Riddle

I have a few parallax maps I'd like critique on, I currently have no use for them except examples for my level of mapping. Over the maps, I have some lighting that can be put in games as overlays; I have two different kinds of light, outdoor and indoor. Outdoor's style is based on the top left corner with beams of light, as well as darkness surrounding the edges to create a contrast effect (based partly off of Echo607's lighting tutorial). Indoor's style has a dark overlay with low-opacity erasing where light comes from (windows, lights, and doorways), as well as a few beams and 'lighting fogs' as I call them (low opacity yellow or white over the light source). Here they are. Here's a newer map, too! It's definitely my best (in my opinion). I hope you like it too; share any feedback you have for me.

Thanks! And you're right, I'll definitely do that for gameplay-intended maps, but this one... I don't know what I'll do with it. Its quality is above all my other maps on a dinky little RPG Maker game I'm making purely because I promised to (I came up with the idea awhile ago and I'm not too hyped with it anymore, but I'll try to make it good and hold to my word), but it's made with non-commercial RPG Maker graphics, so I can't use it in my upcoming actual, coded game (though I would like to remake it with my own graphics when I get good enough). I kind of liked the glowing, mystical effect, but you're right, I should tone it down a bit to make it realistic. Wow, that's a lot of great input! Thanks for the compliments (and feedback, of course!), you're totally right, and the edit looks beautiful (not like what I would do, but a great idea I can base mine off of, since we have unique styles). I'll work on integrating all these great pieces of advice I get into my future maps I'll actually put to use.

I'm glad you're satisfied, and I think I am too! What's your thoughts on the newest map? It's in a separate spoiler from the other one.

I updated the old picture, how is it now? I also have a new map I did today, it's better than my other ones (I think) and I tried out doing water for the first time with very little instruction, so I need feedback on that. The help you're giving me is much appreciated, thanks again.

Thank you for the prolonged help! Do you think lowering the opacity of the yellow layer will help, or something else? I do have a 'night' layer which is completely black on fairly low opacity, should I turn that down/off, or maybe both? I'm glad you like the lighting, it's also given me some insight on how to do later varying light types.

What do you think of the new night picture underneath the original one? I took your advice, as far as I can tell.

Thanks for the amazing tips! That looks great, though a few colors (flowers, mushrooms, etc.) were a little off. Still, I'll do that and tweak it to my liking, then come back for critique. The reason I used the beams was because they're moon rays, not sun rays. I really want to do that because I think it looks good on a night map, though I think you're right - I need to make them look somewhat different (at least) to tell you that they're not both sun rays. Do you think a different style of rays, leaving it the same, tweaking it minimally, or no beams at all will work best? (I posted a new night picture in the first post using your advice)

Thanks for the input, I never really noticed that. I knew there was something off about the interiors, and I think that's it. It wasn't meant to be a full house, but yes, I think it would look good separated into different rooms.

These are some amazing maps you have here, for starters. Usually, I wouldn't find anything wrong with it, but for the sake of feedback, I looked closer and was able to find a few things that could be improved upon. On the world map, I thought it was very unique and well-done. A minuscule flaw I noticed was that the grass looked too large-scale for the rest of the map. I'd be worried if I neglected the lawn for long enough to let the grass be about half as tall as a tree. Still, though, it was difficult to notice and gave such a great texture to the grass that it probably doesn't matter. On the mountain dungeon, the ground looked a little weird depth-wise, though I really liked the texture again. It can easily be overlooked. The crystal did look a little out of place graphically, as in an entirely different style - I'm not sure what you could do for that, and if you want to leave that alone, that's fine too. On the last map you showed, I really, really liked it, though it had a few more graphical inconsistencies that bothered me a bit. You made the ground work fairly well with depth, though! Overall, you're an outstanding mapper, and I'd love to play a game with your maps.

That's great to hear! I'm alright at eventing, though it ends up really tacky and inefficient because I'm only good at loopholes. I can clean it up, though, but it takes some time that I could be covering more important things in. With mapping, I'm just learning how to make a decent house. I'm alright other than that, but I still have a lot of learning to do. I can't do squat with coding, but I'm very interested in learning scripting and actual programming. I love game-making since it includes literally all the main skills I want to have (art, music, animating, which is a part of art, writing, programming, etc. Stuff like that. Have I already said that before?). Hi! Thank you, she's my favorite of my characters in one of my biggest novels (and pretty much the only character name my brother's liked), and I liked her name, so I've taken to using it sometimes. Thanks again, you too!

Hi, dropping in to say just that. I'm new to the forums, though I've been using RPG Maker VX Trial Version/Ace Lite for a long time and recently got the full version of VX Ace. I'm working on numerous games and still trying to figure things out; I'm really not sure where I'm going with the games, most of them are just experimental/visual representations of my writing, but I am working on a Warriors game (I know, I know, but I've been told not to make my first game my dream one since I'll probably ruin it. I'm not really as interested in the Warrior Cats series as I used to be, but I made plans and I'm sticking to them) that will be released to the public. It'll be wimpy (most likely), but aren't most first games?

Great script! I'm loving it, and it was very easy to set up. It's perfect for what I had in mind, and now I won't have to use tacky loophole systems for my crafting!

I just created a couple of characters and cropped the picture in PSD and it worked great in-game, thanks a lot. I'll be using this for a long time haha! Awesome! Some great stuff in there, I'll use some of those resources, THANKS! Sorry it took so long. If you still need any of my help, I've posted some of my creations here: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/37901-somewhat-novice-writer-and-spriter/, so I'm free for anything you need (if you still need anything)! Sure, PM me or +58 412 946 9322 Whatsapp I might need some of your good work! I'll PM you, then!

Thanks! Yeah, maybe! I'll still finish the game, I'm not planning on quitting after I've come so far with it. Good idea! Thanks.

I just created a couple of characters and cropped the picture in PSD and it worked great in-game, thanks a lot. I'll be using this for a long time haha! Awesome! Some great stuff in there, I'll use some of those resources, THANKS! Sorry it took so long. If you still need any of my help, I've posted some of my creations here: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/37901-somewhat-novice-writer-and-spriter/, so I'm free for anything you need (if you still need anything)!

Awesome! I'm thinking of doing that with Enter the Vale (my Warriors game I talked about). Yeah, what I like to do is either freeform practice games or visual representations of my writing (I feel like I get to know my characters better if I can see them, and not see them as in my art because then I end up hating their design XD If it's in my art, any design can look bad... Okay, not really, but seriously, my art isn't good enough for me to see what I imagine very well) when I'm not working on a large project. EtV is stuck, so that's why I'm thinking of redoing at least most of it. You too!

Game Character Hub is how I make my characters, and I use Looseleaf which I convert to VX Ace-compatible files. They're also taller, so if you want me to, I could make some sprites and faces for you. I've been looking for another opportunity for spritemaking other than my own sprite needs, but if you decline, that's fine. If you accept, I can show you some examples of what I can do, since I'm definitely not the most skilled with GCH and I want you to know what you're getting into.

Thank you! Good luck to you, too! Thanks! Better wimpy one, than none at all. Many first projects aren't even released, because developers use 'Abandon Ship' Skill. ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ ) Good luck and welcome to the herd! (= Hi! Haha, yeah, I'll do my best, but I've certainly learned it (a loong time ago. Not sure if I'd call it a skill, but you can't learn... Uh... Debuffs?). I'm trying to at least be consistent with my projects, even if they're absolute trash. Thanks!