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More Maps

Started by lirmont, June 28, 2011, 06:58:38 am

lirmont

June 28, 2011, 06:58:38 am Last Edit: February 01, 2012, 11:53:12 pm by lirmont
I figured this time around I'd post work in progress pictures so I could incorporate the criticism before I call them "finished" and spend the time to prepare the maps for use.

"Outside Rara Aves" (19x12):







Track: On the Outside
Event Track: No Such Luck

Older approach: 001, 002, 003


"Rara Aves Factory" (18x13):






"Aboard the Rara Avis" (~6x10):






Track: Aboard the Airship
Event Track: Lighter than Air

What it looks like in Blender (the 3d application): 001

Older approach: 001, 002, 003

Yes, one of these days, you may find yourself fighting... in the sky.

--

Stuff that's already been suggested:

Map 1:
- Buildings look expensive (when they're supposed to be cheap/quick/dirty)
- Use dirt/oil instead of metal for floor
- Incorporate wood as a cheap material (instead of metal)
- Too complicated
- Add variation to architecture
- Power lines
- Wind-powered water pump
- Grass/rocks/puddles

Map 2:
- Function of scaffolding not readily ascertained
- Add "its been used before today" feeling to rails/walkways
- Add tracks (to texture) for movement feature of scaffolding

Map 3:
- Extra squares outside of ship area for flying characters
- Design of ship not immediately believable
- Wood textures look flat
- Multi-level design

Eternal

Words cannot express my love for that third map.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Kivutar

Wow, the third map is realy great! The clouds look yummy :3

The first map looks fun too play. But stricly graphicaly speaking, I think it is too perfect, almost symetric. Is it intentionnal?

On the second map, wich seams to be large. I can imagine some mages trying to hit the others units from to lower stairway. But such a stairway has no reason to exist. Why would people build such a stairway?

This give me an idea: a city build on clouds, there would be 4-5 small clouds of 5x5 to 10x10, linked together with old stairs covered of grass and rare flowers. So the coulds would be on different heights. And some houses on the clouds islands. With some clouds enough close to allow a jump or a magic from one to another.
This would result in a very strategic map.
Tethical, an online FFT clone

RandMuadDib

Howabout the fly movement ability or equipment allowing you to go outside the airship? Would that be possible in tethical?
I will show you the power of SARDIIIIINES!!!!

lirmont

These are all from the perspective of some form of industrial revolution. On the first map, you have simple manufactured-type houses crammed together because there becomes less and less space elsewhere because of factories. Most people no longer live on/near the farm, because machines make the large amount of workers unnecessary. They work at a factory instead, and so you get the symmetrical poor district. My only other option would be to push the houses up next to each other, I think, to get that idea across, but I'm open to suggestions. On the second map, the stairs are there because I don't plan to have the point between the yellow lines be walkable. I textured the ground there last, but the point of that section is to move out to facilitate larger projects (the object in the 3rd map). The stairs should have been connected to something up instead of down where possible, and the parts attached to the edges should have some form of rollers to get that idea across, I guess.

Why not incorporate the cloud city idea into the stairs map you started earlier? Vary the z-height of the repeated mesh along with x-y transforms and remove some of the steps (to replace with blank squares that are walkable over clouds).

There are no movement abilities (ex: Fly, Move-Find Item, etc) in Tethical at the moment.

Pickle Girl Fanboy

There's too much going on in the Sheds map.  It looks expensive to build, with that many parts.  Why not do cheap corrugated aluminum and plastic on a steel frame look, with dirt floors and oil puddles on the ground?

RandMuadDib

June 28, 2011, 04:18:49 pm #6 Last Edit: June 28, 2011, 04:21:01 pm by RandMuadDib
Quote from: lirmont on June 28, 2011, 02:54:39 pm
There are no movement abilities (ex: Fly, Move-Find Item, etc) in Tethical at the moment.

Well, sure, at the moment. But perhaps its something to keep in mind?

Quote from: Pickle Girl Fanboy on June 28, 2011, 04:13:55 pm
There's too much going on in the Sheds map.  It looks expensive to build, with that many parts.  Why not do cheap corrugated aluminum and plastic on a steel frame look, with dirt floors and oil puddles on the ground?


Looks very similar to the Dorter map at the beginning of chapter 2. Perhaps at this point wood is cheaper than metal?
I will show you the power of SARDIIIIINES!!!!

Lijj

Interesting stuff but could that thing fly? it looks like a balloon tethered to a castle of stone... there's no support between the balloon and the base of the ship.
Something that looks so heavy, be it stone or steel is only hanging by threads.
Those clouds do look yummy though.
Interesting workers' barracks also. I see the the concept you are going for, but the tiles are loud (super vivid) and really repetitive.
I love the stair case's structure but that yellowish floor tile is loud. And maybe water would be nice for what the bridge is going over to better show that it isn't a place to walk. It'd be nice to make the bridge structure more dingy or worn since it looks almost like brand new aluminum or something now.
  • Modding version: PSX

RandMuadDib

the way i see it the staircase thing is more like a scaffolding for building the airship/balloon things.

P.S. Magic Helium :)
I will show you the power of SARDIIIIINES!!!!

lirmont

June 28, 2011, 05:49:20 pm #9 Last Edit: June 28, 2011, 06:07:09 pm by lirmont
Oil leaks are a great idea. The second map you are looking at a giant pneumatic door on the ground. It opens, sliding both halves of the bridge (I meant it to be scaffolding) out, allowing the airship to be raised and serviced. At the point in time of the map, the airship has reached completion, so, when the floor door opens, the airship is taking off (which, if story ever gets added, will explain why you wound up on the airship). This was the influence for the airship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG08HTlBf3Q. It sports a much bigger balloon in comparison to the base than mine, which is probably a change that would make mine seem viable (whether it is or not).

As for the textures/design being repetitive and loud, that fits with my vision for these maps. There is a driving force for that in the ideas I used as a basis for the direction. This land is a medium-sized volcanic island (Hawaii, as a reference for plausibility). "Rara Aves" (it means "rare birds") is a royal scientific society hailing from somewhere else that undertook an expedition (via airship), ultimately discovering this island and the people that inhabited it. The expedition was lead by an eccentric scientist.  A rival scientist of his/hers succeeds in convincing one of the members of the expedition to sabotage the airship. The plan is to strand or seriously inconvenience his/her rival during the expedition's undertaking. When the expedition discovers the island, it lands to explore. The saboteur destroys the more advanced technical components that allowed the airship to fly. Taking a skiff planned for escape in event of an airship problem, the saboteur sets off, only to find the current around the island isn't conducive to leaving easily (the currents surrounding Japan, as a reference for plausibility; Bermuda Triangle?). The saboteur and the rest of the expedition party are stuck on the island.

Returning to find the airship unable to leave the island, the expedition sets in motion a plan to revolutionize the island to a level conducive enough to create a means of escape after determining that sailing will not work. Using parts from the now defunct airship, they craft rudimentary machines that are capable of revolutionizing the island's farming techniques enough to free the majority of the workforce from farming. Being that their only goal is to get off the island, they chose to give the machinery to a headman (as opposed to the people in general) who agrees to help them control the area. The point for this is that they need manpower to develop the more advanced machinery to create a means of escape, since they salvaged parts from their original to bring up the island's technological level (i.e. so they can mine, manufacture, etc). The maps are a year (or more) into that endeavor. The loud textures are repurposed parts from the original airship's components (flamboyantly decked out as any royal-funded, manifest destiny-esque, "We're awesome!" endeavor can be).

Lijj

June 28, 2011, 07:42:54 pm #10 Last Edit: June 28, 2011, 07:45:11 pm by Lijj
About the textures:
I guess my aesthetic views are a little different. I prefer hand pixeled works to photographic textures, but I've already realized that from before I even began here.. no point in butting heads; I understand your opposing view on graphics from the posts in the other thread. The maps look very playable esp. map 1 here.
I appreciate the work you've done with the modeling, I'm just not into the textures' styles I guess.

The second map makes more sense now but the texture is too brand new looking on the scaffolding i.m.o.   Edit: also, I don't get how it slides open if the scaffolding is connected to it the way it appears.

Actually, I bet a simple desaturation of the reds would help with the first map's loudness.

We'll just see what happens.. I still need to know more about this project directly from Kivutar before I should move on.. (slightly confused about something in terms of scale)
  • Modding version: PSX

lirmont

June 28, 2011, 09:05:16 pm #11 Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 04:54:47 pm by lirmont
Imagine there are things attached. More/less/the same believability as the first design?

Image: 001

Lijj

Yes, that seems more feasible. Those clouds look so good in this pic. could you put more clusters around that main one too?

I think some kind oh support built on the bottom of the balloon part to look like it's strongly attached to the ship would be neat. I should scan a little sketch or something to show what i mean..
  • Modding version: PSX

RandMuadDib

aye, the chains are a good idea imo
I will show you the power of SARDIIIIINES!!!!

lirmont

June 29, 2011, 07:45:04 am #14 Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 04:55:45 pm by lirmont
Images: 001, 002, 003

Kivutar

Wow!

We could use the particle system to emit those clouds, so there would be an illusion of movement.
Tethical, an online FFT clone

Cheetah

I'm really liking Lijj's design additions to the blimp, the plain bunker ship section isn't working for me. Great combination of ideas though guys.
Current Projects:

Pickle Girl Fanboy

June 29, 2011, 05:40:28 pm #17 Last Edit: June 29, 2011, 05:43:43 pm by Pickle Girl Fanboy
FYI, an airship wouldn't use loose chains to secure the ship portion to the balloon because when the rotors start turning they would push the ship portion forward and drag the balloon behind it, where it would snag on parts of the ship or in the rotors, if they are big enough.  Dirigibles have, proportionally, very small aerodynamic ship portions secured very close to the balloon (so close that air cannot flow between the the ship and the balloon in some cases) by a stiff framework of lightweight metal.  Any windows will be at the sides, front, rear, and perhaps at the bottom, where  people can walk around on the transparent plastic and see the clouds beneath their feet (could be a cool effect).  An inside airship area, where loading bays at the sides and rear can open and close to allow flying characters in and out.  Large windows that can be broken for access sound cool too.

Google Raiders of the Lost Ark for ideas.  You forgot the fins at the rear of the ballon, and the propulsion system on the ship.  Some airships could have stubby "wings" on the ship portion for steering.

You could also have a "diving hole", an area open to the air in the rear of the airship where people can stand at a railing and look down, and, presumably, fish for seagulls with lumps of bread on a string.  Or, even better, you can have an amphibious airship which can suck the helium into holding tanks and fold the balloon and it's framework into an area at the top of the ship, and then move on or under the water.

RandMuadDib

the blimp was in Last Crusade, Indy was talking to his Dr. Jones Sr. while on it.
I will show you the power of SARDIIIIINES!!!!