I'm loving the life bars especially the Kahn helmets as round counters. Good way to keep things unique. You forgot the Win count though. Not a big deal though. You should add shadows to your fake. I know I don't, but that's because it's my thing.

The fatality itself is not the most original, but it's fine. I think you could switch around existing sprites to make Skarlet use a different pose than just being a knock-off of Mileena. Kinda like what you started to do with your Shang Tsung sprite you showed me. Also, add some edits to Skarlet so she looks more like she does in MK2011. I don't expect you to make her the exact way she is in the game, but at least some defining features to set her apart from a color swap.

You did a very good job creating the ceiling for this stage, but it does look a bit too stretched out near the top. The ceiling and wall do not match the floor tile you used (MK2 Tower?). The Chinese statues kind of add too much in the background that it's a bit distracting. What is the carpet there for? Is it leading up to an alter or something you forgot to add? Put something in the middle I guess so there's a reason the carpet leads up there instead of just a window.

You have so much potential it's not even funny. In no time you'll surpass me, especially in custom backgrounds.



Well that's a shame. It was coming along quite nice. You should finish it regardless.

I agree with BS about the Chinese Statues. However, I actually like that you did minimal editing on the Skarlet sprite, since it makes her look like an MKII secret character (that, and I really don't like MK9 Skarlet anyway). She probably should have been a more bright shade of red, and maybe have a unique pose.

Other than that, nice work saiZero. The background is great.

Only two ppl liked my fake

Maybe that's a hint to give up... I guess the fake kontest was just not all as it seemed

It's not you. It's MKO (specifically this forum).

Don't be discouraged by the lack of criticism and/or praise provided. Given the talent level (or lack thereof) of most of the users who frequent this area of the site, a lot of them probably wouldn't know where to begin when it comes to providing a critique. I, however, am a man of many talents and can provide the guidance necessary to ensure that you continue to contribute quality works of art.

That said, I'm not too terribly impressed with what I'm seeing here. The idea of creating character-specific arenas is nice, but the execution is a bit of a disappointment. Considering the fact that this is Skarlet's arena, I'd suggest constructing it in a fashion that is consistent with her personality. Blood, gore, and violence immediately come to mind. Taking that into account, you could have done so much more with this arena to have given it a more sinister look [possibly making use of the smelters (the things spilling lava in the background) in the MKII Armory and palette-swapping the lava so that it looks like blood]. The dominance of bright white hue really takes away from the fact that she's a product fashioned by way of Shao Kahn's association with the dark arts (looks like it belongs to Ashrah, in my opinion).

Lastly, if you're going to show off a background, it's best to refrain from distracting users from said focal point with the needless insertion of sprites. If you're going to add sprites, at least present the background independently. That is all.

I don't usually have this spare time, so I'll share my thoughts.

Even though you mentioned that your main focus was the background in this piece, I'm still going to give some quick insight, tips, criticism on the rest. I would also like to note that the examples in this are very, very old things, so pardon the lack of completion and level of editing.

The color palette for Skarlett isn't red enough for my taste, not vibrant enough in my opinion.

I don't mind when people use standard sprites, but try to make everything you use your own in some way. What I mean is that you can take existing designs, improve the shading on the sprites, making them more visually pleasing, thus leaving your own touch on it. Then at least you're not just using simple copy and paste which takes roughly five minutes to do.

Here's an example:


Now, something else you could do more of, given what I've seen from you [though I do admit my sample size is small], is learn how to create your own poses or bases for edits from the existing sprites, i.e. "frankensteining."

Here's a poor example of what that process looks like:


Going on, when you get more comfortable in editing and such, then what I'd like to see is take a base sprite and edit and try to create or at least manipulate the greater part of the sprite.

Example:


Then you can go crazy and base your creations off of something that isn't a sprite.



Okay, enough sprite insight and hopefully motivating examples...

The background.. Well it is custom, so props for trying that. Now, the main issue I have with this background is that it has too much gray, and contradicting grays at that.

What could have helped this is more elaborate lighting. It's like playing MK4 on the PC without lighting, everything is too bright and flattened by the lack of shadows and dynamic lighting. In the future, I would suggest thinking about lighting, not focusing on it, but keep it as a thought.

The concept, or at least what I think the concept was is a decent to good one, and I wouldn't mind seeing this same concept with better execution in the future when you have some more experience.

Also, in the future, keep in mind that for most backgrounds in fakes, less is more. That, however, does not mean that custom backgrounds cannot have some character or atmosphere, but there is also no need for clutter ( and example would be excessive usage of existing props).

On a different note, I would just like to say that it would please me to see you continue to make fakes and such, because you started out on a better level than I did. It took me years to produce in terms of quality what you have in mere months. I'm sure your mentor is proud. Looking at the third fake I ever made (which is stashed on my external HDD), you've got a lot of potential.

Finally, my last bit of advice is this: let things come to you, do not force yourself to make fakes. Keep it fun and enjoyable, and most of all, do it for yourself and for what you get out of it.

Anyway, hope some of this helps.

[ /Essay]

MKRocket, you fucking rule. Wow. Just wow. Where are all your fakes? Do you have a photobucket album or something? I apparently missed out in a lot while I was gone.

By the way, I've been working with Saizero to make an improvement. Maybe not as good as the suggestions as Veno and MKrocket have made, but it's "a kicker"

I used to have the majority of my stuff on a personal website, but it's been taken down. A good chunk of my work was lost when ShareMation went down years ago. Another chunk went away when MKOutworld ceased to exist, also years ago. What I have now is bits and pieces of old scraps and old ideas. The Quan Chi sprite above is from maybe four years ago?

But to answer your question, there isn't any one place that I have anything online... When I last checked some of my fakes here, most of the links were dead.

Hell, I just looked at the last modified on the last fake I finished/posted... 2008. Yeah, it's been awhile. Up until my attempt to make something for the recent FPK, I hadn't even touched a sprite in at least two years.

The big issue I have with editing anymore is that nothing meets my standards and I don't have a lot of time to spend on them anymore, which I know isn't an excuse, but I'm in a stressful part of my life and I have bigger things to worry about. Who knows, when things start to slow down in my life, I could make a fake or two for shits and giggles.

Yup BS


I know how u feel MKR

As MKR said make the fake your own and have it stand out as something unique that you can be proud of. That being said the sanctuary idea has potential but the current design leaves much to be desired. We now know Skarlet's story so I wonder why none of that flair was added to the stage. It looks like the stage can belong to any character. Here's one of my early attempts at representing her presence. Mind you this was made when she was still just a rumor.