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[Saint]

I've been looking around for inspiration on outdoors backgrounds for 2D platform games. Problem is, most commercial games use either 3D graphics or tiled backgrounds of one sort of the other and while that certainly has some charm we have a lot more alternatives nowadays =)

I also looked at Odin Sphere and the like, but even though it was very pretty, the gameplay was kind of flat; for instance they never showed anything below ground.

I guess what I am looking for is graphics that you could use in a platform game with some exploration, more detailed than tiles but not as detailed as a single unique background image for every new screen. Aquaria is perfect, and so is Braid - but I am looking for more inspiration and more diverse environments.

Any ideas?

[Jolli]

combine lots of environments together. 

[Montoli]

Aquaria uses tiles, or something like them, depending on how you define them.

They're not regularly spaced or aligned (which may disqualify them from tile-hood, depending on your definition) but it does use a "palette" of images that they build the worlds out of by placing them around.

Or so it seems from how far I've gotten, at least.


Not trying to be a nay-sayer, but generally speaking, as far as I can tell, your options for backgrounds are either pre-created and arranged/transformed graphics of some size or something you generate programatically.

[Saint]

Aquaria uses tiles, or something like them, depending on how you define them.

They're not regularly spaced or aligned (which may disqualify them from tile-hood, depending on your definition) but it does use a "palette" of images that they build the worlds out of by placing them around.

Or so it seems from how far I've gotten, at least.

Yes, this becomes quite obvious if you use the editor. It's also the general idea I'm looking to use, sorry if I was unclear about that.

What I'm trying to avoid is the use of small fixed-size tiles so that it becomes really obvious that the background is tiled (like in 8 and 16-bit games), and the use of prerendered (drawn, or whatever) graphics that are locked enough in a certain perspective that they have to be positioned on specific parts of the screen in order to not look weird.

Aquaria does it very well with the background objects but most of the walls are just thin pieces of rock bordering the darkness - this works perfectly considering it takes place in a cave underwater but it would look weird elsewhere. Braid is close to what I want as well, even though it's more of a fixed, artsy background.

Both are good sources of inspiration, I'm just looking for more.

[GP Lackey]

You might find that what you're looking for hasn't been done very much in games.  I recommend knocking out some rough mockups yourself just so you can decide what works and what doesn't.

You could look at Legend of Mana for PSX which has many ideas you could use even though it uses an inclined viewpoint.  Some of the areas like the caves are practically sideview anyway.

Grim Grimoire for PS2 uses painted backgrounds and I'm pretty sure uses a straight side view perspective too.

[Saint]

You might find that what you're looking for hasn't been done very much in games.  I recommend knocking out some rough mockups yourself just so you can decide what works and what doesn't.

Yeah, that's why I'm asking about it =) ... I'm not that good at drawing landscapes myself, so I figured I'd collect some more reference material for perspective and lighting before I start working on it myself.

Thanks for the tips, though. I can't believe I didn't look at Legend of Mana earlier - maybe I should just go through my own collection of games before asking silly questions =)

[Guert]

Fighting games are a good example of games that do not use "tiled" backgrounds (even tho they are).

Remember that a good tiled background is one that you don't feel tiled at all.

As was mentionned, the best way to go is to make them yourself. Search National geographics or other places where they show landscapes from around the world. It'll help you get started. Another thing, know your tech limits before you start elaborating some backgrounds like that. It'll affect how big the background will be and how much detail you can cram in (if you have to tile). The more you know about your tech limits, the more you'll be able to push the boundaries.

I personaly made a few tiled backgrounds for a gba title. I can show you if you wanna or if you think it can inspire you a bit.

Later!

[Saint]

...I personaly made a few tiled backgrounds for a gba title. I can show you if you wanna or if you think it can inspire you a bit.

Thanks! Anything would be great =)

... And at this point I'm looking more for inspiration and reference material for how to portray nature in 2D from a side view without it looking weird, so tech limits aren't really an issue... yet.

[Oracle]

What I'm trying to avoid is the use of small fixed-size tiles so that it becomes really obvious that the background is tiled (like in 8 and 16-bit games), and the use of prerendered (drawn, or whatever) graphics that are locked enough in a certain perspective that they have to be positioned on specific parts of the screen in order to not look weird.

Two things actually affect the "tile fixed" status of the graphics department, not the actual small tiles;
1) How "clever" usage of tiles and design of tiles you use; and that was how some technically limited games got around the "tiled look"
2) The number of tiles you can use.

If you dont have technical limitations, you cant just make lots of variations of tiles to break up the monotony.
The "tiled" look generally was a common (tho, not always, a few games break the rule), because they had technical limitations regarding the number of tiles, as technology progressed, they had more space to toy around with more and more tiles to break monotony.

Ill look up some examples, but Henk Nieborg comes to mind, as a great way to break tiles, under a lot of tech limitations.

[Alex May]

Unless you want to create your backgrounds out of polygonal meshes, you'll be using some kind of stamp system like Aquaria or Braid. A tile map is the same thing, except your stamps have to be square and in a grid. Another alternative might be to procedurally generate your environment in one way or another, either producing a polygonal mesh or a set of stamps as mentioned, or perhaps a bitmap of the level.

[Saint]

Ill look up some examples, but Henk Nieborg comes to mind, as a great way to break tiles, under a lot of tech limitations.

Wow, I see what you're talking about. I've only seen the first pages of the google image search so far, but I'll have to look for more of his work.

...

To clarify, I know the sorts of technology I'll be using and it'll be heavily reliant on static sprites, or "stamps" as you call them - at least for this iteration. What I'm looking for is inspiration for how to draw such graphics to make it look "right" for a large area that can scroll large distances in any direction. So basically just screenshots from games with great 2D graphics.

... I have a pretty good idea of what I need, but I seem to have some problems expressing how this differs from what I don't need, and maybe that is why I need help finding it... Sorry =/

[Guert]

A few samples:




And that Henk Nieborg is awesome!

[Saint]

A few samples:

And that Henk Nieborg is awesome!

Those are very nice, I especially like the one one with the snow and how you managed to portray the clouds with such few colors (it occurs to me that I could've just checked your webpage... Oh well). Thanks!
 
The perspective isn't quite the one I'll be using since the view of the ground is slightly inclined, but the backgrounds are similar.

[Guert]

Yeah, these are not plateformer tiles but the same "concept" will apply.

It'll be even simpler with your angle than mine since, as you may have notice, my perspective is "forced". If I'd use a "correct" perpective, it would've looked quite weird.