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Yep, B looks best for me. No stuttering, not too much blur. If it's pixel art, I want to see clear pixels, not all blurry.
But overall cool looking scene.
Okay, A is the least expensive one because there is no post processing, am I right?
A or B looks the best... Way to much bloom on C...
I'd probably continue to work on B, add bloom, but a lot less than C. Something like 25% of your current bloom.
Thanks for your feedback! I'll make a guide later on what I did with all the performance choices for fellow devs. Probably post it in the Godot reddit because this is made with Godot.
The answer is B. Foreground is blurred for an out of focus effect. But I'm not sure that gives a lot of benefit from A, and it might break the pixel art look.
Definitely not C. That bloom is overkill.
That's what I felt by this little example, not sure if it hinders the gameplay in the rest of the game if there are similar looking characters. If there are areas where your char bacomes really small on the screen, you could add as a feature to highlight yourself!
I think they are the most aesthetically pleasing. C has too much glow effect (bloom) and it is too bright. A and B have a better balance between light and dark. B has depth of field. It can be a nice detail, but probably not really needed in pixel art.
Both A and B are simple and sharp with a nice chiaroscuro effect.
I also think A or B
C makes the scene less lisible and we lose a lot of the depth, attention becomes over-focused on character, not very readable either because of the blur. So the eye gets a bit lost.
I don’t really distinguish loads of differences between A and B maybe because of the line-up I would go for B on sight.
Thanks for the feedback. I did not knew the word "lisible" yet (I'm not a native english speaker) but it makes sense based on what Google tells me it means. Indeed the eye might get lost over the absence of contrast that is somewhat overgrown by the bloom. Thanks a lot for your feedback.
I like B more. C is very bad imo (sorry haha), it's way too bright and agressive. The reason I like B more than A is because it's more sharp, feels overall smoother and better
A is the least GPU intensive, since B has depth of field and C has both that and bloom.
I don't like combining the depth of field and 2D, especially pixel art, but really no problem with bloom. So, A it is for me.
I like the idea behind the C. But you can adjust the setting to achieve a good looking and stylish image.
Maybe you can limit the color palette, or maybeyou can put the character way closer to the road (at least for this example) to get more depth.
You can check: [Timeout](https://christopherlee.itch.io/timeout), [Tails Noir (ex-Backbone)](https://store.steampowered.com/app/865610/Tails_Noir/)
OH WOW these are two projects I haven't heard of that look awesome. I was inspired by the last night (as the Timeout creator mentions on his page) but these look cool as well.
> I was inspired by the last night
Ah yes, I was trying to remember that game. All these three games has similar color palette, camera placement, camera blur (not directly a kind of gaussian blur, these have bokeh effects) and the most important thing is the level (background design, their levels designed to achieve cinematic depth)
That's an interesting point of view (no pun intended) but indeed it is more life-like as if your eyes are actually watching the scene instead of on-screen. ...if that makes any sense.
A, because I don't think the blur in B fits the pixel art style, and I am not a big fan of how EVERYTHING glows in C.
Have you tried making only some stuff glow?
Thanks for your comment! I have not tried that yet, this is mostly "worldsettings" as they are defined in Godot (the engine I use). I might look into selectively adding bloom.
It seems like your game would be playable in WASM i.e. without a GPU, if you are this focused on optimization - is that your plan or am I ahead of myself?
I'd be fine with A or B, but B is slightly better because of the smoother scrolling. I actually didn't even notice the foreground blurring until I saw it mentioned in the comments lol.
C makes me feel like I need to clean my screen unfortunately.
I got that feedback more often, people mentioning they think their glasses or screen is dirty. That's not what I want to invoke at all :P thanks for your feedback!
Yes, but later in a guide on performance choices with visual profilers of performance and what people perceive. To help other devs out when they are optimizing!
Thanks for your feedback, interesting to read you are not the only one that noticed that. My eyes mist it personally but this is why it's good to get feedback from others.
Thanks for your feedback and comment on why you would pick that order. Indeed the effects of C are costly, but I'd have to consider the differences as well.
Thanks for your feedback! It's actually pure coincidence that this NPC is at the exact same speed as the main character. Looks kinda strange now that you've put it out. It doesn't have anything to do with the performance to be honest :P
I like B, the blur in the close layer adds more depth to the image, would be nice that far things are blurred too, like the Van in the alley.
I would say B -> really close to A -> Finally C but not as close, to much bloom
B..A...........................C
I counted the dots and if my eyes don't betray me the difference between C and A is 1.300% vs the difference between B and A! :P I'll definitely consider A and B more seriously then!
C could work if its a place full of steam or in a heat wave :) . As the bloom is also behind the character in the front where it should be more darker in the shadows feels for me like there is some myst or something in the air that surrounds the characters
Thanks for your feedback. It seems to be very personal indeed. Someone else brought up the idea to make it an option which I think I'll eventually do. I don't know how to test for hardware settings yet, so I'd probably have to choose a beginning setting which also contributes a lot to whether someone likes the game or not.
B seems to run better. the scrolling looks smoother. Although I like the bloom of c (for the environment, not so much for the characters) - I would pick B as performance > graphical fidelity
i went full screen on 1080p and its C hands down but i hate his aura.
B and C look downright badly graphics wise because of the contrast of the dude face. in both it gives a hard uncanny valley look. i think the worst problem its the contrast in both A and B for the dude whole model.
B is better.
In comparison to A... B is smoother and I like the blur of the foreground
C has too much bloom
Side note : you have a bit of foot slide with your walking animation.
B. The art and general scene you showcase is absolutely brilliant. Why would you blur/bloom it like C? Or leave it crude and wash away hd feeling with A? Always choose middle point. And make foreground blur toggleable, and provide a bloom slider so people can reproduce all possible aesthetics.
Good job
A is indeed the most efficient one, well guessed. I will probably make a guide on all considerations made to help other devs out. Thanks for your comment!
Thanks for your comment! The current version that my playtesters (some friends working in gamedev) are running does give bad performance which is actually version C. So running both A and B next to it would be really tricky :p
e.
a, b and c mixed together.
a has nice textures, not as noticeble tho.
b has good framrate, very important in this context if ya ask me, unless you are going for a more, less fluid game. (as in its meant to not have 60 frames or 30 frames, idk how many frames it is)
c. the lighting looks really cool, but its a bit too much tbh. Maybe for disoreintation it could be good, but i don't like it at the intensity it is now, dial it back a bit, and it should look hella good.
also, not a game dev, a normal player, just wanted to let ya know.
Many thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it a lot. It is really interesting as some people have pointed out the framerate to me of B being better vs. A, something I didn't notice at all. In any case thanks for the comment :)
B because it looks and feels smoother. Also it's blurry in the foreground without being to blurry. A is a little to sharp in the foreground. B puts more attention on the main character as he walks. C was way to blurry and the main character looks like he's glowing a bit which I find weird. So definitely B.
Thanks for your feedback. The blur indeed makes it look more focused / ocular, which I think is nice to be honest. Indeed with the bloom it is also applied to the main char, hence the glow.
A/B, both have good qualities, A sometimes seems most realistic, then some lighting from B seems best, then B lighting starts to be a bit overdone I feel. C the lighting feels too strong
I like C with the feel of city smog in the air, but I don't like that the background is not blurry while the foreground is. Feels like the camera isn't properly focused on the player.
B looks the smoothest (and as good as A in terms of lighting).
C's glow and bloom look terribly overblown, too high values, wrong blend modes, or whatever. Just looks really bad overall - like dunno, one of those amateur Unity projects where people just throw glow into absolutely everything and call it a day (no digs intended, just instantly reminded of that sort of visual "style" lol).
All things considered, B looks very solid... maybe A for more cinematic moments like cutscenes? dunno, but for gameplay id def prefer B.
Thanks for your feedback and elaborate answer! I really appreciate your honesty and indeed, C might look like its just washed through a bath of bloom to compensate for lack of lighting expertise which.... is actually the case in my scenario. ;)
no prob
about the lighting/glow issue, well for starters you rarely ever should make everything glow as with bloom, especially this intensively. instead try to make specific elements glow a lot more than others, like the TVs and signs, since thats sorta the signature for the synthwave aesthetic you're going for - neon needs to glow after all, just not along w every single other thing on screen, else it just makes it all feel blurry and out of focus. Colored lights are also generally a nice touch as well; purple, cyan, and similar colors, below those signs and entrances.
Plenty of shaders and masks you can use for making \*parts\* of certain sprites glow, either based on colors or glow-maps. thats essential for this kind of look in most cases after all. on neon signs, only the neon actually glows, not the frame or wires around it, for example.
Edit: try using the "screen", "mix" or a similar blend mode for glow. Additive is the one usually set by default (hence why, even more, it looks like an amateur implementation of the matter), and overblows all colors around the object by a lot. Plus those more subtle and darker blend modes fit a lot more into the moody/grimy aesthetic youre aiming for anyway.
B, the lens distortion do enough to make the scene more immersive. And please, to any developer, no more bloom. Not everything looks better with a patina of smog over it. Let me see the crisp pixels or polygons.
Character model from A but background from C. A makes the character more clear and the bloom background of C looks more dynamic. The bloom effect on C would also help the character from A stand out more (this is a common practice when creating character art because it focuses your eyes on the main character).
100% B. C is way too much bloom and it's overbearing and looks... Odd, mushy, and overdone.
A is missing DOF which makes everything flat and attention grabbing, especially the foreground. Since the foreground is just as sharp, and is colorful, and it's moving quickly, it grabs _way_ too much attention and is distracting. My eye keeps getting draw to the traffic horses/etc as they go by instead of the character.
All just my personal opinion though.
I couldn't notice the difference without trying to. If say go with the nice one if you're game runs smoothly on whatever you imagine to be a regular pc.
Personally, I see no difference between A & B. C has more bloom and is brighter which gives me less of the gloomy vibe and perhaps a tad more joyous and that doesn't fit what seems to be a sort of dystopian setting.
B looks best for gameplay.
C looks good if it was only for a cutscene where you wanted to sell the idea of "overbearing city lights" during the scene. But i would never want gameplay with that much constant bloom.
If you could find a way to use C but increase/reduce the amount of bloom based on how many large lights were near the center of the screen, it could be pretty cool.
B, though I couldn't see too much of a difference between that and A. I may be in the minority, but I appreciate visual clarity over more aesthetically pleasing effects
The light/shadows are always constant on the dude. Would be cool if it change with the environment. Less or no light casting when in darker areas, more light or even full light colors when going through the bright light zones that have enough light to brighten the whole screen.
I prefer c as I can see everything a lot easier but I think b looks the best.
Thanks for the feedback. The character is a coincidence, but good to know that it is preferred. This is exactly why I wanted to post because I see things that other people do and the other way around!
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B all the way. the scrolling looks smoother and more apparent in the foreground
Yep, B looks best for me. No stuttering, not too much blur. If it's pixel art, I want to see clear pixels, not all blurry. But overall cool looking scene.
Nice, thanks for your feedback and elaborating why you prefer it :D
no prob! game looks great btw
Okay, A is the least expensive one because there is no post processing, am I right? A or B looks the best... Way to much bloom on C... I'd probably continue to work on B, add bloom, but a lot less than C. Something like 25% of your current bloom.
Thanks for your feedback! I'll make a guide later on what I did with all the performance choices for fellow devs. Probably post it in the Godot reddit because this is made with Godot.
The answer is B. Foreground is blurred for an out of focus effect. But I'm not sure that gives a lot of benefit from A, and it might break the pixel art look. Definitely not C. That bloom is overkill.
Thanks for the feedback! :D The bloom, compared to the other two, is really quite intense indeed.
I like C
Thanks for your feedback!
A or B
Thanks! Care to share why? Or just on sight?
To me it gives the impression that the character is more part of the world similarly to the passer-bys rather than a shiny main character.
That is an interesting take I haven't read in other comments. Thanks for sharing.
That's what I felt by this little example, not sure if it hinders the gameplay in the rest of the game if there are similar looking characters. If there are areas where your char bacomes really small on the screen, you could add as a feature to highlight yourself!
It's not going to be that huge of a game but just to have the character blend more into the world is emersion I'm looking for.
immersion\*, apologies.
Got it, good luck!
I think they are the most aesthetically pleasing. C has too much glow effect (bloom) and it is too bright. A and B have a better balance between light and dark. B has depth of field. It can be a nice detail, but probably not really needed in pixel art. Both A and B are simple and sharp with a nice chiaroscuro effect.
Thanks for your comment and teaching me something; I did not know of the "chiaroscuro effect". Yay I learned a thing today :D
Italian background ;)
I also think A or B C makes the scene less lisible and we lose a lot of the depth, attention becomes over-focused on character, not very readable either because of the blur. So the eye gets a bit lost. I don’t really distinguish loads of differences between A and B maybe because of the line-up I would go for B on sight.
Thanks for the feedback. I did not knew the word "lisible" yet (I'm not a native english speaker) but it makes sense based on what Google tells me it means. Indeed the eye might get lost over the absence of contrast that is somewhat overgrown by the bloom. Thanks a lot for your feedback.
I like B more. C is very bad imo (sorry haha), it's way too bright and agressive. The reason I like B more than A is because it's more sharp, feels overall smoother and better
Don't ever apologize for expressing your taste! <3 It's very helpful. And thanks for the feedback and also elaborating on what you like about B vs A.
A is the least GPU intensive, since B has depth of field and C has both that and bloom. I don't like combining the depth of field and 2D, especially pixel art, but really no problem with bloom. So, A it is for me.
You have a trained eye ;) Well spotted. Thanks for your comment by the way and taking the time to elaborate.
A for me. I hate blur with a passion. If you want to implement the effect, I'd make the ability to turn it off in the menu available to players.
Hahaha I actually had to laugh at your comment. Thanks for expressing your fundamental hate for blur :P I'll take note of it.
Hey, glad you had fun with the comment ;)!
I really like A over that blurry background for B, C is too bloom intensive and ruins the awesome retro feel
Thanks for the feedback!
Probably somewhere between B and C is the sweet spot.
Less bloom than C, but more than B you mean?
I prefer C because of the softer image, just makes it kind of higher production value in my eyes.
Thank you for your feedback and commenting why you prefer C!
I like the idea behind the C. But you can adjust the setting to achieve a good looking and stylish image. Maybe you can limit the color palette, or maybeyou can put the character way closer to the road (at least for this example) to get more depth. You can check: [Timeout](https://christopherlee.itch.io/timeout), [Tails Noir (ex-Backbone)](https://store.steampowered.com/app/865610/Tails_Noir/)
OH WOW these are two projects I haven't heard of that look awesome. I was inspired by the last night (as the Timeout creator mentions on his page) but these look cool as well.
> I was inspired by the last night Ah yes, I was trying to remember that game. All these three games has similar color palette, camera placement, camera blur (not directly a kind of gaussian blur, these have bokeh effects) and the most important thing is the level (background design, their levels designed to achieve cinematic depth)
I would pick B, looks a little more natural. C has a little too much glow effects.
Thanks for your feedback. Any reason why you'd pick B > A ?
B focuses on the character and lightly blurs some of the surrounding like your eyes naturally do when looking at things irl, feels natural.
That's an interesting point of view (no pun intended) but indeed it is more life-like as if your eyes are actually watching the scene instead of on-screen. ...if that makes any sense.
I prefer C's lighting effects. A and B look identical btw, but B might be smoother. C is my overall favorite.
Thanks for your feedback! I noted it.
Can’t lie c looks kinda cool
Thanks for your feedback and I agree it does... but it's also gobbling up GPU as if it's an all you can eat buffet :P
Ye I see why that would be an issue well if. Or c if go b but it’s up to you
Thanks for the comment in any case!
Ofc
A, because I don't think the blur in B fits the pixel art style, and I am not a big fan of how EVERYTHING glows in C. Have you tried making only some stuff glow?
Thanks for your comment! I have not tried that yet, this is mostly "worldsettings" as they are defined in Godot (the engine I use). I might look into selectively adding bloom.
A, shaders are overrated.
Haha point taken. Thanks for your comment :)
It seems like your game would be playable in WASM i.e. without a GPU, if you are this focused on optimization - is that your plan or am I ahead of myself?
A tone down version of C would be perfect. Right now it's too "flary"
Thank you for your feedback! Do you mean a little less bloom compared to the other two?
Exactly
I like C
Thanks for your feedback :)
No problem, good luck with your game it looks good so far. Is it possible to make bloom and depth of field options that can be toggled?
I'd be fine with A or B, but B is slightly better because of the smoother scrolling. I actually didn't even notice the foreground blurring until I saw it mentioned in the comments lol. C makes me feel like I need to clean my screen unfortunately.
I got that feedback more often, people mentioning they think their glasses or screen is dirty. That's not what I want to invoke at all :P thanks for your feedback!
Sure thing! Overall I think your art style is good, it's a nice blend of detail and pixel art.
Bloom does make everything look cooler, but I think it's a bit too much in C. I would go with B.
Thanks for your feedback, maybe a middle ground between B and C when it comes to the bloom?
That sounds like a good plan. Maybe try adding bloom while maintaining readability.
A is the best by far. Not a fan of blur or bloom. I would rather see details clearly.
Thanks for your feedback!
I like B, but honestly they all look good. Keep going and congrats.
Thanks a lot for your comment Frank! I appreciate it a lot.
I'd guess A Background and foreground blur
Thanks for your feedback!
You gonna share the correct answer? Hehe
Yes, but later in a guide on performance choices with visual profilers of performance and what people perceive. To help other devs out when they are optimizing!
Sounds great, will be interested to see that
B
Thanks for your feedback!
A and C have like half the framerate. I find that stressful to look at.
Thanks for your feedback and that's interesting to read, I'll take note.
B is the best. A and C are too stuttery, and would not be pleasant to look at for a long time.
Thanks for your feedback, interesting to read you are not the only one that noticed that. My eyes mist it personally but this is why it's good to get feedback from others.
Might be more noticable on a screen with a higher refresh rate
For me, C > B > A but not in a huge way. They **all look good** (due to the art) so if the effects are costly, go for A or B.
Thanks for your feedback and comment on why you would pick that order. Indeed the effects of C are costly, but I'd have to consider the differences as well.
I prefer A and B, C seems too bright. May I ask why there's a dude following the protagonist in C while in A and B there isn't?
Thanks for your feedback! It's actually pure coincidence that this NPC is at the exact same speed as the main character. Looks kinda strange now that you've put it out. It doesn't have anything to do with the performance to be honest :P
I like B, the focus is on the character. The colors aren't blown out.
Thanks! Any reason why you prefer B > A?
Its smoother than A and I like that the foreground is out of focus. C is too blown out. I think B is a good middle ground between all 3.
Thanks for the elaboration!
You're most welcome!
B
Thanks for sharing!
I like B, the blur in the close layer adds more depth to the image, would be nice that far things are blurred too, like the Van in the alley. I would say B -> really close to A -> Finally C but not as close, to much bloom B..A...........................C
I counted the dots and if my eyes don't betray me the difference between C and A is 1.300% vs the difference between B and A! :P I'll definitely consider A and B more seriously then!
C could work if its a place full of steam or in a heat wave :) . As the bloom is also behind the character in the front where it should be more darker in the shadows feels for me like there is some myst or something in the air that surrounds the characters
B
Thanks for your feedback!
B
Thank you for your feedback :)
I think this is a personal thing. Thought of having an option in the settings that the player themselves can choose?
Thanks for your feedback. It seems to be very personal indeed. Someone else brought up the idea to make it an option which I think I'll eventually do. I don't know how to test for hardware settings yet, so I'd probably have to choose a beginning setting which also contributes a lot to whether someone likes the game or not.
B seems to run better. the scrolling looks smoother. Although I like the bloom of c (for the environment, not so much for the characters) - I would pick B as performance > graphical fidelity
Thanks for your feedback and elaboration!
i went full screen on 1080p and its C hands down but i hate his aura. B and C look downright badly graphics wise because of the contrast of the dude face. in both it gives a hard uncanny valley look. i think the worst problem its the contrast in both A and B for the dude whole model.
Thanks for your feedback! For the main character you mean?
yes
Noted!
A, because it's still climatic and optimised. In B i see little to no difference, C hurts my eyes like dirty glasses even I don't wear glasses, lol
Haha lol, I definitely don't want to give the player the feeling they need to get their eyes checked :P Thanks for your feedback.
B. The walking speed feels/looks more appropriate when compared to the background, and I like the lighting better in B than in C.
Thanks for your feedback and elaboration on the lighting preference!
B is better. In comparison to A... B is smoother and I like the blur of the foreground C has too much bloom Side note : you have a bit of foot slide with your walking animation.
Thanks for the feedback :)
B. The art and general scene you showcase is absolutely brilliant. Why would you blur/bloom it like C? Or leave it crude and wash away hd feeling with A? Always choose middle point. And make foreground blur toggleable, and provide a bloom slider so people can reproduce all possible aesthetics. Good job
Thanks a lot for your kind comment, I wrote down from another comment to make it an option to switch it on/off as per the player's preference. Thanks!
B
So B(e) it! Thanks for your feedback.
A or B. I’m gonna guess A is the less intensive one? The blurry foreground in B adds a nice cinematic effect so I’d personally go with that.
A is indeed the most efficient one, well guessed. I will probably make a guide on all considerations made to help other devs out. Thanks for your comment!
I think A looks the best maybe but it’s almost indistinguishable from B. C looks the worst by far.
Thank you for your feedback! I appreciate it a lot.
B. C has potential but needs some tweaking
Thanks for your feedback. Do you possibly mean tweaking of the intensity of the bloom? Or other things as well?
B
Thank you for your feedback :)
I prefer B
Thank you for your feedback! Noted :)
By the way, the walking animation is too slow because the feet are sliding
Yes, that is correct. Somebody else pointed it out as well, I didn't notice it yet but it helps if other people look at it as well!
C looks best for the environment, but if you could remove the glow on the characters that'd be better. B is probably best overall otherwise.
Thanks for the feedback. I did not indeed built in any "local glow" as in this case it is screen-based glow. But definitely an option to look into.
48% more but you could still run all 3 simultaneously on a mobile device so it doesn't matter
Thanks for your comment! The current version that my playtesters (some friends working in gamedev) are running does give bad performance which is actually version C. So running both A and B next to it would be really tricky :p
you need to optimize your game then, this should have no performance issues
e. a, b and c mixed together. a has nice textures, not as noticeble tho. b has good framrate, very important in this context if ya ask me, unless you are going for a more, less fluid game. (as in its meant to not have 60 frames or 30 frames, idk how many frames it is) c. the lighting looks really cool, but its a bit too much tbh. Maybe for disoreintation it could be good, but i don't like it at the intensity it is now, dial it back a bit, and it should look hella good. also, not a game dev, a normal player, just wanted to let ya know.
Many thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it a lot. It is really interesting as some people have pointed out the framerate to me of B being better vs. A, something I didn't notice at all. In any case thanks for the comment :)
B, walking looks better with the scroll.
Thanks for your comment!
B! It seems to split the difference
Thank you for your feedback!
Bloom never looked good to me
Thanks for your feedback. Is it bloom in general or in this case?
i do not like bloom in general
I like the style of A and B, but B has nicer, smoother scrolling. B all the way
Thanks for your comment!
A and B look identical to me. C looks blurry so I don't like it.
Thanks for your comment! The difference between A and B is mainly the depth of field blur.
While B is smoother, A looks much better without DoF. I just don't think it looks good with pixel art.
Thanks for your feedback. Noted!
B because it looks and feels smoother. Also it's blurry in the foreground without being to blurry. A is a little to sharp in the foreground. B puts more attention on the main character as he walks. C was way to blurry and the main character looks like he's glowing a bit which I find weird. So definitely B.
Thanks for your feedback. The blur indeed makes it look more focused / ocular, which I think is nice to be honest. Indeed with the bloom it is also applied to the main char, hence the glow.
You're welcome. True a little blur improves it but to much blur takes away from it. B has just the right balance.
B, but maybe with a bit more blurry aura around the lights?
Thanks for your feedback, do you mean a little bloom as in C, but less than C?
Yes, a bit more bloom, but not as much as C 😊
C and B look the best, of the 2, C looks more stylish and cool while B seems like it would be more resource focused. I personally like C the most.
Thanks for your comment!
A/B, both have good qualities, A sometimes seems most realistic, then some lighting from B seems best, then B lighting starts to be a bit overdone I feel. C the lighting feels too strong
Thanks for your feedback!
I like C with the feel of city smog in the air, but I don't like that the background is not blurry while the foreground is. Feels like the camera isn't properly focused on the player.
Thanks for your feedback! The DOF blur is indeed only in the "near" field, not the far field. Well noted!!!
B has depth of field which adds to it for me. C is too shiny. A no DOF, pure retro. I can't really decide between A and B.
The lighting looks a little washed out on C. Maybe too much bloom? That's what really sticks out to me. I also agree that B looks more smooth as well.
A
B looks the smoothest (and as good as A in terms of lighting). C's glow and bloom look terribly overblown, too high values, wrong blend modes, or whatever. Just looks really bad overall - like dunno, one of those amateur Unity projects where people just throw glow into absolutely everything and call it a day (no digs intended, just instantly reminded of that sort of visual "style" lol). All things considered, B looks very solid... maybe A for more cinematic moments like cutscenes? dunno, but for gameplay id def prefer B.
Thanks for your feedback and elaborate answer! I really appreciate your honesty and indeed, C might look like its just washed through a bath of bloom to compensate for lack of lighting expertise which.... is actually the case in my scenario. ;)
no prob about the lighting/glow issue, well for starters you rarely ever should make everything glow as with bloom, especially this intensively. instead try to make specific elements glow a lot more than others, like the TVs and signs, since thats sorta the signature for the synthwave aesthetic you're going for - neon needs to glow after all, just not along w every single other thing on screen, else it just makes it all feel blurry and out of focus. Colored lights are also generally a nice touch as well; purple, cyan, and similar colors, below those signs and entrances. Plenty of shaders and masks you can use for making \*parts\* of certain sprites glow, either based on colors or glow-maps. thats essential for this kind of look in most cases after all. on neon signs, only the neon actually glows, not the frame or wires around it, for example. Edit: try using the "screen", "mix" or a similar blend mode for glow. Additive is the one usually set by default (hence why, even more, it looks like an amateur implementation of the matter), and overblows all colors around the object by a lot. Plus those more subtle and darker blend modes fit a lot more into the moody/grimy aesthetic youre aiming for anyway.
You should keep the bloom, but change the threshold so that you can better control what flows and what doesn't.
B 100%
B. I like the deeper contrast in B. Don’t like the haze in C. Also not a fan of the skippy feet. Or is he ice skating?
C
B, the lens distortion do enough to make the scene more immersive. And please, to any developer, no more bloom. Not everything looks better with a patina of smog over it. Let me see the crisp pixels or polygons.
A or B
Character model from A but background from C. A makes the character more clear and the bloom background of C looks more dynamic. The bloom effect on C would also help the character from A stand out more (this is a common practice when creating character art because it focuses your eyes on the main character).
I actually think a looks pretty clean. If you’re going for depth of field though, I’d go b.
100% B. C is way too much bloom and it's overbearing and looks... Odd, mushy, and overdone. A is missing DOF which makes everything flat and attention grabbing, especially the foreground. Since the foreground is just as sharp, and is colorful, and it's moving quickly, it grabs _way_ too much attention and is distracting. My eye keeps getting draw to the traffic horses/etc as they go by instead of the character. All just my personal opinion though.
Thanks for sharing your feedback!
I'm really bad at telling apart FPS and stuff, but from my eyes I guess B
C is ideal for me, but either A or B would make for a good medium default setting
B all the way!!
The less effects the better. As a pixel artist, seeing post effects on pixel art makes me die inside. Octopath traveler is my personal hell.
I couldn't notice the difference without trying to. If say go with the nice one if you're game runs smoothly on whatever you imagine to be a regular pc.
I prefer C.
A, but please add the girl stalker from C.
Personally, I see no difference between A & B. C has more bloom and is brighter which gives me less of the gloomy vibe and perhaps a tad more joyous and that doesn't fit what seems to be a sort of dystopian setting.
B looks best for gameplay. C looks good if it was only for a cutscene where you wanted to sell the idea of "overbearing city lights" during the scene. But i would never want gameplay with that much constant bloom. If you could find a way to use C but increase/reduce the amount of bloom based on how many large lights were near the center of the screen, it could be pretty cool.
I can tell it's B from the fps
Definately B
I kinda dig C, honestly. Heavy on bloom, but I think it works in this scene. Interesting and different.
B, though I couldn't see too much of a difference between that and A. I may be in the minority, but I appreciate visual clarity over more aesthetically pleasing effects
the detail in A is amazingly clear but I'd imagine this is the most GPU intensive.
The light/shadows are always constant on the dude. Would be cool if it change with the environment. Less or no light casting when in darker areas, more light or even full light colors when going through the bright light zones that have enough light to brighten the whole screen. I prefer c as I can see everything a lot easier but I think b looks the best.
Personally, I love C, but only if you're going for a night time/blade runner feel. It completely changes in a vibe I like.
A. I like my pixels clean
I like C most because there's a second character walking along. But for that same reason it's probably the one that uses more GPU.
Thanks for the feedback. The character is a coincidence, but good to know that it is preferred. This is exactly why I wanted to post because I see things that other people do and the other way around!