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So, I've been working on a platformer for a long while now. I hjave a few levels, but I've been having issues designing scrolling backgrounds for them that just seem to fit. If I posted some examples screenshots of some levels, would it be possible to get reccomendations from users on what I should put?
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Sure, post some screenshots and give an overview of the feel you're going for.
Sure, well here's an example of one of my levels that I belive works just fine (keep in mind this is a screenshot from the room editor of Gamemaker, so things aren't as nice looking as they are in the game as it blurs things out slightly when the game resolution is blown up)
I belive Candy Level Two works just fine, I have clouds that move along even if the player is not moving (each at different speeds) and it emphasies the theming of the level as there are pitfalls everywhere.
However for the first level I'm designing, I didn't feel re using the clouds is a good idea, I think Candy One just needs more than plain sky. I tried making a simple background of different tiles that would seem to look off in the distance, but being the same color they just seemed like platforms you could jump on. I'm not really sure what I shoulddo here, should I make various platforms on a background and make their colors limited, as to look off in the distance and unfocused?
There are quite a few options in the archives; I have them collected together with platformer tiles here: http://opengameart.org/content/platformersidescroller-tiles-and-backgrounds
Have you tried one of Bevouliin's backgrounds? They might match the sort of cartoony aesthetic you have going on there.
If you want to do background tiles it's possible, you just have to make them darker, lower contrast and generally less attention-grabbing than the ones the player is actually going to interact with. Things like killing highlights goes a long way towards that.
Also, generally speaking I think you'd be better of with a smoother sky gradient than with the large distinct colors you have now. Perhaps a bit of an odd thing for a pixel artist to say, but smoothness usually pays off well in that context, and it shouldnt' clash with your existing tiles.
Well, a lot of the art in my game is simply used from OpenGameArt (thankfully I kept tabs on what I use and everything should be credited!) However, I did make the sky you see myself, it was my first attempt. So, you think the sky should be softer overall? Less lines and more colors?
I could try making tiles and then adjusting their contrast and "highlights", do you think the tiles the player can interact with should be brighter than what I currently have? So far this is a solo project and I know I can't do everything perfectly, but I do worry my game will have difficulty "standing out".