Violetblight Quarry

[Pizza Tom]

I'm not really sure if I should post this here or in low-spec, since it has a 3D aspect... but the focus of this project is definitely the pixel art, so I'm guessing pixel board.


So I realized I still haven't done any tilesets, which I decided to fix with a little mineshaft area. Each tile is put on a square plane in 3DS max for now, I might put a little game together in Unity when it's all done though.

For the record, it's supposed to be more of a stylized rock, like Basalt, only sideways, if that makes sense.

Floor tiles:



Wall tile:


Right now I'm a little worried that either
A) I'm overdoing it with all the little details, and
B) the details I have now don't do enough to imply form.

I do feel pretty good about my color choices though, but I'm sure someone here can still tell me off about that, haha.

Anyway, here's what it looks like in 3D:


And the floor without the walls:



I know that right now the wall is too repetitive, I'll work on another tile or two to break it up. I also did a little chest on the side.




I'm pretty sure the color choices (warm vs cool) do enough to make the chest pop from the background (especially with the orange gem), but lemme know if you think it could use more work.

[Lilyo]

I think that looks great so far. Are you going to be adding an actual lighting system in the 3D program?

[skw]

What about details, it's really a matter of choice and style. Think Chaos Engine, for example. Their floor tiles were basically just a solid-color fill with some simple corner details. You shouldn't make tiles too complicated, however, especially when they are going to be repeated frequently and on large areas. In the above case, I think that you haven't crossed the barrier yet--the set looks good!

[elderPixark]

I know you said you're pretty set on your color palette, but take a quick look at this. It's just a quick edit of color levels, but I think it is more representational of basaltic rock.



IMO, the level of detail is fine; the floor tiles complement the walls. I would say that the shading around the edges of the floor tiles seems to round out the appearance of the tunnel. You may want to edit that a bit if that is not the desired effect.

[Pizza Tom]

So, slight update. I figured out what was bothering me about the walls. I was trying to imply the rock-forms with shapes like this:

And that's not really how it would look. If anything, it looks like some cracks in the wall. So I threw together a rudimentary model for ref (this) and managed to improve the wall somewhat.

--->

I like that it looks more realistic (I guess), but it is also crazy repetitive.


I could try to find a middle ground, but the new one seems to have less "charm" so I'm not sure it's worth keeping. also might be a pain to redo the floor in the same style...

Are you going to be adding an actual lighting system in the 3D program?

I dunno actually! I tend to like the look of a skylight with textured shading, but I'll at least throw on a depth-of-field effect so it's not so overwhelming. Lighting is one of those things I make up as I go with projects like these.

What about details, it's really a matter of choice and style. Think Chaos Engine, for example. Their floor tiles were basically just a solid-color fill with some simple corner details. You shouldn't make tiles too complicated, however, especially when they are going to be repeated frequently and on large areas. In the above case, I think that you haven't crossed the barrier yet--the set looks good!

Thanks! I've never heard of Chaos Engine before, but a quick image search fixed that. Glad you think my stuff is working as-is.

I know you said you're pretty set on your color palette, but take a quick look at this. It's just a quick edit of color levels, but I think it is more representational of basaltic rock.

picture

IMO, the level of detail is fine; the floor tiles complement the walls. I would say that the shading around the edges of the floor tiles seems to round out the appearance of the tunnel. You may want to edit that a bit if that is not the desired effect.

The rock isn't actually basalt, it's just a fantasy-land rock that's the same style. Apparently the correct term is "columnar," which sounds awkward out loud. But hooray expanding vocabulary!    I'm not too concerned with the roundness, it makes things a little more organic anyway.


Haha but dangit, everyone seems to think it was pretty good already, so I'm definitely leaning toward the older version of the wall...

[dreamisle]

I kinda like the previous version better, mainly because the lighter bits didn't make the contrast feel quite as heavy as the dark bits do in the new version. It might be worth exploring what your lightsource is and using that as a means to change the lighter parts of the tile to another hue.

For what it's worth, I love oldschool blocky maze games, and I'd play the crap out of a maze game set in this mine.

[ptoing]

I suggest some fake contrast kinda stuff like what Doom does, or actually Wolf3d as well. Where they basically have darker textures for some of the sides. so that around corners and in edges, you get more definition.

[Ymedron]

I'd advise on a differently colored floor/ceiling, because there is a risk of the whole thing feeling claustrophobic if you are surrounded on all sides by the same color. For example, making the floor a darker brown/purple/gray might be a good idea. (assuming this will be in first person)

This comes mainly from my personal experiences of sleeping in a room where all the walls were the same color of wood, it was somewhat unnerving if you paid attention to it.

[Pizza Tom]

All valid points! I did try looking around at "eye level" to get a feel for how it would be first-person, and it was nauseating.  I think I'm actually gonna go with a 3rd person perspective similar to Chocobo's Dungeon 2.

Here's a test with a "ceiling" tile added in (texture is extremely WIP!). I dunno if I can really get the same perspective as Chocobo's Dungeon with the height of my tiles being the same as the width though. :/



Still! It looks a bit more game-like now. I think at this point I'm gonna try some lighting/effects in Unity so I know what I can get away with moving forward.

edit: Also, updated chest!

[Ymedron]

Perhaps the gold could benefit from slightly more orange-brown shadows? It might look more appealing that way. Also the ceiling/"no walk" zones might want a different hue as well, as this whole game is looking super-purple at the moment. *stroke chin* Maybe the kinda foggy halloweeny mood is your intention?

With this perspective, you might need to make the walls transparent in certain situations so the player isn't blindsided by monsters hanging out in corridors and such. (It always takes the player out of the game when they start thinking "My character should have been able to see that, why couldn't I?") Or maybe give enemies an outline that shines through walls, if that's more your fancy?