First off, thanks for the glowing review :biggrin.gif:. I'm definitely going to be taking your feedback into account for my next update, I really like what you did with the hue change for bricks!
-I love your paintings. Flat out adore them. It's always so wonderful to see someone make original pixel art rather than simply scale down google pictures. Above and beyond that, the subjects shown in the paintings are very well chosen, conveying an RPG theme while still retaining a distinctly minecraftian atmosphere. Aside from the basic terrain textures, I feel that your paintings are one of the strongest elements of your pack.
Thanks man, I put a lot of work into those things so it's always nice when someone notices them!
Things that need improvement:
-The gravel is almost perfect, except for the prevalence of little x marks (or crosses, depending on how you look at them) that jar the illusion of 32x. They just scream 'pixel!'. Try making these hunks of gravel a different shape, or blend them into the background a little more so that they don't stick out so much.
I've always felt my gravel is perfection, but I can see what you mean by the X's. I guess that just boils down to my personal choice in style haha.
-Some of your ores, especially redstone and diamond, feel a little too pixelated to me. Like the gravel, their hard edges make them stand out a too much. The redstone in particular is very strange-- I took a minute to simply stare at it in a cave wall, wondering why the bands of red formed little circles. It just doesn't make sense for a 'natural' texture to form little hollow bubbles like that.
The diamond, redstone and lapis were never really up to the other ore's standards imo. I'll definitely be tweaking them.
-I love your flowers. I just wish the red and yellow flowers looked like different kinds of flora rather than the same bush with two different color blooms.
You're right, I need to make a different design for one of them. I try to keep them subtle and unobtrusive though.
-There are two, very slight issues with tiling for the grass. I've circled them below:
Throughout all my texture packs I've always had a problem with grass. I'll usually create something pretty good the first time and if I ever try to "fix" it I usually **** it up somehow. I've been procrastinating this for way too long!
-I like the design of your lava, but it comes off as a touch too orange-- I would like to see it lean more towards red. Also, the flowing lava moves too quickly, giving the appearance of a much less viscous liquid (like water). To my mind, lava should ooze, not scamper across the rocks.
I've tried to slow lava down in the past but at 16x16 I haven't found a way to make it not look like a slideshow. I'm probably being dumb and missing something though haha. With 16x16 the slowest I can move it is one pixel at a time (it's current state). If I move one pixel every two frames it starts to look like a slide show.
-Your iron and diamond armor are a bit disappointing when compared to the other armors. They don't have any real pzazz, and feel unfinished. The diamond armor in particular appears to be recolored iron armor with a large diamond at the center of the chest. The rest of your textures are so creative, I know you can think of a more inventive way to incorporate diamonds into the armor.
Personally I'm a fan of my iron armor, but I've always had trouble thinking up a design for diamond that isn't too fantastical (see: glass armor in the elder scrolls).
-The combination of the cobble, plank, and glass works well together, the 64x resolution allowing for very fine lines that convey a sense of cleanness. Here's a screenshot that I think showcases this relationship:
-I am in love with the design on the side of the crafting box, though I think it would fit better on the jukebox. When I first saw it, I was reminded of those old test patterns on 1950's TVs, or of old radios. This aspect is very nicely done.
-The plaid bed is very cute. My only quibble is that I don't think the pattern should extend to the pillow. Other than that, it's lovely.
Things that need improvement:
There are a few very big problems with this pack that need to be addressed.
First, stylistically, it seems that you are trying to create a 'brick pattern' theme by turning many of the textures-- netherack, glowstone, sandstone, tnt, all the ore blocks- into bricks or squares. While this type of style can be pulled off with a certain flair, at the moment your main problem is that the squares/bricks are all exactly the same size and shape. It looks like you took the same texture and simply recolored four or five times to create different blocks. If you want to do this correctly, you need to have some variation-- have the cobble pattern be larger than all the others, for instance, or have the bricks that form the glowstone be irregular and turned in different directions. There's a lot of ways you can create some variety between the textures, but at the moment it just isn't there. And to be frank, seeing the same brick pattern over and over is boring.
Second, you seem to have chosen the wrong resolution for this project. 64x is made for delicate detail and realistic textures, or else smooth cartoonized textures. Your pack is neither of these things, and at the moment all those extra pixels are only creating noise that doesn't need to be there, detracting from the appeal of this pack.
Almost all of your textures appear to be solid blocks of color that have been run through a noise filter (except for the clay, which was run through another type of filter that I myself was playing around with earlier today). Tip: adding noise for the sake of noise does not make textures look good. In some respects, this pack is very difficult to look at because of all the visual static caused by the noise. It doesn't add shading or interest to your textures, it just makes them look bad-- especially with 64x. You may be able to get away with adding noise in 16x and 32x, but with 64x it becomes annoying.
But enough of that. Let's pretend for a moment that you went back and removed the noise filter over the terrain png. Without all those extra pixel hanging around, its even more obvious that this pack should have been 16x. Except for the craft box, 99% of your textures are stylized and simplistic (not in necessarily a bad way)-- this can be done much more easily and much more appropriately in 16x. Smooth, simple, stylized textures look good in 16x. Not so in 64x. For that high of a resolution, they just look...underdone.
Nitpicks:
-Both the wooden door and iron door have very obviously been sent through a filter. And to be blunt, they don't look good that way. I like the diamond shaped window, but the effect is ruined by the harshness of the filter. As with the rest of the textures, my suggestion would be to remove the filter, and look into scaling back to 32x or 16x.
-Your long grass, alternate long grass, and desert shrub look like upended rectangles with a few strands of grass growing from the top. Please get rid of the rectangle, and make the blades extend all the way to the ground.
-Your trellis (if that's what you intended your ladder to be) is badly in need of some shading to make it look 3D. I do like the idea of making it decoration, however. :smile.gif:
- Your ores are too blurry, and don't fit with the sharp geometric shapes that make up the rest of the pack.
-Wheat is far too thin and needle-like. If you don't want to make them look more like natural wheat, then at least make them thicker (and vary the height a little).
-Pine needles are badly in need of some attention. The shading has been smudged around the edges of the block, creating a very obvious border:
Overall:
I hate to say this, but this pack is in need of some serious attention. If you decide that you really want to continue the brick theme with simple shading and smooth colors, then I would highly recommend switching to 16x. If you do, I think the clean geometry you have going with the cobble and planks will look a hundred times better. :smile.gif:
I do apologize if this has been suggested before:
For thread construction, might I suggest perhaps inserting links to the posts regarding the texture pack reviews?
Hey Steelfeathers, when do you usually start playing with each pack before you review them?
I really want you to have the latest version of my pack before you review it because I've made some rather big changes to things that make it a lot better overall. I'm guessing you haven't started using my pack yet though because it's reasonably far down on the list but yea, any time frame (even a reaaaaally vague one) would be awesome!
Hey Steelfeathers, when do you usually start playing with each pack before you review them?
I really want you to have the latest version of my pack before you review it because I've made some rather big changes to things that make it a lot better overall. I'm guessing you haven't started using my pack yet though because it's reasonably far down on the list but yea, any time frame (even a reaaaaally vague one) would be awesome!
I usually start playing around about a day before the review-- gives me lots of time to examine things. :wink.gif:
EDIT: If I do one a day, I'll get to you in about a week.
I usually start playing around about a day before the review-- gives me lots of time to examine things. :wink.gif:
EDIT: If I do one a day, I'll get to you in about a week.
Ok sweet, I should have enough time to release the update by then!
Thanks a heap Steelfeathers. Look forwards to the detailed feedback! (something that is unfortunately lacking for my pack...)
I don't plan on making my textures 16x16, because 90% of the texturepacks are 16x16.
And, since nobody uses my pack I doubt I will continue it, even personally I don't like it, and I don't know how to make it look better. For the planks:
I had a working bevel filter, which no longer worked once I used it one time. That's why I only used it on the planks.
....
.......
....If you don't like it and had no plans to work on improving it, then when did I spend four hours of my life reviewing it?
Hello.
As a fellow lurker of the Texture Pack part of this forum, I have seen you around enough to know that these reviews are going to be serious bizniz.
And this, I like. I've seen a couple of threads of people doing reviews and taking requests, but I have so far neglected them, because in my opinion those reviews would make my pack look bad because of how unprofessional the commentators were. We need less umm's and er's and more actual criticism and professionalism. This I believe you will be able to deliver, seeing how professional both your textures and your comments are.
Yes, I see your queue is completely booked, and probably over-booked, but I would still very much like to submit my own texture pack to the back end of this queue.
Some of the textures are made by ExtraNoise (Quandary), but progressively more and more of them are made by myself. Some of the ones I've made myself are also subject to change though.
tl;dr - I love you, I would love you even more if you made a review on my texture pack at some point.
I would love it if you could review my Synthetic Reality Texture Pack, preferably in the highest resolution you can.
I am also working on the first 1024x pack, and it is killing even MY computer.
I am doing research to figure out how to improve performance on large-scale packs like this. Optifog/Optimine [needs a new name] helps a considerable amount, but the rendering of such massive amounts of stuff is something only super-PC's can handle at this time. But I am making it, so that when people have computers powerful enough to run it, it will be amazing!
The pack itself is a CG-style Realism pack. I call it Drfrozenfire's Compukiller Realism Pack.
If you decide to clean up your list (removing those who have been done already), I'd be really glad if you could review mine! Link is in my signature banner.
Apple?
Edit: Oh, and it's my first.
I would love it if you could review my Synthetic Reality Texture Pack, preferably in the highest resolution you can.
I am also working on the first 1024x pack, and it is killing even MY computer.
I am doing research to figure out how to improve performance on large-scale packs like this. Optifog/Optimine [needs a new name] helps a considerable amount, but the rendering of such massive amounts of stuff is something only super-PC's can handle at this time. But I am making it, so that when people have computers powerful enough to run it, it will be amazing!
The pack itself is a CG-style Realism pack. I call it Drfrozenfire's Compukiller Realism Pack.
I can tell you right now that I will not be able to review a 1024x pack any time in the new future. I like my computer not broken, thank you.
But if I do a new queue after I finish the one I have, I'll be sure to add your non-1024x pack to the list. :smile.gif: 128x is running pretty great for me right now with optifine. I've been considering making a pack that size myself...
Also, in your main post you should add links to the actual reviews, as some has said before. It would also be cool if you added a link to the texture pack in the actual review.
Just suggestions.
Hello.
As a fellow lurker of the Texture Pack part of this forum, I have seen you around enough to know that these reviews are going to be serious bizniz.
And this, I like. I've seen a couple of threads of people doing reviews and taking requests, but I have so far neglected them, because in my opinion those reviews would make my pack look bad because of how unprofessional the commentators were. We need less umm's and er's and more actual criticism and professionalism. This I believe you will be able to deliver, seeing how professional both your textures and your comments are.
Yes, I see your queue is completely booked, and probably over-booked, but I would still very much like to submit my own texture pack to the back end of this queue.
Some of the textures are made by ExtraNoise (Quandary), but progressively more and more of them are made by myself. Some of the ones I've made myself are also subject to change though.
tl;dr - I love you, I would love you even more if you made a review on my texture pack at some point.
If you decide to clean up your list (removing those who have been done already), I'd be really glad if you could review mine! Link is in my signature banner.
Apple?
Edit: Oh, and it's my first.
Thanks for all the apples guys. Nice to know some people read. :wink.gif:
And if I decide to start a new list, I'll put you at the top in the order you sent your request.
Also, in your main post you should add links to the actual reviews, as some has said before. It would also be cool if you added a link to the texture pack in the actual review.
Just suggestions.
dude, chill! I was getting to you. Your reply is below above.
I can tell you right now that I will not be able to review a 1024x pack any time in the new future. I like my computer not broken, thank you.
But if I do a new queue after I finish the one I have, I'll be sure to add your non-1024x pack to the list. :smile.gif: 128x is running pretty great for me right now with optifine. I've been considering making a pack that size myself...
I definitely recommend it.
The 1024x I am making with vectors so I can render it in any resolution. I can render you a 128 version of it when I finish the terrain.png. That would make 2 packs though, I don't know if you would want to do both.
Not a problem! I just didn't want this thread to not get the love it deserves due to thread browsing laziness, hehe.
Thanks man, I put a lot of work into those things so it's always nice when someone notices them!
I've always felt my gravel is perfection, but I can see what you mean by the X's. I guess that just boils down to my personal choice in style haha.
The diamond, redstone and lapis were never really up to the other ore's standards imo. I'll definitely be tweaking them.
You're right, I need to make a different design for one of them. I try to keep them subtle and unobtrusive though.
Throughout all my texture packs I've always had a problem with grass. I'll usually create something pretty good the first time and if I ever try to "fix" it I usually **** it up somehow. I've been procrastinating this for way too long!
I've tried to slow lava down in the past but at 16x16 I haven't found a way to make it not look like a slideshow. I'm probably being dumb and missing something though haha. With 16x16 the slowest I can move it is one pixel at a time (it's current state). If I move one pixel every two frames it starts to look like a slide show.
Personally I'm a fan of my iron armor, but I've always had trouble thinking up a design for diamond that isn't too fantastical (see: glass armor in the elder scrolls).
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Retired StaffHighlights:
-The combination of the cobble, plank, and glass works well together, the 64x resolution allowing for very fine lines that convey a sense of cleanness. Here's a screenshot that I think showcases this relationship:
-I am in love with the design on the side of the crafting box, though I think it would fit better on the jukebox. When I first saw it, I was reminded of those old test patterns on 1950's TVs, or of old radios. This aspect is very nicely done.
-The plaid bed is very cute. My only quibble is that I don't think the pattern should extend to the pillow. Other than that, it's lovely.
Things that need improvement:
There are a few very big problems with this pack that need to be addressed.
First, stylistically, it seems that you are trying to create a 'brick pattern' theme by turning many of the textures-- netherack, glowstone, sandstone, tnt, all the ore blocks- into bricks or squares. While this type of style can be pulled off with a certain flair, at the moment your main problem is that the squares/bricks are all exactly the same size and shape. It looks like you took the same texture and simply recolored four or five times to create different blocks. If you want to do this correctly, you need to have some variation-- have the cobble pattern be larger than all the others, for instance, or have the bricks that form the glowstone be irregular and turned in different directions. There's a lot of ways you can create some variety between the textures, but at the moment it just isn't there. And to be frank, seeing the same brick pattern over and over is boring.
Second, you seem to have chosen the wrong resolution for this project. 64x is made for delicate detail and realistic textures, or else smooth cartoonized textures. Your pack is neither of these things, and at the moment all those extra pixels are only creating noise that doesn't need to be there, detracting from the appeal of this pack.
Almost all of your textures appear to be solid blocks of color that have been run through a noise filter (except for the clay, which was run through another type of filter that I myself was playing around with earlier today). Tip: adding noise for the sake of noise does not make textures look good. In some respects, this pack is very difficult to look at because of all the visual static caused by the noise. It doesn't add shading or interest to your textures, it just makes them look bad-- especially with 64x. You may be able to get away with adding noise in 16x and 32x, but with 64x it becomes annoying.
But enough of that. Let's pretend for a moment that you went back and removed the noise filter over the terrain png. Without all those extra pixel hanging around, its even more obvious that this pack should have been 16x. Except for the craft box, 99% of your textures are stylized and simplistic (not in necessarily a bad way)-- this can be done much more easily and much more appropriately in 16x. Smooth, simple, stylized textures look good in 16x. Not so in 64x. For that high of a resolution, they just look...underdone.
Nitpicks:
-Both the wooden door and iron door have very obviously been sent through a filter. And to be blunt, they don't look good that way. I like the diamond shaped window, but the effect is ruined by the harshness of the filter. As with the rest of the textures, my suggestion would be to remove the filter, and look into scaling back to 32x or 16x.
-Your long grass, alternate long grass, and desert shrub look like upended rectangles with a few strands of grass growing from the top. Please get rid of the rectangle, and make the blades extend all the way to the ground.
-Your trellis (if that's what you intended your ladder to be) is badly in need of some shading to make it look 3D. I do like the idea of making it decoration, however. :smile.gif:
- Your ores are too blurry, and don't fit with the sharp geometric shapes that make up the rest of the pack.
-Wheat is far too thin and needle-like. If you don't want to make them look more like natural wheat, then at least make them thicker (and vary the height a little).
-Pine needles are badly in need of some attention. The shading has been smudged around the edges of the block, creating a very obvious border:
Overall:
I hate to say this, but this pack is in need of some serious attention. If you decide that you really want to continue the brick theme with simple shading and smooth colors, then I would highly recommend switching to 16x. If you do, I think the clean geometry you have going with the cobble and planks will look a hundred times better. :smile.gif:
How to do post linking & or section linking?
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Curse PremiumI really want you to have the latest version of my pack before you review it because I've made some rather big changes to things that make it a lot better overall. I'm guessing you haven't started using my pack yet though because it's reasonably far down on the list but yea, any time frame (even a reaaaaally vague one) would be awesome!
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Retired StaffI usually start playing around about a day before the review-- gives me lots of time to examine things. :wink.gif:
EDIT: If I do one a day, I'll get to you in about a week.
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Curse PremiumOk sweet, I should have enough time to release the update by then!
Thanks a heap Steelfeathers. Look forwards to the detailed feedback! (something that is unfortunately lacking for my pack...)
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Retired Staff....
.......
....If you don't like it and had no plans to work on improving it, then when did I spend four hours of my life reviewing it?
As a fellow lurker of the Texture Pack part of this forum, I have seen you around enough to know that these reviews are going to be serious bizniz.
And this, I like. I've seen a couple of threads of people doing reviews and taking requests, but I have so far neglected them, because in my opinion those reviews would make my pack look bad because of how unprofessional the commentators were. We need less umm's and er's and more actual criticism and professionalism. This I believe you will be able to deliver, seeing how professional both your textures and your comments are.
Yes, I see your queue is completely booked, and probably over-booked, but I would still very much like to submit my own texture pack to the back end of this queue.
Some of the textures are made by ExtraNoise (Quandary), but progressively more and more of them are made by myself. Some of the ones I've made myself are also subject to change though.
tl;dr - I love you, I would love you even more if you made a review on my texture pack at some point.
Here is le link including an apple:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/369971-16x16-quantumcraft-v23-minecraft-17/
Love
I am also working on the first 1024x pack, and it is killing even MY computer.
I am doing research to figure out how to improve performance on large-scale packs like this. Optifog/Optimine [needs a new name] helps a considerable amount, but the rendering of such massive amounts of stuff is something only super-PC's can handle at this time. But I am making it, so that when people have computers powerful enough to run it, it will be amazing!
The pack itself is a CG-style Realism pack. I call it Drfrozenfire's Compukiller Realism Pack.
Apple?
Edit: Oh, and it's my first.
Quote of the Day: "If you think you're gonna snap, or be rude, here's an idea: Don't post." - Theevilpplz
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Retired StaffRodger that.
I can tell you right now that I will not be able to review a 1024x pack any time in the new future. I like my computer not broken, thank you.
But if I do a new queue after I finish the one I have, I'll be sure to add your non-1024x pack to the list. :smile.gif: 128x is running pretty great for me right now with optifine. I've been considering making a pack that size myself...
Also, in your main post you should add links to the actual reviews, as some has said before. It would also be cool if you added a link to the texture pack in the actual review.
Just suggestions.
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Retired StaffThanks for all the apples guys. Nice to know some people read. :wink.gif:
And if I decide to start a new list, I'll put you at the top in the order you sent your request.
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Retired Staffdude, chill! I was getting to you. Your reply is
belowabove.I definitely recommend it.
The 1024x I am making with vectors so I can render it in any resolution. I can render you a 128 version of it when I finish the terrain.png. That would make 2 packs though, I don't know if you would want to do both.
My suggestions still stand though.
Peace out for now.