Game & Map Screenshots 7

[Seriel]

Hey!

Since I have no current project until MV is released, I started mapping as a hobby.

I've made 2 similar maps. I don't quite like the first one but i'm proud of the second one

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Any feedback would be great so I can improve my mapping skills

 

[Kes]

@Kirikaz

Nice basic structure, but a couple of things could improve it.

At the moment it is a bit monochrome.  Therefore the choice of 2 dramatically different blues for your water stands out like a sore thumb.  Why the different colours?  What do they signify.

You need to remember that things are meant to have depth, even though the graphic itself is flat.  Look at the big tree next to the cliff right at the bottom and note where the base of the trunk is.  There is absolutely no way for branches at the back of the tree to have any space before they hit the cliff wall.  This messes up your attempts to give depth to your map.  The same is true of the dead trees over on the left - far too close to the cliff wall.

To the left of the dark blue water there is what I think is meant to be a long grass patch on a higher piece of ground which connects the two cliffs.  Unfortunately the long grass wipes out the cliff edges, so it looks like a floating carpet of grass, or a mix up on your levels.  Now go right of that dark blue water and see how the long grass has managed to join the lower ground with the ground on top of the cliff.

 

[Seriel]

@Kirikaz

Nice basic structure, but a couple of things could improve it.

At the moment it is a bit monochrome.  Therefore the choice of 2 dramatically different blues for your water stands out like a sore thumb.  Why the different colours?  What do they signify.

Nah I was just testing out the 2 types of water.

You need to remember that things are meant to have depth, even though the graphic itself is flat.  Look at the big tree next to the cliff right at the bottom and note where the base of the trunk is.  There is absolutely no way for branches at the back of the tree to have any space before they hit the cliff wall.  This messes up your attempts to give depth to your map.  The same is true of the dead trees over on the left - far too close to the cliff wall.

I think I get what you mean. The branches at the back collide with the wall. Okay. I get it

To the left of the dark blue water there is what I think is meant to be a long grass patch on a higher piece of ground which connects the two cliffs.  Unfortunately the long grass wipes out the cliff edges, so it looks like a floating carpet of grass, or a mix up on your levels.

Oookay. I see it now. You can't really see the edge of the cliff very well so it looks like it's floating.

 Now go right of that dark blue water and see how the long grass has managed to join the lower ground with the ground on top of the cliff.

Heh, that happened a few times in the early versions of the map. Thanks for spotting it

Thanks for the feedback! I think I know what to do for next time now.

 

[Banquo]

@Kirikaz:

You might also make create some passages on different heights. Maybe leave 2 tiles high cliffs impassable, but add a few 1 tiles high cliffs with natural stairs.

This cliffs just make me want to go up there.

 

[Zyphli]

So many great maps have been shown here, I've always been nervous about showing anything I've created.  But I've watched and tried to learn from some of the great works displayed throughout.

These are made primarily from Celianna's Ancient Dungeon tiles and some pieces from her other sets, along with my first attempts to include lighting into a map.

Interior deck of a ship:

Spoiler

When playing, the rooms are spaced far enough apart to not see other rooms while in your current one.  Transfers from one to the next are instant, providing the illusion that you step from one room to the next, loosing the ability to see into the other rooms.

Home Interior at Night

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I realize there's a lot of candles burning inside.  This is mainly a practice map I have been using to try to work on setting up lighting effects.

Beachfront

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I'm still not sure I'm completely happy with this, but it's still far beyond anything I have created previously.

​

 

[KaYsEr]

My last screenshot (from page 28) without the text-box on it. (so you can see what is behind)

Keep up the good work everybody!

 

[Banquo]

@Zyphli:

These look very good! You make very good use of the space, so it looks neither to big or to crammed (talking about the interior maps).

I like the cut-open design of the rooms It's rarely done, because it can easily look weird, but you did a good job.

The beachfront could use more detail. A few flower here and there on the hills and a bit more variety of the ground. Maybe some bushes, stones, some wooden planks on the shore. Is the water animated?

@KaYsEr:

This is beautiful! I love the tiles, especially the ground, the seamless transistion of grass, dirt and stone! The background is excellent, too! Maybe you can turn up the immersion even more with a darker screen, so the lights effects are a bit more clear?

Edit: Tiles? I can't really recognize tiles anymore, so good job with this!

 

[DangerSushi]

Hello friends .

This Cut Scene is from my project (Endless Memories)  

I know you dont talk italian, but iil promise you will get it anyway  x) 

 

[Kes]

I do speak Italian (though some of the dialogue went a bit too quickly for me) and I thought it was good.  Well done.

 

[DangerSushi]

I do speak Italian (though some of the dialogue went a bit too quickly for me) and I thought it was good.  Well done.

Grazie mille ,  And yeah ..sometimes i pressed ''enter'' to early when i was recording.   

 

[Zyphli]

@Banquo: Thanks for the feedback.  I've tried to improve on the terrain around the beach.  I feel silly for not recognizing what it was I wasn't liking about the map, and you hit it right on the head for me. Thanks.

Spoiler

I am trying to keep the beach itself clear of debris since when you go into the cave, you will see that the Hermit living in there has been collecting everything that washes ashore.

Just noticed my mouse pointer in there... Doh...

Also, unfortunately the water isn't animated.  So far I haven't found a way to make the blending into the beach (or into my not so attractive yet ship on another map) work out with animated water.

 

[Marquise*]

My native tongue is French so Latin rooted languages kinda is not that foreighn to me.  :3  I liked it.  It is funnier in a game than IRL sometimes! 

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

I've began working on Forgotten Spirits again, made some changes to the battle UI (removed individual backgrounds for HP/VP/Aura gauges, removed the text too, also removed the enemy HP bars/gauges for now). The screenie also shows the effect block pop-up in action

Spoiler

 

[Banquo]

@Zyphli:

You can animate the water easily depending on what kind of script you use for making the parallax maps. So far I've used Yamis Overlay Mapping script and Modern Algebras Animated Parallaxes.

With Yamis Overlay Mapping you create Overlays, not parallax pictures. You can still edit the map, but all the tiles will be invisible BEHIND the overlay pictures. But if you leave parts of the overlay blank, you can see these tiles.

In other words, don't add the sea to the map in the editor. Instead use the ereaser to make the sand coastline transparent, then it'll blend into the tiles of the editor, i.e. the water tiles. And these are animated now.

With Algebras Animated Parallaxes you create 3 different Parallax Pictures that cycle at a desired frame rate. So when creating the map, you do the coastline, the cliffs, etc. first. Then add three new layers, one for each step of the water animation. This will get you 3 different parallax pictures that are the same, except for the water. Use it according to the instructions of the script.

Here you'll also need a Fixed Parallax script. I think Yanfly has a "locked parallax" script that works well.

To have parts lying over the player, use pictures. One for each map. I think you'll need Modern Algebras picture fix for this.

Yamis Overlay mapping is easier to use imho, but it has some flaws with screen tinting. You are no longer able to tint the screen with colours only. Tints will only be recognizable if you add a lot of "grey".

Maybe the is a solution to this.

 

[DangerSushi]

​

You need to see this !  

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Two new screenshots, showing the difference on the target info window if you have unlocked information or not.


With info unlocked

Spoiler

Without info unlocked

Spoiler

I also removed the list that shows the names of possible targets so targetting is now purely denoted by the indicator arrow. This might actually have some problems when it comes to Arts that have a very selective targetting scheme but I won't probably be making any of those skills in this game anyway so this might be fine. My goal is to make it as minimal as possible; the target info window for example is hidden by default and can be toggled during battle with the press of the button, same with descriptions of what each command does which as you can see is hidden right now. I'm running out of available default buttons and I don't want to use keyboard scripts just to add another hotkey for toggling another window on the battle scene so the target list will probably stay hidden for this game.

 

[Tuomo L]

So here's a bar from my game, I think I may have shown it at a very early stage in production. There's not that many people here at the moment because of plot reasons, but there will be more people later when you come back.

 

[cabfe]

@Tuomo: I find it dark. The fires don't cast any light and look dark too. There are several methods to improve it. The easiest one being the addition of a light effect in an event, with a Blending set to Addition.

 

[mlogan]

@Kirikaz: One thing on maps with cliffs that I like to do to help create depth is to shift-click the grass at the edge of the cliffs, particularly behind them, like this:



@zyphli - Very nice maps! I would be really intrigued to see the transfer effect in action, to get a better understanding of it.

Also, I think on the beach map, my issue with it is something about the transition from sand to water. As odd as it sound, it's not abrupt enough. Maybe. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's almost as if it's too flat, which makes the dock look "off". Hmmm, sorry I can't give a better description than that.

 

[Sharm]

@Engr. Adiktuzmiko:  There's something fundamentally wrong with your UI but unfortunately I haven't a clue how to fix it.  UI's are not my thing.  There's just way too much information at once and it's not easy to look at, it's just pasted all over the screen at the same time and crowding it.  It might help a little if you changed the direction the left window's info stacked, so the new stuff is at the bottom near where the player info is and put the attack option back in line with the player info.

@Tuomo L:  Why doesn't the fire give off any illumination?