OGA's new RPG tiles

[API-Beast]

some edit I did two days ago:

[Phlakes]

That edit actually brings up something pretty important, your lightest shades are midtones. Might want to put something with a broader palette in there for reference to get rid of the relativity.

[Sharm]

This is all I've made so far, so showing a good color range is difficult.  Hopefully this will help.  The sprite is one Redshrike made for the project.  I just pasted him on, he'll probably have a shadow later.


Facet:  I've tried varying the lightest dirt color with other colors, but it ended up looking really weird.  Any where I put a different color it looked like just a patch and not like dirt anymore.  It also made it way too busy.  I'd love to find a way to vary it, but the only way I can think of is to add an alt tile.

[Sharm]

Latest mockup with new colors.  Got the go ahead to do some nice stuff to the grass.

[Sharm]

Now with houses.



Hopefully the silence means it's looking good.

BTW, Facet, I tried to do a less detailed tree and no one liked the result.  We're sticking with this tree.  Though I did fix the lighting, your edit helped a lot there.

[jams0988]

Hopefully the silence means it's looking good.

Yup, looking pretty good. I like your other RPG set more, though. This one looks more like it'd be in a Facebook/Flash game, whereas the other one is gritty and grimy looking, like it'd be in an SNES game. They both look good, but my personal preference leans more toward the older looking stuff.

BTW, Facet, I tried to do a less detailed tree and no one liked the result.  We're sticking with this tree.  Though I did fix the lighting, your edit helped a lot there.

That only says that people didn't like *your* less detailed tree, though, not that a less detailed tree is a bad idea in concept. Facet's edit looks freaking beautiful, in my opinion, and I'd love to play a game that used that style. Very painterly and unique.

[Facet]

Definately looking good

There are a few things which you could improve on; the rocks are very high key and quite globular, the roof doesn't overlap the walls and the left facing side (of the roof) could do with lightening up, the top of the windows is missing a visible ledge and perhaps the door a frame and the latest foliage pallete is very saturated, especially the lightest shade.

Some consistancy issues; the buildings cast shadow right whereas the trees cast straight down and the rocks, chimney and architectural details don't seem to cast any. Every tile on the roof is outlined whereas most everything else is treated with localised detail.

I made a (very) messy architectural paint-over. Also, I didn't edit this but you have tiles on a flat roof which I don't think would work realistically.



Thanks Jams, I must stress that I wouldn't put any of my rough edits in a game without cleaning them up a bit first

[Sharm]

Facet:  Excellent points, I'll see what I can do about all of them except the roof overlap.  It's been decided that there won't be more of an overlap because of how many more tiles that would require.  I was worried that the roof would look over textured in comparison to the rest, I'll drop the lines.  With the lighting I was attempting a typical cheat used in RPGs, but I guess I'm not doing it right.  Hopefully adding a few shadows and moving the trees is all it needs.  Could you do a color edit for what you'd suggest for the palette?  Making the palette work is the hardest part for me.  As for the roof, here's the reference image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Silliman_College_from_SSS_roof.jpg  It appears to be some sort of brick, but it does match the roofing.

On a different subject, I would really love to see a tileset made by you someday.  Mostly I'd like to see your solution to things that seem to consistently bug you with my tiles.  I bet I'd learn a lot.  That and it'd be epic and beautiful.

Jams: Of course the problem was with my tree.  ^_^  I agree the concept is still sound, if I were doing this for myself I'd be posting the simplified one for editing and trying to make it work.  Unfortunately that method is only going to cost my client money and he likes what he's got.

[Facet]

I was attempting a typical cheat used in RPGs, but I guess I'm not doing it right

That's kind of relative, It's not really a case of right or wrong, I'm just trying to highlight inconsistancies regardless of common tropes. The previous tree palette (post #12) looked good to me and it looks like lead roofing on the flats from your reference.

Also thanks, I never seem to finish any of my own projects, likely because of a tendancy to do everything the hard way and lose all sense of scope (which I hope I'm not passing on in any critique I give ) but I have been meaning to post something original here for a while.