What you can od is to use Unified colors on background like all objects that uses variations of a color (with a fullscreen
fastest effect like simple bloom ):


DOF even optimised will always use lot more ressources and power than Bloom indeed. So they should be in options !
Or perhaps use why not some fog or faked with several Alpha planes.

Keep it up !

@Ratchet
You are right, DOF did eat-up a lot of fps &, since I am not able to tweak it, I decided to exclude it at this time. As for unified color of the background I am using red, it seemed/seems to fit o.k.

............
My work on J,J&BUM is a bit slow this month because I'm finishing up a personal project that I've been working on for a long time, but nevertheless there are some news:)

First, the problem with visual compatibility between platform & open-terrain levels is now resolved: I gave up on reddish material in platform levels:)
Second, since the DOF effect is problematic because I can't tweak it nicely & because it's heavy on the fps I decided to exclude it for now, at least until the good solution can be found.
Third, I will try to replace HDR with regular Bloom if I find one that will fits o.k.
Fourth, I went a bit too far with lowering the colors & in making the game partly more realistic then it should be so I added the toon outlining:) Now it has a nice semi-realistic texture/color style but also toon-like appearance:)
Fifth, I removed the previous sky system because it was not resetting itself properly when game is restarted, leaving the sky completely without the clouds, & because it was eating away fps like there's no tomorrow:) I added my, temporary, sky solution that I believe is adequate.

Here are some screens of the new solutions:











http://i24.servimg.com/u/f24/11/34/97/23/jjbum_16.jpg
http://i24.servimg.com/u/f24/11/34/97/23/jjbum_15.jpg
http://i24.servimg.com/u/f24/11/34/97/23/jjbum_19.jpg

Looking commercial quality !
The backgournd is really nice.
And i like a lot the cartoon outline, it pop up objects in some way, and give some "BorderLands" touch that i like a lot

Keep it up.

Great work. This project has come a long way. These last screens really look awesome!

No news ?

The last screesn are amazing !
The game shoudl be on Steam already

lol looks like aum100 took a lot out of george and pavle

Thanx for showing interest, the development is a bit slow at this moment:( My contribution for George's AUM 100 didn't take too much time since most of the geometry was a rework of my 'Sorcerers' level parts but it did set me back a weeks or two. But in the last two months I have been finishing up my old project that I've been working on for some time & with any luck I will be able to pack it by the end of the August:) In a few days I will probably make a thread in the Showcase with the small demo.

As for J,J&BUM, I noticed that the view count of Artist Corner is now well over 50.000 views & I did plan a small thing when count reaches this amount:) At the start of the J,J&BUM development, the art team needed to come up with a global design solution that would serve as a reference for the first, actual design of the levels. I was thinking of posting my old design variations that were based on George's Untitled Platformer code but also other design solutions from, at that time active, members of the art team. I will include only early level solutions that are based on Untitled Platformer code & not on the code that Felix created & later enhanced together with Martin & George.

For now, I gained permission to include material submitted by Germanunkol & Txesmi and I'm still waiting for permissions from Bug, Guardian & SirCamaris. So I guess in a two/three days I will be able to upload the zip & post a link to these files:) Here are a few shots of these levels:

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Germanunkol



http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/11/34/97/23/german11.jpg

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Txesmi



http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/11/34/97/23/txesmi11.jpg

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Ganderoleg







http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/11/34/97/23/gander13.jpg

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Very good idea to mix people level design !
Ganderoleg have a very medieval, building structure design that is really good and other people have different things going on :
for example i like the trees that goes trhought the room.

The last in game screenshots with cartoon shader are just beautiful !

Keep it up ! (i feel a great sucessfull indie game on steam )

-----------------

@Ganderoleg :
Are you in the forums these days ?
I have some questions about lightmapping from Blender to A8 for you !!

At the beginning the idea was to have a different design concepts, ranging from 2D to 3D solutions, and then to choose the one that would serve as a dominant game design approach. We actually gave up on 2D very early in the development because it would be much harder for art team members to mimic 2D art then to mimic 3D geometry. ..of course in those days we had 8 art team members:)

At the end it was decided to go with 3D levels that have 3D & 2D elements & to adopt semi-realistic visual approach: http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=314648#Post314648

Btw I received mail from Guardian with permission to use his material in the package so now I'm waiting only on SirCamaris & Bug:) ..but if I don't get their reply in a following few days I will pack/upload the zip without their levels & update it when/if I receive their permissions.

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Guardian





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@Ratchet
Sure, I will be more then happy to give you any information on my Blender/3DGS lightmapping routine, but beware that I'm using 2.46 version:) If you want to send me pm, send it to this profile (Pavle) because I decided not to use Ganderoleg profile anymore:)

Any news of this great project ? I hope it could be selled in 2012 ?