Game & Map Screenshots 12

@SoftCloud The layout of the paths is much more believable now. And I can see that the roads are properly paved, not just the result of footfall erosion.

@SoftCloud, the fog effect is great! You did a good job at making it look like a slum of sorts. If you scatter some more junk around, it can make the slum atmosphere looks more gloomy.

@SoftCloud That looks great! I especially like the added detail of the broken cobblestone paths, really helps establish that the town isn't being cared for anymore.

Here's some new screenshots from my team's game Entangled:

Current update on one of my expansive world maps. 275x300

I think it's been a while since I posted anything myself. This is an abandoned fort - not wrecked, but definitely starting to decay. The map will extend a bit further down showing more of the path up to it. Small branches/twigs for on the ground seem to be non-existent; yet more tiles for me to make.



It looks a bit emptier than it actually is as the screenshot doesn't show the small animals running about, nor the birds and butterflies flying around.

I feel like I would put a more natural rock ground in most places where you have those cobblestones. Those work well for roads, but it seems weird to plaster the whole area in front of the fort with them, especially on the left side where they are very close to the cliff. You could also add some dirt patches and rocks to "break up" all that green, if you want.

@Avery Those cobblestones are the original paving in front of the fort where you often find something like a Parade Ground. The paving is being gradually overgrown with grass which is why they have become quite faint where they have not yet been totally covered over. Maybe I should have patches which are less overgrown to make it more obvious what's going on?

Depending on how long it is abandoned, such plasters are overgrown and "gone" very fast. My main issue is the odd shape. Even if it is a parade ground, you usually have a more or less square-y space, so you can see the troops and they can stand in a square formation. Here you have... basically everything between building and cliff plastered.

I would probably go for square that is somewhat in front of the balcony like wall top, though in general, defensewise, if I was the architect of that castle I would probably have my walls go all the way to the cliffs for a max of use of the height advantage this terrain gives me.
You could add remainders of some kind of edging of the parade ground (some overgrown), to give the viewer a feel of "ah, there was that extra place for whatever in front of the castle", right now it just looks a little too much like random path patches, but maybe that is just me.
The designated border and maybe remains of a statue could also add some variation to the ground in general.

@Avery Ah, I see what you mean now. Thanks for the suggestions.

wow that's impressive! I can only imagine how much work this already must have been :)

Day 2 on making it look ✨spectacular✨

Here is the revised version of the Abandoned Fort map I posted recently. As well as getting in more to make it look a bit more overgrown and actually abandoned, I've also recoloured the cliffs. They were far too bright for my taste and once I'd finished everything else I thought they clashed.

The full map will extend south to include more of the path to reach here.

Quick question eveyone, do you think these areas are too dark? Is it hard for you to make out stuff? They are supposed to be dark but I don't want the Game of Thrones "I can't see anything, what's happening?!" moments for my players, haha. I know the feedback will differ a lot depending on the device people use and how bright their environment is... even if they use dark or bright mode does change the felt brightness of the image a lot... but I wanted to get a bit more feedback on it before I make changes based on a couple of people which maybe weren't in a ideal setting to view the images, haha.

@Plueschkatze I have a pretty good monitor and I struggle to see what's going on. I'd lighten things up a little.

@Plueschkatze It is a little too dark for many viewers.
I will mention I can see it clearly at my monitor's default brightness but I like to keep my monitor darker and in that settings I can't even see if the overlays are gaps in the road or just overlays.

Maybe (Giving this advice as a noob here, so not sure if it will work but) make the default map a little brighter and use a darker overlay to make it look dark.
And then add an NPC/Item/Event that can remove that overlay for people who think its way too dark?
That way you can adjust brightness for players in an immersive way.

Just a small video of my project, i still got a lot to do... maybe i should make the cave a bit darker?

@Arkhanis Yes, you need to do something about the cave, because at the moment it doesn't really feel like a cave at all. Too bright by far. If you do make it darker, what provision have you made for the party to have artificial light? People rarely enter caves without some light source with them.

I agree with Kes that the caves is to bright, but I also love the chest party
that gives an random item based on the combination?

You're right! I just feel i bit lost here, because it's meant to be a fire elemental cave, so i don't want it to be to dark like a normal cave, and not to bright like in the lower levels, were there's lava rivers flowing, crystals that reflects the light and other stuff.
But i'll see what i can do, maybe turning it into a normal cave should be better.

EDIT:

Yes you get it!
If the player get lucky, many high grade itens can be found, if not, there's a lot of options, but even junk can be used in forge or alchemy, so it's always worthy to check what's inside.

The first map I'm comfortable sharing from my project (aka. a map that actually makes some sense). Newer versions might be coming once I get the hang of this program. Got to thank @Avery @ATT_Turan and @Andar for pointing me in the right direction on the Ruin tilesets.