Town mapping - proportions

[Necromus]

Hi folks.

How should a town/village look like for you?

Bigger "realistic" houses or small ones that look like old NES days?

I'm always confused on how to really go for a town map, since i'm always using big houses, big doors and the like, even tho a lot of people seem to do it otherwise.

Sure big doors are out of porportion for the small characters, but they are provided by default, where as big chars are not, so why not use them?

It's not like there are only castle like entrance doors, there are 2 tile versions of normal wooden doors too, but yet i mostly see the small ones in use.

How packed do you think a town should be like? Lots of houses close together, or more space filled with trees and grass etc.?

 

[RavenTDA]

A city should be packed close together a small village should be more open. It just depends on the size of your towns and what purpose do they have. You're probably going to have a city around a castle and maybe a city near the points of trades.... such a place on a major cross roads to certain locations or a port area. There's probably villages for small farm areas and the like. Places that server purpose for the kingdom that create jobs are probably going to be filled more with people. I doubt seeing a mining village verses a mining town or city because people are going to move places where they can make money.

As for the doors. I don't use the small doors either. I just feel like they're too small even for the chibi-characters. I kinda customize the height in-between. You can make the houses big or little in general depending on the style of your game. There's no right or wrong way to go about it I don't think... just whatever way you choose be consistent.

 

[Espon]

I usually make the inside of the house first, then build the exterior to be within 0 to 2 tiles in comparison of the inside. The inside should be large enough to fit all the required furniture, but not so big that it's like walking through a ballroom.

Almost all towns I've made are rural so the houses tend to be spread apart and feature large yards.

 

[Cryranos]

I tend to fall into the trope of TARDIS-houses without thinking since it makes towns a lot easier to organize and keeps the maps from getting unnecessarily large. I also find it easier to sketch out a plan on paper, especially if it's a centrally-planned city. If you've done any reading about urban planning (recommended but not pleasant), you should put whatever you learned to use.

 

[Necromus]

So after posting on the screenshot thread http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/55-game-map-screenshots/page__st__1361#entry42284 , critics were, the wall tiles are too high, roofs should be bigger than the walls (as in 3 tiles roof, 2 tiles wall for example).

Also needs more variety in terms of how the houses are shaped (definitely, still looking for tilesets) and also the visual style of the houses, different roof colors, wall tiles.

I personally don't think a rather small village should have a ton of differnt styles, it should be more consistent. Not every house needs to have a different tile imo.

 

[Ocedic]

So after posting on the screenshot thread http://forums.rpgmak...1361#entry42284 , critics were, the wall tiles are too high, roofs should be bigger than the walls (as in 3 tiles roof, 2 tiles wall for example).

Also needs more variety in terms of how the houses are shaped (definitely, still looking for tilesets) and also the visual style of the houses, different roof colors, wall tiles.

I personally don't think a rather small village should have a ton of differnt styles, it should be more consistent. Not every house needs to have a different tile imo.

I make my villages in similar style to yours, and I don't agree with the feedback you received. With the roof tile you used, to me it looks like you're viewing a house from the side. Hence at the top there's a line like it's the tip of the triangle at the top of a roof. Thus, your proportion makes sense since we are viewing it from this angle. There are tiles that are clearly the roof from the top (see layer C) and those would make sense to have the roof be larger, but what you have looks normal to me. Maybe we're just weird?

As for variety, I think it's fine to have homogenous building design. It would actually make perfect sense logically in a small village, and even in a large city where you can assume there's building codes.

 

[Necromus]

Heh, beeing weird is just a matter of perspective

But that's what i created that topic for, to learn about opinions on different styles.

I know where people are comming from with the walls beeing too high, simply because there is too much "wasted" space above the small windows, it does look out of place.

Not necesarily about the roof part tho, especially with those tiles.

 

[AeonSpark]

I like the village link you provided.

It makes mine look really simple ^^;

 

[Mouser]

So after posting on the screenshot thread http://forums.rpgmak...1361#entry42284 , critics were, the wall tiles are too high, roofs should be bigger than the walls (as in 3 tiles roof, 2 tiles wall for example).

Also needs more variety in terms of how the houses are shaped (definitely, still looking for tilesets) and also the visual style of the houses, different roof colors, wall tiles.

I personally don't think a rather small village should have a ton of differnt styles, it should be more consistent. Not every house needs to have a different tile imo.

My only criticism of that village would be that there's only one way to get from point A to point B on the map. I'd open it up a little bit to give the player more freedom of movement - or put some hidden paths through the trees to give the players something to find, with maybe some goodies along the way.

 

[Necromus]

My only criticism of that village would be that there's only one way to get from point A to point B on the map. I'd open it up a little bit to give the player more freedom of movement - or put some hidden paths through the trees to give the players something to find, with maybe some goodies along the way.

I don't think there is a need for another path, exploration happens outside of towns.

Also i'm sure i will put some goodies somewhere, like i said there is nothing on that map aside from a basic layout yet.

 

[Hesufo]

He meant to perhaps open up a bit of space in your town so you don't feel so limited, think that you'll also have to put NPC in there and whatever objects you'll interact with. Perhaps make some room to the south-southeast of the large tree (by reducing the elevated forested area's extension), put a fallen trunk in the northwest river as an alternate way to the cavern or make a small underground tunnel that connects the open cracks in the cliff portions in the western and eastern edges. Just a few ideas.

Other than that, your town looks very very nice. You've paid a lot of attention to the details and there is a nice variety in the trees and vegetation.

 

[Mouser]

I don't think there is a need for another path, exploration happens outside of towns.

Also i'm sure i will put some goodies somewhere, like i said there is nothing on that map aside from a basic layout yet.

I guess that's a difference in playstyle.

I like a lot of exploration in towns - walking around and actually seeing what's there, looking in pots and bookshelves, etc...

Your town looks pretty, but it's on rails. Not necessarily bad, but understand that it is a design choice you're making, and make sure it fits with the overall design of your game. "Breaking" the rules is ok, IF you know what rules you're breaking, and why you're doing it.