Medieval Tiles (MV - In Progress)

[Jesse - PVGames]

@The Infamous Bon Bon That is basically how I do it too - I just put the layers in GIMP and arrange them. It doesn't take very long once you get used to it, it is literally drag and dropping (recoloring or adjusting position slightly if you want to, but not necessary).


@PsychicToaster For someone who literally just started parallax mapping, that is a really good job   If you want to blend textures more, put down the base texture first, then put down the texture you want to blend into it (so say you place grass first, then place a dirt decal on top or something), then use the Eraser tool, select one of the circular brushes that fades out gradually, and set the size to be relatively large (100-300 usually works well, but playing around with it will give you a good idea), and then gradually erase from the edges of the decal layer to mould the shape you want. With a tiny bit of practice, you will get it down np. You can use this technique with almost anything to blend it well. 


Presently I do not have any specific tiles for making ramps that go up onto cliffs, but with a little work you could make it with blending textures gradually. It is more of a perspective thing really, might just take some practice. I will see if I can make an example sometime soon.


I usually do not parallax the water though when I make my maps. I pretty much parallax most of the big stuff like buildings, cliffs, as well as the main ground textures, and then I import that map into the editor where I will add trees, barrels, etc, and I will also use the water auto tile since it is way easier. Not that you can't do animated parallax for some really awesome and much-better-looking effects.


@BloodletterQ The dimensions for all frames in all spritesheets, mastersheet or otherwise, are 128x128. For eye color, if you use GIMP you can just select the pixels that make up the iris of the character and use the hue adjuster to get different colors, can also increase/decrease saturation, brightness, etc, to get any color/brightness level you want.

 

[PsychicToaster]

@The Infamous Bon Bon That is basically how I do it too - I just put the layers in GIMP and arrange them. It doesn't take very long once you get used to it, it is literally drag and dropping (recoloring or adjusting position slightly if you want to, but not necessary).


@PsychicToaster For someone who literally just started parallax mapping, that is a really good job   If you want to blend textures more, put down the base texture first, then put down the texture you want to blend into it (so say you place grass first, then place a dirt decal on top or something), then use the Eraser tool, select one of the circular brushes that fades out gradually, and set the size to be relatively large (100-300 usually works well, but playing around with it will give you a good idea), and then gradually erase from the edges of the decal layer to mould the shape you want. With a tiny bit of practice, you will get it down np. You can use this technique with almost anything to blend it well. 


Presently I do not have any specific tiles for making ramps that go up onto cliffs, but with a little work you could make it with blending textures gradually. It is more of a perspective thing really, might just take some practice. I will see if I can make an example sometime soon.


I usually do not parallax the water though when I make my maps. I pretty much parallax most of the big stuff like buildings, cliffs, as well as the main ground textures, and then I import that map into the editor where I will add trees, barrels, etc, and I will also use the water auto tile since it is way easier. Not that you can't do animated parallax for some really awesome and much-better-looking effects.


@BloodletterQ The dimensions for all frames in all spritesheets, mastersheet or otherwise, are 128x128. For eye color, if you use GIMP you can just select the pixels that make up the iris of the character and use the hue adjuster to get different colors, can also increase/decrease saturation, brightness, etc, to get any color/brightness level you want.

An example of blended ramps would be awesome : D ramps really give a game depth. I think a sense of height makes it more fun for the player. Thanks for the feedback on the parallax ^^


edito you use strictly parallaxing to set up cliffs or do you do a mix of both tilemapping and parallax? To bombard with more questions( : P), what scale maps do you typically use? A lot of these objects are pretty big but I don't want to mess up the scale by shrinking them, I'd rather just make it work on the map.

 

[MarkSA]

I could do a catpack with these breeds/varieties.


Abyssinian, Black, BlueSiamese, Calico, GreyTabby, GreyWhite, RedTabby(ginger), Siamese, SilverMau, SilverTabby, TortieOriental and WhiteOriental.


I could include a face portrait for each cat.


I don't have MV though, so I couldn't test them.


I don't want to do these if Jesse is doing them. I would have to make sure they fit in with each rpgmaker. I've noticed attached shadows is a problem in GGMaker.


Would also get the angles on the sprites right as they appear to be iso or near iso.

 

[BloodletterQ]

Wondering if a list of recommended plugins to utilize these sprites to their full potential would become available?

 

[PsychicToaster]

@Jesse - PVGames


Some suggestions, if I may be so bold(or annoying)


Basic things I would suggest for the Dungeons and Caverns pack(High Fantasy either lacked these or I'm just dumb and forgot about them over the years):


-Cave entrances for the overworld so players can enter. Cave mouth decals, holes in the ground, etc.


-Transition pieces for different cave/dungeon levels, such as carved stone stairs leading up or down into a different area that can go into walls or floors


-Wall sconces for torches


-Torches...lol, hopefully as animated event pieces


For Infernus, since I am a magic-obsessed role-player, I would love to see:


-Alchemy labs/potionmaking stations of sort


-Enchanting tables


-Varieties of books/scrolls for decoration outside of the (still amazing) Interiors items.


-Wands, staves, and orbs as SV weapons


-Hoods, hats, and cloaks to equip. You can never have too many hats as a master of  eldritch magic.


-Glowing runes/inscriptions for rituals or...something xD


Just throwing those out for funsies, you've worked wonders already and I wouldn't want to assault you with suggestions for things you're not currently working on lol. Looking forward to the Warfare pack next.


E:also, I think you can create the illusion of height with large rocks, like in this Pillars of Eternity screenshot. 

 

[Iruga2266]

I've managed to buy it. Amazing work!


We definitely need a few plugins for this pack. If I'm not mistaken, I think Dekita made a few scripts back in VX ACE specially for PVG packs. 


Galv's work, while they are outstanding, they are not optimal for this pack :/



While I'm still getting used to the pack, I've made a few maps .
Note: Grass texture are my own. They do not come in this pack.
 

Spoiler

 

[PsychicToaster]

Looks really good : D I'm still trying to figure out the pre-made buildings that it comes with. Are they meant to be static buildings or can they be stitched together with others? Also, this might just be my brain having a derp moment but why do some buildings have doors that drop off into nowhere? xD

 

[Iruga2266]

It really depends on your imagination, .
The buildings are way too big(which is good) for the MV editor(which is bad. The situation, not the editor). You'll have to parallax it. Basically, the three files inside  T&C tilesets( Town and castle pieces) are meant for parallax. And everything outside are meant for the MV map editor. At least that was the optimal way for me to go.

They do, hahahahaha. But if you build a path to these doors, they'll work just as fine.

Like this:
 

Spoiler

 

[PsychicToaster]

It really depends on your imagination, .
The buildings are way too big(which is good) for the MV editor(which is bad. The situation, not the editor). You'll have to parallax it. Basically, the three files inside  T&C tilesets( Town and castle pieces) are meant for parallax. And everything outside are meant for the MV map editor. At least that was the optimal way for me to go.

They do, hahahahaha. But if you build a path to these doors, they'll work just as fine.

Like this:
 

Spoiler

Oh for sure, the big stuff definitely needs to be parallax mapped. 


That looks awesome. Maybe you can help me out, I have no idea how to do ramps for the cliffs via parallax. Jesse mentioned that with the right use of perspective and blending the ground textures it would work. Do you have any techniques on this?

 

[Mcleavestein]

Bought both Medieval Town bundle and and while there is a lot of good stuff here, I am disappointed that there aren't many armor skins. There are tons of regular clothes, but I only count one skin that can be considered real armor. If we could get some plate mail and maybe a few more faces for the characters I think this would be nearly perfect. As it is, I'm not sure it has what I need. 

 

[PsychicToaster]

Bought both Medieval Town bundle and and while there is a lot of good stuff here, I am disappointed that there aren't many armor skins. There are tons of regular clothes, but I only count one skin that can be considered real armor. If we could get some plate mail and maybe a few more faces for the characters I think this would be nearly perfect. As it is, I'm not sure it has what I need. 

More weapons and armor are coming in another pack. Read the OP xD.

 

[Mcleavestein]

More weapons and armor are coming in another pack. Read the OP xD.

Yeah, after perusing his profile I see that. Well great! I can't wait to start working on the art for my game. just using placeholder anime characters right now... 

 

[Jesse - PVGames]

@MarkSA If you want to make cats, go for it   Not quite sure if/when I would include them, animals tend to be a bit lower priority typically when facing tilesets, characters, character pieces, monsters, etc, and there is only so much time during the day lol. I would *like* to make them, just not sure when.


@BloodletterQ Galv has a set of scripts, and I think Victor does as well (or at least he was working on MV versions last I knew). Shaz has some (or one?) as does Yanfly (I think?) - to be honest, I have not kept a super close eye on what scripts are being produced because I have been focusing on creating this stuff, but I have seen (and used some of the aforementioned) scripts for multi-frame animation, diagonal movement, and running animations, which are the most important. There are scripts to customize side-view animations as well, all of them are in the MV script forum. There very well could be other scripts as well, I just need to start looking in the script forum more often.


@PsychicToaster Thanks for the suggestions  Most of these items I was pretty much already planning on thankfully (though they might be in slightly different packs). For the cliff ramp, that is overall along the lines I was thinking when I was thinking about how I might accomplish that task. I will see if I can come up with that example sometime today if possible.


@Mcleavestein Glad you found the info; yeah, definitely gonna be armor and weapons and such coming. These first two packs were meant more towards creating regular town folk, merchants, and what not. The next pack I am working on, the Medieval: Warfare pack contains primarily armor, weapons, and tabards. The armor ranges from leather and chain to heavy plate, with a bunch of different styles of helmets and tabards, so should be a good mix. Other armor will pop up in other packs as well.

 

[lawina]

Would be nice to have different body proportions (fat, short etc.).

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Hadn't been here for a while, but could not help snooping back to say: wow, another great delivery Jesse!


without being a pusher, do you have an idea of when we may expect the Warfare pack.or even better, a rough calendar of the packs you plan to release.


It may help in deciding when investing in your resources, or for designer to plan better their game dev schedule. 


I for example will hold off buying these for the moment, and will probably wait for at least the warfare and Infernus release to get the whole in one go. 

 

[Iruga2266]

Oh for sure, the big stuff definitely needs to be parallax mapped. 


That looks awesome. Maybe you can help me out, I have no idea how to do ramps for the cliffs via parallax. Jesse mentioned that with the right use of perspective and blending the ground textures it would work. Do you have any techniques on this?

Sure. Playing with perspective is hard. There are many ways to do so, however.

But you should have 2 things in mind. 
First, what is closer to you(user, not the character) should be bigger. See this:

 

Spoiler

The character is smaller than the upland, so that makes the impression that the character is on a lower plane than the upland. (Good job, Jesse)
Also, the trees on the upper plane are way bigger than those on the ground.

While it is still okay, it lacks the feeling of depth.
Note: Look at the tree behind the upland. It looks taller, because it's bigger.

I've made these two pictures in a hurry. They are not great, but you see my point.

And of course. Depth means light variation.
What is closer to you (again: user, not the character) should always be brighter.

See this:
 

Spoiler

It looks like the character is going down(correct)
Then he moves to the left and you don't know if he's going up or down. Unless you watch it closely.
Then it looks like he's going up (the opposite was intended.)
Then he moves right and goes down.

And now, see this:

Now it can't be mistaken.
The character goes down.
Down.
Down
And down.

The shading helps with the feeling of depth. 
Also, the stairs get smaller according with the depth. (What I said in the first spoiler.)

So if you do something like this, it should look like you're moving up.

 

Spoiler

 

[BloodletterQ]

I wonder if animated chests might be included within the dungeons packs?

 

[Jesse - PVGames]

@lawina For certain races, like Dwarves, they will have their own body templates. All human ones though will conform to the current forms, otherwise the character creation pieces simply would not work.


@Niten Ichi Ryu Heya! The Medieval: Warfare pack is more than half done right now. These are smaller packs ("smaller") than the older stuff, so they do not take quite as long to make. I don't have a set calendar or anything, but thus far it has been averaging out to be about 1 to 2 months per pack I think due to their smaller size. At any rate, the next pack should be done within the next couple of weeks I imagine.


@PsychicToaster I played around for a few minutes to make a cliff:

Perhaps not the best in the world, but hopefully it might give you a basic idea of what you could do. What I did was just paste two chunks of cliff together in front of the larger cliff, and then erased with a soft brush eraser in GIMP at a down-right angle. Then I just blended some grass and rock together. This took a grand total of about 2 minutes. I am sure if you spend more time/effort, you could definitely make something that looks a lot better, but hopefully this gives an idea.


@BloodletterQ The chests in the Interiors already have a closed and open state, or did you mean that you wanted chests that also had a 3rd "partial open" state? 

 

[PsychicToaster]

@lawina For certain races, like Dwarves, they will have their own body templates. All human ones though will conform to the current forms, otherwise the character creation pieces simply would not work.


@Niten Ichi Ryu Heya! The Medieval: Warfare pack is more than half done right now. These are smaller packs ("smaller") than the older stuff, so they do not take quite as long to make. I don't have a set calendar or anything, but thus far it has been averaging out to be about 1 to 2 months per pack I think due to their smaller size. At any rate, the next pack should be done within the next couple of weeks I imagine.


@PsychicToaster I played around for a few minutes to make a cliff:

Perhaps not the best in the world, but hopefully it might give you a basic idea of what you could do. What I did was just paste two chunks of cliff together in front of the larger cliff, and then erased with a soft brush eraser in GIMP at a down-right angle. Then I just blended some grass and rock together. This took a grand total of about 2 minutes. I am sure if you spend more time/effort, you could definitely make something that looks a lot better, but hopefully this gives an idea.


@BloodletterQ The chests in the Interiors already have a closed and open state, or did you mean that you wanted chests that also had a 3rd "partial open" state? 

O.O amazing! Definitely a great place to start and it looks good to boot! I've also been having a lot of fun recreating some of the scenes you posted in the OP for practice lol.

 

[Mcleavestein]

@MarkSA If you want to make cats, go for it   Not quite sure if/when I would include them, animals tend to be a bit lower priority typically when facing tilesets, characters, character pieces, monsters, etc, and there is only so much time during the day lol. I would *like* to make them, just not sure when.


@BloodletterQ Galv has a set of scripts, and I think Victor does as well (or at least he was working on MV versions last I knew). Shaz has some (or one?) as does Yanfly (I think?) - to be honest, I have not kept a super close eye on what scripts are being produced because I have been focusing on creating this stuff, but I have seen (and used some of the aforementioned) scripts for multi-frame animation, diagonal movement, and running animations, which are the most important. There are scripts to customize side-view animations as well, all of them are in the MV script forum. There very well could be other scripts as well, I just need to start looking in the script forum more often.


@PsychicToaster Thanks for the suggestions  Most of these items I was pretty much already planning on thankfully (though they might be in slightly different packs). For the cliff ramp, that is overall along the lines I was thinking when I was thinking about how I might accomplish that task. I will see if I can come up with that example sometime today if possible.


@Mcleavestein Glad you found the info; yeah, definitely gonna be armor and weapons and such coming. These first two packs were meant more towards creating regular town folk, merchants, and what not. The next pack I am working on, the Medieval: Warfare pack contains primarily armor, weapons, and tabards. The armor ranges from leather and chain to heavy plate, with a bunch of different styles of helmets and tabards, so should be a good mix. Other armor will pop up in other packs as well.

Any ETA on the next pack? Also what are the chances that I could commission some art work from you? I need some specific pieces that I'm not sure if you ever plan on adding.


All your hard work is appreciated!