Game & Map Screenshots 12

@ATT_Turan short and helpful, thanks.

I made a kitbashed public data terminal! I'm moving the map function so it's only visible when using this terminal, but I'm also making this as a good player source to learn more about the world and increase immersion. (also by removing the map from the menu, you can't use it inside buildings and screw up internal map backgrounds)

I'm trying to figure out if I want to add more stuff to the terminal options or not. I'm also tempted to add more random weather options to my game, such as acid rain, dust storms, smog, etc, so the weather report option comments on the current weather.

@Ninjakillzu honestly there is a lot going on already visually so I wouldn't add anything more to it.

I absolutely love the colors on this and the atmosphere they create.

@Ninjakillzu, looks soooo cyberpunkish! :wub But yea, what @Finnuval said, don't overdo it with the effects! Also please don't add too much options to the terminal, I always hate it when I hafta browse thru a million things! :biggrin:

Here is a work-in-progress screenshot of the custom title screen that I've been working on for my game. There might be more details added later on, but I just wanna give you an idea of how the map will look:

Well, I'm back again. I'm posting some screenshots of what I've dubbed the 'Winter Palace.' It was *supposed* to be an Ice Castle. I went through the trouble of upscaling the Ancient Dungeons Winter tiles from VX Ace to MV, then decided I didn't like the design. I ended up straying away from a delicately carved ice palace to a winter themed palace that had ice carved sculptures, frozen pools, and vases and plants craved of ice. I stuck with a large frozen lake in the middle that keeps with folklore mythos of the Snow Queen. Ice Elementals roam the castle.

I am not sure how to feel about it. I began by keeping with winter themes and cool color palettes in each room, like the dining room, music room and library, but the bedrooms started to veer off into a greener wintery forest theme. Then I started second guessing whether the furniture should all be sculpted of ice like the entrance and throne room, which is where I left off and haven't returned since.

Guess I'm looking for advice on what to do here. I feel pretty tangled up about it.

@Guardinthena hmmm... Each individual map looks good but they aren't really jelling as a whole... Not sure why tho...

Personally I think part for that is the change in floor tiles that eventho per room look amazing break up the flow too much - if that makes any sense xD

Edit: did you make a general floorplan/layout of what you were planning by any chance?

Thanks for responding, Finnuval. I did not make a floor plan for this one. I only intended on making the entrance and throne room and then it just...spiraled from there. Each screenshot I provided are part of the larger map as a whole. I can post the whole later if you'd like. The main throne room has two halls that come off of it on the left and right side. (The floor plan mirrors itself) and I was trying to flush out the castle.

I do see what you mean by the floor tiles might be the problem itself and how it breaks up too much from the main entrance. Perhaps I should just stick with rugs? I was nervous doing the wooden floor tiles to start with in the library and children's room because, though it looked great individually, as you mentioned, the color was too warm to me.

well it you could show an overview shot (either hereor in pm) that ight help pinpointing where it went wrong more precisely. Ill be more then happy to help gifure out what can be done to make it all come together better :)

@Guardinthena I think Finnuval is absolutely right about the floor tiles. Wooden floors just don't fit. I also think that you should restrict the rugs you use. The green ones don't fit either, too warm and domestic. Maybe switch the green with the grey'ish blue one you have at the top of the screen with the green rugs.

Then the library (and elsewhere with wooden furniture). Again I think wood doesn't work, unless it's a much paler pine colour. Unless there is a story reason for the Christmas trees I'd remove them. They strike a joyful note that is lacking everywhere else.

Currently working on a field map with crops and windmills:

@Davekron looks good. Only thing i have to 'critique' is the use of wooden fences along all the fields. It was more common to have a small stone wall or even a line of trees and bushes in medieval times (which this looks to be set in) and mixing thise in would break up the monotomy of the map a little.

Other then that tho it's looking awesome and pretty naturally evolved. Kudos for that! :D

@Finnuval thank you. The problem is that I currently don't have proper stone fence assets, but I was thinking exactly the same thing :D

Ah yes that is an issue then. Well maybe break some of it up with some greenery then? Just to give a bit of an even more natural and realistic feel?

Will definitely try. Thank you for the idea :D

@Guardinthena I don’t have the same fine artistic eye as some so to me, these look great! The floors wouldn’t bother me or the rugs. I would just assume there was a reason that there were differences.

The only thing that caught me eye is the white on the walls in the first screenshot. To me, it just looks odd for some reason. I don’t see snow, or frost, or ice. I just see a white pattern that looks out of place.

But honestly, that is all. Nothing else would really stand out to me as a player. And moving from room to room, I probably wouldn’t even notice some of the flooring changes while I was playing.

@Davekron I really like the more realistic look! The thing about the fences, I would ask what purpose do they serve? There are plenty of openings so they don’t keep things out.

I would question if fences are even functional or necessary. I don’t know anything about medieval times, but I did grow up in a farming/rural community and fences or borders around any crop/field or garden was actually pretty rare. They unnecessarily limited access to the area.

That’s all I got. Great job!

I can answer that one for you, it was to denote what part of the land was owned by one or other individuals. Usually farmland was far removed from where the farmers lived l, outside of the town walls to be sure - unlike modern times - and tended to be more communal stretches of land as well owned by a single landlord perhaps but divided up in smaller plots to be tended by a certain family or farmer.

@Kes - I agree completely with the dark wood furniture and the warm wooden floors and green rugs. Last year I had pulled up color palettes for cool wintery rooms and green came up. Not surprising, I suppose, but when I put it into practice it threw off the vibe of the whole palace. Maybe if I wasn't going for cold Ice Queen it would have been better. XD I ended up using the dark wood because of the cold northern climate of the game, nordic-esque theme, and I see that a lot in other games. However, a lighter wood would make sense. I will see how that looks. Switching rug colors won't be an issue either. And there was no real reason for the Christmas trees other than decor to fill the room. It was looking quite barren and was trying to fill it up while keeping it in theme.

@ZombieKidzRule -Ouf! Yeah. That white stuff around the ice throne was supposed to be piles of snow. I tried my best and made an autotile but it never looked quite right. I always intended to redesign the whole of that back area as I was never keen on it.

Thank you everyone who left some feedback. I'm going to try and tackle it again and see if I can't make some progress towards finishing it.

@Davekron - I always enjoyed Jesse's graphic tiles. Brought back so much nostalgia from the 80s and 90s. Loving the farmland. You are doing a great job. I would have said everything was fine with it until Finnuval mentioned the fencing. I agree with him on it. I am actually using a mix of stone and foliage(trees and bushes) to break up mine. I highly suggest trying it and see how it looks.

Aaaaaaand.... I have another large scale map that I made last year alongside the Winter Palace that I need some advice on as well. Below are the Ice Caves. The lore in game behind the map is that it is where a very evil white dragon use to live before he and his brood were killed. (Supposedly) In the present time of the game, a cult in worship to the old dead White Wyrm have established themselves in his old lair, thus the igloos. The small hole at the back of the large cavern in the frozen waterfall leads to where the White Wyrm's hidden lair was, where the players would find frozen people popsicles statues and broken dragon eggshells (plot related). The other set of the stairs to the upper left was supposed to lead up to the Winter Palace, or some other lair of evil. Maybe frost giants? That is up for change.

Well, what I am trying to get at is, I don't know how to feel about the igloo and cult settlement in the Ice Caves. Originally I wanted a massive dragon skeleton sprawled across the cavern but I never got around to making that, and ended up replacing it with the cult instead to fill the empty space. But looking at it now it doesn't feel quite right. I guess I am just not so sure if the cult would actually set up directly in the lair of the White Wyrm or if they would leave it untouched for religious reasons and set up their base outside the entrance to the lair (snowy plains outside with a mountain backdrop).

Game play wise, I could see it being a fun challenge and game progression for players to battle their way through the last frozen battlefield, fight pass the cult at the entrance, then enter the wonder of the White Wyrm's lair, where his bones lay sprawled out, battle elementals at that point, maybe?, discover some more plot, and continue battling their way up into the Winter Palace or a Frost Giant's fortress, depending how I go with that.

Any advice? Suggestions? Or am I overthinking it?

@Guardinthena Just to mention it, because I didn't see anyone else, the higher of the thick stained glass windows in your winter palace are a little off.

The ones beneath them are in the middle of a three-tile-wide wall, and they look perfect. But the top pair are on a two-tile-wide wall and the inner edges are right up against the wall, which looks odd (like the window frame is going into the edge of the wall).

Also, the one on the right appears to have a shift-mapping error with an extra line on the wall behind it.

In the map you just posted, I'm not sure what the green ice is supposed to, like, be, but I think the whole design and color scheme is super neat.

I'm not sure about the icicles on the waterfall - how would the water start going in those diagonal directions to freeze that way?

@Guardinthena On the igloos/settlement question, imo if (and it is an if) they settled in the shrine I wouldn't have thought they would scatter themselves around like that. I also couldn't work out why there would be bits of stockade at the bottom. I think they would cluster at the entrance, either just in or just outside. I also think that they wouldn't scatter their crates and goods around their sacred place like that. It's because of the potential clash between the sacred and the mundane that I would put them outside.

I agree on the diagonal bits of the frozen waterfalls but apart from that I love them, and the little piles of snow that have rested on outcrops in the waterfalls. Why green ice? If there's a story reason, fine, but if not I think as a player I would find it odd, though I accept that in-game it would be much bigger and perhaps there are details that we can't get in a screenshot.

Overall I really liked these maps.