Bibliotheca Arcanum - Screenshots and Maps

[Cadh20000 249]

 
So far the only areas mapped out are the two floors of the main character's house.
 
Tiles used are a combination of RTP, RTP-edits and "Futuristic Tiles" DLC(from the Humble Bundle and edited by me).
Sprites used are a combination of RTP, RTP-edits, "Futuristic Tiles" DLC(from the Humble Bundle and edited by me), Allusion's(edited by me), and Cait's(both original and edited by me).
Iconset used is from the "IMFT-Scifi-Resources" that I got from the "Humble Bundle" with some new icons that I added to it.
All "Pictures" are originals by me.
 
The office features laptops and lamps that turn on and off(all lamps in the house function similarly). Unfortunately I haven't yet figured out how to use and configure lighting effects so the lamp's actual area of effect is restricted to the tiles the sprites cover.

The water in sinks works, you can turn the faucets on and off.

The house has many things you can interact with, and a few items to acquire.

The second floor, while much smaller, is nearly as interactive.

 
Exploring Great-grandpa's study and finding the spellbook:

 
A map of the east side of the park near the main character's home. The area with the water fountains is a "splashpad" that is animated with the fountains going off in a pattern and the well on the small island in the lake is the access to a cave with a small maze containing chests with some healing items and other such things. No NPCs have been added yet. There will be a bunch of kids running around and so on later.

A cave with a small maze containing chests with some healing items and other such things. There will be more chests and I think probably a couple enemy encounters in the final version of this map.
This cave is accessed from the well on the island in the park.

Any (constructive) criticism would be welcome!

Edited July 9, 2014 by Cadh20000

[MasterTaffer 23]

Great map design! Is this one of those games where you can examine and interact with anything?

I like the decoding puzzle. I may be strange, but I do like having to write things down in order to solve a puzzle in a game, makes me feel like I'm actually the one doing the puzzle solving. Something I would definitely remove is the bottom two 'clue' lines on screenshots 9 & 10, because I find it's better to let the player figure out connections on their own instead of giving out doubly obvious in-game hints, it'll also give your game's story some added subtlety.

Edited June 7, 2014 by MasterTaffer

[Allusion 398]

Ooo! This looks nice so far! I especially love how the title of the game immediately is triggered by finding the mysterious book~ The story sounds interesting; do you have a thread with it's summery or anything? 

 

As for the map, everything looks really well laid! However, some things are sticking out to me a little~

 

For the dining room, the swivel office chairs don't really make sense; normal wood or cushioned sitting chairs would be better. 

 

The urinal in the bathroom should be against the wall, as that is where the plumbing would be~ And I think someone made some bathroom tiles with a mirror and sink combo that would look really well in place of the stuff there now~ Only because the oval mirror gets cut off, and it makes things appear buggy. Here is a link to a set with the combo!

 

(You'll see the set on the second post; the tiles I'm talking about are towards the bottom of the tileset, next to the public stalls~)

Mundo Maker

 

Lastly, the abundance of lamps in the living room may want to be reduced to one or two? The middle lamp seems like it would blind the people who sat there, lol~

 

The office is perfect! 

 

That's all I can spot! I hope this helps~ Mapping is my weak spot too, so I know how daunting it can be to see things in a 'logical' way, when everything is uber tiny as it is. Good luck, and I can't wait to learn more about this project!

 

 

 

[Cadh20000 249]

Great map design! Is this one of those games where you can examine and interact with anything?

Pretty much.

I like the decoding puzzle. I may be strange, but I do like having to write things down in order to solve a puzzle in a game, makes me feel like I'm actually the one doing the puzzle solving. Something I would definitely remove is the bottom two 'clue' lines on screenshots 9 & 10, because I find it's better to let the player figure out connections on their own instead of giving out doubly obvious in-game hints, it'll also give your game's story some added subtlety.

Actually, I hadn't thought of that as a puzzle for the player but I like the idea! Thanks!

 

The original plan was to have the "Legend" be a Key Item that would be used on the book and anything in runes. Though it would only translate one page or spell to a time. As far as the spellbook is concerned you would only be able to translate one spell to a time and then having to master that spell through puzzles/minigames before the Legend could be applied to the next.

 

 

 

 

Ooo! This looks nice so far! I especially love how the title of the game immediately is triggered by finding the mysterious book~ The story sounds interesting; do you have a thread with it's summery or anything? 

At the moment it is in my blog, but rather rambling. I'll break it down for you though if you want.

 

As for the map, everything looks really well laid! However, some things are sticking out to me a little~

 

For the dining room, the swivel office chairs don't really make sense; normal wood or cushioned sitting chairs would be better.

 I know, but I didn't have any that faced that way(side to side rather than vertical), and to be totally honest, I didn't feel like loading dozens of links looking for ones that did(couches and livingroom chairs I can find plenty of, but all diningroom sets I have found so far are vertically oriented). It will be redone though at some point before release and I'll update the screenshots when it is.

 

The urinal in the bathroom should be against the wall, as that is where the plumbing would be~ And I think someone made some bathroom tiles with a mirror and sink combo that would look really well in place of the stuff there now~ Only because the oval mirror gets cut off, and it makes things appear buggy. Here is a link to a set with the combo!

 

(You'll see the set on the second post; the tiles I'm talking about are towards the bottom of the tileset, next to the public stalls~)

Mundo Maker

Thanks! That was the only toilet I could find that didn't look too "cartoony", there is also an actual urinal in the same set.

 

Lastly, the abundance of lamps in the living room may want to be reduced to one or two? The middle lamp seems like it would blind the people who sat there, lol~

What I was thinking was that with how dim those stupid low wattage halogen bulbs that are all that can be legally bought or sold anymore 3 would be the only way to get enough light to read anything. I know with our ceiling lights with those bulbs we need multiple lights just to see in my place and it is a whole lot smaller than his livingroom.

 

The office is perfect! 

 

That's all I can spot! I hope this helps~ Mapping is my weak spot too, so I know how daunting it can be to see things in a 'logical' way, when everything is uber tiny as it is. Good luck, and I can't wait to learn more about this project!

Thanks!

Edited June 8, 2014 by Cadh20000

[roccstar1oh1 19]

pretty neat maps, i noticed the TV in the top floor room is cutting off the window, maybe try using the top right corner of the TV graphic set as an event, i think it should overlap that window.

 

also maybe adding some pictures on the walls, they kind of look a little bare.

[Cadh20000 249]

pretty neat maps, i noticed the TV in the top floor room is cutting off the window, maybe try using the top right corner of the TV graphic set as an event, i think it should overlap that window.

 

also maybe adding some pictures on the walls, they kind of look a little bare.

That was actually supposed to be a mirror rather than a TV, but thanks! I had not even noticed the window being cut off like that, thank you for pointing it out!

 

Yeah, you're right. A few pictures wouldn't be out of place...

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[VoxPopuli 9]

Extremely nice maps and layout, and the spellbook sequence is a nice teaser for your project -- I'm interested!

[Cadh20000 249]

Thanks!

And update to the images will be coming shortly as I get the pictures done and on the wall as suggested by roccstar1oh1. A few more maps will be uploaded at that time as well.

 

The "Ramblings of a Writer" button goes to my blog, the most recent entry is a summary of the game(not really complete though) if you are interested in finding out more about it.

[Cadh20000 249]

As promised, and then temporarily forgotten, here are updated versions of the MC's house.

 

Second(top) floor:

 

 

First(ground) floor:

 

 

 

This one is FAR from finished. I just threw it into the game for a screenshot to see how the emblem's framework would appear overlaying the map at the start of the portal opening. It may or may not work though, depends on precisely how Ace treats the file when it is done.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Cadh20000

[Cadh20000 249]

A map of the east side of the park near the main character's home. The area with the water fountains is a "splashpad" that is animated with the fountains going off in a pattern and the well on the small island in the lake is the access to a cave with a small maze containing chests with some healing items and other such things.

 

 

A cave with a small maze containing chests with some healing items and other such things. There will be more chests and I think probably a couple enemy encounters in the final version of this map.
This cave is accessed from the well on the island in the park.