Opinions welcome

[LordSquirrel 150]

Hey there everyone. I've been working on some maps for a game lately, and I wanted some opinions on these ones.

 

 

Their supposed to be an old ruined tower that the party has to go to later on in the game. The statues are used to tell the backstory of the main villain. 

 

I just want to know your guy's opinions, or hear any ideas you guys might have for me.

 

 

(Little side note. I use VX Ace Lite. Not sure if that really effects anything, but I thought I'd put it out there.)

 

EDIT: Here are the redesigned versions.

 

 

EDIT: Here's a forest village I'm working on. Opinions?

 

 

And another edit:

Here's the world map for a project that I'm currently calling "The Plague".

 

 

Updated larger world map for "The Plague".

 

 

Yet Another Edit:

 

These are towns from the world map above.

 

This one is just a normal town close to the starting location.

 

This one is a town that has been destroyed by the plague.

 

And here's a small tower.

 

Here is a  video of a map I've been working on. I'm still working on it, and there isn't any enemies on the map during the video, but I still want some opinions on it.

 

A screenshot of the over world for my project, The Vallenfell Chronicles.

 

Updated version.

Edited April 12, 2015 by LordSquirrel

[piggybankcowboy 13]

I would avoid making the side walls so thick on the upper floor maps. Bring them down to one or two tiles at most, and leave the rest transparent, or resize the map itself. The surrounding blackness will hopefully balance all the grey, and make your map *pop* a little more. Maybe vary those indoor pillars a bit. If i recall, there's a damaged version, and an intact version of each one, like the statues. As for the outside of the tower, I say round it out instead of using a square building. Something like this::

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

  XXXX000XXXX

      XX000XX

And maybe add windows, or make those vines cover a bit more.

Edited February 3, 2014 by piggybankcowboy

[LordSquirrel 150]

I edited the original post with the redesigns for the maps. Better now?

[+ Dark Influence 251]

I have no idea what the mapping limitations of 'VX Ace Lite' are so I'll just go with basic stuff for now.

 

1. Exterior map - Four trees near the statues are all missing their top tile.

 

2. Interior maps - Those pillars you have placed damaged or otherwise are actually supposed to be attached to walls, that's why they're flat at the back.

 

3. Interior maps - Perhaps you should add damage tiles to the walls as it kind of looks a bit strange without them, a few banners like you have on the exterior walls might add something to the interior maps as well.

[LordSquirrel 150]

I have no idea what the mapping limitations of 'VX Ace Lite' are so I'll just go with basic stuff for now.

 

1. Exterior map - Four trees near the statues are all missing their top tile.

 

2. Interior maps - Those pillars you have placed damaged or otherwise are actually supposed to be attached to walls, that's why they're flat at the back.

 

3. Interior maps - Perhaps you should add damage tiles to the walls as it kind of looks a bit strange without them, a few banners like you have on the exterior walls might add something to the interior maps as well.

1. Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.

2. Okay I replaced those with the pillars that aren't flat at the back.

3. Unfortunately. There aren't any ruined stone tiles like that in the Lite default tilesets.

[+ Dark Influence 251]

Use the damage tiles you put on the exterior walls, Interior tab B - They can be used on both interior and exterior maps.

[LordSquirrel 150]

Updated the redesigns.

[piggybankcowboy 13]

Looking better! Keep experimenting with how some tiles overlay each other, and some don't, and you can find little ways to use that to your advantage. Do you plan to use doors on any of those entrances? I find that doors are another small way to add detail, as opposed to just gaping holes unless the situation calls for it. I'm no mapping expert, by any stretch of the imagination, though. 

As one last suggestion, maybe add cliffs and stairs on the ground outside to give the whole map some depth, as though your tower is up on a small mountain or hill. 

[LordSquirrel 150]

I updated the exterior again.

 

Anyway. The reason why is isn't especially hilly is because the area where the tower is fairly flat.

 

Also. The reason I did't put doors is because they didn't look any good when I tried them before. They really only work with one, or two tile entrances.

[+ Dark Influence 251]

With three tile wide doorways any door you place wouldn't work anyway, the doors are all one tile wide so there would a doorway tile section not covered inbetween them.

 

All the doors are designed to be used with 1 tile wide and/or 2 tile high doorways, there are however the gates you might consider trying - It might work on the exterior map but I'm not too sure about the interior maps.

[LordSquirrel 150]

I thought about that, but when I tried it the gates look weird on 2 by 3 passage way, and the passage way looked strange as 1 by 3.

[sjw_rm 1]

I know that you said that it's a ruined tower, but ease up a little on damaged tiles. You can still achieve a great look if you know how to use them correctly.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Tsarmina
In the future try to use black color, it makes it easier to read, thank ^-^

[LordSquirrel 150]

Well it is supposed to be several millenia old...

[Tsarmina 2,612]

Theoretically, if it was several millenia old, those statues shouldn't even exist anymore and the entire thing should be swamped by trees and weathered to rubble. (And those flags really shouldn't exist anymore.) But in the case that that was an exaggeration/hyperbole...I do think the interiors could use less of the fractured tiles. It would be nice if there was a huge crack that traveled across the tiles...hmmm...but not in Lite. Maybe make some of the tiles missing and replace them with rocks and dirt.

[LordSquirrel 150]

Sorry. I meant centuries. Also, redesigns updated again (The interior ones). Also added a forest map I'm working on.

Edited February 7, 2014 by LordSquirrel

[LordSquirrel 150]

Bump

[Big Fat Mantis 40]

The stairs in the interior maps going down seem oddly placed to me, as there's no depth with them.  Try putting in a shadow on them or something, or try putting them inside the walls like you have with the stairs going up.  And that one dirt tile looks really out of place. 

 

The forest town looks fine to me, it looks similar to the sample forest map that comes with the game.  The only thing that looks a bit odd is the doors seem way too high on those buildings compared to the size of the buildings themselves.

 

As for the exterior of the dungeon, I think a gate would look better there.  Not the wooden gate, but the square looking one.  Just have one tile in the middle be a pass through tile, then put the gate event in there.  Just right-click and insert quick event door and pick the square shaped metal/rock/stone/w/e gate and it should look just fine when you playtest it.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Big Fat Mantis

[LordSquirrel 150]

I updated the first level of the tower revamp, and the forest town. Also here is the entrance with the gate on it:

 

 

(Sorry for the screen tint. I forgot to remove that before I took the screen cap.)

[+ Dark Influence 251]

That tint is making it difficult to see some of the changes, the tower entrance does look better with a gate in my opinion though.

 

Forest Village - Those cliffs look far too straight, it might be worthwhile to add some deviation here and there.

 

Forest Village (2) - Those stairs are really bugging me, they look like strange ladders when placed in the cliff wall like that, this is just a personal preference so you can ignore it but if you add two or three more stair tiles to the bottom it makes it seem like they are stairs, here's an example for both suggestions:

 

- Cliff Deviation and Stairs Example

 

I hope you find this helpful.

[magic2345 252]

For the revamped entrance to the tower, have you tried making the trees a bit more random? This can be done by making a few tiles grow near the base of the tower itself or by making a few small clearings just to vary things up.

 

As for the interior screens, try changing the room's shape a little, but still make it symmetrical.

[LordSquirrel 150]

Updated the first and second floor revamps, along with the forest town.

[magic2345 252]

 

 

 

Here's my take on the revamped forest town. For the trees, you should avoid making it just one big line. I've indicated the places with a red square. The blue squares on the other hand could use more trees.

 

For the 2 interior rooms, I can't really see the details because the pictures are kind of small, but good job on varying the shape.

[LordSquirrel 150]

Updated the forest map again.

[LordSquirrel 150]

Added another screenshot to the first post from a different project. Please ignore the clouds.

[shadowblack 103]

The first thought that came to my mind after seeing that world map was: "Wow, that's a lot of forests!" I don't think I have ever seen a world map with so many trees/forests. Is there an in0universe reason for having so few plains?

 

Second, that square mountain on the main continent (the one with the tower in the middle) looks unnatural. It's fine if you want it to look that way, but if not you should change its shape a bit.

 

Also, I see no hills anywhere. Lots of mountains, but no hills.

 

That's all that comes to my mind at first glance.