[WIP] Top down tileset

[AllEvilLaughter]

I'm working on a city builder game, with base gameplay similar to the Settlers series.
Currently only at the very early beginnings of the project, looking for advice on how to create nice variations and detail from a purely top down perspective.
Also, are there any games done in a similar art style that stand out as good examples of this?

Here's the current state of the game and my tileset, you can see a lot of variations as I've been experimenting a bit.




Thanks in advance

[yrizoud]

Even from top down, you'll want a light that comes from one direction, so one side of the roofs is more lighted than the other.
Then if you can implement cast shadows somehow, it would really make the constructions stand out.

Generally, background (flat) areas would deserve less saturated colors, so that anything above it (building, tree) pops more. It's something I noticed in 2D rpgs.

I checked from screenshots how the first SimCity did, and they chose oblique perspective for constructions, without going outside the limits of the 3x3 tiles (technically easier, they don't overlap the surrouding tiles)

[AllEvilLaughter]

The problem with using a lightsource from one direction, is then I can't rotate the tiles.
Trying to avoid having to do a different tile for all 4 directions, but if that's what it takes then it's not the end of the world.
I may be able to handle that somewhat by using a tint in my C# version, could be interesting to see what it looks like.

Any particular tiles stand out as needing less saturation?

I'll have to have a look at the old simcity games.