[General Battuta]

Sure, but first I need to know if it that's universal truth, and not a mere matter of tastes. Do we have anything saying that all nebulae in a single background should have the same scheme?

Fortunately for you, artists have spent hundreds of years coming up with rules to handle stuff like this. Have you heard of the 60-30-10 rule? You want 60% of your primary color, 30% of your secondary color, and then 10% as an accent color which you use to draw a little bit of elegance.

Nobody's going to call it 'universal', but it's universally good advice if nothing else.

[Mongoose]

Also, you don't want those primary and secondary colors to clash in some horrible way, which I think is going on in a few of the shots you posted.  Certain nebula combinations work much better than others; I know that blue and green, or red and gold, seem to look really good if used properly.

Note: I am not an artist.

[mjn.mixael]

Sure, but first I need to know if it that's universal truth, and not a mere matter of tastes. Do we have anything saying that all nebulae in a single background should have the same scheme?

Well, I dunno. I think it's a pretty universal thing that a splash of one or two colours looks better than every colour splattered everywhere.

This is what I was taught.

[rscaper1070]

Transcend did an excellent job of color balance with nebula and stars. Each system looked coherent and natural. Those pics just don't look like they would ever form in nature.

[Mobius]

I've played DB again in the past days for testing purposes, and realized the Orion system background wouldn't be the same if it followed a single color scheme. IMHO there are background that work fine with just one color and others that require at least 2 of them: everything depends on the way the nebulae are sorted.

[General Battuta]

I've played DB again in the past days for testing purposes, and realized the Orion system background wouldn't be the same if it followed a single color scheme. IMHO there are background that work fine with just one color and others that require at least 2 of them: everything depends on the way the nebulae are sorted.

3 colors is, like I said above, a pretty sensible limit.

[Mobius]

Backgrounds are so various I don't think there's a limit to the number of colors. The way it currently is, that background can ensure a couple of features which IMHO just wouldn't be possible with a different scheme/placement. Just wait until DB (re)comes out.

[General Battuta]

Backgrounds are so various I don't think there's a limit to the number of colors. The way it currently is, that background can ensure a couple of features which IMHO just wouldn't be possible with a different scheme/placement. Just wait until DB (re)comes out.

I don't understand what this post means, but if you're saying you want to retain the existing background schema, feel free. Just reread the last few posts before doing so.

[Mobius]

No, I'm saying that the background is an experiment, and it'll be possible to determine wheter or not it worked only after playing the first half of DB.

[Topgun]

Am I the only on who like the sharp contrast in the nebula?

[Mobius]

No.

[General Battuta]

Right now I have no reason to want to play this campaign and a set of eye-wateringly bad nebula screenshots telling me not to play it. What should tip me back in the other direction?

[Mobius]

Common sense and total rejection of trolling, perhaps?

EDIT: Alright, what I posted above is a bit too harsh, but TBH I don't like the "Let's boycott Deep Blood!" feeling I could notice there as it sounds like an insult. That is bad.

The current background is meant to be an experiment. Half the campaign takes place in the Orion system, which is known to be very big (hence the presence of multiple star bitmaps to represent that, to some degree), so the background serves the purpose of adding more variety to the missions taking place there. Planet bitmap X in mission Y covers a number of nebulae, which become visible in mission Z; during my playthrough, it felt like there were unique backgrounds in every mission. Under that point of view, the experiment succeeded: there's more variety. The background itself follows a 360°x360° style I'm also experimenting, and that's impossible to notice in those screenshots.

Obviously, I'm not saying that the background will always remain as it is: should the testers raise concern over it, I'd be glad to follow their hints. Until then, the background will remain as it is... let's not argue again because of personal tastes.

[General Battuta]

No, this is a serious question. What is the campaign about? Why should I care? All we've seen of it is that brief plot blurb and a lot of rainbow-brite backgrounds. It's not that I don't want to like it - it represents a lot of hard work by a fair number of people - but it's not giving me much either.

[General Battuta]

Replying to edits: I'm open to the idea that these backgrounds could be cool, and it's really not a major issue in the overall quality of the campaign, but my question is honest and more general: what is this campaign about and why should we play it? Sell it.

This isn't just for my sake. It's a skill you should have if you want your work to pay out.

[Mobius]

And I reply with another question:

Do all campaigns need serious advertisement to be played and enjoyed? Do community members need reasons to play a given campaign other than "I played everything else, and I want more"?


Sure, restored campaigns probably aren't anywhere as interesting as brand new ones for a number of reasons (people already know them and are not willing to replay those campaigns, people already know these campaigns won't be featuring interesting stuff like cutscenes and fanfics) but they're still worth some attention.

[General Battuta]

Fine, fine, all fair, but here is me asking:

What is this campaign about? What's awesome in it? Sell me on it.

I need more reason to play a given campaign other than 'I played everything else'.

[Mobius]

Read the first post? There's a short description of this campaign.

[Topgun]

I have to agree with batman, the description doesn't really sell it.

[General Battuta]

Read the first post? There's a short description of this campaign.

Macfie edited in a better version this afternoon, after my last post, but if you see here:

No, this is a serious question. What is the campaign about? Why should I care? All we've seen of it is that brief plot blurb and a lot of rainbow-brite backgrounds. It's not that I don't want to like it - it represents a lot of hard work by a fair number of people - but it's not giving me much either.

I'd already read the first post and my complaint was specifically that it was totally inadequate. Macfie did a great job improving it.