Screenshot Thread

@ardien: One thing I think needs adjusting is the thickness of your walls. They have no depth to them... at all. They're like, four pixels thick - this means they're one brick thick - not very good if someone with a battering ram runs up and pokes them Castles had reinforced walls so that if they got struck by something they'd be a little dented but not damaged and surrounding walls were even thicker to keep occupying forces out. Add a walkway for the soldiers who need to man the walls and you'll also add some depth so the walls look more realistic. Just a suggestion. Otherwise it all looks pretty nice.

Your edges still look to sharp. At least in the outdoor screenshot. Maybe make the edges a bit softer?

@ardien: One thing I think needs adjusting is the thickness of your walls. They have no depth to them... at all. They're like, four pixels thick - this means they're one brick thick - not very good if someone with a battering ram runs up and pokes them Castles had reinforced walls so that if they got struck by something they'd be a little dented but not damaged and surrounding walls were even thicker to keep occupying forces out. Add a walkway for the soldiers who need to man the walls and you'll also add some depth so the walls look more realistic. Just a suggestion. Otherwise it all looks pretty nice.

note the WIP....The walls will be as thick as the castle walls you see extended out from celinas castle.

as for the harshness of the edges, I dont plan to change these for I like the look of it, but thanks for your input.

This is a concept....Still not done, I want to extend the castle more and make it more....grand...I still want to put towers on the gate house.

Should I have people standing on the walls like that? they will be static, non moving....

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That's a very cool map. Keep the sentries on the bulwarks. They look good.

The sentry on the upper right-hand wall is half-obscured by the tower. It looks strange. My advice is to extend that side of the bulwark by one column. You should also add an additional column to the right of the tower; this will make the fort symmetrical. Fortifications are usually built to a high degree of symmetry.

The castle lacks proportion. It seems huge, but isn't really (unless it's actually incredibly dysfunctional). The bulwarks dwarf the smaller towers and appear ostensibly larger in size than the facade. RPG Maker VX is particularly great at diminishing scale and proportions, so I'm not sure that there's any easy alternative to this unless you want to make enormous maps for properly proportioned objects.

I cant move the guy over or he will be behind the gargoyle....I may get rid of him... dunno yet. As for the gate house, down the bottom, I am adding a another two towers and a wall between them. This is all being done in Photoshop obviously. This castle is part of a city....Its a forested city, as you can see from the surroundings of the castle.

The question is....How to do a forested city......

this is the only one of my maps that has taken me three days to complete, most of them get done in less then a day

Finished......I think.....

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@Adrien: Wrong use of the mack water autotile:

The one on the left(The one you're using) is actually a wall.
The one on the right is the water.


Anyway, here is a WIP map. Not sure what more to add, just looking for opinions:

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i noticed that after i posted it.....

also note that this was done in Photoshop, so while I did the land and the river in vx - I still have to take it into vx and re-do the river so that its animated using vx tiles. So in theory I havent done anything wrong, its just not finished.

in theory I never make mistakes either.

Zacpower4: Very nice! Just one thing - the back wall where it meets the water. It looks to be an inconsistent height. Maybe make that part three tiles higher so it looks like the wall is actually reaching the water. The water is shown to be on a much lower level, thanks to the cutout and the bridges, so making that part of the wall lower will make it look much better. Apart from that it's a really nice map. I love the general idea that you're going for and the whole 'different levels' thing!
Great job!

@littlesatyr: Noted, will this do?

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(Water animations/sprites will be placed there.)

in theory I never make mistakes either.

never said I didnt make a mistake. It wasnt "finished" as it still had to go to vx to animate the water.....

That looks fantastic Irock! The background shadows are really appealing. Adds a lot of depth. Your layering is great too.
I want to play that game.

It would also be real neat if they were each a parallax moving at a different speed, to emulate a feeling of 3d...

The background shadows are really appealing.

They're ~silhouettes~

The heights in this piece are more screwed up the more I look at them. ^.^;

There's wall height issues, discrepencies with the water heights (look at he bridges tot he right. They both have the same height of shadow, showing they're the same height above the water when the top on is on a higher level than the bottom one.) To fix this at least a little I'd add three tiles of height to the back wall where it meets the water (that 3 x 32 pixels). Then I'd drop the shadow of the top bridge down on or two more tiles and get rid of the raft altogether. (The wooden platform above the boat.) Then I'd add a 'drop off' to the right side where the houses are so that the bridge there is actually on the right height. As it stands things are really odd.

Also, the cutout part on the left doesn't fit. All you'd be able to see from that angle (supposing that the water is all one height) would be more wall.

A quick mock-up.

The easiest way to do heights is to set the bottom tile. In this case the water would be the lowest point. The highest is the wall. Each time you add a height make sure it's added all across the board. When you look at a part try and figure what tile height it would be. For example, in my mock-up the bottom most bridge is two tiles in height. Water = 0 and the two tiled walls are +2. The outer walls begin on +2 tiles and end at +6.
Or that the floor starts at 0, the wall takes it up to 4 and the water is at -2.

Hope this helps a bit and that I haven't gotten you all confused. ^.^;

What annoys me most is that the canal running through the town doesn't drain into...anything. It's completely surrounded by sand. It makes no sense.

as for the harshness of the edges, I dont plan to change these for I like the look of it, but thanks for your input.

I'm harsh about them, because if you are going to go with your "Floating Island" Style, you need to fix them.



Because at the moment, it looks like those parts is a part of the background. You need to make them look like edges.

If you seriously think it looks good, then you are lazy.

I'd lighten the dark on those shadows. It's weird because everything else is pastel-colored. It's not my game though so.

@Irock: Going to agree with Malson and say that should lighten up the shadows.

@little: The bridge surrounded by wall tiles looks off. Is there a point for that bridge anyways? I think it would be best just to take it out.

WHAT GAME IS THIS!?!!?!?!?!?

WHAT GAME IS THIS!?!!?!?!?!?

I feel the same way. I'm liking the look of it. I love retro styled games. Please link me.

I'd lighten the dark on those shadows. It's weird because everything else is pastel-colored. It's not my game though so.

silhouettes, mate.

but yes, it's a very nice screen shot. i for one love retro visuals so this is right up my alley.

The game is called The Binding Force and it's currently in development. I have a demo out though.

I originally had the silhouettes lighter, but I thought it looked really strange since silhouettes are usually black.

Thanks for the feedback!

I noticed it is made with Stencyl Works I have used it beforebut dont quite know how to use it do you know of any good tutorials.