Thats not a bad cloud at all, I tend to like my clouds blurry at the edges, but basically they're ovals or spheres with different moods impressed apon them by squashing and stretching.
Sorry. Maybe I'll just start referring to everyone and everything as "it." Really, gender differentiation in pronouns should have been trashed ages ago, but... *sigh*
Nice hi-res clouds, Lemur! Those are the sort of clouds that Keen fans can only dream about. Just a couple more colors... and maybe a higher resolution screen... and...
So here's a question for you dithermeisters: How the heck do I get it to work with my mosaic mod? :-) Dithering from White to Black with the two shades of grey works great... and dithering from blue to red can work with the limited purples and browns we've got. But (if you remember the screenshots I've got on my XkyKeen3 preview page,) how in the world am I going to dither my clouds into my sky? O_o
What I've got so far works okay and looks decent enough where I think it'll pass scrutiny (especially after I pattern them (possibly))... but I was curious to see how you all would make it work.
You know, this topic should actually go into the CKCM forum. Get a little discussion and comparison (competition?) of ideas. For example "Okay people, we've got 9 tiles avaliable to make some background detail tiles... I wanna see flowers and weeds, pronto!" :-)
If the patchwork mod is any indication, the CKCM is going to sweep the awards whenever it comes out...
Not if The Patchwork Mod 2 & 3 have anything to do with it.
As for your clouds, note my clouds are underlined with dark cyan, you can use that to dither the bottom of your clouds. Post a pic of your clouds an' we'll see what we can do.
It's when you alternate between two colors to produce a third one. For example, you might use dark green and light green in a checkerboard pattern (each square would be one pixel) to get a medium green.
I gotta say, one of the biggest disadvantages to designing a background with so many carefully placed pixels is that it's hard to put your point items in! Once you get all the pixel work done, it looks great, but actually getting it done is so meticulous!!
(If you can't tell, I'm currently trying to design my point items... come to think of it, that'd be a good discussion for the detail tile topic--what makes good point items?!)
Points should, first and foremost, stand out from the background. It doesn't matter what they are, but if they look like background tiles (or, heaven forbid, hazards), nobody will notice or collect them.
Beyond that, points can look like pretty much anything: treats, toys, math symbols, etc. My opinion is that candy works best, but It's really up to the modder.
I say whatever fits the style of your mod.
Norp the Yorp 2 was in an arboretum, so I picked various fruits. Norp the Yorp 3 was in a human body, so I picked various things you find in there.