Graal Forums - TUTORIAL: How to look different than Era

Introduction
It's something that's pretty common: modern servers always looking like that. People get yelled at a lot for it, but I think no matter how hard modern servers try, they still look like Era... and there are several reasons for that -- subtle reasons that aren't easy to notice. But these small, subtle reasons are the reasons modern servers look like Era, regardless of how different their style is. I'll say it right here and now, graphical style will not make your server look different than Era alone, it takes more. Hopefully I can help people understand what.

I'd like to thank the people at Interitus for providing their server for dissection. It's not the most obvious Era 'clone', but they were the first willing participants and I wanted to get this done. Regardless, there are things that could be improved for the better.

First, I'll be covering interiors.

Interiors
Here are two servers, Era on top and Interitus on the bottom.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9946/era1oi6.jpg
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1402/int1bc3.jpg

FLOORS
Now to compare them. While Interitus does have a unique style going for it, there are some things that make it similar to Era. The first, and most important are those floor tiles.
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/887/both1pb7.jpg
This is a common mistake. Let me first say the tiles don't EVEN MAKE SENSE. Why this has caught on, I have no idea... now, it wasn't the most accurate comparison I could find on Era, but you know Era is hard to just go around and do something casual on... Anywho, STAY AWAY FROM THESE TILES. Even if everything else is different, if you have floor tiles like these, they will kill any indifferent view players have of your server. Stick to something casual. Rugs typically don't have metal borders, and even though some do... Era has them, so you shouldn't! I know floors aren't really the easiest thing to design uniquely as it's either hardwood floor or rugs... but be creative. Put a design on the hardwood floor, for example. It could even be very simple... Era's floors are very 'tileized'. IE, they're made up from as few tiles as possible, usually one. By sacrificing a little tile space and perhaps using 16 tiles(not that large) for a floor, you could break the monotony of a tiled floor, thus, break away from something Era is known for.

Here is a good example of what I mean about the floor:
http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=80203

There is a lot to learn from that, actually, but it'll all be discussed soon. Either way, I went away from traditional 1 tiling diagonal floorboard to a 'chunk' of tiles that tiled well, and broke any sort of obvious pattern. It also teaches how things can look different just by having a different...

SCALE
Something that every 'Era clone' ignores, yet is VERY important in making your server look different. What is scale? Scale is how 'big' everything is, compared to your player. My floor I posted a link to earlier looks a lot different than Era's mainly because the floorboards are skinnier. Did you ever consider that? You should. Did you know that nearly every single modern server I have seen, that has posted an interior level, has had the same scale for the level? 2x2 tiled chairs. Tables and counters that are all one tile 'high'. Doors that are 3 tiles wide, and 4 tiles high. Walls that are 4 tiles high. Just making your walls one tile higher can drastically effect the overall look of the level. Why? Because it makes the room look taller, and your player look smaller in comparison. That is an amazing advantage. Make the walls taller, make the counters/tables taller. Make the door's skinnier! You'd be surprised how different your server will look. You'll also notice my interior walls in the thread are taller than Era's, and so are my counters. Now... it may be hard doing this without making default bodies(which all modern servers use) looking too short, but you may consider just half a tile taller.

WALLS
Besides the fact taller walls make a difference, there are other things about walls, and interiors in general, that can help you out -- design. No, not wallpaper... it's a little more complicated than that. Every modern server does the same thing: only the north wall is visible and the room is surrounded by a border.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3134/int2qp1.jpg
Why? Is that the only way to design an interior, graphically? Look around at games! There are tons of ways. Interitus doesn't do it as bad as other servers, but it's still the same in theory. Look at Graal Kingdom's. Their interior walls are angled in a manner that allows players to partially see the left/right walls. There is always the classic way of having all walls visible... but that's not very appealing, is it?
http://ui12.gamefaqs.com/2187/gfs_44908_2_18.jpg
Look at how Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced does their interior. Sure, it's isometric, but it's still different in many ways... Look at how they have the floor cut away. I haven't seen that yet on any modern server. This is just one example... the problem is people just don't look beyond Graal.

Oh, and have you ever noticed Era doesn't have diagonal walls? Just adding diagonal walls to your interior would make a huge different in looks... simply because Era doesn't have it. Era also has pretty bland walls. They're either one toned, or sprinkled, or striped... it doesn't really have anything other than basic walls. People should try stuff like adding wallpaper, or strips at the top of the wall.

There is also the edges of walls:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5684/int3sx3.jpg
Another... Why? It makes no sense... it's not something you see in real life. It's something you see on Era. Walls tend to just end, without borders on their corners. You can try this, and add shadows coming off the wall to portray the wall is actually a corner... something else Era doesn't do -- special effects. Anyways... the border at the bottom... which looks like a tootsie roll. Again, that's unique to Era. Avoid it. Add a typical board going across the bottom of the wall, or nothing, or a tall wooden design:
http://www.housetohome.co.uk/imageBank/i/IH0604-29b.jpg
... which isn't the best example, because the wall itself is painted the same as the wood. But you get the idea. LOOK AROUND THE INTERNET. Find references beyond Era, and Graal. That is your best chance of getting away from Era... never reference it!

General
These are just general tips that will help regardless of interior or exterior.
COLOR THEORY
Color has a lot to do with it. Era uses familiar colors. That's why, if your server uses similar colors, people may immediately associate it with it. Black/dark grey isn't a very typical color you'd see in an inside of a house... or any building! Yet, Era has done it, so you see it on many other modern servers. Stay away from black and your interior may look 10x better! Besides, black isn't really a good color to be using to design an interior anyways.

There are also other colors that tend to look the same... the green and brown of grass and dirt. It always seems to be dark and saturated, no matter what modern server you log onto. Perhaps try something brighter? Happier? Perhaps less saturated? The floor of my kitchen uses a very bright, almost peach orange for the floor... instead of the typical brown you always see. Thus, it looks brighter, and different!

STYLE
Very, very important. Combine this with the above advice, and you'll undoubtfully have success. Era has a very distinct style... but servers just love to copy it.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6900/era2jo3.jpg
Angles tend to be very soft and round. You can see this in the sidewalk. It's not sharp, like so:
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8319/int4dr9.jpg
This is a mistake many servers(Interitus excluded), tend to make. Avoid the rounded edges of objects, keep them sharp, and you'll prosper!

Era also tends to have very bland textures... mostly filtered or something similar. They're either filtered, or sprinkled, or something similar. Come up with creative textures for your objects and you're one very important step away from looking like Era. Era also keeps things simple... you'll hardly ever notice a crack in the wall, or sidewalk, or a chip in the table, or reflections on the floor. It's all very simple... very classic-esque. These details make a lot of difference. Put lots of stuff on the wall. Clocks, pictures, light switches(even if they don't do anything), more pictures. All this stuff is unseen on Era, so get it while you can.

GUI
STAY AWAY FROM GRAY! Every modern server has a gray GUI, so it never ends up looking as different as it could be. Interitus doesn't have that much of a problem because they have a unique design, but it's still gray. There are different colors... different designs. I once made a GUI for old modern bravo that used a digital watch-like interface, and analog numbers(you know, from a digital clock)... green background. Without sounding arrogant, it was nice, and different. Get away from the boring, dull, gray GUI's. Think hard about this stuff.

INSPIRATION
Don't want your stuff to look like Era? STAY AWAY FROM ERA! Browse the internet. Browse up suburbs, urban areas, streets, cities, interiors, modern interior, house interiors. Look it all up. Drive around if you can. Get inspired by something other than Era... you'll be amazed how different your graphics can look. And again, STAY AWAY FROM ERA. You might not believe it, but even looking briefly at Era's tileset, or screenshots can have a subconscious effect on the end result of your graphics without you even noticing.