A floating island and other things

[Saneterre 8]

Hello everyone. I'm developping a game called "The legends of Saneterre - the fall of the angels".

I would like to have some input on my maps.

 

The first one is a world map of a floating island.

 

 

There is also this one : a kind of mountain dungeon, I guess

 

 

There is no event on this map, so it's normal not to see the castle's gate

Edited June 3, 2016 by Saneterre

[Antioch 33]

Looks really good overall, however the crystal at the top of the second image should probably have a shadow that points the same way as the other objects on the mountain.

[Saneterre 8]

Looks really good overall, however the crystal at the top of the second image should probably have a shadow that points the same way as the other objects on the mountain.

 

Oh, you're right ! I added it later so I forgot about that. Thank you.

[Chadzter01 183]

Nice! I love your floating island map design! Kudos to you! =3

[Tsarmina 2,612]

Love it-- your floating mountain design is especially nice c: The colors are beautiful as well.

[Rezanta 373]

*Stares* umm.... *Continues to stare* Am I in heaven? That's a really nice design and setup you have there!

 

Something I might suggest, though don't hold me to it because I'm not sure how the atmosphere of the floating island is, is maybe darken the grass by the water a bit, as the banks would be tilting into the rivers/pond/streams.

[Saneterre 8]

Thanks a lot, everyone. I spent a lot of time on that map so I'm very happy you appreciate it.

 

@Rezanta : I think you're right. I will darken it a little. Thanks for the advice.

[Saneterre 8]

My last map : any input appreciated.

 

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

Your second map (the one witht he blue castle) doesn't sit well with me to be honest.

I find the castle colouring to clash alot with the scenery (fair enough, it's man-made so it doesn't have to blend) but it just seems to edgy and rigged in comparison to the rest of the map.

Also, the bottom of that map should have a sort of shadow on the right side - like you did with all the other right sided platforms.

 

Your first map looks really nice, and I really like it.

Your newest map, I like. It has enough cluttering and scenery to add some life, but it's not actually cluttered. The flooring is nice to - instead of a single tile bottom.

 

I like the detail in your maps though~

[Saneterre 8]

Your second map (the one witht he blue castle) doesn't sit well with me to be honest.

I find the castle colouring to clash alot with the scenery (fair enough, it's man-made so it doesn't have to blend) but it just seems to edgy and rigged in comparison to the rest of the map.

Also, the bottom of that map should have a sort of shadow on the right side - like you did with all the other right sided platforms.

 

Your first map looks really nice, and I really like it.

Your newest map, I like. It has enough cluttering and scenery to add some life, but it's not actually cluttered. The flooring is nice to - instead of a single tile bottom.

 

I like the detail in your maps though~

You're absolutely right. I'm a beginner as far as shadows are concerned and I can see that I have to redo many things with the cliffs. Thanks for pointing those things, it will help me get better.

 

And thank you for the compliments on the other maps, of course.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Saneterre

[RayChan 8]

The first map it likes really unique because I have never seen a floating world map in the screen shots and mapping place so i have nothing to say about that but in the second one I don't see where it fits because you did say the first one was a "world map" and j don't seem to see the desert part anywhere unless it is that little baste near the top left . Either then that they looks pretty awesome.

[Saneterre 8]

Thanks Ray !

Actually, the floating island is one of my three world maps : two floating islands in the sky (one of which is the picture that you can see here) and a big world map on the ground. The desert is in the map on the ground.

 

I actually have a graphic problem in my game because I tried to make the floating island (and my maps in general) with gimp, but my world map on the ground is still RTP. The difference is not very nice to the eye, but I don't know how to make the ship (or water animated tiles) work on something that was made with gimp. I will probably try to do something in between, keeping the RTP water tiles but making everything on land with gimp.

 

However, any suggestion (and examples) would be appreciated.

[Jeanne d'Ys 166]

Pretty!
I like the first map in particular, always been a floating island lover XD

[Thaletos 96]

All of them look pretty neat, so good job!

 

However, I want to note the stairs on the clifts in the second map. They way they are drawn makes it seem, at least to me, that they are completely vertical (and this is something I see in many maps, specially when the stairs are several tiles high). Maybe you could change the homogeneous texture on the clifts so they don't look so vertical, or maybe change the stairs so the don't start right on the clift's edge.

Also, at the bottom of the second map, the clift doesn't match the road coming forward, maybe add more shades and/or scalling down the clift textue horizontally near that road will help the perspective?

 

But as I said, they're quite good, congratulations!

[Saneterre 8]

All of them look pretty neat, so good job!

 

However, I want to note the stairs on the clifts in the second map. They way they are drawn makes it seem, at least to me, that they are completely vertical (and this is something I see in many maps, specially when the stairs are several tiles high). Maybe you could change the homogeneous texture on the clifts so they don't look so vertical, or maybe change the stairs so the don't start right on the clift's edge.

Also, at the bottom of the second map, the clift doesn't match the road coming forward, maybe add more shades and/or scalling down the clift textue horizontally near that road will help the perspective?

 

But as I said, they're quite good, congratulations!

Thanks for the compliments. I think you are right about the stairs, I will try to do something about it. About the shades, someone said the same thing and you are right again, I will definitely add some (I've gotten better with shades lately so it should work).

 

 

@Akashosu Naoto : thank you ! I'm a floating island buff too ! I think I fell in love when I saw the kingdom of Zeal in Chrono trigger for the first time.

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

If you want to draw your ground world map, you can draw the ground stuff but leave the water stuff transparent.

Once you put the image in game, the image would hover over the RTP water tiles so it would animate the water but still have your drawn map

Thats one solution anyway xD

[Saneterre 8]

If you want to draw your ground world map, you can draw the ground stuff but leave the water stuff transparent.

Once you put the image in game, the image would hover over the RTP water tiles so it would animate the water but still have your drawn map

Thats one solution anyway xD

It's a very good solution actually. I think I will do it that way.

[Riddle 8]

These are some amazing maps you have here, for starters. Usually, I wouldn't find anything wrong with it, but for the sake of feedback, I looked closer and was able to find a few things that could be improved upon. On the world map, I thought it was very unique and well-done. A minuscule flaw I noticed was that the grass looked too large-scale for the rest of the map. I'd be worried if I neglected the lawn for long enough to let the grass be about half as tall as a tree. Still, though, it was difficult to notice and gave such a great texture to the grass that it probably doesn't matter. On the mountain dungeon, the ground looked a little weird depth-wise, though I really liked the texture again. It can easily be overlooked. The crystal did look a little out of place graphically, as in an entirely different style - I'm not sure what you could do for that, and if you want to leave that alone, that's fine too. On the last map you showed, I really, really liked it, though it had a few more graphical inconsistencies that bothered me a bit. You made the ground work fairly well with depth, though! Overall, you're an outstanding mapper, and I'd love to play a game with your maps.

[Saneterre 8]

Another floating island, which is actually my first map in the game. That's where the story begins, on the floating island called Sanéciel (the events don't appear on the map, unfortunately) :

 

 

@Riddle : you're right about the grass. I'll change that in the next version of the map.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Saneterre

[Tsarmina 2,612]

Yay! Beautiful I must add that I am a big fan of the battleback-based ground; I use it for all my exterior parallaxes, and it makes for a wonderful texture ^^ I particularly like the shading on the cliffsides on this island, though the photorealism of the clouds is kind of jarring. I think also if you were willing to slightly change the color of adjacent trees (a little warmer/cooler) it would look much more diverse

[Saneterre 8]

Thanks for your advice, Tsarmina.

 

I'm looking to improve on my interior maps so I would like everyone's input on these ones :

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2016 by Saneterre

[amerk 1,122]

The floating island map reminds me of the first Wild Arms game, where you find the secret home of the Elws. It opened up a new outworld map to explore and was always one of my favorite areas of the game. Floating islands are one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it works well. Dangle the island in view of the player for as long as possible, make them anticipate the moment they will be able to access it, and keep it out of reach for as long as possible.