RPG Tileset

[Q.K.]

Alright, I'm doing the graphics for an RPG of mine, and I was doing these tiles... but I just wasn't too sure about them. I would really appreciate any and all criticism, or pointers on how to get this looking better. In particular, the palette. As a note, the character you see there was done by Adarias for this game. The tileset there uses 12 colors + 1 for transparency, however I think there are 2 similar shades of black in the character throwing off the color count of the mockup.


The tileset on it's own.


The tileset in use, and a lighter version for comparison.

I'm aware the dirt tile pattern is repetitive, and the tiles aren't quite set up right (missing corners). I would appreciate some input, or suggestions on how to get a more... realistic dirt tile. Thanks guys.

[Terley]

I like it, the obvious thing I noticed was, as you said, the palette.. I don't dislike it at all, it just seems to camoflauge the character. I'd just mess around with the Hue/Saturation/Contrast of it.. Also don't settle on a first idea, I'd advice you to keep working on different grass/dirt textures for your tiles you may stumble on something you like better than this. As you said you need help with the dirt, just keep practicing, you basically have the right idea anyway. 

This may be irrelevant but I think it helps to see how it'd look if you were actually playing it, I use 'the games factory', it's a program used to make simple games like this, it's very basic so it's just a quick way to experiment with like graphics and testing out character movements. www.clickteam.com you can download it from their site under retired products in the download section. Also they've release the games factory 2  . it's helping me with my platform tests, http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/4586/untitledpk5.png.. Though I've still got a lot to do 

hope I helped. 

[Dusty]

I think a problem here is I just can't tell what's going on, at all. Are those circle things bushes? If so I think you need to seperate them from the ground with a change of colour, perhaps make them a bit brighter. A I agree with Terley, the character blends way too much into it. I do think the pallette could use a bit more brighter adjustment, since the character is so dark.

[Ryumaru]

i dont have much of a problem with the pallette either. maybe give the green a bluer tint and overall a little less contrast?
the dark edge you have around the tiles make the grass seem to be a plane, and makes the image look very flat. now that i think about it, if you took the dark edge off of all the tiles except the bottom 3, it would make the grass look more 3d. i also think the bush could be improved by not being mirrored.

[Takai Soyokaze]

This is from SOM, but anyway, this gives you an idea of the contrast needed for grass tiles. Also, are you using 5 colors a tile?

Read this: http://www.zoggles.co.uk/asp/tutorials.asp?tut=3&page=11

Heres some of the highlights from the link:

I noticed a lot of isometric views of grass tiles, but this is going to be for overhead/ three quarters type view. Just one thing to say about grass tiles, it is a good idea NOT to try to smudge or blur your tile once you complete it on order to blend it. The only thing that tends to accomplish is to make your tile look less detailed than it did in the first place Of course this is assuming that you want to make SD3 type grass tiles. OK so lets start with our tile...we are going to reduce the color depth to 4bit color depth (16 colors) and choose three shades of greens. The first one should be rather dark, with a low intensity (mixing a little "grey" to the color). Also, we are going to make our green a little on the yellowish side, so that it looks more like an olive color than anything else. This will help give you the natural looking green that suits grass tiles well in my opinion. Also , when you choose your lighter shades of green, I tend to continually add a little more yellow in each time, so that the highlights of your grassblades are not neon or flourescent yellow...heh. Alright, here is a little preview of what my 'palette' looks like thus far.

[Q.K.]

I tried making things lighter, though I'm not so sure if it looks as good now. It looks almost... faded? I mean, I agree, that was pretty dark. Maybe I'll take a stab at doing some different kinds of grass tiles (ala SD3).

I also made the bushes blue. Not too sure about that choice really, but it does make them stand out in any case. Well, I'm going to try a different approach with the grass tiles for a bit, but if you have anything to say about this palette change, I'd like to hear it. Thanks.

[ndchristie]

i like the blue bushes.  for the grass, try adding in some brown or yellow to make it look more natural and also to let the character come forward a bit, sorry i gave you such a hard-to-read sprite to work with.

[Xion]

The grass looks too busy, taking away from the foreground character. The lighter grass, however, is an improvement.

[Q.K.]

Thanks, I'm going to try working on that to reduce the busyness of it. In the mean time. I did these next tiles very similar to the Seiken Densetsu tiles. These weren't rips... they were done from scratch with some reference in order to keep the feel of Seiken Densetsu. I just want to know, before I go on with things, do these look far too similar to Seiken Densetsu to the point where people would start calling them edits/rips? The game *will* be selling for a profit, and I don't want to bother/be bothered by Square-Enix.

[Xion]

do these look far too similar to Seiken Densetsu to the point where people would start calling them edits/rips?

Not at all. SD was just a reference.

[ndchristie]

my concern - everyone who has read tsugumo has made these grass tiles.  they will work, but they will define the tiles as novice - fanart/practise tiles - whether you like it or not.  i think though the the lessened contrast and better colors will do you a lot of good here.

[Takai Soyokaze]

Something no one every seems to do here, but go look at rpg games, the greats, and work like they do.

[Xion]

That's what he just did.

[Q.K.]

Heh, I was about to say... isn't Seiken Densetsu considered one of the greats?

In any case... I'm a bit undecided, after taking Adarias' remark into consideration. I'll probably try and work with the previous tiles, or possibly a combination. Then again, who knows, I might do something completely different. I'll update when I've got something worth showing. In the meantime, if there's anything I've missed/hasn't been mentioned, feel free to say so.

[ndchristie]

Takai, are you kidding?  like, have you read the last 3 posts before yours? - feels a bit redundant because others pointed it out while i was posting

studying popular and attractive works its a great way to start, thats why nearly everyone can spot the SD3 grass, most often drawn from tsugumo's tutorial, or, less commonly, a knockoff tutorial also on zoggles, but also, occasionally, from direct observation of screenshots. (did i really just say direct observation of screenshots?  ewwwwwwww....direct observation comes from life! remember this!  you will learn more about spriting grass from looking outside than you will from studying other artist's interpretations of the same object)

there is nothing wrong with this style of learning, except for the fact that you lose the creative credit that comes with discovering your own methods. 

many people dont worry about this with something like grass tiles (because despite the fact that there are so many possibilities, its still hard to come up with a style that doesnt look like something thats already been done several times by someone else).

This however is in general a creative/artistic forum, even though it can be geared towards specific styles, so in general, copies and interpretations are viewed as beginer-level work which will help the artist to blossom into the intermediate realm of cautious experimentation driven by the imagination, and eventually to advanced realm of complete creative freedom and exploration that is both an amalgamation and complete rejection of the art to which they have been exposed to.  A select few, the masters, surpass even this level of creation and define existence as themselves, therby proving that they themsleves exist as independant sources of creative material for others to draw from.

So like i said, studying the masters is fine, it's where most people begin, but the creative process is one that builds independance, not reliance, which is why emulation is often plagued by the idea that it is 'beneath' certain levels of art and creativity.

[crab2selout.png]

I only glanced through the posts so sorry if someone said this already.

I think it's too busy to be your grass tile. Compared to foreground objects, the grass should be simpler in design and its range of luminance values low. The grass/floor layer shouldn't compete for attention with your foreground object like the bushes, buildings, trees, etc.

I made a thread for a harvest moon mockup which you might want to check out. I got a lot of VERY imformative posts in that thread which you apply to this kind of mockup.

[Q.K.]

Alright, I know, I know I said I'd update this when I had something "worth" showing, but I figured I'd put out a possible final coloring for these tiles. As well, I updated those bushes, but just want to make sure things are looking alright there.

[Q.K.]

Alright, please excuse the bump... I'm a bit uncertain here. I tried going with another style for the dirt, but I really can't tell what looks best. So I suppose I'm asking for opinions here. BTW, the color count is at 16, including the white (transparency if I wasn't so lazy to make a gif).

[MoD]

I think the upper one looks better; the lower one has perfectly circular "dots" that make it look like it's from a top-on view.

[Xion]

I prefer the bottom one. The top one looks like mud or some kind of liquid. The bottom is much more solid.

[LMM]

Alright, please excuse the bump... I'm a bit uncertain here. I tried going with another style for the dirt, but I really can't tell what looks best. So I suppose I'm asking for opinions here. BTW, the color count is at 16, including the white (transparency if I wasn't so lazy to make a gif).

i dont know if i am allowed ti suggest some colorchanges on your tiles and your sprite (i am only a beginner so if my suggestiones are a piece of shit dont be angry with me please).

here is my suggestion:



less contrast in grass, a little less saturation and another color.

I changed the color of the jacket of the char and did some changes with the legs + set some highlights.