I'm not posting this in game-play theories, because this isn't pertaining much at all to game-play.

I used to think that photo-realistic scenery and jj2 didn't mix, or at least not without some exceptions. When I came to the conclusion that cartoony sets are better, I had seen some people use photo realistic graphics in levels a few times, and they looked awful in my opinion, but that may be because of the way they were done. A cartoony style better fits jj2, because the sprites are cartoony, and the game is cartoony in general. Some exceptions may include tilesets such as 7th lava fall and maybe 'playing on a snake'.

After seeing Snooze using photo-realistic graphics (in a certain way of course), they kind of changed my opinions on this subject. He mostly used photos as background scenery, and cartoony style graphics as sprite layer scenery.

Thoughts?

Photorealistic graphics are kind of hard to mask (well). The contrast between the cartoony sprites and photorealistic graphics is easy to ignore if you ask me, and photorealistic graphics can be real... epic, so to speak.
Like in -- unless I'm mistaken -- one TR level that used a set based on a Venice style building. I'm sure I've seen other sets where photorealistic graphics were used well, but can't recall what they were.

It depends on the mood of the level you're playing. Obviously, when a Single Player pack/level uses scenery to match the storyline, it can be beautiful depending on how you use it. If you use very realistic tilesets for a single MP level, it can distract you too much. Like "Oh wow this wall is beaut-" You Got Roasted.

Catch my drift?

While the style would obviously clash I always thought with some creative palette use you could mute the colors of the sprites in a way to make them suit more "realistic" tilesets, and after seeing some examples in other media and games, I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Though in those other examples you weren't playing as a bunny so your mileage may vary.

Realistic graphics can only be used in a limited way, mostly with backgrounds, or textures (like in 7th lava fall). Of the two approaches, I think textures are the better one.

The problem with photographs is that they do not tile well, and they do not convert well to 256 colours. They also take up a lot of tileset space. Realistic textures can at least avoid these problems, as long as you don't go overboard.

The reason what snooze did looks good is because he used multiple layers. Instead of taking a flat picture, he cut out parts of it in order to give it a bit of depth. This approach is good, but it still has the problem of limited colour (which prevents it from ever looking realistic, and can also make it visually bland), and tiling (it's pretty obvious where the image has been flipped). Overall, while I appreciate the novelty, I think a hand drawn background would still look better.

If JJ2 allowed for 24-bit colour tilesets, this would be very different of course.

I managed to somehow solve the problem of flipping the images, and personally i dont think the colors are a huge problem. im still going to edit the photographs pixel by pixel myself to make them look better.

on-topic, I like both styles. Photographs have something to them what i really like..

EDIT: if i ever make any other projects besides the one i got going on now, I wouldnt use photographs again.. except maybe a photorealistic sky as layer 8..

This is kinda off-topic since it doesn't have much pertaining to photo realistic graphics. Also, don't want to start a new topic so yay for reviving topics!

I am just curious what you all think of very artificial looking graphics or styles that greatly take advantage of the cartoony medium. I'm refering to tilesets such as JJ1 Diamondus, Diamondus Beta, Sluggion (Old and latest versions), the intersecting logs in jungle etc. I personally thought they looked cool and interesting.

The sets you mention look very nice, but I don't really understand what you mean with "artificial looking graphics" or "taking advantage of the cartoony medium" in this context.

Specifically I am talking about things like the long tube-like grass in jj1 diamondus, the diagonal brick shaped 'soil' in sluggion. As for cartoony medium, I am just talking about the game in general and how themes like those are justified.