@Orange Brat:
I like the new pictures. They remind me of the Batman cartoons I saw about 10 years ago, there is some kind of dark "ambiente" on this city scenery.
But I wonder how you got this good lightning in Acknex, because there are no real textures but just gray-coloured surfaces. When I tried this I nearly always got rather bad-looking "rings" (sometimes green-gray ones) aroundthe lightsources than good lightning, at least when using static lightning.

First off, I apologize for my little rant towards you in that fake lighting thread. I guess the right buttons were pushed that day, and I vented at you. I hope you can forgive me for that. Now to your question/statements:

It is perceptive of you to pick up on the Batman cartoon connection. I'm a huge fan of that show, and my look is based somewhat on it but not entirely...definitely an influence,though. That show featured simple, more cartoony designs, but realistic proportions which then(and still do) set it apart from everything else in TV animation.

As for how I do the lighting: All values are the same for each of the three RGB values. The major lights, those where lightposts will eventually be, are very intense and close if not equal to 255,255,255. Light ranges are varied, the largest being 1650. One of the "secrets" to losing the halo around lights is to use a light range that drops off at certain areas like the corner of a wall or using two sources..one which is intense but has a small range and one that is less intense but has a much larger range(I think that is called a fill light). I actually don't think I use fills, currently, but alot of my range edges are not apparent because of corners. You can see a spotlight on the alley shot above, however.

Textures are indeed flat..there's a pure black, white, and 10 shades of gray. The engine lighting takes care of much of the atmosphere, but "cleverly" applying the right textures also adds a lot of punch to the scene. For example, if a side is not lit, I make sure to put a very dark gray or even pure black on it. If it facing the lightsource and somewhat close, I place the lightest gray or white. You can also fake radiosity by doing this. It's not perfect but if done right, it looks better than not faking it.

That bright roundish light underneath the theater marquee is not the final look of that particular section. That is just he dynamic light blazing through the geometry. I'll get rid of it by making that area underneath it an entity and matching it with the surrounding level. I already do this on the right side of that slab above the marquee. This is why there is no round light on it. When the dynamic light is active, the entity is active and vice versa. There is actually a bug involving dynamic lights and entities with their unlit flag set. When fixed(it has been reported), I'll be able to prelight the entity block so that they contain some ambient light and are not flat...basically faking radiosity.

Yep, very good work done here.

I also had a look at the shots on your site. Should be an interesting experience walking through this world when the models and other elements have been added.

Very nice.

Regards
Shad

@Orange_Brat:
Thanks for the detailed information

Here's a single shot from the game using the new camera...it is most likely a final view. The camera tilts up a bit before switching to the next. It's right about at its full maximum tilt in the image, and the JPEGing fuzzed it up...not to mention making it duller than it actually is in game. As always, ignore the knight model:

<removed>

Even though the title will feature semi-fixed views...I'm toying with the idea of also allowing the player to use a full 3rd person camera if they so desire. I will only do this, however, if I can fix the wall clipping problem. I have a way to do it but have failed (miserably) in implementing it properely. It almost works and I can't quite figure the thing out.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I didn't mean that the camera always stays the distance shown in the picture. The views are fixed(though not static), for the most part, this is just a far shot. The angle right before this one is looking up at the player on the staircase there underneath the sign(call it my Citizen Kane shot )

I have to say that you have achieved "a look" that sets your work apart. Very impressive. Proves that sometimes less is more. Thanks for the explanation about lighting. I had no idea about the work-arounds that you explained.

Simply superb Orange Brat, monotones and blends lend themselves so well to deep atmospheric moods.

Thanks to you both. Although I have established a style that is different from the norm, now I have to make it better via the details and true atmosphere(fog, wind, precipitation, animations, limited grunge, models, etc) I'm currently exploring layered fog techniques using sprites.

I probably won't post anymore screens until I get some of this stuff implemented. Everything starts to look the same after awhile, but keep the comments coming. I don't mind.

Quick update: I'm converting the building seen in the first set of 3 color images in my screenshots section(The Game/Evidence in the link in my signature). Making it b&w and basically redoing it to make it more consistent with the exterior that I've been showing off on here for the past few weeks. It'll basically be the same structure but will feature less curvy geometry and less detail. That old color version is between 5-6000 portals. Currently it's sitting at 1700 with the remake, but it should be a better count in the end. Certainly not 6000. I've become a better designer since creating that semi-piece of garbage, so hopefully it becomes what I originally wanted it to be(not crap, although I like it quite a bit, but it's constructed terribly behind the scenes).

@Orange Brat

Still looking good. Just a quick idea when I saw the newest shots. I was thinking that a couple of good searchlights pointed up and reflecting on the clouds might be really dramatic with that black and white look.