GR#036 - Tile Layout [WARNING: Image Heavy Thread]

[Olothontor]

Hah, I think I'm handling okay. I may prove to be a poor judge of such things, though. 

I really appreciate the help here, guys.

Minor update, I'm on the precipice of transitions. But, obviously, before I get into transitions I need more than one tileset. So with that in mind, I set off to do a dead grass tileset.

Surprise, surprise, it's no good at all.

[PypeBros]

I am incredibly dissatisifed, but at least it's progress. I'll work on making more varied tiles.

You keep working with a too high level of detail for that resolution. You picked a better palette : we can now see what you did while your early tiles were almost reading as a plain color. Problem is that it gives high contrast to your dirt that is obviously seen from far away (further than, e.g. a Zelda top-down distance, more the command-and-conquer distance to the ground). The result is that we mostly see noise because it's extremely hard to properly render textures that approach granularity of a pixel through pixel art. At greater distance, you lose the contrast of small details (since rays of light mix together) and only notice larger structures. The stylized waves for the dirt on the warcraft II are a perfect example of this.

[Olothontor]

Alright, PypeBros, I see what you're saying, but... I'm not sure how to make it work.

While I try to figure that out, have an update:



UPDATE: Nearly there...



(@PypeBros: Nifty blog. It makes good practice for me, I'm studying French in school. From your blog I can probably learn words one would never learn in your average French classroom, like 'devkit' and 'program' and 'sprite')

UPDATE: DONE! I feel accomplished.

[Mathias]

Hey, now you're getting somewhere, Olothontor! I feel encouraged to start on a new set of my own. Just don't really have a reason to . . . our group has already decided not to use this type of tiling for our current project.

. . . I actually posted a similar explanation for transition tiles some time ago, not that detailed though.
But canīt find the image now.

What is it one of these maybe? Both are useful, and neat examples of tiles.

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=5601.msg66515#msg66515

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=9528.msg103743#msg103743

[HC_Bret_Measor]

Excellent post from everyone. I'm learning a few things on a setup side of things. Can't wait to start my next set.

[Olothontor]

Yeah, they're all really helpful, aren't they? 

Anywho, further updates:



Cleaning up of the corners; some of the edges were awkward. Also a few grass detail tiles.

Filesmelt appears to have broken again. I apologize.



UPDATE: Added mud tiles, plus a transition to grass. Also began work on the battlefield wasteland tiles. The craters were done by the programmer, actually. We're multi-talented



UPDATE: I continue to steam right along...

[Crow]

Transitions still look edgy and blocky. You should add a few variations, or just add some general randomness to them.

[Olothontor]

Mmh, good idea. I'll get to work on a few tiles like that, but not until I finish the general tilesets and transitions. Here's my task list:

   1.  Tilesets
         1. --Wasteland--
         2. --Wasteland (Battlefield)--
         3. --Wasted Grassland--
         4. Cityscape Ruins
         5. Wasted Forest
         6. Water
         7. --Mud--
   2. Tileset Transitions
         1. --Wasteland to Mud--
         2. --Wasteland to Wasted Grassland--
         3. --Wasted Grass to Mud--
         4. Cityscape Ruins to Wasteland
         5. Wasted Forest to Wasted Grassland
         6. Wasted Forest to Wasteland
         7. Water to Wasteland
         8. Water to Wasted Grassland
         9. Water to Cityscape Ruins
   3. Sprites
         1. Characters
               1. Main Character
               2. Major NPCS
               3. Extras
               4. Dead
         2. Buildings
               1. City Ruins
               2. Inhabited Ruins
               3. Derelict Slums
               4. Aegis Township
               5. Junker Tent City
   4. Other
         1. --Pre-menu--
         2. --Main Menu--
         3. --iPhone Icon--
         4. Loading

The items marked by double-dashes are struck through, indicating their completion.

UPDATE: Began Water tiles, now I need those transitions. Added some variety to the border tiles, working on expanding that to every transition. Also added a character test sprite, and a horrible one at that. No surprises there, really.

I would seriously appreciate any advice you can offer in that area. The examples with images and edits have helped the most so far, I'm more of a visual and tactile person than I am a 'read-em-an-learn'.



^ UPDATE: Base water tiles for the Water -> Wasteland transition are done. Now for detail tiles.

UPDATE THE II: Hey, all, tiny internet hiatus there, but I'm back.



There's an update for you. Updated the water -> grassland transition, and added in a test abandoned building. How does everything look? Please do C+C and make edits. After all, I want this game to look good not just to me, but to you guys as well.

[Olothontor]

BUMPDATE: Sorry, but I need you guy's critique here... if you need me I'll be awaiting the swift and horrible judgment of one of the moderators here for malicious double-posting.

Anywho, the updates here: I have the base city tiles done, give or take a few detail tiles. Also began testing out a good abandoned house look to see what I could do with it. So far it works well enough, I'm relatively happy. The tiling around it, however... 



UPDATE:



Also: SUCCESS! We have our first version of the system we're going use to assemble the in-game maps. Now we're talkin'!



UPDATE: This thread is starting to take minute or two to load. Need to go back and trim unnecessary updates from the mass of images in here. Anyway, yet another update:



Changed the palette of the city tiles so that they didn't mesh with the building quite as well, and made the tile around the building itself... make more sense. Shadowing and all that.

[blumunkee]

Looks almost like JSON, nifty.

The ground textures are awfully busy. I think you need to tone down the contrast and get some bigger chunks of solid shapes in there. The cobblestone texture is pretty harsh too.