Game & Map Screenshots 11

purchased some fsm tiles, as they're incredibly lovely, and added some sunbeams using moghunter's weather ex plugin!! it came out quite nice~ :kaoluv:

1.mountain city(after edit)
It's really not so easy for me to add shadow of buildings,I try two types on my work and choose the second one.
2.forest
It's simple, but I like it more than first map.:kaoluv:

test shot of the battle system for my retro game Royal blue Omega

Finally free from exams!
Trying to redo the map according to feedbacks... thoughts?
It's only for cutscene though...

Credits to:

• Avery (Tileset)
• Cyanide (Tileset)
• Pandamaru (Tileset)
• Whtdragon (Tileset)
• FSM - Woods and Cave (Tileset)
• FSM - Town of Beginnings (Tileset)
• Tonbi (Sprite)
• karraymalek (Tutorial)
• Constance (Stupid Lighting)

Thanks to Malek for the tutorial on water caustic effect :kaojoy:

Psst~! Exams are scary~!

I've recently started making a focused effort to develop my mapping skills, and I wanted to share my first (completed) custom map! I used the FSM: Town of Beginnings set to create this mountain setting. Hope you enjoy it - any feedback/criticism is welcome!


This is also my first time utilizing screen tint and picture lighting, so I'm curious what people think of the execution here. I was trying to go for something fairly subtle with the sunbeams, but I'm not sure exactly how they came out and what (if any) changes I should consider making.

@Soryuju

Just my personal opinion, so you don't need to mind it too much...
I think some of the cliffs look a bit different than the others along with some of the other tile. I guess you tried shift mapping?
I get the feeling that some part ends up looking unnatural, like the grass in front of the cave opening, the cliff on the left side of the top stairs and more... I think it's better to redo those parts and do it without the shift mapping...

As for the lighting, I got no feedback for the tint since I think it's good enough (for an evening scene I guess).
For the sunbeams, maybe you could make it a bit more yellow-ish? or orange-ish? Right now it looks like a little bit too white (which would be fine for morning or afternoon... I guess...)~

Oh, I think the house is a bit too small, though I don't know what it's used for or how large the interior is...

Then again, I am just a newbie, so feel free to ignore it!

@Constance

Thanks for the feedback!

For the cliffs specifically, I don’t think I used shift-click mapping at all. I’m not 100% sure what you’re describing when you say some parts look like shift-clicking on the cliffs. Maybe you’re seeing the several variations of the cliff tiles included in the FSM tileset? I didn’t want to have those map-spanning walls all using the exact same tile throughout.

Other parts like some of the grass patches were indeed done with shift-click, mostly when I was attempting to get certain tiles flush with one another instead of leaving awkward gaps. I can see what you’re saying about it looking a bit off at some parts, so I may go back and readjust it. At the time, it just looked like the lesser of two evils to me. If I was really trying to make it perfect, I might try to make some color edits on certain tiles to make them blend in better without shift-clicking. I’ll probably work up to that eventually, but proper mapping is something I’ve only been practicing for ~10 days now, and there’s still a lot I’m trying to take in. Baby steps, right?

I’ll try out some more color variations on the sunbeams - it’s true that the whiter light could give the appearance of dawn, though I’m glad you were still able to tell that I designed the map with evening in mind.

The house is also something I can potentially adjust, but it was just meant to be a small shack where an aging man is living alone, spending his days tending to the mountain trail. I could potentially widen the exterior by a couple tiles, though that might require shifting other stuff around and end up rippling into a larger reorganization of the map. Since this was just practice and not something I intend to use immediately in a project, I may hold off a bit on that.

Thanks again for the critique!

@Soryuju

Oh, I mean this one...


I like the general layout of the map though, doesn't feel cramped and there's plenty of room for modification... If you can, I think re-making it using parallax would be great~

Okay, so what’s going on with that section of the cliff isn’t shift-click mapping, but rather, one of the grass-type E tiles from FSM. The left tile looks like it connects to the ground more squarely than the right tile because the right tile has a small grass tile placed on top of it to create the fuzzier border. If I recall correctly, I didn’t use the same grass effect on the left tile because it spilled over onto the curved stone ledge and looked odd. I didn’t see a solution besides just making the cliff edge rectangular (which looked less natural to me), so I just tried to go with what I thought was the least obtrusive option.

For the light in the door, in my head it was just a way to signify to players “there’s something worth investigating here,” rather than something I meant to be interpreted literally in the context of the game, but you make a fair point. I could just go with halfway open doors vs. closed doors for buildings that have a purpose vs. decorative ones, or I could give functional/important buildings a different roof color which stays consistent throughout the game. I want navigating my maps to be easy, so I’ve been trying to think of ways I can help guide players to explore efficiently, rather than letting them wander around empty places wasting time.

Giving this map another go with parallax is definitely something I’d be interested in down the road, but right now I lack the skills and knowledge to pull it off. I’ve started working my way through various GIMP guides and mapping tutorials to build up some familiarity with the tools and techniques I’ll need, so hopefully I’ll be ready to give it a try sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Thanks again for the feedback! You’ve definitely given me some useful things to think about.

Got some new juicy japanese tileset. First mapping tests:

This is the first area (8 maps in total) in a game my friend and I are collaborating on. It's a pleasant abandoned beach.

Another tileset test this time i tried to create a somewhat guarded border:

@beliziam Nice testing! I really love the train station, though the white color of the platform gives sort of a different vibe from the rest of the map. You may want to consider changing the hue & saturation of the platform to make it a duller color like the rest of the map. I think if it were a bluey-grey like the trains it may look a little more cohesive.

Thank you for the feedback i will look into it :D. Meanwhile i mapped a little castle:

@csevans84 , You've gotta tell me how you got your Actors to line up properly like that! I have been trying time and time again to get the coordinates, and I just can't get it right. :p Great work on replicating what looks to be the FF1 battle screen!

-MIA

Mountainous-area maps are the bane of my existence but I think this one came out decently. A long-abandoned mining settlement.

@MessiahComplex The very top building is far too close to the cliff face to be believable. You have the entire house fitting into the depth of one tile. In addition, the roof auto tile has caused the cliff face above it to become a base cliff tile, rather than a rising one.

As it is a long abandoned town, going by the state of the roofs, I would expect more long grass and very little short grass. I would also edit the shovel to make it less bright - it's been unused for a long time, presumably, so will be tarnished and dirty.

The biggest issue, in my opinion, is the absolute uniformity of your cliffs. I think it would look a lot better if you had more variety there. That could also help out the stairs so that they look less like a ladder.

@Kes Thank you for the constructive feedback. I'll definitely get that tileset error sorted out, and I see what you mean about the depth of that building, I'll bring it up a bit. As for the uniformity of the cliffs, I suppose my idea was that they sort of carved out this area slightly, to make it more uniform and more suitable for a settlement (since it's a mining town they would've had the tools). But still it may be better to have some more outcroppings and such so I will play around with that.

@MessiahComplex , I don't often do this, but I think your mapping has potential. In the image below, I slapped together a version of your map in about 20minutes to highlight a couple of points. No, it's not perfect. No, I don't consider myself an expert. But the advice I would give to you is be careful about how much detail you throw into a map. I get it. Mountains can be tough. And "destroyed" towns can be tough. My advice is to try to use more than just cracks and holes to convey the story that the town is in shambles. Use strategic "broken" crates, barrels... over grown trees.. signs that people USED to live there, but don't anymore.. etc., and I think you can improve your Mining Town significantly. And when it comes to mountains, don't be afraid to make layers. Mountains and hills are not always so clean cut. They are "messy" and in strange shapes. :)

I hope you find this helpful! :)
-MIA

@M.I.A. Wow, I appreciate you taking the time to make a whole map to illustrate your points, that’s more effort than I would expect for lil ol’ me. I tried to do a bit of what you said in regards to selling the fact that people used to live there, as you can see with a few broken crates and barrels in my map, as well as the dilapidated well and discarded tools. But I do agree that I could be doing more, and clearly the uniformity of the cliffs is something that needs to be worked on. So thank you for your advice.