How does my forest look?

[jaggernaut25 11]

Just looking for some basic feedback! I spent a lot of time making this forest and included two in-game level screenshots of it as well, one during the day-time, and one during the night-time. 

 

Full forest:

 

 

 

Day Close-Up:

 

 

 

Night Close-Up:

 

 

[rathalos888 1]

I think it looks pretty good considering the style of the tiles. What are you using for the lighting effects?

[+ CVincent 234]

It's a great start, liking the overall look of things. I'd just recommend using more of the empty space and add in a bit more height variation using hills. The walls of trees around the edges could be improved with some more height and random empty spots.

[jaggernaut25 11]

I think it looks pretty good considering the style of the tiles. What are you using for the lighting effects?

 

Thanks! For the day lighting, that is just an overlay image used to give the illusion of a sunlight effect. That overlay is static, but when you're moving it looks pretty nice still, imo. For night time, I am using Victor's Light Effect script and have given the player a "lantern" effect

 

It's a great start, liking the overall look of things. I'd just recommend using more of the empty space and add in a bit more height variation using hills. The walls of trees around the edges could be improved with some more height and random empty spots.

 

Thanks! Could you go into a bit more detail or provide a visual example of what you mean by hills and height variation? Do you mean something along the lines of what i did in the top right corner, except some smaller instances of that spread around here and there for variety? And what do you mean by more height and random empty spots in the trees?

 

Thank you so much for the feedback - this is my first game and I have been dabbling and lurking for a long, long time,

[+ CVincent 234]

Thanks! Could you go into a bit more detail or provide a visual example of what you mean by hills and height variation? Do you mean something along the lines of what i did in the top right corner, except some smaller instances of that spread around here and there for variety? And what do you mean by more height and random empty spots in the trees?

 

Exactly as you had done in the upper-right corner (including what you mentioned), though with less symmetry. For the trees maybe just make random empty patches with grass or flowers to fill in the space. Putting some hills in the border of trees will make it look less like a wall and will add some depth to the map.

 

There are some edges that should look less square, like in the upper-left corner. Adding a small pond or a few more random trees coming out from the wall would look nice.

 

Your overall design for the map is quite nice though, I'm interested in seeing where you take this.

Edited May 26, 2015 by CVincent

[Tsarmina 2,612]

I think, for a forest, the interior is lacking a bit in foresty trees :3 I would suggest plopping more trees (diverse ones) along the paths and in the empty spaces (between the paths and the autotile forest). If you're parallaxing, I would suggest overlapping them for a depth kind of look!

[jaggernaut25 11]

I think, for a forest, the interior is lacking a bit in foresty trees :3 I would suggest plopping more trees (diverse ones) along the paths and in the empty spaces (between the paths and the autotile forest). If you're parallaxing, I would suggest overlapping them for a depth kind of look!

 

The trees dispersed around the open spaces is a great idea! I really just kind of freestyled this whole area, but I feel like a dummy for not thinking of that – it is a forest after all. Makes sense. And no, I am not parallaxing, this is all done in the editor – just with some great trees from Celiana (if I remember correctly, not at home right now, so I can’t check where certain stuff came from at the moment.)

 

 

Exactly as you had done in the upper-right corner (including what you mentioned), though with less symmetry. For the trees maybe just make random empty patches with grass or flowers to fill in the space. Putting some hills in the border of trees will make it look less like a wall and will add some depth to the map.

 

There are some edges that should look less square, like in the upper-left corner. Adding a small pond or a few more random trees coming out from the wall would look nice.

 

Your overall design for the map is quite nice though, I'm interested in seeing where you take this.

 

 

Thank you for the kind words! Those are some stellar ideas and I am really excited to try them out when I get home tonight. Thanks!

[jaggernaut25 11]

Here is my updated forest based on feedback and a few other tweaks. How does that look now?

 

 

 

[+ CVincent 234]

That's a pretty substantial improvement over your previous version of the map. It definitely looks like the map has been brought to life a bit more, though there are a few things I want to pick at.

 

Firstly, I don't really know all the details of what the setting/story is for this map so I'm assuming that this area is intended to be a fairly flat region. Feel free to use this post as extra ideas to work with, but the map is really taking better shape as you work with it.

 

One thing I'm not a huge fan of is how the hills are shaped. Although the simple design is appealing there's still a bit of unnatural symmetry that is very apparent. I'd like to see more odd shapes.

 

I'm guessing that the pool of water in the upper-left corner of the map is mostly scenic, will you have any function for it at any point in the game? If not, I'd suggest merging it more naturally into the environment.

 

On a related note I'd also like to see a larger body of water towards the bottom side of the map near the end of the river. As it stands, the river has very linear exit points at those two ends of the map. Anything you can do to make it look less flat and straight will help it look more natural. A waterfall may even be a nice idea, though you'd need to add a surrounding hill/cliff to make it look as it should.

 

There are still some small areas that you could take advantage of to make it look less blocky, but if you keep doing as you are then this map is going to turn out pretty nicely. In the top-right corner of the map you could add a bit more grass extending from those squared off parts to help it look a little less cleanly cut. I'd also suggest applying this to the middle of your map where the grass surrounds the hill.

[LordSquirrel 150]

Just some random thoughts on the updated map:

 

-That road looks really well maintained, is it a main road of the kingdom? If not then maybe make it look a bit more patchy, or at least not as consistent.

 

-That house looks like it's about to fall over. I get that some people just use that design, but I find that houses tend to look more natural if they have 2x2 for the roof, and a 2x1 for the walls.

 

-That hill near the pond looks like a tetris block. Definitely too symmetrical.

 

-The trees on the edges look too much like a massive wall. Maybe try to add some variation to how they are patterned.

 

- Maybe add a couple more flowers and shrubs off the path, and some rock on the path itself. It will make it look more natural.

 

-The pond also looks like a tetris block.

 

-The grass along the southern edge looks too uniform. Try making it cross over into the path a little. And maybe make it looks more random in the way that is expands.

 

-Try shift clicking the grass around the hill in the center. It will make it looks like it's running right up against it and coming out from behind it for the grass behind the hill.

 

That's all I can think atm.

[amerk 1,122]

The edges of the forest is way too straight, kind of like a wall of trees that borders the map. Create some gaps in those trees. Otherwise, I like the simplicity of the map. It looks like it would be fun to explore for nostalgia-like purposes without being overwhelmed with too much clutter and detail.

[jaggernaut25 11]

This feedback is incredible! I will probably take a break from this map and let it simmer for a while, but will definitely come back and reference this feedback when I revisit it. Thanks!

[LordSquirrel 150]

Additional random thoughts:

 

-That gate thing with the crystal in the middle looks a little out of place, or maybe too new? Try giving a little wear and tear to it.

 

-That bench next to the bulletin board looks a little too modern. Maybe it's just me, but it kind of sticks out after you notice it.

 

-I just realized that "How does my forest look?" sounds like a euphemism, or innuendo... nothing really to be gained from this line of thought. Like I said, it's pretty much just random thoughts here. It's inevitable that something was going to sound completely strange and out of place. Actually. Where does the word random even come from? Did someone just think that some guy was kind of odd and decided to call him random without asking his name, or was it the name of some mountain or something? For that matter where does the word, word come from? Did someone just- sorry. Stream of consciousnesses writing. I'll stop now.

[GrayFenrir 4]

Upon closer inspection, the horizontal bridge has a rather large gap between itself and the river bank.

Your river banks themselves looks as if they are ment to run though a rather large city as they are lined with stone bricks. The bottom of the river does as well. May want to find a more fitting water tile.

[jaggernaut25 11]

Good catch there, Gray! Thanks! I used a different water tile in the original screenshot, so perhaps that one is a bit more fitting?

Edited May 29, 2015 by jaggernaut25

[amerk 1,122]

This feedback is incredible! I will probably take a break from this map and let it simmer for a while, but will definitely come back and reference this feedback when I revisit it. Thanks!

 

When you've had a chance to return and change it up, please post it so we can see the differences.