Industrial tileset: Not sure where to start

[jvpeters_]

I've decided to make a runner-style game. I've made games before, but I never tried to make sprites(that aren't just squares).
So I took the hit, and started on a tileset. I'm currently going for an industrial look (concrete/metal) but I can't get a look I'm happy with.




The bottom one was going to be a terrain type thing, but I really don't like where it's going.
The top one is okish, but I could only use it for details else the game would look too busy.

Any tips on how I could achieve metal/stone?

[Gil]

Tiles by themselves are hard to critique, show us a mockup of what the game looks like

[jvpeters_]

I haven't quite decided on how I'm going to generate it yet, though I'm probably going for preset rooms maybe with random detail tiles, and some sections perlin noise based caveish terrain. I'll make a few preset rooms and post them for critique.
Terrain will come later.

[jvpeters_]

Ok, some changes have been made:








I created some girder textures, made the textures more rusty looking and created a room layout (sorry it's not in 100% scale, it's a screenshot, not a mockup):
EDIT: The screenshot was horrible quality so I made a mockup and switched image host site.



I'm using that "terrain" texture as a metal beam now, still not really liking it.
Seems I can get away with using that first texture more often as scaffolding.

I'll get around to a background at some point.

[smithy101]

The level looks pretty good for only having 4 tiles. Try to make some variations of the tiles that you have untile now like one with a crack in it or one that is missing a bar. That way you have some variation in you level otherwis the level will look boring after some time. Also a background would help dealing with this issue.

[Pix3M]

This will be fun. I am horribly inexperienced with side-scrollers 

I will pick this reference to make sure that I know what I'm drawing: http://www.kiddermathews.com/img/services/industrial.jpg
and that's good practice. Unless you have things firmly into memory, you're gonna learn new things about what you're drawing if you simply use a reference

I look at proportional relationships between the horizontal and vertical supports, and I 'carve up' the game screen like this. I have a background, a tileset layer, and a layer for sprites (characters and goodies, what not). This helps me  decide how to use my space on the game screen


And so, I decide that vertical supports will be 1-tile wide, and horizontal support sections will be 2 tiles tall, 6 tiles wide, plus another tile on top for the actual platform you stand on

Once I got size relationships down, I can then add as much detail as I want until I'm happy with it. Since this is just showing you a workflow I think is solid, this is something I wouldn't put in a portfolio yet, but this should be good enough what what I need



If you create tiles without having a feel for how they fit together in a level, something's gonna feel missing. It gets better with experience though, when you have a better feel for how you use your space for a more powerful game feel

[jvpeters_]

I've switched to a more industrial-cave-ish design. One of the reasons is because in high up areas it's hard to get away with hazards that aren't falling, and it's hard to get away without falling being an instadeath.
The thick beams seem to work much better with this design too.

(ignore the player sprite, the stone background is also only temporary)

That tile with the red dot is a flame trap, the flame sprite feels really lacking though. Any thoughts on it?

Try to make some variations of the tiles that you have untile now like one with a crack in it or one that is missing a bar. That way you have some variation in you level otherwis the level will look boring after some time

Working on that currently, Unity is giving me a hard time about it though. That'll teach me to start level design before I've finished the tile's scripts