THE SCREENSHOT TOPIC RETURNS

The cliff looks cut off by the road, which makes it look like they are on the same elevations. Which makes no sense, as the road doesn't appear to have any indications of incline.

*Edit: Oh man, a new page with nothing to show!? Ugh.

finally a readable font :D

yeah, snow women

author=Marrend
The cliff looks cut off by the road, which makes it look like they are on the same elevations. Which makes no sense, as the road doesn't appear to have any indications of incline.

*Edit: Oh man, a new page with nothing to show!? Ugh.

And what should I do about that? :O

Yes, those fonts are far better.





So hey! Guess what!? I'm actually moving on with my game and not constantly updating the current beta! So this map is the first map I've done in months, and isn't supposed to be super huge (30x35 is its dimensions). I was torn on what to use really, either to replicate what I did for the SDM Dimensional Rift or to actually use the Void's tileset that I was saving for the near endgame dungeon. I decided to go with the Void tileset despite there not being a whole lot to it from FFV (the tileset was ripped and set up by a friend of mine. How he managed to do it is a mystery even to me. I didn't even know he had the ability to do so, but he did it for this tileset and the FFIV Underworld tileset which I use for Makai).

I don't know how fancy I want to get with this first map really. There's only really one path that you need to go, and I'm not even sure if there'll be random encounters. There's a gimmick to this dungeon is why, but dunno if it's much of a gimmick (not sure how I'll code it or not). Also, the pink background there is meant to be transparent so that there's a parallax background (I don't have the proper background though that the Void uses, which would be IMMENSELY helpful if I could get that...).

Yeah, that's a problem with this tileset in particular.



There's not much to go with for it at all from the original chipset sadly. I did add a tree to this map as I needed it for the cutscene but...other than that, not really sure on what else could be added to make it more eyecatching while not being glaring...I've even looked at a couple maps for the Void area in FFV, and while it does make good use of the tileset, dunno how to manipulate that well enough. It is floating in empty space so dunno how much THAT matters really (probably none at all for elevation).

The elevation differences for this area is going to be a pain in the arse, simply because of how the tileset is too I think. In fact, I'm not even sure HOW to use half of the stuff on this chipset at all. @_@;;

Not an option I'm going to take as this is the exact tileset I need for these kinds of areas. I guess I'll either wind up not using most of the stuff on here (mostly tree roots stuff as there's no Exdeath floating about in the Void here), or figure out how they work, or just add things onto it. *Shrugs*

author=Xenomic
The elevation differences for this area is going to be a pain in the arse, simply because of how the tileset is too I think. In fact, I'm not even sure HOW to use half of the stuff on this chipset at all. @_@;;

The thing is, there are so many chips on that chipset that are just duplicates of others that it may seem like more trouble than it really is. Other than that, just study how FF5 made use of them and try to emulate that. Without actually glancing back at it, I was able to whip this up pretty quickly on a first attempt.



Just make good, frequent use of naturally flowing curves and throw in some stairs to allow yourself to go wild with the elevation.

Something that might help is to not make your maps too big. Towns or dungeons that are too spacious always end up looking stale and bland, unless you have a ton of detail in the said map. Imagine taking Corfaisus's example and increasing it's size. The layout's been changed, the object placement is different, but because of all that empty space, it looks bad. Though sometimes, the problem can be the total opposite where you have too much detail for the maps own good. In this case, having too much detail can be bad because everything's going to look redundant and repetitive.

author=SnowOwl
Why do you keep using those real-life pictures. They dont fit at all with the sprites. It also makes the everything on the screen look like it has been shrinked 10x.

'Cause I can't draw freehand using a mouse. I either use borrowed art (which I need to credit, which is a nuisance), edit art using programs (which is bland), use RTP defaults (even more bland), or I figure out the effect I want and take a snapshot. I can draw okay (not well) by hand, but as I don't have a scanner anymore after not using it for two years, I still have to make a photo of any hand-drawn art and it doesn't look near as good as a natural scene.

Anyway, here's two arts I've drawn. See if you like one better than the other.

Smeary cray-pas pic.

OR

Dot picture scribbled during a boring party.

Working on my very first game!

* Im german so please excuse possible grammar errors
* Sprites/Tilesets are all RTP for now (need better Barbarian Sprite)
* To the left goes the statweb (later)
* I wonder why I have chosen a red background when he is coming from the "icy north" (its a mystery - tell ya!)



PS: My project is a roguelike