Could I get criticism on my tileset

[BornoutofCore 3]

I was wondering if people could give some advice on my tileset, since I want to know how to improve it and if thats necessary at all.

 

So here are three photos from my game.

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

My first critique is the brightness and contrast. My eyes hurt from looking at the bright colours and I find it rather distracting.

- This is mostly the case with the 1x2 tiled trees (screenshot 1) as they are just blinding. They also blend to well with the ground.

- The grass itself is too bright. As a base tile, you want something neutral that will look nice but not distract the player. The brightness of the grass tile is hard to look at for long - and personally, I couldn't play your game if that was the brightness the entire game without getting a migraine.

- Your 4x4 trees look good, but need a bit of blending. Also, RPGM's default light source is the top left, so your trees shade and highlight are reversed and looks strange. Nothing else has a shade or highlight either so they stand out more boldly.

- Your water animation doesn't sync up. You should practice working with autotiles, or create a transparent water tile and add a parallax underneath and scroll it to help with your moving water.

- Your houses are to bright. Maybe a light gray would look better, but white is way to bold and constrasting that it's bad to stare at.

 

In short: tone down the brightness of the tiles. Everythings to bright and would make it difficult to play your game for any period of time.

[BornoutofCore 3]

Is this better?

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

I definitely like the look you're going for, and for an artist that is just starting out with tilesets, I will say that overall, it is definitely a great start.

 

Comparing the first screen shots with the subsequent screen shot, I definitely see an improvement. Keep at it!

 

One thing I would try to do down the road is to stylize the stone pillars a bit, give them a rounded or sculpted appearance, layered, textured, you get the idea...

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

That is definetely better. The new screenshot blends so much better together and it's so much nicer to look at. The trees stand out more and don't blend into the grass tiles and the buildings don't look like there illuminated.

The improved set just looks more visually appealing now.

 

As for tile critque, my attention is the domes on the bigger building. Are they windows? I would add a bit more highlight to them to show the light reflection more. Right now, they look like light blue orb-thingies due to them not reflecting the light enough. 

 

Overall, this looks pretty good so far~ Hope to see more progress in the future

[brandygang 1]

As has been said, the contrast is a little much. Try adding some shading to the tiles as well, I think it would bring out depth in them and that's far less striking which will make it look more natural.

Also watch your edges and outlines of your shapes.

[Kayzee 4,032]

Honestly if you ask me, I think the original version is interesting. I think the flat colored look with little shading or texture actually can be pretty charming, even if the colors chosen might not be the best. Though the improved version isn't bad either, I do think it loses a little something maybe? I donno.

 

The most important thing I think is less about detail and more about style, and making sure all your graphics fit with each other.

 

Edit: Oops didn't notice this was a necro! Oh well.

Edited February 22, 2018 by Kayzee