Graphics Opinion for a "Paper" TC

I'm working on a small TC with graphics drawn in pen, pencil, crayon, etc.

They way I see it, the pros and cond are:
Cursors, and targeting don't work so hot on light backgrounds.

Looking like the objects are drawn directly on the background is cool from a thematic standpoint. Different "papers" for different systems.
Some stellars can be coffe rings, paperclips and such.

With colored backgrounds, I'm still limited to a narrow range as the anti-aliasing on the drawn edges needs to stay blended or it doesn't look seamless anymore. Whereas having a single black background doesn't have this problem.

Perhaps you have a hybrid solution?

Why not something like Sketchfighter with a graph paper background and a parralax(sp?) smudge/stray mark field?

I considered doing something like this, even got 4+ pages of pen/paper graphics drawn up. Doubt if anything will come of it, though. But hey—if it does, we didn't steal eachother's ideas, okay?

I'd be happy to collaborate, Lord Rama.

The problem with sketchfighter, is that it's a white background.
White backgrounds, make translucent sprites INVISIBLE by Nova routines. That means no targeting brackets, no cursor, no engine glows, no stars (even if they look like smudges), etc.

Also, large background images cause much slowdown. I CAN introduce some lines and stuff with acceptable speed, but, again, replacing the stars are out, as they don't work on light backgrounds.

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What the heck? This was supposed to be a poll, but the poll didn't show up. What did I do wrong?

This post has been edited by Desprez : 15 June 2007 - 03:10 AM

Huh, I was actually planning on using a white background, no lines, but a white background. This makes translucent sprites invisible? Too bad.

Just use an off-white background. Most paper isn't completely white anyway.

Manilla perhaps?

Brown-old paper?

Corrugated cardboard?

Sure, as long as the "paper" is dark.

Off-white has the same problem.
Transparency effects are blended using an additive or multiplicative algorythm. Anything in a light range of color is going to cause transparent graphics to turn white, regardless of what color they are. white on off-white is hard to see.

Now brown paper or cardboard are probably ok. But that limits me to brown across the plug, as the ships edges must blend with brown (the anti-aliased edges will have brown in them) If I put that on a different background they may look bad.

Now, if I make the ships drawn on peices of paper that look cut out, the blending goal is different. Any sharp edges can be attributed to the thickness or warp of the slip of paper, so there's a little more leway.

Finally, a starfield on brown paper is a bit unconvincing. I can make the stars look like smudges, wrinkles, or other imperfections - but they will be white, and again this limits the graphic options. And I still have to tell the player to turn off the parallax starfield.
Eliminating the starfield alltogether is not desirable as now the player can't tell what direction they are moving with no frame of reference. It's very disorienting.

Hmm...Have you considered trying to make it work with just a normal background with stars? Use individual sheets of paper to represent the planets and other spobs.

@gutlesswonder, on Jun 16 2007, 07:05 PM, said in Graphics Opinion for a "Paper" TC:

Hmm...Have you considered trying to make it work with just a normal background with stars? Use individual sheets of paper to represent the planets and other spobs.

Yes, that's the whole point of this thread... to see what other people think: Cut out pieces of paper, or drawn directly onto the background.

The edges don't have to blend in with brown; ships in nova look fine that are hovering above non-black planets.

You should have some kind of background movement, whatever you do. Otherwise it'd look really bizarre.

Ok, if I go the cut pieces of paper on some other background...
Which style do you think is best?

(It's a big bug ship, by the way)

@desprez, on Jun 17 2007, 05:34 AM, said in Graphics Opinion for a "Paper" TC:

Ok, if I go the cut pieces of paper on some other background...
Which style do you think is best?

(It's a big bug ship, by the way)

My vote goes to the far right one.

My vote is for the left one.

The right.

Left.

Not the left.