Game & Map Screenshots 4

[Alexander Amnell]

   Ok, so my daughters and I are making a little game revolving around our animals. (It's been an ongoing thing in our household to periodically provide commentary on these animal's interactions with each other, 'speaking for them' if you will based on what they are doing and the expressions/attitudes we perceive of them at the time. Just a family quirk I guess, but then my eldest one decided she wanted to make an actual game out of it.) Anyway, this of course requires me to convert actual property into rpgmaker, which is a challenge in itself apparently. The pasture I really want to improve but there isn't much more to it that I can show in the maker, it's just a hilly pasture, and I can't show the hills really without it looking like an incline or something, so I'm not really sure how to proceed. Also considering adding more trees to the areas that already have them, in reality there are trees everywhere, but that can't be made in rpgmaker's top-down view without also cutting off the player's mobility in-between them, which would make all but the roads and the pasture impassable. Real places are hard to emulate apparently.

Spoiler

http://s1227.photobucket.com/user/Alexander_Amnell/media/Map001.png.html

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

another try... The objects look too squished I think, right?

Maybe I would really need to redraw the objects... Arggg...

 

[Alexander Amnell]

@Shana The walls, floor and rug look pretty awesome, but yeah, I can't see how you'd make most of the b-e objects look at all decent in a semi-iso setting without redrawing them with a little more depth at least. Without being familiar with the rtp I'm not sure I'd even recognize what those objects are supposed to be in that kind of perspective.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

yeah... seems like simply skewing them won't do any good... Now I need to hope that I can redraw them...


EDIT:


tried out mlogan's edits:

do they look so far away from the wall?

 

[mlogan]

@Alex - I like the maps. I think the first one could be scaled down a bit in size. I know you are trying to make it as close to real scale as possible, but you may have to compromise a bit to get a better look. Of course, if it's just for you and your kids (which I love, my girls like to help me make maps), then do what you want!

@engr. shana - What do they look like if you put them one tile higher?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

here, tried re-positioning...

 

[mlogan]

I think it looks better, but there's still something off. It almost seems to me that it needs a but of the side of the cabinet showing or something? I'm not sure though, my spatial sense is pretty terrible.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

yeah, I think that is the missing part.. and sadly, I'm not artistic enough to figure out a way right now on how to do that correctly. and I think the amount of depth will depend on how far they are from the center if it's to look realistic... It might be a lot easier if I just draw every map, though again, I'm not really good at that...


or I'll just use this 3D pack from one of my fellows on another site to build the maps, then take a screenshot to use as parallax and overlays... but the only problem (Aside from it not fitting with the RTP or most of other resources) is that it only contains resources for building a house

 

[Candacis]

@detective:

is the background moving? It looks weird, but you might want to add a fog or something like that, like moving pixels or symbols.

@alex:

I love the idea, but the places are really big. If you just want to rebuild a real place, that's fine, but if you want to have gameplay in it, I suggest you make the pastures a lot smaller for shorter ways between the animals. And since the place is so big, I see no problem blocking of some of it with more trees. I don't know, if you use parallax or not, but you could set the tree top to the star passability, so that the player can walk behind it.

For the hills, I now Celianna made one hill and there are slopes out there somewhere for her cliffs, which with you could simulate hills. Try also to add more decoration, like flowers or water/feed trough, pitch fork etc.

 

[Mr. Detective]

Yes, the background is moving. Fog? Not sure how that would work.
 

 

[numfanklewhat]

@shana


Are you using mode 7, or is that a pseudo mode 7 with parallax mapping? Good luck with that! I tried using mode 7 before, but using it for complex map with so many layer of objects is disaster.. I guess that's why mode 7 is mainly used in overworld map..


Anyway, I suppose this should be in the "What are you working on" thread, but I got too much spirited and ended up finishing it faster, I guess it's more fitting in this thread. Here's some screenshot from my project. Tackling the mangrove/swamp area!


The tileset and battleback mock up

Spoiler

Finished battleback minus the HUD (morning - noon - evening - night)

Spoiler

 

[Kes]

@numfanklewhat

I like those battlebacks and think the duck sat on the head of the - I hesitate to name it, because I'm not sure, chameleon maybe? - is brilliant.  A whole new take on the phrase "a knight and his trusty steed".  Also like the change of enemies with nightfall.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

so seeing as how I cannot really effectively use another perspective without too much work (that I cannot devote time into right now), and realized that it might be hard for my other systems if I actually use that perspective, I chose to just go back to the normal perspective...


two new screenshots

Spoiler

Kind of Harvest Moon inspired hot spring

A dark, abandoned room

 

[Filius Rex]

Another parralax map 

Spoiler

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

that's a huge tree...

 

[Filius Rex]

@Engr. Shana It's supposed to be 

 

[Makio-Kuta]

@Amnell: First, I think it's absolutely delightful that your kids want to make a game with you! That's real cute~ I do agree with what other people have said about the size of the maps, but also see where you are aiming for an accurate representation of your home. Maybe on the larger outdoor maps you could increase the dogs moving speed so the size becomes a bit less of an issue? A dog running when outside makes sense, and then it would take less time to travel across the map.


Ah, but I wish you and your kids best of luck with the game~~


@numfanklewhat: Looking real good, as usual~ I love the nighttime shot. Hm! I can't wait to see this project completed; I'm really curious how it'll turn out!


@Shana: It's too bad you couldn't get the pseudo-3D to work out; would have been a real neat style. Maybe some resources will turn out in the future that will work better with it though and you'll have a chance to revisit it.


@Filius Rex: I think this map is really lacking in contrast; at a quick glance it is really hard to make our what belongs to what. Like, I can see branches coming off of the very large tree in the centre (which has lovely blending in the trunk, especially that one little notch in the upper middle), but I can't tell if any leaves are supposed to belong to this tree or not. And that trend continues through the whole forest frame; it sorta muddles into one big tree and it's hard to tell where one starts and another stops. Maybe adding some trees with different coloured leaves could break the monotone jumble the forest is. Since it's a picture, it shouldn't be too hard to adjust the colours on some trees here and there. A couple other minor nitpicks, the lighting is making very obvious vertical lines across the picture. Especially on the left side. It's a straight line of shadow, and then light of light, and then line of shadow again. If it's a lighting overlay, try to stagger the shadows a bit more or jitter it back and forth. Some of the trees in that straight line area are still going to catch the light. Nitpick number two is the dirt tile - it's very obvious where it tiles and is making the grid pattern very easy to see. Try touching up along the grid to help hide it.


Ahh I feel bad that was a lot of negative crits! I do like the overall look of the map though! The layout is nice and the foliage around the large tree's base is nicely placed. The shadow cast by the large tree looks really nice too. ((actually the lighting on the whole right side of the map in general is nice. You've got a nice stagger there, with the tops of the trees catching the light and the shadows restricted to being underneath the upper canopy of the trees. Extend that to the left side as well.)

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

@Makio - yeah... well if I can actually settle with a Manor-only setting with not much objects on it, there is a certain 3D pack from my other community that I can use... sadly, I can't settle for the game to be Manor-only...


maybe I'd retake a look at Ragnarok to that view and see how it looks like so that I'll have a reference on how the objects should look like...


I just don't have the motivation to go full custom on this one since it's just meant to be a minor, short project... but I'd keep practicing on editing the resources / making new ones that will fit that perspective


EDIT: how about this?

 

[Shinma]

@Engr Shana, it sucks that your mode 7 is currently too much work for you to take on right now, but I like the 2 new screens. Where is the light in the upper right corner of the abandoned area coming from?

@Filius, I really like this screen, it reminds me of Secret of Mana.

 

[GammaVector]

@Shana: It almost looks like the cabinets are leaning out from the wall. Try snipping the very tops off their tiles to make them more front-view. That may fix it.