Maps to review- castles, countryside and more

[Antioch 33]

Due to restrictions in size the album has been uploaded to imgur (cheers Jonnie) and can be viewed with the following link: http://imgur.com/a/vItjy

 

For reference, names are (in order):

 

-Imperial Camp

-Snow Forest

-Snow Fort

-Guildhall/Inn

-Inn exterior

-Snow Plains

-South Gate

-Tent

-Refugee Point

Edited May 20, 2015 by Keirebu

[Jonnie91 1,149]

I'd suggest uploading them to imgur then you're not restricted by size  

[Antioch 33]

Bump :3

[Tiranoua 3]

Hey! Thought I'd take a look at your maps I'll go through them in order.

 

Imperial Camp

This map is pretty cool, love the logs around the firepit. The mountain to the left seems to "straight", perhaps make it a bit more jaggedy? Nature can't be tamed! Also I love how there's various bushes, rocks etc scattered around, it really fills up the place and keeps the eyes busy. The path in the middle just cuts off, pretty smoothly. If there's a gap in the trees at the top, that means there's access for people to travel, therefore the path, really, should continue through the trees if possible. One more thing, the grass just turns into snow up top in a pretty straight line, perhaps have it gradually turn to snow? Maybe just break the line up a bit?

 

-Snow Forest

This one is really cool, couldn't find much to say about it! I like the cluster of trees and the lonely grave on top of the mountain. The mountains could be a bit more rugged though, add some different levels to it maybe have some parts jutting out etc.

 

-Snow Fort

With this one, there's half of a building obscured by the mountain in the middle top. Also, the mountains, on the corners are lacking the corner tiles to differentiate one segment from another. E.g at the top of the map next to the wooden building & bottom left of map, there are the correct corner tiles on the mountain, giving it some depth. Without these tiles on the rest of the corners of the mountain, it looks like one flat piece of rock.

 

-Guildhall/Inn

I like this one I don't see enough round buildings anymore haha. The only thing I can comment on is the fact that it looks way too empty for an inn/hall. Could add crates/barrells etc, but as it is now, looks too empty. 

 

-Inn exterior

This one is pretty creative! Not too sure about the bridges leading to nowhere near the trees. Also the cluster of trees either side of the ...stone walls? Some trees are cut off by the walls, which looks a bit odd. 

 

-Snow Plains

Ummmm, not too sure on the story behind this, perhaps it's big and vast for a reason, but something needs to break it up a bit. Not sure what I can suggest...maybe a small cluster of trees/bushes here and there? Abandoned items/buildings?

 

-South Gate

On this one, you could put some lily pads in the water so it doesn't look so empty, or whatever you fancy throwing in there haha.

 

-Tent

Personally I think tents are really hard to do, but I think you've done it really well! The side bits of the tent are empty/unused, maybe they could be trimmed off to get rid of empty space and make the tent size look more realistic?

 

-Refugee Point

The metal lamppost looks out of place on this map. The building are made out of brick, everything else is wood, where would they find the resources for metal? Also, there is only one, there needs to be more for them to light the area effectively. Also theres a lot of trees on bottom sides of the map, maybe break them up with some gaps etc? 

[CPX_13 22]

Hi Keirebu,

I've just been looking through the screenshots. Now It's been a while since i worked on map & level creating in RPG Maker but i still got some tips

from my previous developments.

 

The key to making a good map is breaking up the environment and filling it out a bit i found. Most importantly experimenting and finding out what works.

Imperial Camp: -
The snow needs to look more gradual rather than straight. Put a few patches of snow around just like Tiranoua mentioned. Don't be afraid to line break trees to mix it up a bit. If they look too square cut then someones been doing a good gardening job. Just like the snow maybe mix a few snowed up trees amongst the non snowy trees up the top (don't over do it, just makes me look a bit more broken up and mixed in). 
Dirt patches! I love dirt patches. I feel it can bring out a lot to the grounding of any map to add a few dirt patches on the ground (especially around paths and in areas where people/animals populate). like where the path comes to an abrupt end you could add some patches to break it up.
Mountains, when it comes to mountains i am going to mention this a lot... fissures, cracks, moss, growth, even some plants and stuff can grow on certain types of mountains Break the mountain up a bit, make it look wild and less neat cut! In my archived screenshots i have some good examples from a fan-game i was making years and years ago.

 

Snow Forest: -
Same again with the mountains as i've mentioned above. Another good technique to make mountains more wild is have patches of rocks and stuff lying around and use the mountain tiles to make smaller mountains to give it a more rugged look. If you want some example picks you may have to PM me and i could send some examples i have.

Snow Fort:-
Same with mountains again, they seem too perfect. Like Tiranoua mentioned "corners are lacking the corner tiles to differentiate one segment from another". As this is a mountain there would be a lot more rocks lying about the area. That hut that is half into the mountain is that supposed to be a mountain entrance hut? Otherwise it sort of looks a bit odd. If it's supposed to be half into the mountain then it's fine. Another good tree tip for woodlands is adding a few broken tree gaps and spaces.

Guildhall/Inn: -
It's quite a nice looking one. But it needs filling a bit more. Looks too spacious. Not saying you can't have a spacious building of course but maybe like Tiranoua some barrels or crates.

Inn exterior: -
I like this one. I'm guessing those are cliffs. You could probably still bring them out slightly but it looks good. Those trees being cut off by the walls look odd though. I love the waterfall, maybe you could add a few gaps in the woodlands to show the river or pond or whatever is at the bottom. You don't need to show the whole river you could have trees breaking up the view. (I can't remember how i managed it actually).

Snow Plains:-
Just use some of the tips before like with the rocky areas to bring them out a bit and with the forest at the bottom make it more patchy and less garden cut. Add some more ground rocks around the area as im sure there would be some scattered about.

South Gate:-
Is that a moat or a river? If it's a moat add some lillies and plant life to the water and surrounding areas. If it is a river then just add some lillies to the water edge or something bring out some plant life a long the river. Remember water and sunlight would make an area like that thrive.

Tent: -
I like this, i think it looks perfectly fine. If your worried about the black edges you could maybe show some of the outside by adding grass and stuff around it (If possible, I am unsure how well it would look) Experimenting is the key!

Refugee Point: -
Back to the tree thing i mentioned before, add some gaps, make it rugged. Animals probably live in there so there'd be signs of animal tracks. The lampost is a bit odd. Are you going to be adding more? Likewise with the metal as mentioned above. Is there a place where the metal comes from maybe a mine from far away or a place that makes them?

I think the key to when i was map making was resources. I looked about for resources for things like plants especially because i find a variety of different coloured plants can really bring out the ground in big plain spaces.
You can always add some history to the game with maybe some rock formations or pillars or ruined areas. You don't necessarily need a back story for it but it can add to some areas.
I also found in some areas to show terrain i used ledges in a clever way to sort of bring out the terrain more. Experimenting is the key.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Antioch 33]

Thank you very much for the feedback!

 

I'm working on fixing some of the aforementioned areas, I'll try to update the pictures as soon as possible with all the suggestions.

 

 

The hut halfway into the mountain is was supposed to be a sort of lean-to for storing various tools and what-not that the garrison might not have room for in the fort, or for keeping animals in if there was a blizzard.

 

I agree with the responses regarding the lampost, its been removed and I'll think up something to replace it; either a guard that patrols with a torch or primitive scronces.

 

The snowy plains are so open for one reason: it's the site for a relatively large battle sequence, so there needed to be some space left for the events to have room to move.

 

 

Updated Inn Exterior: http://imgur.com/xg7XMZC

Edited July 19, 2015 by Keirebu