TimeGentleman Posted March 28 Posted March 28 (edited) Hi all, I'm working on a game at the moment which needs an establishing shot of a very tall tower, and I want to find a reference screenshot for how I think it should be handled. I'm sure there's a shot in a Lucasarts adventure (I could be getting muddled and it's a non-Lucasarts game, but I don't think so) where if you look at the entire piece of art, it's three or so screens tall and the tower curves out at the middle so that in-game when they scroll from the bottom of the piece upwards, it looks like it's starting from a low angle framing of the bottom of the tower then pivoting up to look directly at the middle of the tower, then continuing to pivot up for an angle looking up at the top of the tower. I've seen this called curved perspective. Can anyone tell me what game and scene this is, please?! edit: Full Throttle has the inverse of this for its opening shot - the perspective pinches in at the middle, so the clouds at the start and the highway at the end feel closer than the horizon in the middle - and the Booty Island cliff in MI2 has the middle and bottom of it, but doesn't pan up past Guybrush to look up at the sky! Edited March 28 by TimeGentleman
Laserschwert Posted March 28 Posted March 28 (edited) This one from The Dig is a bit more extreme, and probably not a good reference, as it places you INSIDE the structure: EDIT: I just learned that this is sometimes called a "banana pan", and googling for that gives some possibly helpful results. Edited March 28 by Laserschwert 1
TimeGentleman Posted March 28 Author Posted March 28 That's still quite helpful, though, as I can say 'imagine one of these walls is the tower, and it does the same thing on the way down as well'! Banana pan is helpful too, thanks!
ThunderPeel2001 Posted March 28 Posted March 28 (edited) On 3/28/2025 at 8:49 AM, TimeGentleman said: edit: Full Throttle has the inverse of this for its opening shot - the perspective pinches in at the middle, so the clouds at the start and the highway at the end feel closer than the horizon in the middle - and the Booty Island cliff in MI2 has the middle and bottom of it, but doesn't pan up past Guybrush to look up at the sky! Expand Full Throttle's opening is immediately what I thought of. And the two moments in MI2: Booty Island Cliff When Guybrush swims down to the sunken ship from Kate Capsize's boat Feels like something Curse would have done, but I can't think of a specific example of it. Edited March 28 by ThunderPeel2001
Scummbuddy Posted March 28 Posted March 28 I was also thinking of Full Throttles opening. And I'm thinking the SKULL Island reveal is just a normal perspective drawing. Hmm... I think I may have one from an animated TV show. I'll check my computer later when I get home.
Laserschwert Posted March 28 Posted March 28 (edited) Looks like "4-point perspective" is the correct term for this: https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/four-point-perspective-drawing-video/how-to-draw-using-perspective-dick-termes/ But I think the The Dig shot I shared above isn't really that. It's more like the bottom and top halves are just separate perspectives, while the middle is just covering up the seam with non-descript concrete texture (and some streaks following either of the two perspectives) and a huge cracked piece that covers up where the vertical edge changes its direction. A clever solution, since the pan doesn't linger on the center area, and only the two ends need to look correct. Edited March 29 by Laserschwert 1
Jake Posted March 29 Posted March 29 Are you thinking of the lighthouse from curse? The cliff from monkey 2?
TimeGentleman Posted March 29 Author Posted March 29 I did mention the Booty Island cliff, and it might be that that I'm thinking of, though it only pans one way and I really do have a strong image in my head of a tower or skyscraper. I don't think it's the COMI lighthouse either - do they even do a scroll on that screen? That always struck me as more of a fisheye lens shot. Maybe it's not a Lucasarts game after all... Also remembered that Hit the Road has at least one banana pan, from the close up of the end of the ball of twine, panning up to the restaurant. But that's not the one I'm thinking of, obviously!
ThunderPeel2001 Posted March 29 Posted March 29 On 3/29/2025 at 12:14 PM, TimeGentleman said: I really do have a strong image in my head of a tower or skyscraper Expand I swear there's an Amiga game that had an opening like that. I can picture a skyscraper at night, but I can't place the game
Jake Posted March 29 Posted March 29 On 3/29/2025 at 12:14 PM, TimeGentleman said: I did mention the Booty Island cliff, and it might be that that I'm thinking of, though it only pans one way and I really do have a strong image in my head of a tower or skyscraper. I don't think it's the COMI lighthouse either - do they even do a scroll on that screen? That always struck me as more of a fisheye lens shot. Maybe it's not a Lucasarts game after all... Also remembered that Hit the Road has at least one banana pan, from the close up of the end of the ball of twine, panning up to the restaurant. But that's not the one I'm thinking of, obviously! Expand I always think of the Curse lighthouse because it’s so bowed, but you’re right it doesn’t pan.
Laserschwert Posted March 29 Posted March 29 (edited) A quick scan through JPL's background collection didn't bring up any unexpected shots like the ones already mentioned. I somehow remember a shot like the one we're looking for, but it might just as well been something from a Disney movie. Edit: This sketch looks helpful. Edited March 29 by Laserschwert
LuigiHann Posted April 1 Posted April 1 I found this thread which links to a zip file of many (all?) of the backgrounds from a number of Lucasarts games that are likely suspects. I feel like I remember the scene you're talking about too, but I'm also unable to place it specifically. They do this kind of "banana pan" perspective frequently on the horizontal axis, like the hallways in DotT, but I'm not seeing a lot of vertical ones. There is this puzzling perspective shot from The Dig. Probably not what you're thinking of and definitely not what I'm thinking of, but it is an interesting use of the technique. 1
Laserschwert Posted April 1 Posted April 1 Vertical ones weren't really practical for most adventure games, at least during gameplay, because they would require the character sprites to change perspective as well. Horizontal ones worked without problems here. But of course, for cutscenes these could still have been used.
LuigiHann Posted April 1 Posted April 1 Yeah, now I'm wondering if the one I'm thinking of might have been a vertically panning render in a Myst/Riven type deal. But I'm sure there have been at least a couple of instances in a third person game where you can "look" up and down in a scene while the character is limited to the middle area.
Scummbuddy Posted April 2 Posted April 2 I'm wondering if the image exists from a different game company, like within Toonstruck? Maybe during a cutscene. Hmm. (And the image from a cartoon I mentioned earlier didn't "pan" out, as it twists 180 during the tracking.) 1
TimeGentleman Posted April 2 Author Posted April 2 Could potentially be Toonstruck or similar! (To be honest I don't need to find it anymore, I used Booty Island cliff plus a clumsy drawing of my own, but I'm still enjoying the hunt and the general discussion of banana pans in adventure games!) 1
Lagomorph01 Posted April 3 Posted April 3 On 4/2/2025 at 9:32 AM, TimeGentleman said: Could potentially be Toonstruck or similar! (To be honest I don't need to find it anymore, I used Booty Island cliff plus a clumsy drawing of my own, but I'm still enjoying the hunt and the general discussion of banana pans in adventure games!) Expand Don't say that! You NEED to find it, and the community must keep posting until you do! (To be honest, for me this is the most entertaining thread at the moment. So please continue.) 3
Gins Posted April 3 Posted April 3 On 4/3/2025 at 7:32 AM, Lagomorph01 said: Don't say that! You NEED to find it, and the community must keep posting until you do! (To be honest, for me this is the most entertaining thread at the moment. So please continue.) Expand @TimeGentleman, please! 2 1
Niemandswasser Posted Tuesday at 12:44 AM Posted Tuesday at 12:44 AM Are you possibly thinking of the pan up the Skull Island cliff in Curse?
TimeGentleman Posted Wednesday at 01:56 PM Author Posted Wednesday at 01:56 PM No, that's far too subtle a use of perspective!
Jake Posted Wednesday at 02:59 PM Posted Wednesday at 02:59 PM Are you thinking of toontown from who framed Roger rabbit? 1
Niemandswasser Posted Thursday at 03:50 AM Posted Thursday at 03:50 AM On 4/9/2025 at 1:56 PM, TimeGentleman said: No, that's far too subtle a use of perspective! Expand Dang, my memory absolutely distorted the hell out of that. On 4/9/2025 at 2:59 PM, Jake said: Are you thinking of toontown from who framed Roger rabbit? Expand Are you thinking of the doodle city from Cool World?
TimeGentleman Posted Thursday at 11:42 AM Author Posted Thursday at 11:42 AM (edited) I'm not sure that Doodle City one even counts as a banana pan, tbh. Is that not all one perspective? But Toontown... possibly! It might at the very least be getting mixed into my vague memory, especially that scene outside the skyscraper with Tweety, Bugs and Mickey. I can't immediately find any banana pan shots of it online, so this is a good excuse to watch that bit of the movie again! EDIT: okay, so they don't really do pans or tilts in Toon Town, it's mostly static shots or the occasional dolly, BUT the shot of Eddie falling away that ends on this framing: Does actually have a banana pan right at the start of it for about 0.3 seconds! Now, I don't think that this is the fabled banana pan of my memory, but this imagery may have been amalgamated with what I'm actually thinking of..! So maybe I noticed the banana pan on the Booty Island cliff, and it made me think of other similar 'tall structure' cartoon shots like the RR one and it got smushed together. But I dunno, I reckon there's an actual video game tower banana pan that goes from ground to sky that we haven't found yet! Edited Thursday at 11:58 AM by TimeGentleman
Thrik Posted Thursday at 05:26 PM Posted Thursday at 05:26 PM GOD! This has driven me crazy, you bastard. 1 1
Niemandswasser Posted Thursday at 05:50 PM Posted Thursday at 05:50 PM On 4/10/2025 at 11:42 AM, TimeGentleman said: I'm not sure that Doodle City one even counts as a banana pan, tbh. Is that not all one perspective? Expand I swear I remember it as a banana pan--my memory of what I posted was that it was the end of a pan upward rather than the whole tower--but I've already proved that my memory for such things is unreliable, so I'm probably wrong. (And Lord knows I'm not putting myself through the torment of rewatching Cool World to double check.) 1
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