GR#096 - 32x32 RPG Tiles

[Facet]

Nice catch Arachne , the effect is certainly too strong in my edit, but I have seen similar examples before.
Vertical reflection   Stream example

Painted ripples or a Sine effect applied to the water could look really nice.

Now that I look at it again I think what's making it look strange is the blue/purple in the shade. I think actually it should appear relatively warm & saturated in the shallows because of the 'polishing' effect and the blue shift would only become pronounced in deeper water.

Thorough explanation of the many variables to consider by the venerable Mr. Gurney below.
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2007/12/water-reflections-part-1.html

That's quite a lot to mull over, sorry Sharm
  

[Sharm]

Hi everyone, I have returned from vacation and have updated the mockups.  I think I've covered everyone's comments and suggestions in this update, please point out if I've forgotten anything.




I did a shading change on both grass tiles, they should look less like wallpaper now. The tall grass finally has edges.  The dead tree is three dimensional now. I've also added some cattails, bushes, a stump and a log.  I figured out a method of adding some green at the bottom of the tree that worked with the way I wanted to tile things.  I've made some tiles that edge flat things with grass.  I made the arm swing further back in the arm animation. It was looking very red on my brother's monitor, so I did some tweaking of the colors again.  And last but certainly not least, I did a parallax reflection for the water which I hope keeps everyone happy.  My forest mockup picture is now too crowded to be a good in game shot, but it shows everything off well.

At this point I've been staring at it too long, hopefully I haven't made any glaring errors.

[Facet]

Please don't feel as though you have to appease anyone, We can can all only suggest what we like and reason why. I'd be happiest if you found a solution that you really liked

Great improvements/additions, although the long grass is still quite busy for me, and the short (grass) still very dark considering the fairly light and arid-looking dirt tile; consistency between traversable ground would help imo. I'd make the log bigger and possibly hollow to make absolutely clear what it is.   

The cottage is very well-kempt and angular for something you've come across in the forest, it's also a bit homogeneously blue-grey and white. I'd give it more symbolic yellowish thatch and more interesting footprint; curved edges give you the chance to render a bit and better sell the shape of the house as a whole.

In general I'd really milk every chance you get to demonstrate light & shade; shadow is dimensionality.

I took some liberties with my edit. Please note that it's not really intended as a blueprint for what you should do but more as a guide to help you produce work with more body and a better understanding of structure. after I sketched out the floorplan I found it was a very thin, pointy house so I've put up my process below.

[Sharm]

No worries about me going overboard with pleasing everyone.  I am way too opinionated.  Trying to please people is my attempt to combat the side of me that wants to tell everyone they're idiots for not adoring my creative vision as it is right now.  I would like to know if the new water addresses your issues with it though.  Listening to opinions like yours is what got me to this new solution which I like better than the old one.

Yeah, the grass did get dark in the short stuff and busy with the tall.  Maybe some less extreme coloring will help.



Actually, with the house I was going for a german gothic cottage in a small village not lone house in the forest.  I love the charm of yours, but I think it breaks the style.  You've got a point about the coloring.  I like the brightness of my new colors, but they make it seem like a grey and white house when it's supposed to be faded thatch and wood with yellowing stucco.  I don't think I'll be going with yellow thatch.  That color in thatch drives me crazy because it means it's new, not cured and doesn't work as well.  I suppose it became the norm because thatch is always yellow in tropical climates, but that's not what I'm making here.  I could do something a little more in-between and make it browner.



Personally though, I don't like it.  The grey had some nice purpley qualities.

I'll be working on a nice chimney and gabled window like you have in that edit soon.  I would have done the chimney like that in the first place but I was having problems sorting out the perspective in my head.

[Facet]

No worries about me going overboard with pleasing everyone.  I am way too opinionated.  Trying to please people is my attempt to combat the side of me that wants to tell everyone they're idiots for not adoring my creative vision as it is right now.  

Awesome , I love the new water for it's pictorial qualities, if I do think indicating the shadow of the bank would be even nicer. The symbolic blue/purple worked ok; it's just I've seen an awful lot of it and reflections are really the only chance you get to show the sky from this kind of viewpoint. I Just don't want to argue you out of something you liked; I sometimes play devil's advocate when giving advice in an attempt to get people to more thoroughly examine their own decisions and hopefully help themselves. You have a great attitude to self improvement and some lovely work here.  

I preferred the lighter long grass, just a touch less contrast and I'd bring the darker short stuff up more in line with that. The 'cobbled' dirt is way nicer, cleaner than the dithered one also. I should have made clear that my example for the house wasn't a stylistic suggestion, just concerned with construction. I just like drawing simplified cute stuff to demonstrate concepts, I don't want to be too prescriptive  

'RPG Perspective' is often a bit of a fudge (notice some of my estimated linework had to be changed in the flats) But what I was trying to say is that when you've drawing something intended to occupy 3 dimensions; don't just draw the facade. How does it connect to the ground? Sketch a wireframe before rendering. You don't need to get silly about room division and where the TV will go (an element of Tardis syndrome is perhaps neccessary) but a grounding in reality is very important.    

If I've dumped too much on you at once here, sorry. I won't be able to keep up with forums and things for a while so I'm trying to purge myself of any advice now.

[Sharm]

Oh, okay I get it.  Seems the biggest offender is the roof, I can totally fix that.  Thank you so much for the advice you've been giving, it's helped immensely.  Good luck with whatever you're dealing with right now.

[PypeBros]

Oh, okay I get it.  Seems the biggest offender is the roof, I can totally fix that. 

The chemney-to-roof transition imho suffer the same kind of "obvious tiling" effect as the one you previously had with trees and ground. overline it with one of your roof texture and start in the middle of a brick row, rather than aligned on brick transition, and you should have something more naturally-fitting-together.

[Sharm]

*hits forehead*  Yes, that does look bad.  You think taking the bottom edge off will be enough?

BTW I'm not sure I made this clear, but some of the decision I've been making about this tileset is to make it easily expandable and versatile.  This is why I want the chimney and trees to work on any tile someone might put it on.

[PypeBros]

*hits forehead*  Yes, that does look bad.  You think taking the bottom edge off will be enough?

It could use some shadow on one of its side (shadow casted by the chimney on the roof, that is), but imho, yes, the bottom edge is the most important one to fix.

BTW I'm not sure I made this clear, but some of the decision I've been making about this tileset is to make it easily expandable and versatile.  This is why I want the chimney and trees to work on any tile someone might put it on.

... which you can usually get by having 2 layers of tiles cleverly used. Here, the bottom of the chimney would be on the bottom layer over which you'd have a partially-transparent "hole-in-roofing" tile laying. higher in the chimney, you might swap the two: the roofing goes to the bottom layer, and the chimney over it, allowing you to break its purely-squarish look if you desire to do so.

[imnumberfour]

Is this still being worked on? It's simply too beautiful to give up on!