SCREENSHOT SURVIVAL 20XX

Posts

Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Man, I could never tell if I'm supposed to take the 3 tile rule seriously or not. I've seen so many people dismiss it here that I just kinda ignored it. But alright, lemme give it a shot.

So how about... this?



Better? Even a little?
Versalia
must be all that rtp in your diet
1405
author=Red_Nova
Man, I could never tell if I'm supposed to take the 3 tile rule seriously or not. I've seen so many people dismiss it here that I just kinda ignored it. But alright, lemme give it a shot.

So how about... this?

Better? Even a little?


It does look more organic which is good for a forest. For your reading pleasure: The Three Tile Rule
Honestly, people never understood that it wasn't for decoration or ground tiles, but for things like water, cliffs and canopies. It was meant to get rid of long runs of lines in them and add a more varied and natural look to maps. People just went stupid with it, is all.


You've still a lot of long lines in that canopy that could be broken up a bit more. You don't mind indents too much but a few out-dents would help too. Similiarly, your water is still very straight and thin - really make it at least three tiles thick - else it's more a stream than an actual river. And streams taper off instead of growing in thickness.

Adding more trees would help (there's a mapping error at the left entrance, btw) as there's a lot of room. Ideally, you want a forest to be a little more crowded when it comes to trees. You could also do with more flowers, plants and ground tiles. That said, it's looking better than it was. Keep going, you'll improve~
^.^)b
author=Sated
author=ExtremeDevelopment
Sated-Isn't it supposed to be empty? It's a wasteland.
I don't think that people commonly grow vegetables in a wasteland.

Well what else are they supposed to eat?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwlt4FqmS0#t=10m22s
author=Rose_Guardian
Here is a screen of one of the new maps in my game Mystic Knights. It's not in the current version, and I would like some feed back on to see what if I can improve the map.


Ditch that tileset.

Looks like you've got the "backbone" of your town complete, but it seems unfinished. Overall this map can benefit from more structure, diversity, and detail.(Also, why do the houses not have doors?! xD).

In many cases you can borrow compositionally from photography, in the sense that your map will benefit from incorporating leading lines. ("A leading line paves an easy path for the eye to follow through different elements of a photo. Usually they start at the bottom of the frame and guide the eye upwards and inwards, from the foreground of the image to the background, or typically lead toward the main subject(s).")

Currently though, your map is simply houses and foliage seemingly plopped onto the map at random. You'll definitely want to sit down and consider the main point(s) of interest for the town, and create some type of path or road that subtly guides the player along, even if they aren't consciously aware of it.

Once you have that down, introduce diversity. Although the "three tile rule" is pretty openly mocked around here (lol), I think you should read up on it for the sake of your mapping. Your maps benefit neither logistically nor aesthetically from having your cliffs and trees in a perfectly straight line, so why not mix things up?

Some visual examples might be better in this case;





Every without inhabitants, these maps all look "lived in" - by comparison, yours reeks of emptiness.

Actually, that last dessert map reminds me of yours, but the elevation and cliff faces are utilized much more effectively. While there isn't a primary "path", there are lines and cliffs arranged in such a way that it invites you to move forward and explore the town. Consider how the developer may have used elevation here, or even try to emulate it yourself.

There are LOT of resources on RMN, even for visual stuff. Here are some tutorials that may help you!

Mapping in Five Easy Steps by Indra
Do's and Don'ts of Mapping by Nessiah
Natural Mapping and Shift Mapping by Liberty
My Mapping Commandments by Luchino

Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
Red Nova
I would consider making tree walls one tile shorter. They are too big in comparison to trees and other details. Water needs some improvements too. The pond in the bottom part has no drain.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=Versalia
It does look more organic which is good for a forest. For your reading pleasure: The Three Tile Rule

Thanks for the read, Versalia! Though I can't really agree with his reasoning (maybe in 2011, but I don't see that many rips anymore in RM games*), I did get a better idea of the arguments about it's application.

author=Liberty
You've still a lot of long lines in that canopy that could be broken up a bit more. You don't mind indents too much but a few out-dents would help too. Similiarly, your water is still very straight and thin - really make it at least three tiles thick - else it's more a stream than an actual river. And streams taper off instead of growing in thickness.

Um... Ah... Er... *nervous sweating*

That... was... supposed to be a stream, not a river. I have a lot to work on. Sheesh.

Some of the long lines are intentional, actually. Like the top left and right of the map, for instance. Players could never get far enough to actually see those locations, so I saw no reason to put in details that would never be shown. The long lines at the bottom left and bottom clearing, though, I will fix. Unless there was somewhere else that caught your eye?

Adding more trees would help (there's a mapping error at the left entrance, btw) as there's a lot of room. Ideally, you want a forest to be a little more crowded when it comes to trees. You could also do with more flowers, plants and ground tiles. That said, it's looking better than it was. Keep going, you'll improve~
^.^)b

Thanks for the catch and encouragement!


author=Cap_H
Red NovaI would consider making tree walls one tile shorter. They are too big in comparison to trees and other details. Water needs some improvements too. The pond in the bottom part has no drain.

Well, the reason the tree are the way the are is I'm using Mack sprites, so having the canopy two tiles tall would make for some really strange perspectives.



The sprite's a WIP, so ignore that, unless I shaded it wrong, which is likely.

Speaking of Mack, do you think the Mack tileset (or any other tileset) would fit this forest better? I am trying to shy away from RTP's blocky tiles, but most other tilesets I found have a completely different aesthetic that doesn't fit the game or don't even have forest canopies. This prompted me to try my hand at my own tilesets, but I needed to get better at mapping in general first.

For now, I was mapping with RTP as a placeholder while I tried to look or make a better set.

I'll work on the stream, though. Thanks!

*: Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough? Not that I WANT to look for them, but still...
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
It would probably work better. LockeZ said that trees could be of any size and that was truth. However these 2x2 RTP models look ridiculously small. Also, I'm not big fan of RTP grass. It's too light.
That's your personal preference getting in the way, Cap_H.
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
It's not that the trees are too tall, but the idea of that black treetop canopy area is that it's all the leaves and branches of the tree. There are places at the edges of some of the canopy sections where you have a three tile tall tree trunk and then at the top of it is a 1x1 tile canopy area. Try not to do that! Make the canopy a few tiles tall, otherwise it looks very awkward with the large tree trunks. You expect such a tall trunk to have a lot of tree at the top.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
author=Liberty
That's your personal preference getting in the way, Cap_H.


Personal preference is as important as anything else. But yeah, you got the truth, that this is not the place.
author=LockeZ
It's not that the trees are too tall, but the idea of that black treetop canopy area is that it's all the leaves and branches of the tree. There are places at the edges of some of the canopy sections where you have a three tile tall tree trunk and then at the top of it is a 1x1 tile canopy area. Try not to do that! Make the canopy a few tiles tall, otherwise it looks very awkward with the large tree trunks. You expect such a tall trunk to have a lot of tree at the top.


Ah, I knew there was something I forgot to add! Yes, make at least three tiles of the canopy, if not more, because that is the top of the tree and it looks hella odd to have one tile there to represent the leaves and branches.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
BlindMind's post is good advice, but I'd scratch that first screenshot. It looks like tilevomit. The other towns have a much stronger identity because they don't use ten different flowers and plants scattered on every bit of grass.
BizarreMonkey
I'll never change. "Me" is better than your opinion, dummy!
1625
I've found a good portrait artist, so consider most in this a placeholder now.

I also decided I'd leave hand drawing maps until after release, I'm running out of time and using tiles will lend a speedy advantage to a closing window of opportunity.

I love the way Saxxis throws a tantrum.

Pep does it too about 7 minutes and 4 seconds into this video. Oh yeah-- all of Act 2 Stage 2 sans cinematic are done.

Now to fix those bloody choice boxes hrrrngngngngng.
author=dragonheartman
I wanted to share this with you guys. I got animations and 8-way movement in my little engine:


I'm late to the party, but this is looking good! I notice the character sort of shakes around when he stops; is this a positioning bug or is it just a trick of the recording software?
BizarreMonkey
I'll never change. "Me" is better than your opinion, dummy!
1625
Small hilarious tidbit from Act 2 Stage 3

As already stated, the portraits will be updated as the game draw's closer to release.

Oh yeah also...

OST COMPLETE.
BM: Try to post once a page, okay? Posting a ton won't get people to comment more than they are.
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
inb4 liberty posts the same almost-passable RTP forest screenshot she posts every time someone says that