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Zephyr
1241
Zephyr
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Closeauthor=LockeZauthor=Feldschlacht IVNarshe totally didn't. The south end of the town was the front gate, and the north, west and east ends of the town went all the way up against the cliffs. There were a couple buildings up in the cliffs without doors, but that's not really the same thing. Meanwhile most of the towns in FF4 are entirely contained inside town walls, just to make absolutely sure that no one mistakenly thinks they keep going beyond what's shown. I know it's supposed to be just kind of a symbolic representation of the town; but actually doing what you said and making it look like it's a real representation of a small part of the town seems both less painful and more interesting.
Vector certainly did this. You can walk around in a fairly small part of what is assumed a large industrial metropolis. Even walking to the top of the Imperial Palace shows an industrial landscape in the background which you never access.
The same goes for Midgar I suppose. What I remember you only partially explore two or so sectors and that's mostly just the slums which is not the actual city.
I personally have no problem and even enjoy mapping towns. The only thing I
hate is mapping interiors...
Edit: I also like putting plenty of goodies in towns too.
hate is mapping interiors...
Edit: I also like putting plenty of goodies in towns too.
If you had tilesets where each object was in the same place (aka window in tileset 1 is in the same location in tileset 2), then you could copy and past house interiors and they'd appear different. Of course that would only work in XP. You could also reuse building interiors for multipe buildings.... The issue is quality, if you plan to make a really amazing game then you don't really have a choice. You can get away with having more houses with locked doors so you don't have to map all of them.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
If a place isn't interesting enough for the player to care about, and it doesn't serve a gameplay purpose, it probably shouldn't exist.
If it only does one of those two, you should probably try to think of a way for it to do both.
If it only does one of those two, you should probably try to think of a way for it to do both.
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
I'm making a modern themed rpg atm, so small towns are a no-go. I've decided to use a bus system. When you enter the town, you come into the town entrance area, where a bus stop allows you to move to all other areas of the town, like the inn shop, etc. Those areas are linked to each other through the bus system too, so the player can go anywhere from anywhere. This keeps up pace, because the player doesn't need to walk everywhere, and also makes the towns seem bigger, as you see only a small part of it. It's also easier to make every place unique that way.
A bus... How much would it cost? 0.5 G? I don't know if 0.5 G coins exist and I don't want to ride it twice... What will I do?
You could just have a large outdoor market, and have all doors locked (these are people's houses, they're working on the street). For realism, if you have a day/night system, after night all merchants go away.
In this model, you only have to make an inn.
In this model, you only have to make an inn.
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
author=wildwes
A bus... How much would it cost? 0.5 G? I don't know if 0.5 G coins exist and I don't want to ride it twice... What will I do?
Well, seeing it's the only way to traverse town, I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to make it cost anything, really. I mean, what if you buy things at the shop and are broke afterwards?
Sorry for being a party pooper, but if a city offered a transportation system that was free, it would go broke unless it was rolling in money. And if it was rolling in money, it would be too greedy to let people have free transportation. Of course, I suppose the government or some really rich do-gooder could fund it... I was just offering a little too much realism, I guess...
author=wildwes
Sorry for being a party pooper, but if a city offered a transportation system that was free, it would go broke unless it was rolling in money. And if it was rolling in money, it would be too greedy to let people have free transportation. Of course, I suppose the government or some really rich do-gooder could fund it... I was just offering a little too much realism, I guess...
Buses in Seattle offer all rides within downtown free.
Maybe I should move to Seattle... but it's probably cold up there... I hate the cold... Texas is much better...
And China has a policy without most cities that within-city buses are 1 yuan flat. Of course, getting a bus to another town, or a train, yeah that costs money but not really that much. A bus from airport to a few towns over was like 28Y.
They don't go broke. It's called subsidizing (that is, you pay it from city/state taxes).
They don't go broke. It's called subsidizing (that is, you pay it from city/state taxes).
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Something not costing the player anything doesn't have to imply that it's actually being given away for free in the game world. Maybe your character starts the game with an annual bus pass.
Trujin
210
author=LockeZ
Something not costing the player anything doesn't have to imply that it's actually being given away for free in the game world. Maybe your character starts the game with an annual bus pass.
This is exactly what I use (only diffrence is that I use a metro system instead of a bus system). It brings you to the "world map" where you can choose your destination (destinations are being unlocked as you progress in game).
Btw, if you go for futuristic like me you can just copy the Half Life 2 way to do this: blocked paths by force fields.
author=bulmabriefs144
And China has a policy without most cities that within-city buses are 1 yuan flat. Of course, getting a bus to another town, or a train, yeah that costs money but not really that much. A bus from airport to a few towns over was like 28Y.
They don't go broke. It's called subsidizing (that is, you pay it from city/state taxes).
I'm a teen, I don't know a thing about subsidizing or other economic-y terms... All I know is that I like money.
Edit: Also, we've kinda gotten off the town creating topic...
Aegix_Drakan
6037
I try to keep my towns small. Like, I'll hint that there is more to them, but I won't let the player wander there. For example, I'll have a road leading from one location, but it does not TP you. Or I'll have houses behind rivers or stuff. You MAKE the player feel like the town is big, but you don't make the playable areas huge.
Likewise, I won't make interiors for EVERY FREAKIN HOUSE. I mean, who leaves their doors wide open for random people to come inside, huh? Not to mention that some of those NPCs will have left to shop, so they would obviously lock up, right?
As for the NPCs....Well, that's harder. I try to think of current events going on in the game that they might reasonably comment on.
I had to learn this the hard way. Ie, make lots and lots and lots of maps, and then have a friend go "you know...I hate huge towns. I don't bother exploring them because it gets so tedious!" and another friend mentioning a town in FF8 that had maybe 3 screens, but he said it looked HUGE to him.
Likewise, I won't make interiors for EVERY FREAKIN HOUSE. I mean, who leaves their doors wide open for random people to come inside, huh? Not to mention that some of those NPCs will have left to shop, so they would obviously lock up, right?
As for the NPCs....Well, that's harder. I try to think of current events going on in the game that they might reasonably comment on.
I had to learn this the hard way. Ie, make lots and lots and lots of maps, and then have a friend go "you know...I hate huge towns. I don't bother exploring them because it gets so tedious!" and another friend mentioning a town in FF8 that had maybe 3 screens, but he said it looked HUGE to him.
Trujin
210
It would be wise though to have a diffrence in doors you can open and which you can't. It's a bit tedious to click every door just to see if you can open them.
