[Amnesia] Screenshot criticism thread

[VillainousPotato]

My updated screenshots! tell me whats bad about them.
[image here]

It looks too dark.

Hmm alright. I lightened it up from the last time with box light and some point lights. But I'll add some more light sources.

[Rapture]

Make sure you have pointlights with Shadows turned on. Better the objects cast shadows.

[Hardarm]

Make sure you have pointlights with Shadows turned on. Better the objects cast shadows.

You mean spotlights?

[Acies]

My updated screenshots! tell me whats bad about them.

Spoiler below!

Spoiler below!

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No. 3 has the highest potential lighting-wise IMO. It fits the light shining in from a window during night. I would reduce the boxlight and increase the spotlight to create more contrast. Create some lightdust and subtle billboards.

No. 1 & 2 aren't too interesting lighting-wise. I'm assuming the light in No.2 originates from the lamp to the right in the picture, but the lightcolor doesn't match the lightcolor of the lamp.

[VillainousPotato]

Thank you! I'll get to work on adjusting the lighting again and adding some small billboards.

[Rapture]

Make sure you have pointlights with Shadows turned on. Better the objects cast shadows.

You mean spotlights?

Ya spotlights, I keep confusing the names xD

[CarnivorousJelly]

My updated screenshots! tell me whats bad about them.
[insert images in spoilers here]

Image One

Spoiler below!

First off, I must say that your lighting is getting much better. This is a huge improvement from the first screenshots I saw! It may be a little bit dark for a screenshot but as an in-game map, the lighting levels are perfectly fine given that there are no windows or other light sources around.

The layout of your room seems a little bit larger and empty, even with the table in the middle. Try throwing a rug under the dining table to fill the room a little bit more (found under static objects -> ornaments -> carpet). Perhaps a chandelier on the ceiling (unlit or lit - I'm assuming you want the area dark, so unlit is probably the better option) and some candles on the table would make it look a little bit less empty as well.

You've done a nice job of making sure the chairs at the tables don't all appear the same. It's nice to see you're putting effort into making the room look less monotonous. When you're rotating objects, click the little magnet button in the corner - it gives you more options for rotating the object than just every 15 degree angle (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 etc).

The walls/decorations in general: this is a dining room (from what I can tell) meaning it's going to be a room which would have, at some point, housed a lot of guests. The owner of this house would have put everything s/he was proud of in this room - artwork on the walls, mirrors, candles, maps, portraits, pianos, violins, phonographs, vases, ornate rugs, etc. - for the guests to look at. Any sort of room where guests would be entertained - dining rooms, guest suites, conference rooms, ball rooms, entrance rooms - tend to have the most extravagant decoration. Rooms like bathrooms, kitchens, corridors, libraries, archives, and servant quarters will have minimal - if any - decoration. Along with this, any damage that occurred to these more decorated rooms prior to abandonment would be repaired or at least covered immediately to avoid displeasing aesthetics.

With that, I'm not entirely sure what the object in the far right back corner of your room is. If it's a fridge, perhaps it would be better suited to a kitchen?

I know I said a lot, but the majority of this room looks really really nice. I just worded everything a little bit complicatedly and ended up making it seem like more than it really is. In other words: you're getting better!

Second Image

Spoiler below!

If these are corridors, they're rather wide. You might want to decrease the width a little bit - the smaller an area is, the easier it is to decorate.

I like your use of electric lighting; try placing a pointlight with a radius of 3-5 and the colour 0.25, 0.25, 0.25 by the light - the ceiling around it would be brighter than what it is in your screenshot. Also, make sure your boxlight is passing through the ceiling so that it doesn't appear as a black blob. I forgot to mention that in your previous screenshot as well.
I noticed you have some bookshelves in the background - maybe throw some books and papers on it/the ground around it. Since the room looks pretty destroyed as it is, I would assume the bookshelves aren't in much better condition.

One last thing: turn off hints when you're taking screenshots. Go to the in-game option menu and on the default opening page, there are several checked-off boxes on the left-hand column. One of them says "show hints". Uncheck it and the hints won't show up every time you play through the area.

Third Image

Spoiler below!

Nice work with the decorating! This is definitely looking like some sort of experimentation lab. I could understand how a scientist would want to keep the lab clean and tidy but, for atmospheric purposes, it would be kind of neat looking to splatter some blood decals around the torture table, maybe leave a few dissection tools lying around, a few chemical bottles on tables, a broken chemical bottle with chemicals leaking out of it somewhere, a research paper, just general stuff that makes the room look used.

Side note: those metal closet doors don't close all the way when you're hiding inside them. If you're intending to have a monster come crashing through there, stretch them a little bit so the player can actually close the doors. Or leave them and laugh as the player has a minor breakdown over the fact that they are unable to hide properly in the closets when a monster is breaking down the door. The second option might be better actually, if you want to give the player a heart-attack.

Lighting - That's a really interesting blue light you have shining in the middle there. I'm not sure what the source is, but you could replace it with a shadow-casting spotlight since it seems to be the only source of light in the room. Generally speaking, if you have only one or two light sources which are shining in the same direction or the beams of light don't cross, you can use a shadow-casting spotlight to create a bit more contrast and drama.

Aaaaaand I think that's it. I put everything in categorized spoilers to make navigating it a little bit easier. Hopefully this helps at least a little bit. Feel free to ignore anything/everything I said if you disagree with it

[VillainousPotato]

Thank you everyone! Hopefully I can get this going with at least a decent mapping job.

[wubwub]

Went back and looked at my first map... Decided it needed revamping. What do you guys think?

Old

Spoiler below!

New

Spoiler below!

I definitely didn't just quickly whip the room into shape because this thread needs life.

Edit... only did I just realize (3 days after posting) that I wrote "thread" as "threat"

good!

[CarnivorousJelly]

Oh man, I forgot about those screenshots! That was such a long time ago. Hehe. Euhm, thanks?