BIZARREMONKEY'S PROFILE

author=LockeZ
I can't possibly imagine a situation where it's acceptable to make the building smaller on the outside. It destroys your game's sense of scale, it looks completely hideous, and there's absolutely no benefit. It doesn't even change how much walking you have to do in the town exterior unless you're an abominably terrible mapper. I mean how big do you need your goddamn buildings to be inside, seriously?

Unless you're making an extremely specific type of game (the type where you intentionally engage in terrible game design for the sake of nostalgia) you shouldn't have an FF4/pokemon style "town exterior" for most towns in the first place anyway, since how many towns have you been to that consisted of seven buildings? It completely destroys the player's immersion. You're just used to it because you've played way too many shitty games and come to accept that shittiness as a given. Locations should be chosen from a menu or a town map in 99% of RPGs.

This is the most amazing post I think I've read on this whole site during my time here.

I actually experimented heavily with real size buildings in Intelligence, particularly noticeable in the Brisbane City maps. I'll link a few examples.
http://i.imgur.com/k78Nw2W.png
http://i.imgur.com/M6BdtOb.png
Mind you, Brisbane is a large map, but it doesn't feel like you're trekking everywhere. The scale of it is tuned by progression (you cant enter the terrace or the west-side until certain plot things have happened) and exploring it will be the only thing that will take time and that goes for most cities, when west side opens up you also get access to a car that gives you 6 speed instead of 4.
http://i.imgur.com/2JGi4Bg.png
Warning: Large image inbound.

Ah, back when I was so naive about how cities worked.

Intelligence is as far from a realistic game as you get, just so you fellas know.

author=Feldschlacht IV

author=Darken
You're the only one I know who complains about these things.

I think this about sums it up. You're the only one I'd ever heard that is actually carrying a legit torch of complaint about this.

>Talk about map design.
>Hey actually don't do that!

I know LockeZ was being a bit of horse's ass about it but really guys almost 2 pages of trying to undermine his input? I'm a person who very much argues against realism in gaming, however when it comes to aesthetic locke makes some good points. Let's compare one of those games like Pokemon where house sizes are completely unreal to the interior size, to a game like Diablo II. Here's a screenshot of Diablo II's interior/exteriors in action.

Now I may be biased since Diablo II holds a special place in my heart, but I was quickly absorbed by this game's cozy interior/exterior phasing and became immersed instantly, I can't say the same for the two Pokemon games I played, Ruby and Fire-red, while good, the towns are the most unmemorable parts of the games, both pokemon and Diablo II aren't vying to be realistic, Sanctuary alike the Hoenn Region are alien worlds, Diablo's is simply rendered in a realistic style rather than cartoonish. Now I may be one of many to argue against the realistic style when games seem to go out of their way to render games to be as bland and as unappealing as possible, but an Alien world rendered this way can look very unique, just play Oddworld Abe's anything if you need proof of that concept.

And in both the games above, I never felt like I was walking for a gratuitous amount of time, I may have been, but the collectables/events and encounters never let me realize it. The only difference between them in the sake of this whole debate is that I played Diablo II for five years with barely little else and I beat Pokemon Ruby once and didn't quite finish Fire Red, upon which I never again touched them. I was far more immersed in the world of Diablo II.

LockeZ's point is valid and we can swiftly toss the realism thing aside, I'll say what I did two pages ago, it's not how the map is, it's how you present it.

If you're making a large city filled to the brim with stuff, no one is going to feel bored, especially not if you give them a car or hoverboard or something that makes travel a lot faster. Especially if you include 'sweet jumps' and 'hella stunts' or the ability to run useless NPC's down.

author=Craze
oh that was accidentally confusing

i meant blindmind, not bizzaremonkey. why are you both "bm" =|
i have nothing against your post!

Oops, oh golly that is confusing!

You could just go with Biz. That's what most of my friends call me by, even my stepdad.

And only 12 years late.

I'm not gonna buy it, since I'm used to Ace now, but I'm glad the option is there, the lack of scripting support but especially the lower resolution are just a big 'NO' sign to me.

Seems like it'd be a step backwards to go to this.

author=Craze
where is the light coming from

you're not ara fell, it looked mediocre in ara fell anyway

Wow.

Sorry I did actually get a chuckle out of this.

So, how would you guys do a barn? I've done one barn map in my life, but I've never been in a barn.

Been doing a bit on P:A here and there, but mostly I've gone back to drawing art for the sake of keeping in practice. Foreshortening is one of my favourite (and most rewarding in the scenario I get it right) things to train, so I've been doing that some of today.


Otherwise, just doing more and more complex poses.

These are by no means perfect or anything, but practice is practice.