THE SCREENSHOT TOPIC RETURNS

Well, I actually already figured out what to do with said map, using Mt. Kolts from FFVI as a bit of inspiration. This is also why I'm revamping these caves because of said issue. Lemme post up what I have thus far for this same room, which is 50x48.




Again, not 100% done as I'm still in the process of adding stuff in. There's gonna be a bit more elevation in here too, just need to get to it. I do like the little lava falls I have going though~

There is ONE particular screen from Mt. Kolts that I was thinking of using for my mountain area, and that being the screen where you encounter Vargas at, being that giant outside spiraling area. Not sure how to replicate this though, but it'd be nice to have for a mountain for sure methinks.






Final version of last map up above. Still 50x48, which really, still isn't that big, given that random encounters are a lot lower in here than say a FF game where the encounter rate would be much higher.

The next room though is something I'm going to next desperate help in cutting down, as it's a 100x100 room...but is meant to be a big room for a reason. @_@;;


The next room for those who want to see:

You said random encounters. Yeah... nope.

Seriously, every map you've shown so far all look the same. Same colour scheme, same gimmick. Just a whole bunch of same. Why not try to mix things up? Recolour a chipset and make a cave a different colour? Add some plants or make a forest or something that's not grey-brown cave with lava and levels.

Next time, please edit your previous post. An hour isn't really long enough between posts to warrant a second one.

author=Xenomic
Yeah, I didn't think about it at the time. Probably should've just edited it. My bad. @_@;;

I'm just trying to get all caves done right now, since those are going to take the longest to revamp I think, hence why you've seen so many of them. Sides, what all gimmicks CAN be done in a cave? @_@

Really now though...it doesn't take THAT long even with random encounters. Like I said, the encounters isn't even that often like in FF games. : |

There are plenty of things to do with caves! Quests, puzzles, even towns if this is a really long dungeon. (Think FF4's Underworld.)

Also, please, no random encounters.

For that 100X100 map, that bottem part and the top right have basically nothing in them. Put something in there. As for anything else, just scale it down and make those cave structures more interesting.

The issue with random encounters is that, unless you've created your own random encounter system, even with the numbers set high you will still get cases of two step battles. It's a flaw in the RPG Maker system that they can't seem to iron out. That said, with as much room as your maps have I don't see why you can't have on-touch encounters instead.

A lot of games just have a shadowy figure sprite on the map to demonstrate that there is an enemy there, and then it shows up as whatever the hell enemy graphic it feels like whilst in battle 'cause no one's gonna pay that much attention (unless you actually went to the effort of trying to match sprites, in which case some people might get nitpicky). Sometimes to show if it's a stronger enemy, the shadow might be bigger or maybe a different colour to show the player what they're getting into and whether it's something they need to try and avoid contact with.

author=Xenomic
Sides, what all gimmicks CAN be done in a cave? @_@

There are loooooads of things you can throw into any cave. Your cave in particular is quite lavasome, so it might be a good idea to throw in some contrast colours whilst thinking about things logically. Obviously, unless it's magical or something, water is just going to evaporate - but that doesn't stop you from putting in trenches here or there where water could have been. Or even ridges where lava has been and solidified. Possibly even a type of plant could grow in there in small sections if it were quite resilient to heat, just to throw things up a bit and give the cave a green element in places to make it nicer on people's eyes.

Here are two examples of good cavey-looking things from Catharsis:




Granted, those are inhabited areas, but there's nothing to say no one could try or have previously tried to live in your cave. Maybe the lava drove them out. You could put remains of wooden buildings or items like barrels and crates nearby, for example. My main reason to use those images is that it demonstrates good use of the first tile layer before piling stuff onto the second layer (eg, all the rocks, furnishing, etc.).

Oh and the three tile rule is a thing, and a good thing it is too. As jokey as it may be, it's actually really helpful to use as a reference. It doesn't have to be perfectly three tiles but it's nice to have some kind of mix-up here or there. And it doesn't just apply to "random shit all over the place" AKA the second layer, but it can be used for your ground tiles too like in those Catharsis images. Have your regular rock, and then some chunks of slightly darker rock now and again, or some cracked rock, or some slightly grassy rock, or.. you get the picture. Rock variety is important and will stop the same floor your player treads from becoming boring over time. For example you can have an area where there's more dark rock than another to show difference in environment and create MEMORABLE areas so people can say "oh there's a cross-section here near the DARK ROCKY AREA with the LAVA-FALL, so I know exactly where to come back to when I need to backtrack."

@Itaju: Thanks brother! Yeah it's just to give the player that option...you can also press x to exit the menu =]

@SK: Yup, it's Sora sound bits that I altered to sound a bit different.

Why is 40x40 so restrictive? It's a good question that needs proper answering, given the number of times you've said it's restrictive.

Let's see. Same room. Incredibly more interesting.

Alright, colour chart is a go-go.
Greens are your stepping stones.
Blues are bits of land. (The blue dots are pieces of stone you can't jump on.)
Reds are good treasure chests (weapons, armour and the like).
Whites are normal treasure chests (money, items and the like).
Yellow is the boss or whatever you had originally set on that piece of land.
Dark blue are walls/layers cutting off access from that part of land.
Peach is your entry point.
The grey/black is an extension of that wall so that it cuts off access from the treasure chest behind it, forcing you to go around.

Mind you, this is a bit rough but perhaps it will give you an idea of what to do. You could also probably add a save point or full heal (or both!) on one of the smaller islands leading up to reaching the main island - especially if it's a boss of some sort.

There's just one thing I don't really like about that shot - the stepping stones are one tile high, or at least, half a tile off the lava. It's a pretty high jump to get up some of those cliffs. The jumping point from stepping stone to land should be the same height.