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[Pixelulsar]

I started working on a puzzle game, and it looks like this.  For some reason, I think it looks really ugly, but can't figure out why.  Do the tiles need more variation?  Is the texture on the tiles and background bad?  Did I pick bad colours?  The HUD at the side is still a work in progress, It will look better later, I'm mainly focused on the tiles now.  Feedback would really be appreciated.

[Sir Raptor]

To me, it looks a little disorganized. The contrast between the gray and red is a bit too strong, and the rocks have too uniform a pattern, so it feels unnatural. It looks almost more like a lab facility, or an old castle building.

I'd say get rid of the background, as it makes no sense outside of Yume Nikki, and decide whether you want the gray to be patterned or random. The HUD looks fine.

Also, that lava tile feels off. It could be that it's much brighter than anything else on screen, but my theory is that like the rocks, it doesn't look natural. Too symmetrical.

[Pixelulsar]

I was going for a metal like look, how is this?

[gggfhfdh]

how about you actually research what metal looks like

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

anything that uses the spray paint tool as the primary way to texture a tile always has and always will be ugly

[deathtotheweird]

how about you actually research what metal looks like

no need to be a dick about it. the OP is coming here for help not for your smartass remarks.

[Pixelulsar]

anything that uses the spray paint tool as the primary way to texture a tile always has and always will be ugly

What spray paint tool?  Never used it, and the program I made it in doesn't even have it.
There aren't even randomly arranged dots, it's all in organized lines.

[Pixelulsar]

how about you actually research what metal looks like

no need to be a dick about it. the OP is coming here for help not for your smartass remarks.

It is actually I good idea, I will.

Edit: Sorry for the double post.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

anything that uses the spray paint tool as the primary way to texture a tile always has and always will be ugly

What spray paint tool?  Never used it, and the program I made it in doesn't even have it.
There aren't even randomly arranged dots, it's all in organized lines.

either way, it looks equivalent to what is produced from a spray paint tool; if there's an organization i can't seem to grasp it, it looks just like random dots to me

in any case your image has many problems:
- lack of variety
- lack of shadows/shading
- dots that, while not randomly arranged, look randomly arranged

i'd suggest looking at images from similar blocky puzzle games to get ideas about where you're going wrong. the adventures of lolo series for the NES is a good start:

[ink.inc]

anything that uses the spray paint tool as the primary way to texture a tile always has and always will be ugly

What spray paint tool?  Never used it, and the program I made it in doesn't even have it.
There aren't even randomly arranged dots, it's all in organized lines.

Hes talking about the turquoise splattered on the dark gray.

[SolarLune]

The Lolo pic's a good example of how the puzzle is the biggest thing on the screen, not the border / walls. The area where the GUI is is pure black. You could try that.

Also, your visuals lack a bit of perspective - it's like slightly raised flooring (the boundaries) with flat pieces of paper with pictures on them (the lava and door). Make the perspective deeper on the wall edge tiles, and add some depth to the objects within it.

The floor tiles do look spray paint-ish; a more logical texture (like brick, or a grid, or something to that effect) might look better. You probably also want more of a 3D effect than different colors, so try some lighting on stuff like that, rather than varying colors (instead of the dark gray, and then the turquoise, for example).

[Pixelulsar]

anything that uses the spray paint tool as the primary way to texture a tile always has and always will be ugly

What spray paint tool?  Never used it, and the program I made it in doesn't even have it.
There aren't even randomly arranged dots, it's all in organized lines.

Hes talking about the turquoise splattered on the dark gray.

Sorry just realized that, In thought he was talking about the walls.  The floor does have no pattern, your right, but I changed it to bricks and it looks a lot better.

[Pixelulsar]

Re-did everything(except the character in a jar).  Made it have more depth.  I think it looks better, how about you guys.  Might have overused the bricks. 

[emacs]

Definitely better than before, but the red-on-grey is really jarring.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

walls would be better if they were only one tile thick around the edges, not two. would leave more room for puzzles. or you can just fill the outside with black.

i agree about the red on grey being bad color choices. read some pixel art tutorials! that's what they are there for.

[GhostBomb]

It might help add more depth if the walls looked a bit more like walls from the character's perspective.  I can't really find a good example but some games won't tile all the walls with the same tile but will instead make the walls darker the further they are from the actual room, if that makes any sense. :S

[Azure Lazuline]

I think the graphics are fine, but the color choices are pretty bad. The ground is decent but the walls are terrible, try just making them medium/dark gray so they appear less important. This great free book has some stuff about color, and just googling for "color theory" will help a lot too. The red/gray/dark blue scheme for one object is really hard on the eyes.

[moi]

I have no problems with either mockups (I actually prefer the first one), except for the perspective weirdness with the character in the jar

[VoxelHead]

Re-did everything(except the character in a jar).  Made it have more depth.  I think it looks better, how about you guys.  Might have overused the bricks. 

I like it and it is not ugly.

[Pixelulsar]

Added new colours!  That last screenshot was using a really weird pallet, dark colours were blue and lights were red.  I also shoved grey in between.  I don't know what I was thinking at the time. 

Paul, the border will be shrunk, I'm not going to do the black around it because, like you said, I want as much room as possible.


Thanks for all your feedback so far, I think it looks a lot better now.