I need some input on my village layout

[Doomboxx1134 5]

I'm trying my best here, but, my village layout doesn't look as impressive as most on here, and tips? Thank you in advance!

[RoooodWorks 165]

sorry but this doesn't belong in games in progress, your better off using gallery, or theory and development as there is a screenshot section there. 

 

Thanks.

[Rikifive 3,411]

Moved to Theory and Development -> Screenshots and Mapping. Games in progress is for posting your projects, that are in progress (with or without a demo), not for asking questions.

 

Perhaps un-square the village. Instead, make its size dynamic - move the wall closer here and there, wrap your village around a nice scenery, make some rivers here and there, put some trees here and there. And idk, but I hate the RTP trees, their size is just sad. I'd suggest looking for some tree tiles, that are taller than a bush. Trees really make a difference.

 

You could also add more details to these buildings, like backyards and stuff, so that these wouldn't be randomly standing like this and it would make the map visually bigger if it would be more busy.

[freakytapir 55]

What I find helps is to walk around the map in the creator, because what seems fine on a big scale might not in-game.

The map seems empty, and as @Rikifive said, un-square it. Get those cliffs to be a bit more natural. The south-east of your map is just empty. Also, dirty up that snow. I find maps look more dynamic if you never have a 3x3 area of the same tile.

 

Oh, and a small little nit-pick. While all different roofs might seem more visually pleasing, usually, in small villages, the roof and walls are all one kind. I mean, big cities might get away with a variety of building materials, but small villages usually used what was local. Also, it might make your villages more distinguishable from each other. 

[That One NPC 321]

I want to apologize ahead of time for replicating your snapshot. I will delete everything immediately after this post is done. I just thought I'd add as much visual aid as possible instead of rambling the directions in these suggestions. I really want to help you out here.

 

• First of all I want to echo what @Rikifive has said about it being square. I might cut a corner into it and I can see an easy way to extend it without really reshaping the portions you've already worked on along the north west.

 

Spoiler

You could extend these cliffs to the east, and bring the wall over at about where I've cropped it. This could serve as a point where the main gate opens up facing south, but that's just an idea.

I was thinking that way there would be that patch of land outside the walls in the corner. You could actually put some decorations out there to make the surrounds feel more fleshed out and connected to the game world around it.

 

 

• Another major thing is to put snow on more of the roof tops to really embed that feeling of the snow-capped berg all around the player. You might consider adding some detail by making the black smith's house/shop not have snow on the roof, as the forge is running all day. You could add an extra chimney just for it.

 

• It's going good, but it sort of shaping up to be paths and buildings.

Spoiler

You could clear out this general area:

And make a sort of town center. Seeing as how it is a village and not a town, another central point of community interaction could work. Maybe a large fireplace where the village people can gather, or a large tree. I recommend PandaMaru's snow tileset for MV.

 

https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/marus-mv-bits.46811/

 

Those resources can greatly improve your winter town, but of course that's your choice.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by That One NPC

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

Seven points of advice, take as few or many as desired (but at least two):
1) That SE corner, flesh it out. Add some snow lumps, some little prattling kids running about and such, and add some more structures as well.
2) Alternatively, make that corner less empty by pulling it inward and adding scenery stuffs (trees, snow mounds and such).
3) Add fences to the buildings, especially houses. Back yards are optional, but adds that 'oh, nice' little snazz.
4) Add a village square of sorts.
5) Make those cliffs look less 'flat'. Let's see some angles in that rock.
6) Having different roof colors is a design choice, and not one that bothers me either way, but needs more snow on top.
7) Body of water flowing through. It's a snow village, yes but it's vital that such have some form of flowing water, especially since it is a snow village.
8) Bonus: Places like this often have heated stills. Just some knowledge I pass on to you (without the experience of the often f*ckawful stench that comes from carrot beer stills).

[FranklinX 78]

There is a lot of empty space in the village. I recommend considering PhoenixSoul's idea to add a town square. It can fit in the empty space. Use it effectively to make your map stand out and look polish.

[AutumnAbsinthe 153]

On 12/14/2019 at 11:14 PM, PhoenixSoul said:

Seven points of advice, take as few or many as desired (but at least two):
1) That SE corner, flesh it out. Add some snow lumps, some little prattling kids running about and such, and add some more structures as well.
2) Alternatively, make that corner less empty by pulling it inward and adding scenery stuffs (trees, snow mounds and such).
3) Add fences to the buildings, especially houses. Back yards are optional, but adds that 'oh, nice' little snazz.
4) Add a village square of sorts.
5) Make those cliffs look less 'flat'. Let's see some angles in that rock.
6) Having different roof colors is a design choice, and not one that bothers me either way, but needs more snow on top.
7) Body of water flowing through. It's a snow village, yes but it's vital that such have some form of flowing water, especially since it is a snow village.
8) Bonus: Places like this often have heated stills. Just some knowledge I pass on to you (without the experience of the often f*ckawful stench that comes from carrot beer stills).

Pretty much all of this. Also, coming from a small town, at least one medium- to large-sized shop. My small town's a bit larger, so it has one large and one medium. That being said, back when I lived in an even smaller town, it had nothing more than a simple medium-sized convenience store. Also, as everyone above said, Make it less square. Square works for inside buildings, the state of Colorado... And pretty much nothing else. Try looking at maps of real life towns for inspiration.

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

35 minutes ago, AutumnAbsinthe said:

Square works for inside buildings, the state of Colorado...

 

lolz (I miss Colorado though...)

I'll add to my list of advice with one more tidbit:
9) Add an outdoor market that is snow-covered.

[Doomboxx1134 5]

OMG! thank you all for the feedback,  that means alot! This was my village map, I stopped halfway through cause I thought it looked kinda bland, hence the extra space (most of my villages look similar), this feedback is awesome, again, thank you so much guys and gals and I'm sorry for posting in the wrong area, have a great day, people!!!

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

You're very welcome; happy to help.