First maps suggestions

[Lnik3500 13]

Hi I decided to show my maps and I wanted everyone to tell me what they think of them. I used the RTP tileset for my first maps. So how are they? here's the screenshots:

So this one is the entrance of a grassy forest. I didn't put anything on the high grass to not ruin the feel of high grass.

This one is the first dungeon with broken crates and spider webs. I added bones to let the player think that the monster eats humans and big creatures or something like that.

This is one of my sections of the plains.  it's just a generic place to put all my zones all together.

 

 

So, what do you guys think about my first maps? Will I be able to continue my mapping like that without paralax ( I suck at paralax )?

thank you and sorry for my english!

[+ LadyMinerva 998]

I love that you made your maps geometric and not too much of that square generic environment, so that is a very nice start of the story~

 

If you know the "Shift Click" Mapping technique then you can attach the high grass in your 1st map as well as some grass in the Plains' map to the Forest tree lines, since you're looking at this in a bird's eye view. That way it looks like the Forest Trees are actually "hiding" tiles below it if you know what I mean~

 

I like what you did to your dungeon. What I like to do is that caves or dungeon don't always have complete 2 high-tile walls, So I like to add different high elevated cave walls to add the more feeling of the landscape. So for you, you can use an almost similar cave wall and roof and just create a small elevation to those 2 high walls~ It is a little hard to explain this part, I can show you an example if you need it.

 

Now your Plains' Map is nicely done in my eyes, add a little more trees or vegetation since Plains' have very large unused empty spaces. Because what happens is that, in the editor, it looks nice when you see all of it, but when you start your game, you only see 17 X 13 (depending on the resolution) and it looks very strange if you see just the empty areas in certain cases.

 

Well that's all I can say for now, Parallax is not recommended unless you have a sense of style... and a lot of time lol. You're off to a nice start in my opinion, just keep practising with the RTP tilesets until you get that confidence. It is your first time, so keep it up for now~ ^-^

[HumanNinja 144]

Your first map, the entrance to a grassy forest, is too empty. I can understand you want to give high grass a presence but, as it is, it's overpowering. You could try having patches of tall grass spread throughout the map instead of one giant clump of it. This would allow for more variation in terms of bushes, flowers, leaves, or whatever other little tidbits you'd like to spread around.

 

The second one, the dungeon, is bit bland. There is way too much grey. You should try to impose more variety in terms of color. For instance, instead of filling in the negative space just leave it black; also try having different colors for the walls and floor (they don't have to be opposing colors, something complimentary would work like just changing the floor to a brown). You may also add a bit more objects to the map. While you're not severely lacking, a few more couldn't hurt. Maybe try giving a theme to each large space that drifts out into the hallway areas.

 

Your third map is the best IMO. There is a lot of things going on, which is good. I would suggest to extend some of the other areas a bit though. The left half, where the forest is, could have a more clustered look with the trees instead of so much negative space. On the upper right side, where the mountains are, you could have some more elevation changes that extend into the middle area.

 

Overall, they're not bad maps. I think you have great intentions and posting them for critique can open your eyes to other perspectives. Hopefully my advice will have some positive impact.

[Lnik3500 13]

Thank you! I don't know what you meant by "attach" with the Shift-Click Minerva-Belle I don't know if it's too much but could you show me an example of it please? As for the cave, there is fog on top of it so that's why it's so much grey-like. I tried to leave the negatives zones of my cave just black but it didn't turn out well so maybe I will try landscape even tought it wasn't my intention in the first place. For the forest, It's a great idea to put some patches of tall grass instead of putting it everywhere and for the trees with a black space in it, I think I will do a shading of green in it while putting tall grass tiles in the blank space just to look like "leafs?". And for the mountains in the plains, here's the continuation of it that I didn't share:

I did like a continuation with the landscape of the plains if you watch carefully

 

Thanks for all the infos!

Edited April 6, 2015 by Lnik3500

[+ LadyMinerva 998]

Alrighty, here's a little screenie I made just to show what I mean~ Here's your everyday-regular RPG Map.

 

 

 

 

 

Notice how the grass is not attached to the forest background? So what Shift clicking does is that it creates a more realistic look for Autotiles (i.e water, grass, paths, etc.) So an example is you create a path for a house but the path doesn't reach all the way to the door and it's left cut-off. Shift-clicking can fix this~ So for a forest map, you want to have the grass attached to the borders of your forest so that it looks like the forest is covering up a number of tiles. Here is a screenie of the map with the "shift clicking" in it. Notice a difference with the grass? :3

 

 

 

 

 

It takes a little practise to get used to it. Here's a little tutorial on how to do it. It explains it better than what I can~ lol xD

Edited April 6, 2015 by Minerva-Belle

[Lnik3500 13]

That's plenty! I totaly forgot to use it that way ! Maybe I will go check the tutorial later since I don't know all the possibilitys with the Shift-Click ! Thank you!

[+ Sinathor 72]

Not bad at all for your first maps! You clearly have artistic eye for mapping if these are really your first maps. Especially the third and fourth maps look good.

As for the cave, I would keep the tops of the walls as 1 block thick, meaning that the parts behind that 1 block would be black. It makes it much clearer to see what parts are cave and what parts are not. Not to mention that you'll get more contrast as well. Otherwise you risk the entire screen being filled with grey stone.

 

Just keep at it and keep practicing, you'll be making awesome maps in no time!