Town Design & Structure

[Celianna]

@Napdevil: someone has to say it, but Pokemon's maps suck. They all try too hard to look like the generation 1 versions; meaning simple as hell, with bare minimum decorations, and you get lost in caves tons of times due to having no landmarks. Generation 6 seems to have improved much more regarding maps. So yeah, don't use Pokemon as this role model for mapping, because it sucks. Yes, Lavender Town is a crappy map, and the only reason why people liked it, is due to nostalgic reasons. In other words, less is not more when it comes to maps.


As for my own advice about creating a town, you first have to think what kind of town you are making, and what kind of houses and shops will be in there. Then each house should look unique, there should be plenty of landmarks, and space to walk around. And use elevation - elevation whether it'd be in the form of a hill/cliff or a staircase, all help out so much in giving your map more life and depth, I really recommend using it.


Also, it shouldn't look confusing, so try not to mix and match too many floor tiles together as Luchino's screenshot; it gets super confusing.

 

[Cope]

Mostly, I take my cue from my immediate surroundings. And if that isn't enough, I refer to those provided by select video games. I'm currently downloading the GTA IV and V walkthrough videos to get some visual cues on how to design certain maps. Then, I try to convert them in a workable 2D map as best as RPG Maker could manage.

 

For example, I practically made a Laundromat map based on a certain scene from GTA IV. And a Police Station design based on the one in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. 

 

This might just be me, but I'm the type to create a town map as if it can support a living, thriving community. Hence my commitment to detail. 

 

[Caitlin]

I try to base my town based on *some what* on real life, like farming communities like the rural area I live in has farms surrounding the community while the town proper was the place you got supples from and went to sell your goods.  I, also, use historical examples from Europe and even check other countries poor/rich/middle class sections from history.  Of course, it's really amazing how things have completely changed, but then again, I don't need a map as an excuse to look up history.  You never know what you can learn by reading up on how people used to live and gives me a lot of inspiration for not only stories, countries, characters, but designs for buildings too.  It all goes into my pot o' inspiration and never know what might come out.  well seasoned soup or nasty tasting sludge.