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Home Adventure Forums Gaming Adventure 2D Backgrounds in Adventure Games: Do you prefer CG or Hand Drawn?


View Poll Results: CG or Hand Drawn Backgrounds in Third-Person Adventures?
I prefer CG backgrounds. 4 5.88%
I prefer hand drawn backgrounds. 33 48.53%
I couldn't care less as long as the story, characters, puzzles, music, etc. are well done. 31 45.59%
Voters: 68. You may not vote on this poll

 
 
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Old 06-02-2006, 07:39 AM   #21
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I can show some stuff very soon. We just made this change less than a week ago, so the CG backgrounds my friend had done have been scrapped, and the scenes are now being drawn by our other team member. I might have something to show later today, but I'll have to check with him.
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Old 06-02-2006, 08:27 AM   #22
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What would be interesting to see would be the CG backgrounds, and then some of the hand-drawn backgrounds for comparison.
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Old 06-02-2006, 10:52 AM   #23
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I prefer hand drawn or hand painted, by a long shot.
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Old 06-02-2006, 04:33 PM   #24
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First of all, neither of these are final images by any means. ESPECIALLY the hand drawn one. I haven't been able to get in contact with the artist all day to see if he has a completed version yet, and this was just his "test" from about a week ago to prove hand drawn would look good. It is basically a sketch, please understand that.



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Old 06-02-2006, 05:13 PM   #25
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Yeah, if you can pull it off with the hand drawn backgrounds (and decent animation! much more important than pretty graphics, IMO) it will look much better.
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Old 06-03-2006, 02:18 AM   #26
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Here's what some of Curse of Monkey Island's backgrounds look like when reinterpreted with prerenders:

http://goblin.scummbar.com/index.php?side=3d#
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Old 06-03-2006, 12:07 PM   #27
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hand drawn all the way.
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Old 06-03-2006, 02:44 PM   #28
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If that character is of the style that was going to be overlaid onto the pre-rendered backgrounds then I'd suggest the hand drawn style . I'm not sure that they'd have looked quirky enough to get away with putting them onto the renders...
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Old 06-03-2006, 02:48 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RLacey
If that character is of the style that was going to be overlaid onto the pre-rendered backgrounds then I'd suggest the hand drawn style . I'm not sure that they'd have looked quirky enough to get away with putting them onto the renders...
We tested it on the renders, seemed to work. Still, I think this hand drawn style will be better overall anyway. Plus, the characters won't be quite that cartoony in the final.
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Old 06-04-2006, 12:09 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crapstorm
Actually, the opinion I put forward is that the pen and paintbrush ARE superior to the digital tools. Not all tools are equal. I defy you to find a CGI piece that rivals the artistry of, say, a Norman Rockwell painting.
Here ya go...

...or any of the Ballistic Publishing books...

...to Zbrush central, home of just unbelievable detail and ability...

...running the gamut of 3D CG to hand-painted CG.

Ultimately its the artist, not the tool. Just as there are less-than talented painters/sketchers, there are outstandingly talented CG artists. I'm going to gather you never used a Wacom tablet with Fractal Painter. If you did, you couldn't possibly disparage digital tools with a straight face.

Now, if you're going to fall back on "opinion" and "subjectivity", then I wouldn't make blanket statments like yours authoritatively as fact, as you'd clearly be overwhelmed in the face of truly talented digital artists. Stating that only truly talented artists use non-digital mediums is more a sensational statment than merely just opinion, in my humble opinion.

"I like" is far different than "one must", as far as opinions are concerned.


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Old 06-04-2006, 12:13 AM   #31
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Once a Villain:

Use 3D mockups for quick perspective and blocking out volumes and layout, including even lighting, then go over a render in 2D in Photoshop or Painter with the final work. A LOT of very talented painters use this method for most of their 2D work, mattes or otherwise.
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Old 06-04-2006, 12:40 PM   #32
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Hey everyone. This is Villian's partner in crime here, now responsible for the programming and music.

As far as the visuals go we are going with 2D both for my sanity and because my cousin is a fantastic artist. The CG would have been 10 times better than what you see here but it would have taken far too long to complete. That coupled with the fact I have a lot of my responsibility at my regular job, and this way will be better all around.

I decided to sign up so I could help my buddy out here with talking about our game whenever people might have a question. We are pretty excited about this project. I think it's really going to be something special, especially for an independent game that's literally all self financed.

Oh yeah...go mavs!
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Old 06-04-2006, 12:47 PM   #33
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Welcome, DocBass, we already hate your game!




Just kidding, of course.
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Old 06-04-2006, 04:09 PM   #34
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I think it would've looked pretty good either way, possibly better with the 3D. If the 2D's going to be as much more practical as it sounds though, that's probably the way to go. Is Once Upon a Time in Japan inspired by the Leone films, Once Upon a Time in China, or just a cool sounding title?
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Old 06-04-2006, 04:18 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Junkface
I think it would've looked pretty good either way, possibly better with the 3D. If the 2D's going to be as much more practical as it sounds though, that's probably the way to go. Is Once Upon a Time in Japan inspired by the Leone films, Once Upon a Time in China, or just a cool sounding title?
It's inspired by all of those. Actually, the story itself isn't inspired by anything in those movies, but there hasn't been a Once Upon a Time in Japan title for a movie or game, so I did borrow the name from the movies and changed the location to Japan.
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Old 06-20-2006, 01:16 PM   #36
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I prefer hand drawn art because, since the 1990's, they never seem to go out of date as such. With many hand drawn games, AGs or even RPGs and others, they keep their atmosphere whilst 3D, CGI games seem to loose their appeal most of the time when more superior games come along.

when I first played Shenmue it blew me away. I've just started the game again last week and I barely cared for the detail. It's still good, but I found it hard to imagine that 6 years ago it was as ground breaking as it was. The game has a slightly less feeling of atmosphere this time. However, I still feel as welcome in games such as Discworld Noir and Grim Fandango and BS1 as I have always done, which is partly why I still enjoy playing them.

But that's just MO though. Now it's time for all of you to rip me apart as you usually do.
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Old 06-20-2006, 01:31 PM   #37
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I've always thought 2D was more stylish and fitting for the adventure game genre. But 3D is finally at a point where full-resolution 2D "textures" can be overlaid on the wireframes without compromise in quality, creating some very unique looking games.

In my opinion, "The Curse of Monkey Island" was the crowning achievement of 2d hand-drawn animated games. It was just so... perfect.



I have faith that LucasArts will surprise us one day with a new original game featuring hand-drawn 2d artwork. You'll see!

Last edited by eriq; 06-20-2006 at 01:48 PM.
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Old 06-20-2006, 03:12 PM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eriq
In my opinion, "The Curse of Monkey Island" was the crowning achievement of 2d hand-drawn animated games. It was just so... perfect.
Agreed.
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Old 06-20-2006, 05:44 PM   #39
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It's a beautiful example, Eriq, because Curse of Monkey Island was succeeded by a completely CGI game, which didn't have half the artistry or style. Hands rule.
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Old 06-21-2006, 03:37 AM   #40
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Hands certainly rule, but let's not forget that gorgeous CGI pieces such as Riba by Yves Dalbiez, Elise Garcette and Laurent Leleu are also crafted by human hands.
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