I’ve got another poll… which looks better?
I’ve been inspired by some upcoming projects I’ve seen here lately (cough The Sultan’s Harem cough), and I’m starting to think some of my art in QoC is too bright. It seems like darker lighting makes shadows and details of the model’s figure more noticeable. But I’m curious what you all think of this side-by-side comparison.
Which do you prefer?
0 voters
I almost always think images in games like this are much too dark and I like that yours are bright. I don’t think shadows accomplish what artists seem to think they do, especially when they put characters in dark clothing that just causes their shapes to be lost in darkness.
While characters being visible is certainly important, in this case the first image looks like there’s a set of studio lights just behind the camera, which doesn’t fit with the setting at all
Lighting is one of those things where unless it’s your job or the thing you’re looking at puts out neon colors everywhere like its a John Wick film or something, most people aren’t going to notice the lighting unless it’s reaaally bad, usually when it’s too dark to see anything (coughgameofthronescough). When you put the two pictures side by side, yes, the second one does look better than the first. There’s a lot of glare coming off of the left chair in the first picture and it makes the subject look flat. But again, I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t specifically looking for it.
The darker one is better. SPECIFICALLY iray loses details on skin textures entirely when it’s too bright as they get washed out. Now if your skin is of a poor quality that might be fine or what you want but yeah.
I think though that it might only be worth re-rendering (edit: actually what I mean is just changing the lighting for new renders, not re-rendering at all…) new images, and touching up the brightness in old images might not be worth the effort/time.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback. Looks like the darker lighting is preferred by a wide margin. I’ll use that method for new scenes and I will try to emulate it in old scenes in post. If it comes to it, re-rendering the old scenes with darker lighting won’t be a big deal!
It’s also hard to tell at Annora’s first weight stage as shown here, but I think everyone will be pleased with how the darker lighting plays on curves as the characters’ weights increase.
The problem with 1 vs 2 isn’t so much bright vs dark as contrast - as created by shadows
in 1, the limited contrast leads to the face being ‘washed-out’, with detail obscured as a result
Yay, one more week and I finish my school semester! I can finally relax playing this game!
A small status update:
I’m still chugging along. Right now, I’m learning how to use ManFriday’s Daz render queue, which is significantly helping my productivity. My way of practicing this new workflow has been re-rendering most indoor scenes with the darker/higher contrast lighting that most everyone seemed to like. The re-renders are looking incredible so far 
At this point, I think I can comfortably outline the scope of the next update. It will definitely include:
I may also take the time to go back and add more content to the lower weight stages depending on how long the above points take me. At this point, I’m open to suggestions of what additional content the community would like to see at the lower weight stages! Drop me a line if you have ideas!
Thats all I got for now ,I hope at least one these suggestions gets to you. Additionaly, can you reorganize the images folder to have a specific folder for each character if possible?( ex: folder for Brenna , folder for the Maerwynn). Let me know if you find this useful.
Its pleasant to hear that the development is going smooth, i do hope that theres more “apple” shaped actions and sending some chill and cool vibes to ya
10/10 this is super useful! Thank you so much. I will definitely be incorporating most if not all of what you mentioned into the VN
woah , wouldn’t that take a long time?
Well I’m not saying it’s all going to be added by the next update lol. Just at some point. Those are all really good suggestions for new events/features that I myself would like to see at some point.
Which idea did you like the most?
I think the one I’m most focused on is different outfits. I think that will add some much-needed variety.
What do you have in mind?
Definitely some more and less revealing options. For example, I think seeing Annora in her Royal dress will be cool (especially in her black/silver aesthetic).
On that note, the Daz asset library is bigger than I could possibly hope to review myself. So if anyone finds an outfit on Daz that they want me to consider adding to the VN at some point, all they need to do is send me a DM with the link
Hmm, since you’re asking for suggestions, while the visual novel is primarily focused on various women getting big via copious amounts of food, perhaps you could have a scene in which Annora (or anyone else IDC) gathers a whole assortment of various juices and non-alcoholic drinks to which she drinks it all. It’d be nice to see ensuring aftermath sequence of the character in question feeling ‘weird’ and nauseous with having drunk so much and sloshing around the liquid contents in their belly.
how will the lighting be done in the outdoor area?
