layers:

1. Sky layers (several, actually)
2. Background parallax layers (2 -- in this case, the distant buildings you refer to).
3. Actual interactive objects that you walk past (buildings, trees, and so forth -- the two buildings in the foreground are this).
4. The actual main index of characters and monsters and crates and walls/grounds and spells that you would normally collide with, plus their attendant doodads and details.
5. Any sort of foreground stuff that your characters/spells walk behind.  Usually there's not much of this.

[Martyn van Buren]

Okay, cool; so I assumed. 

[nanostrike]

I just hope H's new efforts aren't as nausea-inducing as their last one...

[x4000]

I just hope H's new efforts aren't as nausea-inducing as their last one...

That one wasn't an effort in the same vein -- it was a sketch, not a final-quality art piece.  And the sketch was actually four sketches by four artists cobbled together to show what could be possible.  Big communication misunderstanding there, basically, but we got it worked out this weekend.  I think that, based on their other work I've seen, their final-quality stuff this week will be impressive.  We shall see.

[x4000]

Here are the first four of eight from studio H with different of their artists all doing differently-styled mockups.

[madcow]

I really like the second of those four. I like the first but its also way too rough to tell what it would actually end up looking like.

Incidentally, my art style preferences might be slightly influenced by the fact that I think "A Braid Without Wind" would be a cool look. Though I doubt many would agree with that!

[Mick]

I really like the painterly look, but I find that still images can be deceptive.

[Hearteater]

1 - It's not final, but I really like the feel it evokes.  The guy/gal looks very much like a pretty boy Chaos Space Marine.
2 - Good, but something about the character pose seems off to me.  Looks kind of like this guy.
3 - Least favorite.  Very flat to me, too little distinction between character and background.
4 - Nice background, works very well for me.

[konfuzed]

I LOVE the style of the first one. Too bad it's not a bit more finalized.

[Coppermantis]

The first and last are my favorites of those.

[keith.lamothe]

1 - It's not final, but I really like the feel it evokes.  The guy/gal looks very much like a pretty boy Chaos Space Marine.

There are Chaos Space Marines with a full mane of hair left?  I don't recall one with a truly intact face.

That character's my favorite bit of all the art thus far