Game & Map Screenshots 6

[DragonVine]

Here's the first version of my map. It's still a WIP, but it is coming along.
 

Spoiler

 

[Dream3r]

Looking good Dragon Vine

 

[GolfHacker]

@Korten12: I like that second screenshot. Very nice, though it looks like there is a problem with that big tree in the lower right corner.

@Dragon Vine: nice buildings! I like that big one in the center-bottom. Must have taken you awhile to build. One minor comment: it's made up of 3 sloping roofs side by side - it's not clear to me where the water would go if it rained. Looks like it would collect in the little valleys between the peaks. Practically speaking, a flat roof section might work best there - though it may not look as cool.

 

[DragonVine]

@GolfHacker I actually thought that as I saw the screenshot I took. I might try to edit it and see how it looks.

 

[Korten12]

@GolfHacker in the actual game, there's events to make it look normal. However in the screenshot no events are seen. Anyway thoughts on the first screenshot? 

 

[orochii]

@DragonVine, it looks pretty well! I only think there is too much empty space, but maybe you have more things to add (I also have problems with huge maps because of personal traumas when playing games, walking for hours, and getting lost, but anyway!).

@Korten12, same here, I look a lot of empty space. I like it thought, the structure seems pretty natural C:. Except for that huge wall at the top, looks a little plain. The forest has the same problem, this time at these trees that work as a wall. It's just that... it looks a bit unnatural...

@GolfHacker, your map looks awesome! C:. It's the kind of things I like, a lot of variety and all that. I think it can have more colour variance, but for a forest it's good :^3. I have problems when adding some colour to forest, because green on trees and green on the floor... it makes everything so repetitive "orz...

Now here I have one. It's snowing, but it's pretty subtle, so it's hard to see the snowflakes... "orz

Salut!

 

[Miss Nile]

Looking pretty good, muramasa. ^^ I like how the snowflakes are so subtle and soft. Maybe some plants on the ground would make it look even better? Give it a try. ^^

 

[NathanW]

Here's an update to the map I had posted earlier. I think I've solved the visual issue with the ravine for the most part, and even added in a few bits and bobs.

Spoiler

Now all I have to do is figure out some form of 'story' to put to this map, haha. (I so suck at story bits lol)

 

[Dream3r]

@Muramasa, That... looks... awesome!  I like the custom dates you're using.  I was trying to think of what to use in my game but so far I've left it with the regular months and days.  I'm definitely going to snoop around and try to find out more about your project.

____

As for me, I somehow managed to work all day and get very little done.  Making it so that food rots after a few days led to a dead in because the storage containers can't account for individual items, it groups all items of a type together.  (So it can't tell out of the six blackberries you have stored, five of them are really old) so the script has to be changed for that.

Then I spent forever on making furniture align properly so that certain part of the furniture will allow Val to look like she's under it without it clipping over her head when she walks below it.  But for some reason the script stopped working halfway through the day and I haven't found out why yet.

Lastly I moved onto lighting and had to reteach myself how to use "Khas' Awesome lighting effects" so I didn't get too far in making the interior look like I want.

Night Time View (Incomplete)

Spoiler

I need to find the perfect balance between the window light and the candle light so that the room isn't dark yet at the same time the windows don't take away from the candle.  Also need to work on the width/opacity of the window light so you can see items across the upper wall.

The end goal here is to have the flickering candle seem natural without being distracting and to have the outside light seem believable.  Making the curtains glow as if they block most of the light but let some through and perhaps add some shadows from clouds or other sources that only show within window light and not the rest of the cabin.

But for now I'm calling it a day.  Keep up the good work everyone!

 

[DragonVine]

Update on the building. I found it difficult to flatten it out, so I decided to add some height to it. Hopefully it works.

@muramasa, I think once it has a bunch of people moving around, it'll straighen out the empty spaces thing. However, I do plan to add some scenary.

Spoiler

 

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

Put some shadowns in, it will lift the building out of the surrounding.

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

2nd Revision:



Maybe I'll add a few more houses, but I don't know what to do with the wall on the mountain.

 

[GolfHacker]

@Korten: In your first screenshot, I thought the cliffs in the back looked too rectangular. It also needs some little details in the village, but I'm assuming you haven't gotten that far yet.

@Muramasa: looks good to me! I can picture those little snowflakes swirling lazily around as they drift to the ground.

@DragonVine: that roof looks much better now! But I agree with the comment about the shadows. On a side note: that's a very tall building now! Will players be able to walk around behind it, or will there be some "artificial" barriers? (Not sure how mappers deal with super-tall buildings like that)

Edit:

@AceOfAces_Mod: your screenshot came in right as I posted this. Didn't want to double-post, so I'm adding my comment here. That's a tough one. In various movies and fantasy books I've read, that's a good location to build a city - right up against some cliffs. Makes it easier to defend. However, that's usually because there's no way to approach the city from the top of the cliffs. Having a gate there seems out of place with that philosophy. And it would be difficult for merchants or travelers to climb those treacherous cliff stairs. Also, of course, they typically don't build walls down a cliff face like that.

How about this? Remove those walls going down the cliff, and maybe put some rocky barriers along the top of the cliff. If your game's city needs an exit in that direction, make it through a tunnel. The tunnel goes back into the base of the cliff and comes out up above. A tunnel would make more sense and be much easier to defend (it's a good choke point for invaders coming from that direction). You could even put a small wall and maybe a little building or too (e.g., guard barracks) at the top of the cliff around the tunnel entrance as a first line of defense.

 

[DragonVine]

@AcesOfAces_Mod - I like it. As for the walls, I'd just have the wall end at the cliff, and if you need to have another wall at the top, start a new one without attaching it to the one bellow. I can try to show you an example of what I mean if you'd like. I think adding a few more houses is a good idea, Not too many, but just enough to fill out the space a little more.

@GolfHacker - You can walk behind it. I admit, I'm terrible with the shadow pen in the editor. Any tips?

 

[Razelle]

@AcesOfAces_Mod

I like the layout, and maybe just one more building on the bottom left if you still want to add more, but the town's stone floor is lacking in variety. I think having pathways made to the houses, town exit, and other important buildings will really help remedy all the monotone space.

Making a lovely little village for my current project, still getting the hang of mapping:

 

[Candacis]

@dragonvine: I love that big house, nice work ^_^ I agree with the others that the houses need shadows. I also think, that your map has a lot of spaces between the buildings. Why is that? I don't know, if you plan adding more houses, but if not, I think, it wouldn't hurt if they all got closer to each other. Another thing you could think about is the reduce the use of different walls and roofs. It can make a town look a bit disconnected. Normally a settlement has a more unified look, less different roofs and walls.


@AcesOfAces_Mod: Could you maybe make a bigger screenshot without all of the editor? Just need to the see the map and not the rest ^^ I agree with the others that the door at the mountain cliff is weird. Is it necessary? Then, all your cliffs are very straight, no variations. Very little decoration. There is a lot of empty spaces between the buildings and only one floor tile can make it look plain. Maybe add a sidewalk to the buildings? Some benches and lamps etc.


@Razelle: First, I like the idea of a village located inmidst of a sea, and you have a nice ratio of decorations. But you are not using the water autotile right. It has two parts. One, for making the cliffs under water and then another on for on top of that. Here is a tutorial to show what I mean:


http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/6067-how-to-properly-use-the-exterior-water-tiles/


Then I'm wondering what that building is top of the field. Why does it have wooden frame windows and then a glass window? The graves in front of them strike me as weird, too. Is it a church? If not, I would move the graves. Having them that close to the fields are not good. Then I would make the little islands not so regular in their form. Have some little streams going in here and there, break up those long lines.

 

[Korten12]

@GolfHacker

Yeah, the village is still a WIP. Here's a slightly more updated version. 

Spoiler

Though I'm having a sort of... crisis when it comes to my game. I want my game to be long, and the problem I'm running into is the DS tileset, I love it

but there is some serious restriction I have. Therefore I have started to edit the tilesets to good to mixed results. I also don't want to mix tilesets from

the regular game because I believe people hate that. I may or may not have put myself in a corner.

 

[DragonVine]

I'm working on the roofs now. The walls are a bit tricky, as I want to give the idea that the houses were built using whatever material they could find, while the main buildings, which are older, have a more unified look. However, if the common consensus is they should look similar, I'll do some editing. Thanks for the comments folks, this is extremely helpful.

 

[GolfHacker]

@DragonVine: In general, I think that's true. However, I think there's room for deviation of your story requires it. For instance, if some big disaster struck an established city, then older buildings might look one way and newer buildings might look another. In that case, you'd want to focus on making the older buildings not only with a consistent architectural style but also an older look (damaged sections, worn with age/use, etc) and the new ones match whatever the story calls for. The map you build and the setting you portray should match the story you're telling.

 

[Razelle]

Thank you very much for letting me know about the water Candacis. I didn't even realize it until now.

Here's the edit:

The graves are actually a big part of the village's story, but I'll make a separate map outside the village that showcases them. Once again, thanks for pointing some things out.