Game & Map Screenshots 9

[Sharm]

Something about the window skin says 1980's sci-fi to me. The angled lines and gold brown and choice of font I guess. The white text is extremely tiny, even zooming in it's hard to read. It's not something that I'd be able to get the point of in a glance which is the point of a HUD. I like the little sky window, it's cute and a nice way to show what's up. Overall I don't think it quite works, sadly.

The art style for the people is very good. It matches the style of the tiles better than most and I especially like the coloring style. That pose though is physically impossible and painful to look at. You might want to tone down the fanservice to realistic levels, the exaggeration will turn off many potential female players and the cute style will turn off many western male players (cute is firmly considered girls only in the west for some reason). I just wanted to mention it quickly here but if anyone wants to discuss this bit please post a new thread in the appropriate forum, more than this would be off topic for this thread.

The layout of everything seems good. Could you try maybe putting a thicker outline on just the outside of the character bust? Or maybe a flat color background fading at the edges? She blends in a little right now.

 

[Caitlin]

@callmedan You have an error top stall, left side of the screen, a box doesn't have the bottom part of the box.

 

[Nisshoku]

@dsiver144 That's looking really good The colors of the message box and time HUD go well together. And I really am liking the text font you are using. It blends well with the style of graphics you use.

So here is my addition to the forest area I am currently working on, it is deeper in the woods than when you first enter, so I tried to make it look that way using more trees, and less walking room to indicate that this part of the forest hasn't been traveled in much because it's so deep. I even made the pathway less connected, because this deep in a forest, there wouldn't be a full connected path that looked traveled lol, but the pathway was still necessary to a point so that the player could still be guided along in the right direction and not get lost xD

Spoiler: Deep Forest Map

I was also thinking of possibly making the screen either tinted darker to add the effect of being deep in a forest, where the sun doesn't shine as much, however I thought that by itself wouldn't look to great. Then I thought if I added a shadow on the map using parallax mapping so that I could make it look as if there are a lot of trees blocking out the sun to really make it look like a deep forest. Thoughts? Feedback? I'd love to hear it

 

[Nutty171]

@Nisshoku It looks pretty good, but there's a flower on a tree here:

Spoiler: error

(hopefully you can find where this is in the map, sorry.

I'd also recommend adding some treasure somewhere off of the path, so that it isn't a complete waste of time to explore the map.

 

[callmedan]

@Caitlin I realized it after having posted it here

 

[Nisshoku]

@Nutty171 Thanks for the spotting of that flower xD I made the map in a quick short time as I was finishing it before work so I didn't get a lot of time to proof check it. I'll fix it up later. Glad you like it though Currently am trying to get a shadow parallax image that I can place over the top of the map so that it can have that deep woods feel. And possibly add rays of the sun shining down as if it were just reaching through the trees.

 

[dsiver144]

@Sharm Another great feedback. I'll learn from this to redesign the HUD. My partner drew the portrait and sprites. He quite agreed with your feedback. Thank you very much!
@Nisshoku Oh, thanks :3
Your map looks very natural. I don't see any major issue in your map. Well done!

 

[Nisshoku]

@dsiver144 Thanks! It seems most people like what I am doing with my maps so I'll keep going in that style and hopefully make something of a decent game.

 

[Omega Five]

Spoiler: Large Map

Decided that I will not use the game's shader system, and instead I won't use any shadows for A tiles (similarly to most "old" games).
Does the map look nice? Does it feel a little "empty"?

 

[Kes]

I would suggest breaking up those large, bare cliffs with creeping vines, cracks, the odd ledge, anything to vary them a bit. Why have flowers only in long grass? I would have more patches of long grass, and make them more irregular, in the areas away from the buildings, especially the parts which look like no one every walks there e.g. the higher levels.

If you're not having any shadows with buildings or cliffs, then having trees with shadows seems somewhat inconsistent to me. tbh, I think the buildings look strange without any shadow at all. The lack of shadows in 'old' games was part of a total aesthetic, involving the style of tile, colour palette, more simple design, etc. I personally don't think you can take just one element and transport it into a totally different aesthetic style.

To help give some impression of the reality of elevation, you will need to do things like having only the top half of a tree showing behind a cliff.
You have no chimneys - giving the impression that there is no way of heating these buildings.
I am unconvinced by the elaborate shape of the top house. I cannot imagine anyone building a house like that, especially a one story building, with such a huge number of windows, relative to the amount of wall space available.
Your tall set of steps looks more like a ladder because you have not indented the cliff, or found some other way of having more step tiles than cliff tiles. At the moment, those steps have to be completely vertical to reach the top.

 

[SomaelCK]

A Watery Sun and the rolling Clouds, a multiple parallax layered map with illusion of depth and volume, from my current project Wanda - A Beautiful Apocalypse Remake.

 

[Omega Five]

Spoiler: Long reply

I would suggest breaking up those large, bare cliffs with creeping vines, cracks, the odd ledge, anything to vary them a bit. Will do.
Why have flowers only in long grass? To make things a little tidier. Having flowers all over the place wouldn't look very good, at least in my opinion. I would have more patches of long grass, and make them more irregular, in the areas away from the buildings, especially the parts which look like no one every walks there e.g. the higher levels. Will do.

If you're not having any shadows with buildings or cliffs, then having trees with shadows seems somewhat inconsistent to me. tbh, I think the buildings look strange without any shadow at all. ...Actually, yeah. I agree. The lack of shadows in 'old' games was part of a total aesthetic, involving the style of tile, colour palette, more simple design, etc. I personally don't think you can take just one element and transport it into a totally different aesthetic style. I guess just cliffs won't have shadows then. Shadows will appear on BCDE tilesets and on buildings.

To help give some impression of the reality of elevation, you will need to do things like having only the top half of a tree showing behind a cliff. I do that in other maps.
You have no chimneys - giving the impression that there is no way of heating these buildings. There is one, on top of the top house, except it's an event and I used MV's "map capture" function, which doesn't include events. I didn't know. There also are doors, if you're wondering that. And the building on the side is more of a shed than anything.
I am unconvinced by the elaborate shape of the top house. I cannot imagine anyone building a house like that, especially a one story building, with such a huge number of windows, relative to the amount of wall space available. Actually-that exact shape is related to the game's story. I'll lower down the number of windows though.
Your tall set of steps looks more like a ladder because you have not indented the cliff, or found some other way of having more step tiles than cliff tiles. At the moment, those steps have to be completely vertical to reach the top. I don't know how I should do that.

Here's the result:

Spoiler: Large Map

 

[Sharm]

Your reply got truncated by the quote, I couldn't read it. I agree with Kes about the stairs, having them take up the same space as the vertical wall drives me batty and breaks perspective. I think you should add some shadows back in if you're going to use the RTP, and it will make it easier to see the differences in levels for your cliffs. I've found with a few added tiles to add angles and curves to the default shadow options that they don't look nearly as bad. The big empty roof is odd, usually if it's that big it has a small top structure or the base is more square. Angles cost more in buildings and if it's meant to be a grand place instead of a functional space that flat roof space would be used. Maybe put in something like a small lanai and lounge area or a roof garden or some skylights?

 

[Omega Five]

Your reply got truncated by the quote, I couldn't read it. I agree with Kes about the stairs, having them take up the same space as the vertical wall drives me batty and breaks perspective. I think you should add some shadows back in if you're going to use the RTP, and it will make it easier to see the differences in levels for your cliffs. I've found with a few added tiles to add angles and curves to the default shadow options that they don't look nearly as bad. The big empty roof is odd, usually if it's that big it has a small top structure or the base is more square. Angles cost more in buildings and if it's meant to be a grand place instead of a functional space that flat roof space would be used. Maybe put in something like a small lanai and lounge area or a roof garden or some skylights?

The reply is the bold text of the quote

 

[Sharm]

Yes, I got that. But because of the way long quotes work it's only showing the first two paragraphs and there's no way to scroll down to see the rest.

 

[Omega Five]

Bold text is my reply.
"I would suggest breaking up those large, bare cliffs with creeping vines, cracks, the odd ledge, anything to vary them a bit. Will do.
Why have flowers only in long grass? To make things a little tidier. Having flowers all over the place wouldn't look very good, at least in my opinion. I would have more patches of long grass, and make them more irregular, in the areas away from the buildings, especially the parts which look like no one every walks there e.g. the higher levels. Will do.

If you're not having any shadows with buildings or cliffs, then having trees with shadows seems somewhat inconsistent to me. tbh, I think the buildings look strange without any shadow at all. ...Actually, yeah. I agree. The lack of shadows in 'old' games was part of a total aesthetic, involving the style of tile, colour palette, more simple design, etc. I personally don't think you can take just one element and transport it into a totally different aesthetic style. I guess just cliffs won't have shadows then. Shadows will appear on BCDE tilesets and on buildings.

To help give some impression of the reality of elevation, you will need to do things like having only the top half of a tree showing behind a cliff. I do that in other maps.
You have no chimneys - giving the impression that there is no way of heating these buildings. There is one, on top of the top house, except it's an event and I used MV's "map capture" function, which doesn't include events. I didn't know. There also are doors, if you're wondering that. And the building on the side is more of a shed than anything.
I am unconvinced by the elaborate shape of the top house. I cannot imagine anyone building a house like that, especially a one story building, with such a huge number of windows, relative to the amount of wall space available. Actually-that exact shape is related to the game's story. I'll lower down the number of windows though.
Your tall set of steps looks more like a ladder because you have not indented the cliff, or found some other way of having more step tiles than cliff tiles. At the moment, those steps have to be completely vertical to reach the top. I don't know how I should do that."

 

[Nisshoku]

@Omega Five

Your tall set of steps looks more like a ladder because you have not indented the cliff, or found some other way of having more step tiles than cliff tiles. At the moment, those steps have to be completely vertical to reach the top. I don't know how I should do that."

I would suggest either lowering the cliff height itself, or adding more variants to the cliff. You can still have it go that high to keep the elevation consistent with the other cliff, but don't make it go all the way up at once. Alternatively, you could get rid of the stairs and instead put an actual ladder there. Though that one might not look as good as my first suggestion.

Here is my last of the forest maps. I don't know why but it doesn't seem to be as...good as my others. I don't know why I am not satisfied, but I don't know where else to edit it.

Spoiler: Forest Map 3

Any feedback as usual is welcomed and appreciated

 

[Mieze]

I love that Tiles

 

[mlogan]

@Omega Five I just thought I would offer up some tips based on the comments I've seen about stairs and shadows. I personally like to cliff stairs like in the screenshot below. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like it gives it a bit of depth. It does take some shift-click mapping to get it right with the cliff-top pieces, but it's worth it, in my opinion.

I'm also a big fan of shadows on cliffs. It can really help with perspective of differing heights and layers, like where I circled in red. The cliff on the right, though taller, is set further back, so in reality, that lower bit would have some shadow falling on it. If you don't like the shadow pen, creating different shadow shapes is not hard - you just need a 50% transparent black color. You can make them in Gimp so that they fade to the edges too, looking a bit more natural.

I would recommend trying to work on differing heights next to each other, just to give it a bit more interest. Also, on the far left of the red roofed building, there is one bit of cliff-top that extends well below the rest, but the actual cliff is shorter than the cliff it comes from. I realize that maybe you were trying to make it sloped, but that slopes don't convey well in RM with the basic tiles, so I'd not recommend trying to do that.

Cliff sample:

Spoiler

@Mieze I really love your use of Time Fantasy. My only recommendation is if there are other trees to use those occasionally, but I can't remember if there are other options or not for trees. If not, disregard that and keep up the great work.

And finally, I've been working on restarting my game project that I lost when my laptop died. Thankfully I didn't lose too much, but I lost some tiles that I've now got access to again, so I'm getting back into it by recreating the starting map, Grandma's House. It still needs some touch ups. I think I'm going to see about making some more stuff for "clutter" if I can't find enough, and I want to make a garage door and such. I'm also not sure the roof works for what I was trying to do, but for some reason, interesting roofs are my weakness in mapping.

Spoiler

 

[Mr. Detective]

This is the map I am working on. It's supposed to belong to a girl.
(Yeah, I know it doesn't look very girly. I could make a girly room, but I lost a bunch of good tiles from Ace. I also fear that it will be out of place with the game's setting.)

Spoiler

Couple of issues: I'm still not sure what to put against the wall on that empty tile. The size of the table next to the bed kinda bugs me a little, but hopefully it's not a big deal. I planned to a picture frame on the wall, but looks like I won't have space for that. I had to reverse the bed tile, so I'm not sure if it looks weird like that or not. At first, I had the lamp right next to the bed, or at the corner, but I decided to use a different tile and leave it on the table instead.