Is there anyway to make models and levels look different with a5/a6. Everything i make has such a first-person shooter look to it. I've seen the cel-shading stuff that some people have done and it looks nice, but it's too far. Is there anyway to get right in the middle. Like if you have ever looked at darkbasic games all the graphics have there own sort of style instead of all dark and gloomy looking. Ive messed with ambient and junk, but it doesn't really do the trick. It's hard to explain, but i hope i did it alright. Any tips would be great.

Are there any games you had in mind that you would like to capture the overall style of? This question is a bit general to really give a specific answer on...

But I'll give a try anyway.

Most people are of the feeling that dark is better for some reason. While I agree that dark is good for capturing certain scenes, how often do you actually see it in real life? I make copious use of lighting, unless it doesn't make sense to not light the scene. Not only is it more realistic, but it also helps to show off your texture work (unless you are trying to hide something). Little bit of light will really liven up the scenes (but don't light crypts, sewers, or other such dreary areas). One of the oddest things that I had ever seen was a lab level that was dark and dreary. It just didn't make sense. Every lab that I had ever been in was blindingly bright.

Not only that, but I feel that a lot of the feel behind FPS games is in the models. They all look like robots. Then again, when you are trying to show a human with less than 1000 polygons, it will tend to look like a robot. Feel free to be generous with your character models. A few extra polygons make a huge difference in the overall form, and that can help to bring out personal connection.

If you take my path, you'll be influenced by film. I'm working with images from Noir films, mostly from the 40s, in the back of my mind. Stuff like "Double Indemnity", "The Big Sleep", "The Maltese Falcon", the modern "The Man Who Wasn't There", and the non-Noir, "Citizen Kane". Bright highlights and dark shadows prevail. More modern, color examples would be "Memento", "Vanilla Sky", "Fight Club", anything by the Coen Bros., and the aesthetically superb, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". All of these and many more play with either light, shadow, or color or all three.

heres a game made with darkbasic that has a style i like:

http://www.darkbasic.com/gallery_view.php?
galleryid=81&p=1&catid=

cartoony kinda but you could also make a more serious game than you could with it being cel-shaded like an rpg without it looking all gross and first-person shooter like.

p.s.: i used a darkbasic example because that's made with another buyable game engine, not out of our league like ps2 games.

Took a close look at the screenshots on the games homepage. What you might want to do to get the same appearance that that game has, is do all your texture work limited to the colors in a box of crayons. By limiting your palet, you will be able to get the sharp color changes and cartoonish look that that game has. If I get a chance tonight I will try to do a comparison example for you to see what I am talking about.