Game & Map Screenshots 9

[tae_ka_pre]

Heya, everyone. So, I've been having this dilemma in my game. I kinda had a realization that the shadows were supposed to show where light is coming from and that me placing shadows on the right side always is kind of ridiculous if you make an inside map.

I kinda tried fixing it and made the shadows go from above, but I don't know if it looks good.

Should I just keep putting shadows on the right side, or should I continue to do the above?

Hello, so Gonor, thanks for your reply, but I would like to have your opinion on another thing.
What about the windows? Is this good:

I also have problems with walls since they look just like floors without shadows on the right:

Am I the only one worrying about this? Does everyone just normally let the shadows be on the right side?
I use to play aveyond and loved how the houses looked so solid. It's hard because now, we reeallly need the shadows to make the buildings look more solid.

It's pretty weird how the windows should be the light source but the house looks as if there's a sun in it too

 

[Gonor]

Personally, I think it looks good.
You might get a problem with most of the RTP tiles, though.
They are drawn with their shadows falling left to right.

You might have to edit the files accordingly.
And, if your light on some maps doesn't come from the top, you'd need another version with fitting shadows.
(If you were to try to be consistent with your approach.)

EDIT:

@tae_ka_pre : You could do the windows like this, although I don't think it works too well.
A lot of the more experienced developers around here tend to avoid the default RPG Maker shadows altogether and edit the tiles they use as they need them or use parallax mapping.

There's a lot of lighting tutorials on the web as well as on the forums.
They're all pretty helpful but I don't know if I should just give you a link to one.
They're all quite different and approach the topic from different angles and levels of experience.

Maybe this search I did will help you a bit.
Click me!

P.S. I'm not a mod, but I think you can create a new reply after someone has answered to your topic. That shouldn't violate the double posting rules and would make the thread more easy to read. I almost didn't see your edit and second question.

P.S.2 In case a mod sees this: Could I have hit reply and do a double post this time because he answered to my reply in his original post? Or would that have been considered double posting?
I'm asking because I don't know if answering by editing a post will notify him of my reply.

 

[tae_ka_pre]

Personally, I think it looks good.
You might get a problem with most of the RTP tiles, though.
They are drawn with their shadows falling left to right.

You might have to edit the files accordingly.
And, if your light on some maps doesn't come from the top, you'd need another version with fitting shadows.
(If you were to try to be consistent with your approach.)

EDIT:

@tae_ka_pre : You could do the windows like this, although I don't think it works too well.
A lot of the more experienced developers around here tend to avoid the default RPG Maker shadows altogether and edit the tiles they use as they need them or use parallax mapping.

There's a lot of lighting tutorials on the web as well as on the forums.
They're all pretty helpful but I don't know if I should just give you a link to one.
They're all quite different and approach the topic from different angles and levels of experience.

Maybe this search I did will help you a bit.
Click me!

P.S. I'm not a mod, but I think you can create a new reply after someone has answered to your topic. That shouldn't violate the double posting rules and would make the thread more easy to read. I almost didn't see your edit and second question.

P.S.2 In case a mod sees this: Could I have hit reply and do a double post this time because he answered to my reply in his original post? Or would that have been considered double posting?
I'm asking because I don't know if answering by editing a post will notify him of my reply.

sorry, I had no idea how the rules worked since I'm new except one time when I made a post and the mod told me not to reply.
I never knew what parallax mapping was, I thought it was just editing with gimp since I do that a lot with the game I'm making. I never even knew lighting and shadows were kind of a big deal until you linked it, I thought it was like the fog system in rpg maker xp. Thanks, I'm gonna try parallax mapping and see what it is first

 

[Gonor]

sorry, I had no idea how the rules worked since I'm new except one time when I made a post and the mod told me not to reply.

No need to apologize.

Basically the rules say this (any Mod correct me if I'm wrong):

• you may create a new topic
• if your post is the last, you must wait 72 hours before you can reply to your own post (this might vary from sub-forum to sub-forum, though, I'm not quite sure)
• if your post is NOT the last, you may reply, even if it is within a few minutes of your previous post

Parallax mapping is a great way to improve the quality of your maps. They can have a lot more detail and seem more "alive".
Take these two for example. Both are from two of my projects (one completed, one still in development). Unfortunately I don't have a shot of an inside map, so I need to use outside ones to show you, what I mean.

Spoiler: Screenshots

No parallax mapping. Everything has been created using the default tile editor in RPG Maker.

Full parallax mapping. Although I have used graphics from a tileset, I did not use RPG Maker itself to create the map at all.
You could do both of course. Use photoshop/GIMP to create the overlays and RPG Maker to create the floor, walls etc.
(Although, I have to admit that the lights in this screenshot are being processed by a plugin and "light files".)
Also, you could just patch the tiles you need together and use them in tilesets. Altough, this would mean your tileset count would explode...

Although I'm relatively new to parallax mapping myself, I think it's an easy way to create great maps.
You can also look in the Game & Map Screenshots Threads (click me!) for inspiration. There's some great maps there created using the tile editor, hand-drawn or parallaxed.
Also, you can post your own maps there for feedback.

 

[bgillisp]

I would suggest posting this in the Game and Map Screenshots thread instead. With that being said, what I did was I tinted all my inside maps to make them darker, then used events to put lighting where I thought it should be, and this was the result:

Spoiler

Still a hair off on the stools, but otherwise its mostly final.

 

[mlogan]

@tae_ka_pre Yes, this should be with Game & Map Screenshots so I'm merging it there.

The double post rule is only if someone has not replied to your post. It's there for a lot of reasons.

 

[SoSick.]

@tae_ka_pre get the doodas plugin from yanfly, has some light effects on there and you could smash em over the Windows.. change opacity etc.. you could even make animated ones.. you can literally make anything. Also what these guys said add some tints.. Or even use khas lighting plugin, use regions for a lighsource etc.. your map will come alive then.

 

[Nutty171]

I have made a world map. It's somewhat based on another planet called Earth, not sure if you've heard of it, but here it is.

Spoiler: LARGE IMAGE

Note that this map isn't meant for actually playing on, it's just an early draft so I can get the layout of my world down. So what do you think? Any and all input is appreciated.

 

[Slimsy Platypus]

@Nutty171 That map image is great! I'm not sure for how realistic you are going for, but a planet that has an atmosphere that retains heat generally will have colder areas at both poles. Since your planet has water, if ice were to form at the north pole, it would probably form at the south pole as well. Again, doesn't really matter if you aren't going for 100% realism, but just something I noticed. Again, looks awesome!

I have been continuing to chip away at things. My latest efforts have been getting some of the more "diverse" character assets into the game . Now here's my question, on this battleback, do you think the houses look OK? I'm debating whether I want to make some adjustments and to move them from the foreground to the background.

 

[tae_ka_pre]

No need to apologize.

Basically the rules say this (any Mod correct me if I'm wrong):

• you may create a new topic
• if your post is the last, you must wait 72 hours before you can reply to your own post (this might vary from sub-forum to sub-forum, though, I'm not quite sure)
• if your post is NOT the last, you may reply, even if it is within a few minutes of your previous post

Parallax mapping is a great way to improve the quality of your maps. They can have a lot more detail and seem more "alive".
Take these two for example. Both are from two of my projects (one completed, one still in development). Unfortunately I don't have a shot of an inside map, so I need to use outside ones to show you, what I mean.

Spoiler: Screenshots

No parallax mapping. Everything has been created using the default tile editor in RPG Maker.

Full parallax mapping. Although I have used graphics from a tileset, I did not use RPG Maker itself to create the map at all.
You could do both of course. Use photoshop/GIMP to create the overlays and RPG Maker to create the floor, walls etc.
(Although, I have to admit that the lights in this screenshot are being processed by a plugin and "light files".)
Also, you could just patch the tiles you need together and use them in tilesets. Altough, this would mean your tileset count would explode...

Although I'm relatively new to parallax mapping myself, I think it's an easy way to create great maps.
You can also look in the Game & Map Screenshots Threads (click me!) for inspiration. There's some great maps there created using the tile editor, hand-drawn or parallaxed.
Also, you can post your own maps there for feedback.

thanks everyone. so basically parallax mapping is editing the map with gimp to make it vary and not look too repetitive, I've just never seen an inside map that made the light source look like it is coming from the windows. I'll look into it. Btw
@bgilisp
that map's awesome but it doesn't have any windows so the light source is fine, but I'm talking about an inside map where the light source is the windows. so the shadows should show below the walls/ stuff whatevs like that, like in my screenshot

 

[huubz]

@Slimsy Platypus I would try to make the houses a little bit bigger and move them to the background and test out how it looks. But I don't think they look bad at all as they are right now!

Also really like the new characters! You could try to change either the male or the female character eyes and then they would be fully unique looking, with no shared assets.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Slimsy Platypus]

@tae_ka_pre I was looking for a good example of how I've done Windows in the past. But one approach I've done is to drop a light overlay with a transparent white to yellow-white gradient. See the doorway in my image below.

You can do windows the same way. Either drop a circular gradient on the floor or have an expanding rectangle come directly out of the window.

If I can find a better example image from my past work of strictly a window I'll edit it in. Hope this helps!

 

[Nutty171]

@Nutty171 That map image is great! I'm not sure for how realistic you are going for, but a planet that has an atmosphere that retains heat generally will have colder areas at both poles. Since your planet has water, if ice were to form at the north pole, it would probably form at the south pole as well. Again, doesn't really matter if you aren't going for 100% realism, but just something I noticed. Again, looks awesome!

There is actually ice on both poles, I just didn't add the ice where there's no land. If you search "world map" on Google, you'll get a bunch of images that show Antarctica, but not the Arctic ice.

As for your screenshot: Why is the orc/goblin hero's icon in what I assume is the turn order so small?

 

[Celianna]

Just a bunch from my newest beta release:

Spoiler

Evented rain!

And evented snow!

Two months of hard work, but worth it!

 

[Sharm]

I can already tell that I'm probably going to just make outfits for hours and ignore the plot. ^_^

 

[Celianna]

Have fun then haha, the beta is up for download.

 

[tae_ka_pre]

@tae_ka_pre I was looking for a good example of how I've done Windows in the past. But one approach I've done is to drop a light overlay with a transparent white to yellow-white gradient. See the doorway in my image below.

You can do windows the same way. Either drop a circular gradient on the floor or have an expanding rectangle come directly out of the window.

If I can find a better example image from my past work of strictly a window I'll edit it in. Hope this helps!

That's really good! Actually, I've looked around and saw lots of people take care of the window problem like that, except if you made a really big map the walls on the side look like they're part of the floor. It looks nice since you could see the walls above but when you make a large mansion-like house, it gets kind of hard since the player would have to walk on a long hallway, and the upper walls or windows don't really help much. I decided to like, just make a slim shadow on the edge a little, to make them look more solid. Btw, most upper wall parts on rpg maker mv are thick and not that thin so it's really hard to not make them look like part of the floor. Parallax mapping helped me a lot though, never knew it was a thing

 

[Nutty171]

@Celianna This all looks very excellent, but might I recommend blurring the silhouettes in the background of the party a little, just so they look more out-of-focus?

EDIT: Here's the second draft of my world map.

Spoiler: Large map

I don't know... Think I went a bit overboard on the details, especially in the northwest?

 

[Alisanne]

@Celianna Wow, those screenshots look great. Looks like I'm going to have to check out your game on the weekend.

I've also started to make a map for real (after spending months looking at tutorials and doodling around in the editor). This is a combination of parallax mapping and Yanfly's doodads using mostly the High Fantasy DLC:

Spoiler: Throne Room

How's that for a first attempt?

 

[cabfe]

@Alisanne - Not bad for a first attempt, really.
The only thing that came to mind when I looked at it is that I don't think you'll have benches in a throne room. Only the ruler is allowed to sit.
And if you actually have to walk, it could be better to shorten the "entrance" or it'll look the same for several screens' height of display.