Mapping Improvement Thread

Started by KRoP, October 25, 2008, 10:24:44 pm

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Starrodkirby86

Now, I'm sure I'm in no position to give talking here since I see Landith already gave a nice rundown of the map, but your new version...seems a bit now too bland and sparse. A little on the boring side...Of course, the first version was bustling and cramped. I wonder if there can be a moderation to it all? XD It's all right though, I haven't been seeing as many RMXP maps as I should anyway.

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Landith

I didn't say to remove almost everything and just add a little :P
Hmm... You did good on the improvement of the structure, just the details are too little. If it's not man-made(as most caves aren't) then it should have tons of stuff in it, stuff that gathers over the ages, etc...
Play around with it for awhile, when you like it, you are done. (:

G_G

February 16, 2010, 04:29:16 pm #222 Last Edit: February 16, 2010, 04:30:34 pm by game_guy
Here's another version. This may be final. I think it looks pretty good.

Spoiler: ShowHide

SwiftDeathSK

Here's the first map I've made in over a year; I'm hoping to get back to the level of mapping I once was at, since it has always been my strong point.

Spoiler: ShowHide


It's supposed to be a simple map, a clearing near a stream where the game starts out at. Nothing too fancy, and it's not supposed to be filled with plants and such, since it's a clearing. I tried to stay away from any form of symmetry as much as I could, but I may have missed some.

Anyways, any feedback?

Spaceman McConaughey

I like it, Swift. Nice 'n smexy. ;3

Starrodkirby86

I really like that map! I don't really have anything to say, and probably if I did have something to say, it's just for the sake of having a piece of criticism. That being said, this is totally a suggestion...

This isn't your mapping skills that I'm really talking about, but more of the tileset. The trees being the borders of that deep forest wall seems to be look a bit strange without any shadow under it...at least to me. I don't know if adjusting those would make it look any better?

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SwiftDeathSK

February 23, 2010, 09:19:06 pm #226 Last Edit: February 23, 2010, 09:29:23 pm by Bug Catcher Swift
unfortunately I have terrible artistic abilities, and the tileset does not seem to have a matching shadow tile for the trees, but I did find one similiar that sort of works, tell me what you think of it.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Oh, and here's some in-game screenshots with some color tone and sparkles in the water, along with some animals to spice up the map a little bit (ill have to tweak the animation setup so the sparkles arent so huge and blocky, later)

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any feedback on improving it further?


EDIT: just noticed the mis-placed shadows on middle right side of the trees, it's already fixed.

Landith

I would place the sparkles on sub to get rid of the blocky effect, or if that looks weird maybe lower the opacity so it's not as noticeable, idk I never use sparkles.

But good map overall. Good job (:

WhiteRose

Wow, I like the sparkle effect. Maybe a little overdone, though. Maybe I'll try it on one of my maps sometime. Your map is fantastic, by the way! I'm not the best mapper myself, so looking at yours gave me some ideas on how to improve. Great job!

Starrodkirby86

Aw pooey, the shadows look a bit on the fat side. XD Way to go whoever made this tileset.

However, those screenshots are still very enjoyable. Great work. :)

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(Hexamin)

Hell, why not.  I was going to use this city in a game a was workin' on a while back.  Of coure... I never actually finish anything, so it just kinda sat there.  Oh and don't focus on the sqaure moat/wall around it, that's not what I was workin' on.  I was going for a large city with lots of possibilites for quests/events/n-the-likes.

A map that's way too big: ShowHide




There had been backstory to the city.  I believe the building in the lower left corner and the lower right corner were two guild halls, one guild was dominate in the town, the other had been "merged" into the dominate guild (although loyal members were still scheming against their rival guild).  The upper right area was reserved for the military officers, and of course the castle in the middle had some sort of royalty in it, with all the other areas housing the general populace/schools/etc.

*shrugs*

:huh:
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Starrodkirby86

Haha, such a nice place. A typical problem with big maps like this would be that it's going to be dang boring to walk around the whole place. If you're going to have a lot more large-sized maps, then it's best to have your player able to at least run or have a faster walking speed.

The houses in the left district seem a bit...dull, fruitless, the same? Maybe you can spice some things up with accessories or different building structures...but of course if this town is communist then we can't do that :V:

What's osu!? It's a rhythm game. Thought I should have a signature with a working rank. ;P It's now clickable!
Still Aqua's biggest fan (Or am I?).




(Hexamin)

Yeah, I got that feeling that it would be a drag walking from one place to another.  I was planning on adding a lot of activity on the map, a good ATES with quests that occured specifically during the day/night, and some other stuff.  I'd never made a big city, this is the largest I'd done, and it was a douzey, even with the plain houses and other deficiencies.  But it was fun to make anyway.  Next time I'll be able to do it better (if I decide to incorporate a big city into any future games) although most likely I'll have the city in sections and add a bit more flavor to it in general.
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Landith

March 07, 2010, 06:51:06 pm #233 Last Edit: March 07, 2010, 06:54:55 pm by Landith
Woah there, lets finish this game before thinking about making future games (:

I like the map to say the least. But there is details that I want to point out.

Star already said that travelling will be dull and boring, and I agree. What I would do is make each part unlockable by a quest as to kinda ease in the bigness of the city. That way you don't push the player into thinking that they are going to dread going through this city for every quest. Also make it sort of like his HQ, where he goes to get his quests and missions. That way there is an actual purpose to going there besides side quests and what not.

Another thing I would suggest is editing that tileset. I mean it's as simple as changing the hues of the roof to have different houses. I mean look around your city, I doubt everyone has the same color roofs. That would get old fast. Also combine tilesets to have different buildings that flow together. I mean don't combine the port city with this one. But maybe the church so you can have a good looking church, etc...

I know you weren't working on the little moat thingy on the outside but honestly, that brings this map down a lot. I would do something different, like maybe castle walls or a plain on the outside. Or even a forest, idk... Just something else, or you could improve on it.

Now onto the castle royalty part. The castle itself is good, but the garden needs a lot of work. Castle gardens are suppose to be very eloquent and sophisticated with lots of different plants in it. Not just a bunch of small trees and a little flowers. What I suggest is looking for a custom tileset that someone made for a greenhouse(I think it's on rmrk.net or something) and combining some of those plants with the castle tileset and give the person credit of course. But that way you can have an array of plants that flow together and give more life to the castle.

I know this is in the event layer and I can't really tell where your events are but make sure your using a fog and a custom tint (either from ATES or one you made). As this really gives the environment it's feel. I mean imagine walking into a mysterious graveyard with a fog but no tint. I mean that would seem out of place. Also the town square is a little small, I mean normally it's big enough for 50-60 people to walk around on days to see performers, buy their food, or sell things they make. At least that's how it was back in the old days. I suggest maybe making it a bit bigger so you can have those special days.

Just suggestions and critique. Hope this helps at all :)

(Now that I come to think about it, I believe DeathLock made the Greenhouse tileset as a request shop type thing on rmrk.net, so look there. It might not have been him though, it's been forever since I've been on rmrk.net)

(Hexamin)

That's all awesome advice.  And... I can't go back to that game, it was a long time ago.  Back when I was lazy and wouldn't edit a tileset.  :-P

If I do ever make a big city again though, I've got some good ideas from ya'll to help.  And I'll be sure to post the new one here so ya'll can see the improvements.  I'm tempted to conjure up a new city... but... that would completely distract me from getting a good battlesystem going with BABS in my ongoing struggle towards my awesome ABS game... [size=pts]that'll never get finish 'cause i'm too a.d.h.d.[/size].  Anyway, thanks again for the advice.    ^_^
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Trainer Zydragon

Ey up, thought I'd post a recent forest map... Be as harsh as you need to be :)

Spoiler: ShowHide


Bear in mind its with RTP lol

SwiftDeathSK

looks alright, but seems a bit bland. If it's supposed to be in a forest-type area, maybe adding some more types of plants to the map. Make a variety of plants, and try to avoid placing too many - don't make it cluttered. Perhaps add a stray tree or two in the middle of the grassy area.

Landith

March 08, 2010, 01:15:38 am #237 Last Edit: March 08, 2010, 01:18:06 am by Landith
Ok Zydragon, It's not terrible, but it's not good either. Forests don't have paths that go like that, ever (unless it's manmade/or men destroyed it). There is no trees anywhere, only a canopy with bark attached. The little pond like thing there, just seems random. Have like a little river type thing leading to it, or remove it. There really isn't many ponds/lakes in forests as the trees absorb most of the water. If you keep it there, don't put so much stuff in it. There is never that much in a pond unless there is tons of trees around it and all I see is it leading into a canopy, which wouldn't make that much of a mess.
Forests have random things on the ground, yes. But you only have like, I count 5 different things. Tall grass, flowery thingy, bushel of leaves, random logs, and a few rocks. Woo-hoo! You need more and spread out everywhere. Forests are normally crowded and hard to walk through because of all the leaves. Make the ground covered with little leaves. Use Ccoa's weather script to have falling leaves + tint + fog to make the environment look good(IMO). If you don't follow any of that at least add trees for goodness' sake. Forests don't usually consist of a large path surrounded on 2 sides with a canopy. Also, the path is just bland. Make it squiggly with mazes and lots of different directions to go. To me it looks like you threw this together in 5-10 minutes. I mean to make a good map, spend 1-2 hours on it. It has to be absolutely perfect in your eyes for you to be finished. Look at every individual square and decide if that belongs or not. If not, take it out. I know RTP can be a bitch to map with, especially the forests, but you have to use them sometimes...
Also if you base your maps on real life places(google images/maps works well) they tend to look better and like things belong. Because right now your map looks like you just threw the tileset together and didn't think about it at all. If that doesn't help, maybe look at tutorials on mapping different things. But do not, and I mean don't, follow the tutorials down to the letter. Make your own unique map with their guide. Otherwise the tutorials are just pointless and you won't learn anything.

Hope this helps (:

Trainer Zydragon

Wow harsh XD

Give me a few hours to mess with it and I'll repost haha

Landith

If someone isn't harsh about your work, then how will you ever improve? :O
I mean people who just say 'Yes, I like that one.' and don't say why or what's wrong with it, then how will the person who did it know what to improve on? :P

But good deal, I have to go to school anyways.
After you repost it I'll see if you improved any so work hard on it. Mapping is an art, which takes time to make it a masterpiece.