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ISRIERI'S TERRIBLE MAPPING
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Isrieri
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CloseDespite all that makerscore you see on the left, I have not made a single RPG. Not a one. But I've been trying, by god. Ever since the VX Ace Lite event from...what almost a year ago now? I had a really neat idea for beginning a story and opening a game. What started out as a short little joke game I couldn't finish in time, I've now written into something more full-sized. I know that's probably not good, because no matter how much effort I spend on it, I know it won't ever be as good as I want, my talent just isn't there yet. So I never get around to working on it. But I have to just suck it up and accept that anything I make will likely end up at "bad first game" syndrome. Its like chicken pox. Everyone's got to get it.
But that's beside the point! The one thing that's kept me from actively working on this game is that I'm no good at mapping. They never look as good as I want them to or I can never visualize what I want to make. Don't even get me started on mapping towns. WELP. If you want to get better at something you have to practice! And I'll never get this game made if I just sit on my butt and keep hitting the RESET button. So here's a topic where I can start posting some of the junk I'm doing.
My goal is to not drop this thread until I have 14 towns mapped to completion and looking nice. And that's easier to do if you've got a thread to upkeep. Today, I only have two maps to show. The World Map (which doesn't count, I technically cheated with that one), and a small cave I whipped up in an hour yesterday. The Aster Tunnel, which I'm intending to just be a little cave through the mountains to reach a small village. Not even any monsters (except for one big one).
There's no chests in the cave yet because I don't have anything to put inside of them. Before anyone gets on my case about cutoff, this cave is gonna be dark. So your field of view will be limited. It might be the only cave like that, I'm not sure yet. Okay there's at least one other cave that will probably be dark like this.
The game I'm making all this for is called Lotus Land Saga. And its about...well I'll talk about what its about if people are interested. But as of right now there are two things I want to do before I can consider the project out of development hell: Got to get ALL the mapping done. Got to get the story ironed out (decent progress on that but its still rough around the edges). It may sound a bit backwards to you that I'm making maps before the story is done. But I usually work best under constraints, and having to find ways to incorporate all those towns and dungeons into the story usually inspires me more. Maybe it was a horrible idea; TOO LATE TO TURN BACK NOW! :D
I'll probably post random ideas I have for the game in here from time to time too. I'mma just think of this thread as my temporary base of operations until I get a gamepage up.
But that's beside the point! The one thing that's kept me from actively working on this game is that I'm no good at mapping. They never look as good as I want them to or I can never visualize what I want to make. Don't even get me started on mapping towns. WELP. If you want to get better at something you have to practice! And I'll never get this game made if I just sit on my butt and keep hitting the RESET button. So here's a topic where I can start posting some of the junk I'm doing.
My goal is to not drop this thread until I have 14 towns mapped to completion and looking nice. And that's easier to do if you've got a thread to upkeep. Today, I only have two maps to show. The World Map (which doesn't count, I technically cheated with that one), and a small cave I whipped up in an hour yesterday. The Aster Tunnel, which I'm intending to just be a little cave through the mountains to reach a small village. Not even any monsters (except for one big one).
There's no chests in the cave yet because I don't have anything to put inside of them. Before anyone gets on my case about cutoff, this cave is gonna be dark. So your field of view will be limited. It might be the only cave like that, I'm not sure yet. Okay there's at least one other cave that will probably be dark like this.
The game I'm making all this for is called Lotus Land Saga. And its about...well I'll talk about what its about if people are interested. But as of right now there are two things I want to do before I can consider the project out of development hell: Got to get ALL the mapping done. Got to get the story ironed out (decent progress on that but its still rough around the edges). It may sound a bit backwards to you that I'm making maps before the story is done. But I usually work best under constraints, and having to find ways to incorporate all those towns and dungeons into the story usually inspires me more. Maybe it was a horrible idea; TOO LATE TO TURN BACK NOW! :D
I'll probably post random ideas I have for the game in here from time to time too. I'mma just think of this thread as my temporary base of operations until I get a gamepage up.
Not nearly as terrible as I expected. The only issue I have with the cave map is that the walls vary in height and it's done in a way that looks wonky in a few areas, to me at least.
As for doing all the mapping before anything else, while that isn't usually the route I take, I've done one game where I did like 75% of the mapping while only 10% of the story was done, and it was a fun if odd way to do things. I find doing a little of everything at a time to be a bit more motivating, though, as it lets me go "Wow, I HAVE ACTUAL, PLAYABLE CONTENT! Maybe only ten minutes, BUT IT EXISTS AND I'M HAPPY." But it's all about what motivates you ^_^
Best of luck with this! :D
As for doing all the mapping before anything else, while that isn't usually the route I take, I've done one game where I did like 75% of the mapping while only 10% of the story was done, and it was a fun if odd way to do things. I find doing a little of everything at a time to be a bit more motivating, though, as it lets me go "Wow, I HAVE ACTUAL, PLAYABLE CONTENT! Maybe only ten minutes, BUT IT EXISTS AND I'M HAPPY." But it's all about what motivates you ^_^
Best of luck with this! :D
As unity said, the wall heights varying in the cave are an issue. Another is how many straight lines your cave has - you want to experiment with varying that up. If you want height changes, experiment with layering cliffs.
I know it's long (because I talk too fucking much ;.; ) but I'd like to point you to this. It's a tutorial about Shift Mapping, but it covers caves and varying cliffage too.
That said, your cave layout is pretty neat. I just hope you're not using the default encounter system. ;p
The world map is also pretty good. A lot of people like large world maps to explore. It's set out well and looks interesting at a glance. That said, there is a lot of 'fill with x' going on, so maybe adding a little variance in places like the large forest to the south-west would help. (say a tile or two of grass or using shift mapping to make edges that brush against each other and look like paths through the forest.)
Try to break up lines a lot - indents and outdents work well to do that. If you notice a straight line on your map, make a small outcrop or a little river line. It can help a lot.
Overall, not bad. You've got good design sense, you just need to refine it a bit and learn a few 'hacks' for making things look a bit more varied. ^.^)b
I know it's long (because I talk too fucking much ;.; ) but I'd like to point you to this. It's a tutorial about Shift Mapping, but it covers caves and varying cliffage too.
That said, your cave layout is pretty neat. I just hope you're not using the default encounter system. ;p
The world map is also pretty good. A lot of people like large world maps to explore. It's set out well and looks interesting at a glance. That said, there is a lot of 'fill with x' going on, so maybe adding a little variance in places like the large forest to the south-west would help. (say a tile or two of grass or using shift mapping to make edges that brush against each other and look like paths through the forest.)
Try to break up lines a lot - indents and outdents work well to do that. If you notice a straight line on your map, make a small outcrop or a little river line. It can help a lot.
Overall, not bad. You've got good design sense, you just need to refine it a bit and learn a few 'hacks' for making things look a bit more varied. ^.^)b
amerk
2539
The stairs in the cave look as if they're going to drop the part right into the pool of water. If that's not the intent, I'd suggest adding solid ground in front of the stairs where the party will get dropped off at.
author=amerk
The stairs in the cave look as if they're going to drop the part right into the pool of water. If that's not the intent, I'd suggest adding solid ground in front of the stairs where the party will get dropped off at.
I'm already glad I made this thread. I would never have considered that. I'm stuck in the 8-bit era forever.
author=Liberty
I know it's long (because I talk too fucking much ;.; ) but I'd like to point you to this. It's a tutorial about Shift Mapping, but it covers caves and varying cliffage too.
Nice tutorial. I was already aware of shift mapping but now I know how to use it better! That's definitely going to come in handy when I try to make a tower down the line.
Also YOU'RE TOWNS ARE SO NICE. I will watch the other tutorial and use them as references.
I've taken all your suggestions and fixed that cave up. I was surprised at how easy it was to level the walls out. Don't know why I didn't do it the first time.
amerk
2539
I do like the world map, though, it has a nice retro look to it. Makes me want to play and explore it all the way through.
Golly gee I sure do work slow.
For my first town, the layout of the buildings kind of sucks and is 8-bit as hell. But I think I nailed the geography. I wanted to make a seaside village nestled between the hills and this sure is that. (obviously doors are on the way) I want to do something with the empty space between most of the houses but on the other hand NPCs can go there, and I don't want to stick a well down near the ocean. That makes zero sense.
The blue-tile house at the bottom will allow you onto the cliff to it's right.
For my first town, the layout of the buildings kind of sucks and is 8-bit as hell. But I think I nailed the geography. I wanted to make a seaside village nestled between the hills and this sure is that. (obviously doors are on the way) I want to do something with the empty space between most of the houses but on the other hand NPCs can go there, and I don't want to stick a well down near the ocean. That makes zero sense.
The blue-tile house at the bottom will allow you onto the cliff to it's right.
You're on the right track with these. However, one universal problem I notice is that your maps lack variety and detail. It doesn't help that you tend to repeat the same type of tiles (like the yellow flowers in your town) in groups and rows, when the editor allows you to have a few more options to add a bit more variation to your maps.
In case you didn't know about the "three-tile rule" it's mainly in regards to how to map cliff tiles. Naturally-made cliffs aren't perfectly straight, so even a few dips in the walls here and there would help a lot.
This is a map I did for the Befuddle Quest event. Even with its ethereal elements, I wanted to imply that the cave was "natural" yet still wanted the player to travel down a linear path, so what I did was add a few dips and filled some of the gaps with impassible rocks to make the map look visually stimulating AND functional at the same time (I also added some tiles to the borders to better sell this). It's not just about realism, it's about creating a varied, interesting image for players to look at.
Other recommendations: put some grass tile splotches on the road if you want to imply that it was made "naturally" (by people trampling over the path) rather than being perfectly straight. I also don't recommend putting rows of the same objects, like you have with those tree stumps at the bottom. It just looks conspicuous and repetitive. Finally, I'm against putting tall grass around trees, because trees by themselves are nutrient hogs, so any grass around a tree tends to "circle" it a little, leaving mostly bare soil around the trunk in real life, but in VX you can best represent it by just the regular grass tiles.
The key here is to try to not make your maps look like you just took the rectangle tool and slapped stuff down. Spend some extra time in decorating your maps. You can do it!
In case you didn't know about the "three-tile rule" it's mainly in regards to how to map cliff tiles. Naturally-made cliffs aren't perfectly straight, so even a few dips in the walls here and there would help a lot.
This is a map I did for the Befuddle Quest event. Even with its ethereal elements, I wanted to imply that the cave was "natural" yet still wanted the player to travel down a linear path, so what I did was add a few dips and filled some of the gaps with impassible rocks to make the map look visually stimulating AND functional at the same time (I also added some tiles to the borders to better sell this). It's not just about realism, it's about creating a varied, interesting image for players to look at.
Other recommendations: put some grass tile splotches on the road if you want to imply that it was made "naturally" (by people trampling over the path) rather than being perfectly straight. I also don't recommend putting rows of the same objects, like you have with those tree stumps at the bottom. It just looks conspicuous and repetitive. Finally, I'm against putting tall grass around trees, because trees by themselves are nutrient hogs, so any grass around a tree tends to "circle" it a little, leaving mostly bare soil around the trunk in real life, but in VX you can best represent it by just the regular grass tiles.
The key here is to try to not make your maps look like you just took the rectangle tool and slapped stuff down. Spend some extra time in decorating your maps. You can do it!
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