Game & Map Screenshots 5

[Allerka]

@Allerka - I don't know about other people, but I think the shape of the cave is fine. I do see sections that are too straight, like the middle right of the map, and corridors that could use more curvature. I also think the one bright yellow mushroom and the crystals seem a bit out of place. Are these ingredients meant to be collected by the player? If so, it's probably good that they catch the eye. I like that you added darker and lighter patches of the cave floor and some grass to break up the monotony.

I suppose it's closer to a tunnel than a cave. There's evidence of prior habitation, so it's likely some of it was hewn out that way. The idea behind the crystals was they're a source of illumination in the cave (haven't implemented proper lighting effects yet), though looking closer at their sprites, I see they're probably more meant to be on the ground, I suppose. Maybe I'll tweak it. I've already merged all the layers in Photoshop, so it'd take some work to remove them.

Woah woah woah.... Are you suggesting that I could import the RTP from RMXP and it would work just as well in VX?

Not really. I built the base of that map in XP, then exported it to Photoshop and did all the work there before splitting it into two layers to run in VX Ace as a parallax background and picture overlay. Yay parallax mapping (though it'd be nice if the animated auto-tiles worked too).

 

[Creative Ed]

@Alkorri - It's supposed to be some kind of ancient temple dungeon or something
That's a test map though, to test out the Tiles I made, see how well they work,, since I'm still working on the visuals of the game

 

[Ultimacj]

I love all these cool edits but I hope this isn't the "standard" aka people EXPECT this in an RM game (from reading these posts I'm just at awe how talent people are I wish had a fraction of it), not everyone is a talented artist, I know I'm not but I'll do my darn-est to make the most of what I can do with tilesets! ;d

As they say graphics don't make a "great" game.

But in all seriousness, I do like these screenshots they are very nice.

 

[Candacis]

@Ultimacj: I wouldn't worry too much about it. Everyone startet out as a novice. The important thing is to keep at it and don't get discouraged only because you saw someone is better than you. Take it instead as inspiration and map a lot as exercise. And you can do a lot with tilesets and the editor alone.

 

[Ultimacj]

@Ultimacj: I wouldn't worry too much about it. Everyone startet out as a novice. The important thing is to keep at it and don't get discouraged only because you saw someone is better than you. Take it instead as inspiration and map a lot as exercise. And you can do a lot with tilesets and the editor alone.

This I agree with but I can say I'm pretty sure even after 2 or 3 projects later graphically it won't look nearly awesome sauce, it's like a playing a musical instrument: some people can and some can't.

With RM I've got better with game play mach-antics and storyline, I'll get better over time but I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows unless they hire an artist (or knows one), it can only go so far lol

 

[Kes]

@cobeslice

you can import XP cliffs and put them on the A5 tiles, with a few bits on an ordinary tile sheet. You can do it all in the editor, no need to do parallax maps. But, it's not easy and straightforward, you need quite a bit of oractice. My suggestion would be to build up competance in using the Ace style tiles before branching off into all the complications of using XP tiles in Ace.

 

[esby]

@CobeSlice - One little bit of advice if you are going to use XP stile cliffs. Don't just have two tile high walls everywhere, get into the practice of having varied wall heights early on because it's possible to do so much more with the resources.

Spoiler

Found an old XIX backup from before I switched over to the DS tiles, it's soo different..

Spoiler

 

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

The floor tiles after the stairs still feel like it's on the upper floor to me... I guess it needs either shadows, or make the shown area smaller since it should have been covered a bit by the upper floor 

 

[KaYsEr]

@Celliana | Aw! This is classy, congratulation! (the ground tile could easily be a wall tile, it would probably be even better with another one.)
 

@Kayz - Thanks, Kayz! That name is far easier for me to spell. You can zoom in to look at the room? That's awesome. Any particular useful reason (like searching for an item) or is that just for aesthetics? For bringing intimacy, like you said.

I love those smudge marks on the walls and the look of the door. My only concern is that because the lower part and legs of the bed are so short, it looks like we're getting a top-down view of the bed. Forgot to say that space art is gorgeous, and that Korulimbo(?) screenshot too.

True, I can probably fix this little optical illusion by pushing the bed against the wall a little bit more. (I see this problem with VX ACE RTPs very often, it's even more disturbing since the gap is usually pretty big because of the chipset-based mapping)

About the zoom thing, yes it's mostly for aesthetics (intimacy/better use of space/feeling of exploration...) I can move the camera in 3D to show "key items" in the game (an even better kind of zoom ^-^), for example in a scene a character gives you explanations about the use of special flowers in the game (Korubana, a basic ingredient to craft potions) and while he begins to speak to you in "RTPs-like 2D perspective", the camera goes to the flowers in 3D seamlessly and they look like this so you can better see their aspect and remember it the next time you see the little "sprite version" from far away on regular maps.

(you can see those flowers in the map I use as a wallpaper on the landing page here, they are around the solar photovoltaic panel.)

 

[heimond]

 

[no dur hah]

@heimond


I really like that style! It has a Zelda-ish vibe to it.


---


Well, now I'm going to post a screenshot from my dungeon crawler rpg, "The Depths". This is the main room, you will respawn here when you die. Also, the fireplace is a healing/spawn point. And the merchant is... well... a merchant. You sell your loot to him and buy potions and stuff. Yea. Also, the straight mapping is because it looks more retro-ish. I always think that straight mapping is more convenient, and it's not that hard to make it look good, unless you're using the RTP.

 

[Shuji]

Okay, this is my first map with 16x16 tiles. I did this in a few hours by parallaxing. 

I just love this style so much  BD

To avoid writing another post, do you know if it's possible making RPGMaker VX/Ace run with 16x16 tiles? 

 

[Creative Ed]

@Shuji - I seriously doubt that could be even possible, since the grid itself/map editor/everything is 32x32. But what I would do in your case would be making the graphics with 16x16 and then just resize it to double, with "Nearest Neighbour" in photoshop. That way you'd have a game of 32x32 but looking 16x16.

 

[Indrah]

Okay, this is my first map with 16x16 tiles. I did this in a few hours by parallaxing. 

I just love this style so much  BD

To avoid writing another post, do you know if it's possible making RPGMaker VX/Ace run with 16x16 tiles? 

It looks like an exact screenshot from Seiken Densetsu 3. That's a very well known game, are you sure you want to go that way? It may cause some backlash :I

I'm a bit torn on it, I'm not trying to point fingers or anythign but it LOOKS like lifted straight off the game, which makes me a bit uncomfortable.

 

[KaYsEr]

It looks like an exact screenshot from Seiken Densetsu 3. That's a very well known game, are you sure you want to go that way? It may cause some backlash :I

I'm a bit torn on it, I'm not trying to point fingers or anythign but it LOOKS like lifted straight off the game, which makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Well, there is "mistakes" Squaresoft would not have done, like the 3 trees "in line" diagonally on top.

Beside that, it does look good, probably because those ressources are so great, but the level design here it pretty fine too, very close to the original game indeed.

(And yes you can "double the size" and use those tiles in VX ACE as 32x32, it works, it's just... Not the most legal thing in the world )

 

[Indrah]

I'm not sayign it IS a screenshot, I know it's not (I recognize things that don't belong) but it LOOKS like lifted straight out, which gives me the weird feeling. Maybe because Seiken Densetsu 3 had such a distinctive style.

 

[KaYsEr]

I'm not sayign it IS a screenshot

Yes I know, don't worry I was not saying that. Just some words on top of yours.

Maybe because Seiken Densetsu 3 had such a distinctive style.

That's for sure, it's almost like "Game DNA" at this point, that's why I'm not into ripping stuff, it's harder to make your own "game identity" with another game identity, unless your players never played SD3. (well, we could say that for RTPs GFX to a lesser extent)

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

@BustedEd and Shuji - You could make the game run the 16x16 tiles, you can even make them run in 1x1 pixels as long as you script that (PIXEL MOVEMENT + COLLISION)... But the editor, would stay using the 32x32 tile grid... It won't be a problem though seeing as you're making them using parallax mapping anyways... Though the question itself I think is not fit for this thread...

 

[Shuji]

Sorry for the OT question. 

Talking about the tiles, that map is just a try:

I saw some rm2k3 screens in this style and they were EPIC. So I just wanted to try out that style, I used Seiken Densetsu 3 tiles because they are probably the most beautifull out there.

I don't want to use them in MY game, that map was just to try out. ( But I'd like to find someone able to create a tileset similar to that )

So, can you give me some advice? 

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

You can use any tile-size that you want if ur gonna use parallax mapping, it's just that if you want the game to also allow you to walk in that non 32x32 tile-size then you'd need a pixel movement script... There are a few out there.