Map Feedback - Tropical Paradise

[The_Drone91 3]

Hi everyone!

I was just wondering if I could get some feedback on this Tropical Paradise-Map that I made for my game?

Thank you!

 

/Markus

 

 

Edited May 11, 2016 by markusblock91

[+ Jonath4nC 199]

very coool! so did you take out the shadows? If you did, I think the shadows at the houses also need to be taken out (if that's what you're going for). Otherwise, I think you need to add shadows to the sides of the cliffs . Although the problem with taking shadows out is the corners of the cliffs don't look that great (but I guess you probably noticed that lol).

 

Did you know you can copy a specific part of a tile from the map? So you can actually make some of your dirt paths connect to the stairs and door as well.

You can do this by holding 'Shift' and then right clicking on the part of the map you want to copy and while holding 'Shift', left click where you want to place what you copied.

 

Anyway, it's really cool!

Edited May 11, 2016 by Jonath4nC

[The_Drone91 3]

very coool! so did you take out the shadows? If you did, I think the shadows at the houses also need to be taken out (if that's what you're going for). Otherwise, I think you need to add shadows to the sides of the cliffs . Although the problem with taking shadows out is the corners of the cliffs don't look that great (but I guess you probably noticed that lol).

 

Did you know you can copy a specific part of a tile from the map? So you can actually make some of your dirt paths connect to the stairs and door as well.

You can do this by holding 'Shift' and then right clicking on the part of the map you want to copy and while holding 'Shift', left click where you want to place what you copied.

 

Anyway, it's really cool!

 

Hi Jonath4nc

 

Thank you for your input and kind words. Whenever I'm mapping I usually don't pay a lot of attention to the shadows, and so it usually slips my mind whenever I build my houses to notice if they are there or not. I will fix it to stay consistent however, and therefore I thank you for pointing that out for me. Also, I am happy that you liked it. Hopefully I will be able to make more appealing maps in the future.

 

Thank you,

Markus

[ashm 12]

Isn't it too big ?

With bigger map, you tend to skipping some tile for more depth/detail.

For example the most left road. I think just simple long straight road is very plain.

 

The beach(sand) part also have more space.

I know you dont have much choice for beach tile (or more importantly dont add too much object) but at least make the beach not flat.

Maybe U or n style (not simply horizontal).

 

And you can change the tree which located very far from the sea (not palm/coconut anymore).

 

Sorry for critizing much, I know you can do it better.

[The_Drone91 3]

Isn't it too big ?

With bigger map, you tend to skipping some tile for more depth/detail.

For example the most left road. I think just simple long straight road is very plain.

 

The beach(sand) part also have more space.

I know you dont have much choice for beach tile (or more importantly dont add too much object) but at least make the beach not flat.

Maybe U or n style (not simply horizontal).

 

And you can change the tree which located very far from the sea (not palm/coconut anymore).

 

Sorry for critizing much, I know you can do it better.

Hello ashm

 

I realize the map is really big, I didn't know what size to make it beforehand so I ended up getting a lot of space to work with, and did what I could with it. The beach was a bit of an issue for me as the tiles that came with the engine only has sharp edges, so I thought it was difficult to make it look good. I will try to work on it some more and see what I can come up with.

 

Thank you,

 

Markus

[mateusarc 7]

I agree with ashm on the size of the map, you can fit every building and cliffs/rivers in much less space, making everything more interesting. You should also add a bit more variety on the trees/plants/grass that you use to fill the empty spaces. The cliffs and the river/waterfalls are very well done and have a nice, natural flow!

 

As for the buildings, I like the big one a lot, but the little village could use some variety on the houses and some more clutter to indicate that people are living in there. See below a little fishing village I just put together inspired by your map. When I build villages I like to use different roof and wall tiles, use different roof shapes and put some houses on different directions, to add a bit of realism. Finally, I love tinting and light effects (this one is Yami Script Ace - Overlay Mapping) to add some drama and set the mood. I hope this could serve as an inspiration to you!

 

[+ Jonath4nC 199]

ah I forgot to reply to this . Glad I could help!

Yea, I will have to agree with the others about the size. It can get boring for the player to walk around large spaces and you can't see the village as a whole. This map would probably work great in a 3D environment as you would be able to see where you're heading.

And as mateusarc said, the lighting effects are really cool and can make it look that much better! If you haven't looked into parallax mapping before, I encourage you to give that a go one day as well. You can make your maps look very different and awesome, although there's quite a bit more work involved .

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

Break up your paths.

For a tropical paradise, those dirt roads are pretty exact and straight.

 

Try instead of making a long dirt path, make a few tiles long, skip a few and then make more. It gives a more natural feel to the map instead of straight, edgy paths.

 

I think the basic concept is good though.Just add more plants and maybe more sand.

For a tropical island, theres alot of empty space and grass. My first impression of tropical is a nice sandy area and alot of bright, clear water. Yours is mostly grassland, which essentially makes is a town near a sandy beach instead of a tropical paradise.

 

Do you use references of existing tropical locations, or do you just improvise (I recommend references if you want to get a good grasp on the theme)

 

Keep adding to your existing concept though. its a nice base.

[The_Drone91 3]

 

I agree with ashm on the size of the map, you can fit every building and cliffs/rivers in much less space, making everything more interesting. You should also add a bit more variety on the trees/plants/grass that you use to fill the empty spaces. The cliffs and the river/waterfalls are very well done and have a nice, natural flow!

 

As for the buildings, I like the big one a lot, but the little village could use some variety on the houses and some more clutter to indicate that people are living in there. See below a little fishing village I just put together inspired by your map. When I build villages I like to use different roof and wall tiles, use different roof shapes and put some houses on different directions, to add a bit of realism. Finally, I love tinting and light effects (this one is Yami Script Ace - Overlay Mapping) to add some drama and set the mood. I hope this could serve as an inspiration to you!

 

fishing_village.png

 

Hello mateusarc

 

Thank you very much for your response and helpful critique, The picture you embedded is really helpful and will certainly give me a better idea at how I will rebuild the map. Initially I thought about making the map big because of the big size of the "house", which is actually a mansion with a nice seaside view from the cliffs. I am

pretty happy about the rightmost part of the map, and I felt the waterfall really adds to the style I was going for when I originally planned the map. I am not sure, however, if I will be able to delete the left part of the map without it affecting the rest of the map, or if I will have to redraw an entirely new map with the current one

in mind. I do however appreciate your input, and will most certainly look into the tinting of the screen as well. I think the picture you showed me really gives a good idea at how bright the light needs to be to add to that tropical style I am going for.

 

Again thank you,

 

Markus

Break up your paths.

For a tropical paradise, those dirt roads are pretty exact and straight.

 

Try instead of making a long dirt path, make a few tiles long, skip a few and then make more. It gives a more natural feel to the map instead of straight, edgy paths.

 

I think the basic concept is good though.Just add more plants and maybe more sand.

For a tropical island, theres alot of empty space and grass. My first impression of tropical is a nice sandy area and alot of bright, clear water. Yours is mostly grassland, which essentially makes is a town near a sandy beach instead of a tropical paradise.

 

Do you use references of existing tropical locations, or do you just improvise (I recommend references if you want to get a good grasp on the theme)

 

Keep adding to your existing concept though. its a nice base.

Hello Takeo212

 

As with the other contributors to this post, I thank you for your response. I do believe that most of the map is just me improvising, although I made some of it with the Private Oasis from Zelda: Wind Waker in mind. I do believe that more beach could help in improving the map. I was actually struggling a bit on that part though, as the edges of the beach tiles were very sharp, and the space they left on my map was mostly empty. I do think the long, straight roads are a bit unnecessary too, as you won't be able to see them fully in-game, and as the player will be transferred to the world map before they have even reached the edge of the screen. I will definitely do something about this.

 

Again, thank you for your response,

 

Markus

[Ragnos 122]

It seems to be a bit to... spacious... 

One of the reasons why I don't like the RTP tilesets all that much, not really enough options to choose from. 

I would suggest maybe adding some more in some of the empty spaces around the tree (Not more trees), maybe add some more grass here and there a bush here, a rock there. 

 

Just my two cents.

[Rezanta 373]

Well, my friend, I will say that I like where you're going with the theme. The size of the map will allow for some creativity, much to what many have stated. I'm also not going to repeat any of the critiques folks of said, since my reason follows suit, but something about the water irks me slightly.

 

If the paradise borders an ocean, you'll want the water to darken the further away from land you are. Otherwise, I think you have a decent concept.

 

By the way, for the water changes, you could try to use XP's water tiles.They make for some great beach effects.