Graphics Polishing your game (tips) according to big companies!

RangerX

Member
I love fallacies.
So because its huge business' habits it should be better? :p

EDIT:
And I got a question anyways. Can you explain that "cutting" thing better? I don't even understand what you mean. When you scale up something it doesn't look bad, it stays the same if you upscale by a integer value. Else if you scale up you can draw/remake the actual asset at different res. Here again I don't call that "cutting".
 
Last edited:

Bukmand

Member
I love fallacies.
So because its huge business' habits it should be better? :p

EDIT:
And I got a question anyways. Can you explain that "cutting" thing better? I don't even understand what you mean. When you scale up something it doesn't look bad, it stays the same if you upscale by a integer value. Else if you scale up you can draw/remake the actual asset at different res. Here again I don't call that "cutting".
Edited Look above
 

Nux

GameMaker Staff
GameMaker Dev.
And I got a question anyways. Can you explain that "cutting" thing better? I don't even understand what you mean. When you scale up something it doesn't look bad, it stays the same if you upscale by a integer value. Else if you scale up you can draw/remake the actual asset at different res. Here again I don't call that "cutting".
pretty sure he's talking about high quality images and not pixel art - also, by cutting maybe he means cropping images to use a minimal amount of bytes
 

Jezla

Member
Is this for real?

As a consumer, what I look for in a game to indicate polish is not "sweet buttons" and "cutting" (I think you mean cropping) images to "make them look good." Instead, I look at things like grammar and spelling in the text, either in-game descriptions or dialogue or the user interface. I want to see that the game play is consistent, and that it works the way it is advertised. Are the rules for the mechanics consistently followed. If I have to hit a key or button, will it work the same every time? Are there glaring bugs, or do I have to work hard to find them?

Big companies are some of the worst offenders for releasing poorly polished games, so in my opinion, they shouldn't be used as a measuring stick. Fancy graphics and shiny objects do not make a polished game; solid game play and attention to detail is what makes a polished product.
 

Bukmand

Member
Is this for real?

As a consumer, what I look for in a game to indicate polish is not "sweet buttons" and "cutting" (I think you mean cropping) images to "make them look good." Instead, I look at things like grammar and spelling in the text, either in-game descriptions or dialogue or the user interface. I want to see that the game play is consistent, and that it works the way it is advertised. Are the rules for the mechanics consistently followed. If I have to hit a key or button, will it work the same every time? Are there glaring bugs, or do I have to work hard to find them?

Big companies are some of the worst offenders for releasing poorly polished games, so in my opinion, they shouldn't be used as a measuring stick. Fancy graphics and shiny objects do not make a polished game; solid game play and attention to detail is what makes a polished product.
Yes I think I forgot to put gameplay and stuff I said I will edit it :D
 
M

MishMash

Guest
Polishing is very subjective, I define polishing as the process of making your game feel better as a whole. This includes a number of different things:

1) Visual aesthetic improvements:
- Making your game feel alive, subtle details in places which are non-essential, but add to the setting + atmosphere. Particle effects are great for making your scenes feel alive. Visual feedback is also important, if you are firing your gun, you should be able to clearly see and feel from the visuals that something has happened.

2) Sound effects + ambient audio:
- Alot of people overlook the power of ambient tracks + sound effects. They really bring together a game, and improve the feedback you get when performing actions.

3) Controls + response:
A game should be responsive, the control should map to immediate movement and the motion should feel tight and responsive. No accidental/clunky motions that could lead to the player getting frustrated.

4) Gameplay balancing + modifications:
It is important to ensure that your gameplay feels fair and that the gameplay feels rewarding and exciting.

I dont really consider bugs when talking about polishing, but obviously it is a very important factor that your game should not be buggy. Sometimes patchy code can do the trick, but its not ideal (Patchy code being where you cant fix a bug, but you patch up its behaviour to limit the chaos).
 
T

Treecase86

Guest
As I learned though all these years of gaming I could say that. I would be talking about big companies how they are using their stuff.

IMPROVING: SPRITE(IMAGE). (16% Important)
- Don't use scaling, use cutting:
If you using (scaling the image), it will be blurred and buggy, but if you want to make it good, cut it to the most important part. I've played Valve games and Blizzard games, and some others. So they do that. What they do is, the image is very big and has many details, you can't just scale it down to be best, They cut it.


As request by RangerX:
A image of character contains environment and the character, when you downscale from 100% to 50% with (environment and the character) it will blur, but when you only show the character and little environment it will be better.
Look below between image 6 and 2.

wallpaper is normal.


When you downscale a image

USING GUI: (Game user interface). (14% Important)
- They do use shaders a lot, it could lag the game (Particle Flare (that's what they do most, if you want to buy something that is expensive they put a smart Particle Flare)), (Advanced blurring) and sweet buttons between the PLAY Button ETC... by just using the default TEXT FONT.

You could do a lot of Sweet buttons. GMS editor has limit to it, so I use other softwares.
- Adding black lines to the button, making a cool Gradient, and shadows.
Shadows are important they make stuff look real.
- Adding too many sub images to the sprite. like:
HOVER:SPRITE0
CLICKING: SPRITE1;
HOLDING: SPRITE2;
REMOVING CURSOR: SPRITE3
And so on.

- THE GAME PLAY: (55% Important)
As you know the graphics don't matter, but sometimes it matter depends on the game, when you play a game, you want the game to be good, so let's say the game has a story and good graphics and bad gameplay, how would you rate that? Like life is strange(semi good graphic, 90% postive review) or rise of the tomb raider they also have a good game play.
So they have a story and good game play and a good story and mystery people give that 90% postive.

So you want to make a good game game?
put all genres combined.
Mystery.
Good gameplay.
Good Story.
Good graphics.
Good sound effects.
Good horror.
And all that.
and polish that all.

All these big companies do that same thing and people love it.

SHOWING HEALTH ETC...

Big companies hide their hp when no longer needed and so on. so they know what people like or don't like and they do it great.

Thanks, hope I helped you, I may edit this post for more polshing stuff!

EDIT: They use also lighting in images to make it look good.
EDIT: You can use fancy font, I didn't say you shouldn't, I just said that because default font is ugly and only the button they is good.
This would've made more sense in the tutorial sub-forum.
 
M

Misty

Guest
="Bukmand said:
IMPROVING: SPRITE(IMAGE). (16% Important)
- Don't use scaling, use cutting:]
So if I have like an enemy sprite, I should cut off his body, and it will make it look professional?


Thanks I think I'm getting game of the year now, it's only a matter of time, no games have bodiless enemies and I will be the first to have it, people will say how innovative and creative I am, the first in the genre...this post has (literally) saved my life.

Bukmand said:
You could do a lot of Sweet buttons.
Hide the HP bar when it is not needed, [so the player will feel frustrated and not know their hp, so you can be more like EA Games?]
Bukmand said:
I may edit this post for more polshing stuff!
Bukmand said:
only the button they is good.

Jezla said:
Instead, I look at things like grammar and spelling in the text
Don't hate on Bukmand's grammar and spelling, his post is legit.
 
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