Feedback on Large City

[_____ 214]

Hello everyone, a few months ago I finished a town in my game called Southern Town, and I thought I might as well post it here and get the feedback of you guys.

don't steal, and be sure to leave a comment, I would appreciate it! Thank you for your time. (I used the futuristic tileset in the making of this map)

Edited May 25, 2015 by FLGsRetnuh

[Antioch 33]

They have an interesting aesthetic, definitely different to what we normally see. One thing though is in screenshot 5, since there is no visible roof the perspective is a bit wonky and the whole map honestly looks a bit flat.

[_____ 214]

thanks keirebu, and regarding screenshot 5, there is a roof to that building, but  In the screenshot I took I was one block to low so it seems to not be visible, thanks for the feedback!

Edited May 23, 2015 by FLGsRetnuh

[+ Chaosian 617]

I couldn't really say. What you have doesn't look all too bad, and it's clear that you have a few ideas going on, but if you'll allow some general critique...

• Your prime problem, I feel, is that you have conflicting aesthetics. There's a fair amount of sci-fi store bought assets (which is totally fine), but they clash with the fantasy RTP assets. This is to say nothing of the (I assume) completely custom characters, which would be a boon if they were shaded, and looked closer to the RTP style. Of course, the battlers are a bit of a different story. 'Low res' characters on 'high res' background is pretty odd, and you've got some white pixels on their edges that should probably be cleaned up. I point to OFF a lot of the time for a game that looks kinda crap, but definitely nailed it's aesthetic consistantly.
• Secondly, and far more minorly, is that you seem to be doing a bit of lighting with the shade tiles. This is actually a kinda funny idea, and is an interesting way of doing things, but as a result, anything that isn't "light" is dark, giving a lot of your mapping the look that it's flatter than it really is. As an alternative, you might want to look into a lighting engine. For night time, I highly suggest you look into tinting the screen.
• Also, minor nit pick but I am a bit of a nazi when it comes to this kind of thing. "They're" not "There" a hive of scum and villainy.

That might sound pretty critical, but actually, I can tell from your screen shots that you're going for a more of a comedic tone with your game. Given that (I'm assuming) this is probably your first game (or one of your first), I think it's pretty easy to be forgiving of these inconsistencies in your project - especially while you learn what looks and works best to you. 

[_____ 214]

thanks for the advice Chaosian. yes, this is my first game, and yes I am going for a comedic tone. All of your suggestions are noted, and I will consider changing them. I'm making this game a quirky contrast of cartoony characters in a realistic looking world, so I will probably leave the characters the same. And again, thanks.

[Antioch 33]

I agree with Chaosian with regards to the battlers and characters, an hour or so spent cleaning them battlers up and adding shading and tone variation to the characters would make a world of difference, otherwise it's looking promising.

[+ CVincent 234]

Overall I think the general tone for your mapping fits well, but there are a few tiny things that are getting on my nerves that I want to nitpick at.

 

To start, my biggest gripe is with the roads. I know that this is your game/city you're working on.. But you wouldn't really drive on the white lines. You could add a bit more space in between them by using the flat road tile and use different variants. Sidewalks would be nice too. Simple touches are all I'd really ask for here.

 

In your third screenshot I see a lot of mashed road tiles, it's very confusing to tell where someone would be driving to. You'd want the player's eye to naturally catch important areas of the map and I'm mostly just seeing road.

 

Aside from that, I like the idea of using the shadow pen to create lighting, though it's not as clean looking as using a script like Khas' lighting. Your first, second and fifth picture is missing light on either end of the lamps, but in your third and eighth the light is coming off of both sides. It's a minor detail that is somewhat confusing.

 

I like the idea of placing buildings flat against each other, but it seems to be overused. Some variations in height from the sidewalk would do wonders, and adding more alleyways would be interesting as well. Try doing more buildings that have more total space by adding another tile of roofing, you'll make the effect of having larger buildings without using too much vertical space on your map.

 

Overall it's not bad, but a few adjustments will make your maps much more appealing to look at.