AuthorTopic: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 12 Aug 2011]  (Read 7133 times)

Offline Olothontor

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I was feeling inspired by a couple of different influences (two of which were on this very forum; namely Vedsten's tiles and Arne's thoroughly-worked-through 16-bit palette), and so I sat down and whipped together some hexes while staring at Vedsten's iso-tiles. After a while, once I was relatively happy with the tiles themselves, I moved on and tried my hand at an actual building. A lone tower with simple wooden palisades.

I'm sure there are hundreds of things wrong here, and I'm sorry if I have inconvenienced anyone's eyesight with this. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I could do better.



P.S. the mockup may end up being 2x view, so be sure to check out the image in both ways. Let me know which you like better, both with the current version and your edits (if you do any).

Thanks in advance.

Update: 8 Aug 2011
      * Added people! With the addition of units I think I'm definitely going to stick with 2x for this project.
      * Sameday Secondary Update: Hats! Since it's such a small scale, hats will be the main identifier for units (although if this were to make it to real-game stage, there would also be scroll-over tooltips with unit details. So far, no real theme to the hats... a hardat, wizard's hat, centurion plume, tophat...

Update: 9 Aug 2011
      * Scrapped the previous units, since visibility was shit even at 2x. Trying to design a new model for the units, something that I can group into 2s and 3s on a hex, while still having some of them stand alone for independent and special characters.
      * Sameday Secondary Update: Trying to work the people so that I can have units of 3's, that can be upgraded to 6-man and 9-man teams. I want to make all of the upgrades as visually rewarding as possible (i.e. if I expend some resources to up my soldier's defense stat, I want to see their armor get visibly more awesome on the sprites, rather than just have it be a purely numerical difference). Also attempting to make the towers seem a bit less flat; so far, just an outline. That made it better, but didn't fix it entirely. The bold numbers in gold are for letting the player know how large the unit occupying the tower is (that number will also show up in unit tooltips in-game).
      * Also added another shade to the water. Not sure if I like it.
      * Added an experimental "Special Character" to show he would fit into units. He would essentially replace the leading guy in the unit, and be front and center in everything. Making him as obvious as he is is going to present a problem as I try to face the units in all 6 directions, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I want to nail down the look of the units before I try to face them.

Update: 10 Aug 2011
      * Rounded out the tower a bit! Thanks, Ichigo Jam. It still doesn't look quite right, but it's a step in the right direction.

Update: 11 Aug 2011
      * Finished rounding out the tower, again thanks to further clue-by-fouring by Ichigo.
      * Added bonus: working out unit selection. eventually I'm going to start adding mockups to the tooltip and order menus to this gif, but for now it's just the highlight example. Kinda pointless to post, but hey. More shinies to look it.


Update: 12 Aug 2011
      * Now with 150% more units! At the size I'm working with, it's becoming difficult to make unique characters though. If anyone has advice on that subject, don't hesitate to pass it on.
      * Also, minimap!
« Last Edit: August 12, 2011, 11:23:16 pm by Olothontor »
"In a mad world, only the mad are sane." - Akira Kurosawa

Offline Phlakes

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 8 Aug 2011]

Reply #1 on: August 09, 2011, 03:52:34 am
I know you probably know this, but I'd just like to point out that your desert tiles are just two colors of random dots. I'd suggest reading through this, at least up to part 5.

Offline Olothontor

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 8 Aug 2011]

Reply #2 on: August 09, 2011, 01:21:14 pm
I know you probably know this, but I'd just like to point out that your desert tiles are just two colors of random dots. I'd suggest reading through this, at least up to part 5.

Yeah... it's a stand-in tile for the time being. I was going to try to go for more of a wavy look, but I couldn't get it to look right with the colors. I'm not sure if I was using the wrong colors or what, but everything I tried seemed too dark and blatant, too many rough edges. I simply didn't look good. On the other hand, flat noise wouldn't fit with the theme so far at all, and it'd stick out like a sore thumb.

Suffice it to say, I'm working on it. Thanks, though!
"In a mad world, only the mad are sane." - Akira Kurosawa

Offline Fickludd

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 9 Aug 2011]

Reply #3 on: August 09, 2011, 08:21:26 pm
* Scrapped the previous units, since visibility was shit even at 2x.

I was just about to comment on the difficulty of making readable units with so many different tiles and couldn't find your units =). Anyway I think the mockup looks very promising and nice tower. The best thing about hex tiles must be that even though the tower is so tall it doesn't obscure the two tiles behind it, that's just great!

Offline Olothontor

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 9 Aug 2011]

Reply #4 on: August 09, 2011, 08:51:37 pm
The best thing about hex tiles must be that even though the tower is so tall it doesn't obscure the two tiles behind it, that's just great!

Yeah, I liked that fact as well. As long as I'm careful not to make them too tall.
"In a mad world, only the mad are sane." - Akira Kurosawa

Offline Zenobia

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 9 Aug 2011]

Reply #5 on: August 09, 2011, 09:38:29 pm
I love the style and the way you are approaching this.
I think it could use a bit of refining (AA on the water ripples and maybe tower-stones), and possibly the tower should stand out more because at first sight it may appear flat against the other tiles (different shape e.g. shorter or portruding stones? or dark outline?), but keep going! I'd like to see more.

Offline Olothontor

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 9 Aug 2011]

Reply #6 on: August 10, 2011, 12:12:23 am
I hear ya, Zenobia. I tried giving them an outline in the most recent update, but it only sortof helped.

Also, any general help with the people would be appreciated. My first attempt was too small, my second attempt (still on the spritesheet) is far too big, and the third one that I've started mocking up has the right scale, but looks rather silly in terms of proportion and angling.
"In a mad world, only the mad are sane." - Akira Kurosawa

Offline Ichigo Jam

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 9 Aug 2011]

Reply #7 on: August 10, 2011, 01:37:38 pm
I think the current, larger characters work nicely - they are obviously not to-scale with the tower, but I don't think that matters much. The hexagon-based scenery is hardly realistic, after all  :).

I'd also suggest trying a round tower so its shape contrasts better with the straight-edged grid.

Offline Olothontor

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 9 Aug 2011]

Reply #8 on: August 10, 2011, 04:27:45 pm
Thanks, Ichigo!

I rounded out the tower a bit with this morning's update, and it's much better. Still doesn't look quite right, though. I think I need to fix the stone texturing... any ideas?
"In a mad world, only the mad are sane." - Akira Kurosawa

Offline Ichigo Jam

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Re: [WIP] Hex-based Tower Defense/RPG Mockup [Updated 10 Aug 2011]

Reply #9 on: August 10, 2011, 05:07:34 pm
You need the brick texture to line up with shape of the tower; currently they contradict, which makes it look confusing.

Quick example, note the construction line which has the same shape as the base of the tower - the bricks should follow this.


Although, having tried this I think you'll need an extra feature to make the tower interesting enough - the vertical stones on the corners of your original help reinforce the shape, but they don't really work on the round one.