Make a Map for YANTH Event [Vote For Your Favorite!]

Quick Note: This topic has been pre-approved by the fuzzy toucher Touchfuzzy.
 

Slimmeiske wins my personal pick because off his interesting choice of locale. Having a floating village within an oasis within the desert is fairly unique and can give YANTH another interesting location for the player to visit. Special mention goes out to Chaos Avian for a beautiful map and vinedrai for another very unique location. Special thanks to corneredcosmos, julien brightside, david bergstrom and hotfirelegend for participating and submitting equally beautiful functional towns/villages.
This first round was quite a learning experience. It seems that there's enough interest to warrant at least a second round. I will be changing the voting process to Strawpoll in an effort to make it simplified and less messy.

 monkeyintartan hotfirelegend vinedrai david bergstrom julien brightside chaos avian corneredcosmos slimmeiske
 

 
Hello fellow game devs, hobbyists, designers, artist, musicians and gamers! I've been granted the opportunity to engage the RPG Maker community in a unique, somewhat selfish but genuinely honest crowdsourcing event. As some of you already know, I'm the lead developer and creator of "You Are Not The Hero", a commercial RPG Maker project funded successfully through Kickstarter last year. I've been an avid RPG Maker user since the RM2k days, and I've realized my dream of becoming a full-time video game developer. It's not without it's problems, so I'm here now to ask the wonderful community for some help!
 

 
What do you want?
 
I need your creativity and expertise in making a unique, flexible and engaging map for YANTH! While I have a team of contractors working with me to make this game a reality, they focus on assets that I use to make the game. Currently, I'm the only mapper and eventer directly working on the project. With a scheduled release date of late 2014, we've been plagued with unforeseen setbacks and realities. Luckily, it's nothing we cannot overcome, but we need your help to catch up!
 
What are you looking for? (Changes per event)
 
The type of maps we're looking for will vary depending on where we are in the project and how swamped I am in a specific area. At the moment we are looking for:

• Villages of any typeThis includes anything from mountain and desert villages to forest, plains and hidden villages.

[*]Cities of any type

• This includes large sprawling metropolises or dense, tightly packed shanty towns

These villages and cities will serve as hubs to find sub-quests, hidden/rare merchandise to sell in Petula's shop, and as places for her to expand her shops influence.
 
What do I get for participating, what happens if mine are picked?
 
If your map(s) are chosen, I will convert and polish them using our custom tilesets and place them appropriately within the YANTH universe. In return, you will receive a custom NPC and Bust (designed by amicable and Hirei, respectively) of yourself or your character within the game for the world to see, and a special spot in the credits. Update: You'll also receive a copy of the game once it's complete! Your character can have a unique place within your map(s) depending on what you want their role to be.
 

Here are some things you probably shouldn't expect:
You probably won't be "discovered" as a mapper or level designer. There is no monetary compensation for this event.

How are the maps chosen?
 
At least two maps will be chosen for each event in this thread. Maps will be voted upon by the community via forum poll, and at least one will be hand picked by me regardless of how the voting goes.
 
Why don't you just pay someone to do it for you?
 
This was the original plan! However, I wanted to engage the community in an event that would give people the opportunity to show off their mapping skills and vote for their favorite. I believe that participating in events like these build a lot of character and help to make you a better map/level designer. It can bring the community together and foster stronger relationships with one another.
 
Bull****. You're just trying to save money.
 
This is true! Although we were able to raise a substantial amount of money, the cash drains away quickly and without remorse. It also doesn't help that uncle Sam is keeping a hand on the business wallet. It's not just about saving money though! I have strong feelings for this community, the community that spurred my creativity, urged me to follow my dreams and cheered for me all the way through. I want to help make it a better, more fun place to be in, and this is one of the ways that I feel can benefit everyone.
 

 
 
To Enter:
 
Simply reply to this thread between the above dates with a screenshot of your map(s)! They'll be linked to and added to the poll before voting starts.
 
Rules:

• Only one entry for each event per person.
• Please keep your maps to a reasonable size. Anything over 100x100 is overkill. I'd prefer the maps be separated into multiple parts and connected together via event transfers.
• Anyone can participate! New members and novice mappers are strongly encouraged.
• Types of maps for this event (scroll up)Villages
• Cities

[*]Fully parallaxed maps are fine, but remember that I'll be redoing the map in our tileset, so going "all out" so to speak may not be worth it for some.
[*]You can use any RPG Maker engine. VX Ace is preferable, but I can recreate the maps from the screenshots alone if you use a different one.
Prizes:

• Your own custom NPC with bust.
• A unique role of your choice for your NPC in your map.
• A copy of "You Are Not The Hero" (DRM-Free or Steam key) once the game is complete. (You'll get a Humble Bundle Key immediately)

Thank you for your help and support! Without you, YANTH wouldn't exist.

This sounds fun. I would love to participate even if I won't be "discovered", lol. A couple of questions: You say there are different events, are there themes to each event or is each event submit whatever type of map you want. Also, do you want them done strictly in Ace so that they are easier to convert? (In other words are parallaxed maps acceptable?) Thanks!

For now there is no obvious theme except that I'm keeping it to villages and cities. In future events (if this is successful enough to warrant them) there may be more specific themes, like a poisonous swamp or underground forge.

Ace would be preferable, but XP and VX would probably work just as fine if I end up redoing the maps through the screenshot alone. Parallaxing is fine, but just remember that I'll be converting it, so going crazy with the parallaxing may not be worth it in the end.

Not sure if your looking for a small port town but I thought id give it a shot anyways :D

Once I get this demo done I'll be due for a break.

Busts are nice. How about a free copy of the game for the lucky mappers :)

Villages: does this mean you'll handle all the interior maps?

A bust of my character in YANTH style would be fun, lol. I know, my upcoming game has her bust, but it's not as accurate as I'd like it to portray her as. Anyway, a topic for another day,

I will make you a draft of a hidden village in Ace RTP/Celi's tileset (Celi's set has some stuff I want to show in it that the RTP doesn't).

Coming soon. For now, exams.

I told touch I wouldn't be giving out any physical or digital awards, but I'll talk to him again and see if it'll be possible to give a free copy of the game out.

Nothing against interior maps. If you want to, knock yourself out! I'll give an example of an interior map later since the style is different, but it shouldn't affect the conversion process.

Sounds good, I'll ask if Hirei is okay for these busts to be used outside of YANTH. Technically I don't have to ask, but I'd rather be give her the option.

Oh crap, I forgot Hirei is drawing the busts. I think I'm interested. Now to make a map so epic it can't lose! Muahahahahahahah! *coughs*

It would be awesome to have custom art based on one's self ; ;

Ohohoo? Why didn't I see this sooner? I'd definitely love to get in on this~

I got the greenlight to give out a copy of the game to those whose maps are chosen!

seita - That's very generous of you! Personally, I think an in-game graphic would be awesome as it is!

Ok, I'm in  - as soon as I put the finishing touches on what I'm working on (a day or two - I hope),

and I'll start on a wonderful town for you.

Here is my entry;

The map's setting is a refugee camp in an abandoned mine but it can be used on another, similar theme. RTP, Mack and Celianna tiles are used, no parallax. I had to do some tileset editing, though (and lots of events for a third layer, ugh).

I have also sent you the project file in PM (edits included) so please check it out and let me know if there is any technical error. You will notice that I have removed all the shadows (expect the ones already painted on the tilesets) as I didn't include any light source in the map. It can even be imagined as a partially open-air settlement rather than completely underground and that means, there would be vegetation too. Flowerpots could be placed in front of the shacks and grass and flowers may have grown here and there, etc. It would all be up to your imagination. When the lighting is set, glitters can be added on the walls accordingly to point out exposed minerals.

edit: small fixes.

Can we submit more than one?

You can submit one entry per event. In this case you can submit one village/city, but it can be comprised of more than a map. For example, you may have it split into an east and west, and you may have accompanying inside maps if you wish.

Sending you mine. It's just RTP, no events. I figured there's not all that much point adding a lot of environmental objects beyond what I added, given most of it would have to be changed for the tileset you use, anyway. Feel free to screenshot it for the contest though.

Hmm. I can also make a pure RTP version of my entry if you would prefer it that way, Seita.

non-RTP is perfectly fine~ Less than a week for all entries to be submitted fellas!

Just a reminder that your entries are due on the 15th, that's 3 days from now!