Game & Map Screenshots 3

[Abi]

@Choco

Your sense of proportions seems good to me...  Mapping is mostly great except only that those rugs seem a little odd to me.  Not the rugs themselves, but the placement of other objects over them.

 

[A-Moonless-Night]

@Choco: Neat and tidy. I like it! I disagree with Abi above; I think the rugs and the objects on them look well-placed.

 

[JJK_42]

So I used the generate dungeon option and then edited the map to make it look more realistic. What do you think?



(btw, how do I make this display the image with the actual size?)

 

[Shiro]

yeeeeaaahhh dont use that. Its just random, theres no logic to your dungeon if you use that even a little. Its literally the least ammount of effort into level design you can do.

 

[JJK_42]

yeeeeaaahhh dont use that. Its just random, theres no logic to your dungeon if you use that even a little. Its literally the least ammount of effort into level design you can do.

...

I think this thread is for giving useful advice... Please be more constructive, I can't really improve anything if you only say it's bad.

What exactly do you mean by "no logic". Of course it's random, it's a forest. You wouldn't expect a forest to have a perfectly predictable layout. That would not be realistic, right?

So, tell me what I should improve on.

And please, don't insult me. It's not like I didn't put any effort in into it.

 

[EternalShadow]

First attempt at a volcano.


-

Stone bridges, not wooden bridges, pl0x XD


Looks nice in layout, but some of the tiles don't have a border. Try some shift-clicking.

 

[Kes]

@JJK 42

I'm glad you couldn't post that image actual size, it's huge.  There's no need anyway, as it comes up full size when it's clicked on.

Some factors to take into account when thinking of using a map like that.  It is very large and complex, so difficult for the player to navigate, though you do have the main path clearly marked, which is good.  How far into the game will the player be?  If it's near the beginning, and assuming a reasonable distribution of enemies, it may be way too much.  If it's later on in the game, it may be a bit easier - though again it would depend what you're doing on encounters.  Next, why am I doing it, what are the rewards for exploring something that big?  Is it plot related?  Do I get really decent items/gear?  I would hate to battle all my way through to the farthest corner only to find a couple of level one health potions (this has happened to me, so I know what it feels like).  Factors like that have to be taken into account when judging the map, and as I don't have that sort of info, I'm reluctant to give a too definite answer to your question about it.

As a general rule, and speaking now as a player, I think there has to be a positive reason for having such a complex map in a game.  It might be something like the reasons in the first paragraph of my answer, or it might be the overall style of the game, but if it's just a one-off "hey, let's have a big map", I think it rarely works.

 

[JJK_42]

@ksjp17

Well, I'd use spoilers of course.

Anyways, thanks for your advice. I didn't think about the items yet, but when I do, I'll definitely take into account what you said. As to how far into the game it is, somewhere around the middle (but I could still change that). About encounters: I was thinking of having the battles on the map. So you just see a slime, and press a button that activates a skill. There would be no respawning. So once you've killed an enemy and you go away from the map and come back again, the enemy does not reappear.

One question: I blocked some of the the pathways with trees or water. The generator kind of makes too many access paths. How would you do this? Would you just remove the paths completely, or block them off with trees, etc.

 

[Lunarea]

@JJK_42:

One of the most awkward parts of your map is that long 1-tile corridor near the middle. This might just be preference, but I find that the canopy can look a little weird when it's just 1 tile thin an in a straight line.

I would also encourage you to not use the dungeon generator. Not because it produces a terrible result, but because it requires a ton of editing to make it work well. It also doesn't follow any rules when it comes to planning a map, which is really crucial in making a map flow well. When you plan a map first, you end up knowing where the treasures go, where the enemies go, where you can put secrets and just how much detail you need in each section to make it look natural. You can have large sections of the map as unpassable canopy, and it won't look weird because you've planned for areas of interest. When you're working from a base like dungeon generator's base, you have to make all of these things fit into an existing map. At some point, it just becomes more efficient to make your own layout.

To help illustrate, here's an entrance to a forest I've created recently:

Spoiler

It's a transitional map that leads from a castle to a forest, so it's relatively simple. The canopy is used to set edges around the map, which (along with the road) guides the player to the upper left corner. The north and south areas are open because that's where treasure chests and/or events happen. The canopy is not only used to break the map into sections, but also to give a more random natural look.

Now, I've used the dungeon generator to create a map of the same size, and this was the result:

Spoiler

I could spend some time making the map prettier by adding details, but the map would still suffer from a bad base design. Without altering the initial layout, I'm left with 2 very boring square rooms and a huge amount of empty space. Now, I could expand the design to be more interesting, but at that point, I might as well make a map from scratch instead.

 

[JJK_42]

I see... It's a pity. A proper dungeon generator would be a very powerful tool... Well, I hope they make a better one in the future.

I'll make a map from scratch then.

 

[Aceri]

@JJK_42: It is always best to make maps from scratch. I always made my maps from scratch, and now whenever I feel like playing around with the dungeon generator I am left feeling severely disappointed. Lunarea is right in the sense that if you make your own base and go from there then things become much easier to plan out as far as any traps, secret areas ect.. But also not EVERYTHING needs a purpose. Some things can just be there for flare, or decor, ect., and doesn't 100% have to have each and every tile have a purpose. If you are confused on how to do a map from base, it's actually a lot simpler than it seems. Here are some screens I made for this reply. I am by no means the best mapper, but they should help none the less.



As you can see, there's nothing really fancy about this, I've just outlined the edge of the map with my ceiling tile, added a wall to desired height, and a floor. That is what MY base usually consists of. Other people have varying opinions on how it should be done and the like. But from here I can start tweaking things to make it look not so boxy. Remember to always try to keep your walls the same length unless  it's different for a specific reason.



This one is still nothing fancy, just tried breaking up the straight lines on the walls to make the map look like it has a purpose beyond that of just having the player move through it.



Here I just added things to liven up the place, still basic stuff. I'm still not the best at this, but hopefully you find it helpful. If you find you have problems with mapping you should definitely check out Indrah's "Mapping in 5 easy steps" http://rpgmaker.net/tutorials/620/ .

 

[Robin]

What exactly do you mean by "no logic". Of course it's random, it's a forest. You wouldn't expect a forest to have a perfectly predictable layout. That would not be realistic, right?

It's important to remember that your primary aim probably isn't to recreate a realistic forest, but rather to design interesting levels for the player to play through. Of course, you can make an awesome looking forest that is also fun to play through, however using that generator won't lead to either of those things.

Also, just because a forest isn't completely random doesn't mean it's perfectly predictable. That's really a false dichotomy.

 

[MooshraKun]

Its Letsgo12 Here! Well my partner Mooshra is dead on the rpg maker thing so now it is my time to shine! Well I am all for just doing maps inside RM programs, but I wanted to try parralex mapping!

You see my friends that use this program have all tried to make 1 game called "ZeXaL Where Fantasies Collide." The first was RoXaS1111, but took the no effort into making it good, so Mooshra took over. And he has given, so now it's my job to see this through!

Well so taking aspects from their games I am making my own version called, "ZeXaL: Final Dream" And well I am just starting out the whole mapping thing. but attempting to use the RTP tile sets of ACE I made this cliff scene.

If there is any way that this can  be improved please tell me since this is the intro scene that suppose play out like FFX's intro.

 

[Kes]

As I don't know what the FFX's intro looks like, I can't comment on how adequate the map is in that regard.  However, irrespective of that, there are a few things that need some revision.

The large 'cave'-like crack that you've put on - it goes straight up the cliff face, across the cliff edge and onto the ground as if you were depicting a flat surface, instead of the ground being at roughly a right-angle to the cliff.  Also using the thinner cliff cracks on the ground looks very odd.  It's not clear to me what the solitary bit of grass is doing, and is that a boulder sort of sitting there?  I like the sky and the way it sort of hazes over the far edge of the ground which gives an impression of distance.

 

[EternalShadow]

Its Letsgo12 Here! Well my partner Mooshra is dead on the rpg maker thing so now it is my time to shine! Well I am all for just doing maps inside RM programs, but I wanted to try parralex mapping!


You see my friends that use this program have all tried to make 1 game called "ZeXaL Where Fantasies Collide." The first was RoXaS1111, but took the no effort into making it good, so Mooshra took over. And he has given, so now it's my job to see this through!


Well so taking aspects from their games I am making my own version called, "ZeXaL: Final Dream" And well I am just starting out the whole mapping thing. but attempting to use the RTP tile sets of ACE I made this cliff scene.


If there is any way that this can  be improved please tell me since this is the intro scene that suppose play out like FFX's intro.

As you wanted feedback compared to FF10's intro, it's a bit plain compared to FF10.

 

[MooshraKun]

Thanks for the feedback I fiqured as much as yall said, but I wanted to get some opinions. It's still in devolopement I just didn't know much of what to do since this is my first map.

So I wil try to make the huge crack have depth. and do something about the grass and smaller cracks to make it look more nartural.

@KSJP17

Thanks for the tips, and the comment about the sky. Took me a while to get t and the liff to blend! And thats ot a bolder but an indent, or hole in the ground.

@Hotfirelegend

Yah its plain I just thought this was a good stage to get feedback before I go into more advanced stuf that will hopefully make it look way more in depth.

 

[Ocedic]

Galv and I are currently working on a game that takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting. This is still in progress, but one of the areas in our game that we worked on yesterday. Galv did the environment and placement while I did some edits to Lunarea's modern tiles.

(new version with fog and some adjustments)

 

[Tuomo L]

This has been a long time in making and it's not even 1/4 done yet but I thought I'd share something awesome with you guys.

 

[Aceri]

@Big T: Your tard-spider thing has a giant anus dude.

On a side note, the animation on your characters cloak is a little off. The sides of the cloak when moving upwards(back view) animate nicely, but the middle part of the cloak down at the bottom doesn't move at all, the entire section just kind of bobs up and down and it's kind of off putting.

 

[Tuomo L]

@Big T: Your tard-spider thing has a giant anus dude.

On a side note, the animation on your characters cloak is a little off. The sides of the cloak when moving upwards(back view) animate nicely, but the middle part of the cloak down at the bottom doesn't move at all, the entire section just kind of bobs up and down and it's kind of off putting.

That's not an anus. 

I'll look into the animation issue later, thanks from the input!