Prices for Tilesets?

[Winston]

I'm looking to hire an artist to create the map tilesets, but I have no idea how much this would cost since I'm not an artist. Can someone outline me price estimates (cost per map size and amount of time it takes to do the map).

Cheers!

 

[Bex]

Edit:

Missread the Topic.... could not find the Post delete Button.

Edit2:

Thought you want someone to create unique Tilesets.

But after rereading it sounded like you just need some Mapper who Edits some RTP or DLC Tilesets and than Makes

Maps which you want to Buy One by One.

 

[Winston]

Depends on which Licenses you need for that Tileset.

Ownership?

Comercial Use?

Non Comercial Use?

or something i dont know about ?

Sorry, I wasn't aware of those things.

I'm interested in commercial use mostly.

Edit: Yeh you were right, I'm interested in unique tilesets.

 

[Bex]

Oh you answered before i deleted it ^^ ok, edited my Post above.

So one last Question, what exactly do you want ?

 

[Winston]

Oh you answered before i deleted it ^^ ok, edited my Post above.

So one last Question, what exactly do you want ?

Sorry for being unclear XD I'm not very familiar with art terminology.

I'm interested in someone creating a unique tileset (not mapping with an existing tileset). Though if they were creating a new tileset, they would have to create a map to test it out as well right? So wouldn't the mapping be free with it?

 

[Bex]

Reference Map for that Tileset should be Free in this Case (Only my Opinion and expirience on the DLC Shop Side).

And i have to Apologice, i overread that this Topic is in Comercial Center of Forum, since iam not Offering such stuff at the Moment,

iam of no use. First i thought you have to write all you want into this Topic, but i believe its handled different with Private Messages (Not sure exactly?)

So good Luck

 

[Kes]

Depending on exactly what you wanted e.g. exterior and interior, auto tiles, objects, 'nature' e.g. trees etc.

If you want all that, start in the thousands of dollars.

 

[Winston]

Depending on exactly what you wanted e.g. exterior and interior, auto tiles, objects, 'nature' e.g. trees etc.

If you want all that, start in the thousands of dollars.

In the end, I just want maps that are tailored towards my game. For instance, if I need a prison with a certain atmosphere, that's what I will ask the artist to create. 

I'd like to know the cost for both interior and exterior.

I'm surprised the price is so high though. Is there really that much work in creating map tiles?

 

[whitesphere]

It can take hundreds of hours to make a good commercial quality tileset.  A full tileset includes A1 through A5 and B through E.

In a good tileset, each and every tile carefully implies a lot more detail than is really there through creative use of colors.

For example, Celianna has been working on an Ancient Dungeon tileset for months now. 

If that's too expensive, I recommend browsing the many Resource Packs on the Store.  These are a lot cheaper because the artist gets to spread the cost over all the purchases.  So the most expensive tileset there is around $30 or so.  The Evil Castle tileset includes very nice dungeon tiles, for example.

 

[odinnightowl]

While i am not a tile maker , i would liek to that if you get someone to make these tiles the map they make will just a a for concept type thing and woudl be simply to show how th etiles look and not an in depth map which woudl eb tailored to your game. Most mappers would charge for that additional service. Also how long it takes to make a map depends on the size and detail of such map. Even the small as in less then 50 hieght or long tend to have a ton of detail. A good maps ought to take around 6-8 hours minimum to make and that is not using parallax mapping.

 

[Winston]

It can take hundreds of hours to make a good commercial quality tileset.  A full tileset includes A1 through A5 and B through E.

In a good tileset, each and every tile carefully implies a lot more detail than is really there through creative use of colors.

For example, Celianna has been working on an Ancient Dungeon tileset for months now. 

If that's too expensive, I recommend browsing the many Resource Packs on the Store.  These are a lot cheaper because the artist gets to spread the cost over all the purchases.  So the most expensive tileset there is around $30 or so.  The Evil Castle tileset includes very nice dungeon tiles, for example.

Are there any cheaper alternatives?

Like if I hire someone to create a unique map without all the tilesets A1 to B and E. Just the ones that are required for the map.

And the tiles only have to work once for the map so there's no mixing and matching required.

I'm willing to go in the hundreds, but the thousands is too much for me.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

If it's custom made for you, it can easily go from $XXX to $XXXX

 

[odinnightowl]

ya not only would you need to be very exact with the tile maker , you would also need a mapper who would cost as well as it seems to me you are looking for one of those as well.

 

[Winston]

Alrighty, thanks guys for your input!

 

[Shaz]

No, someone who makes a tileset would not have to make a map to go with it at all. And they certainly wouldn't have to make all the maps for your game.


You should expect to have tilesets made and maps made as two different tasks, likely by two different people.


We do have a few people who offer mapping at very reasonable prices in the Classifieds - Offers forum. Tileset artists are hard to come by, especially good ones, simply because art is such a specialized skill, it takes so long to do, and they are in such short supply, and therefore very high demand.

 

[Celianna]

Though if they were creating a new tileset, they would have to create a map to test it out as well right?

Haha, no. They'll make a test-map, I'm sure, to display the tiles. But they won't map for you for free.

I'm surprised the price is so high though. Is there really that much work in creating map tiles?

Obviously. It's work, and it takes a long time to complete a tileset, and time is money. It can easily lead up to $5000.
I wouldn't even give you a total price figure, I'd charge you per hour. I'm going to give you an example. I recently made a small tileset, interior and exterior, enough to make the inside of a house, a nature map, and a village. Not a lot.


Samples:

Spoiler

Just that was already over $1000. Took me about 60 hours.

Like if I hire someone to create a unique map without all the tilesets A1 to B and E. Just the ones that are required for the map.

This will be slightly less expensive (it takes a lot of time to work on making tiles seamless), depending on how many 'maps' you want the artist to create, and how many details it has.
Here is a map I created where the majority of the tiles were custom made for the map:

Spoiler

This STILL took me hours to do! And I'm a really fast worker. Not to mention the 'mapping' part still takes a lot of time.


Here is a map that took me 3 and a half hours to complete, WITH only ONE custom tile that I had to create for this map, the rest was already created.

Spoiler

Basically ... if you want shiny pretty and unique tiles for your game, you need to spend a lot of money for them.


A better alternative is just hiring someone to 'edit' existing work for you, to make things more unique for your game.

 

[odinnightowl]

side note but celianna those look beautiul

 

[Sharm]

I can verify that Celianna is very fast at making tiles, and that the prices she's quoting are about as low as you can expect unless you want to work with someone who hasn't got enough experience to know you aren't paying enough and all the perils that go with that.  If I ever went back to making tiles on commission I'd charge at least $30 an hour, if that helps.  It does get cheaper if you want a really simple or very retro look.  The simpler the style and smaller the tiles, the faster they work up and the cheaper you can get them.

Don't worry, this sticker shock response is very common (and amusing and I'm a horrible person for thinking that).  I think it's because tiles are so small that the common response is to think that it should cost as much as a good background commission.  It's easy not to realize that the very thing that makes the art work as tiles is what makes it so much work and therefore so expensive. It's not really one piece of art, it's a lot of pieces of little artworks that all have to look good as a whole.

 

[Nathanial]

I had custom tilesets (with auto tiles and the works) made and it set me back about $5,000 and 9 months of time. It takes a lot of time and work. 

A good artist might charge a very hefty hourly rate, but they're also good. Not just in quality, but in speed as well. You might be able to hire an artist at a cheaper hourly rate... but you'll get worse results, and often times they'll take longer and in the end you're better off going with the higher priced (per hour) artist in the first place.

I learned that the expensive and time consuming way.

Best of luck with your venture.

 

[Winston]

I can verify that Celianna is very fast at making tiles, and that the prices she's quoting are about as low as you can expect unless you want to work with someone who hasn't got enough experience to know you aren't paying enough and all the perils that go with that.  If I ever went back to making tiles on commission I'd charge at least $30 an hour, if that helps.  It does get cheaper if you want a really simple or very retro look.  The simpler the style and smaller the tiles, the faster they work up and the cheaper you can get them.

Don't worry, this sticker shock response is very common (and amusing and I'm a horrible person for thinking that).  I think it's because tiles are so small that the common response is to think that it should cost as much as a good background commission.  It's easy not to realize that the very thing that makes the art work as tiles is what makes it so much work and therefore so expensive. It's not really one piece of art, it's a lot of pieces of little artworks that all have to look good as a whole.

Yeh I was thinking along the lines of a good background commission, but that gave me an idea.

Would it work if I paid someone to draw the map like a normal one, then split the pieces up into small tiles and upload them into RPG maker?