More Maps

[Kivutar]

I'm very curious to see the result once in game!

[Lijj]

The box and sand on it are nice. Same with the wood support on the ramps.
I could imagine some tires strewn about. Maybe a little human junk but I'm not sure.

[lirmont]

One map left to re-do before I spend the large amount of time it will take to prepare the stuff for .egg files.

Here's the list of stuff that's in the map (as of now):

1. Tin shacks
2. Rusted/unusable corrugated tin sheets (free-standing)
3. Wood planks
4. Landscape fences
5. A wheelbarrow
6. Boxes
7. A discarded wheel
8. Oil drums
9. Oil (I might remove this)







That big area up top with nothing in it but pathing bugs me, but I've decided that's where I'm placing one of the unit formations. So, it shouldn't look so ignored at the start of actually using the map. The other formation location would be down between the two houses, along the road.

Anyway, another night-and-day transformation, so, once again, thanks for the suggestions.

[Cheetah]

These are some very intelligently placed ramps and barriers, it is getting interesting.  It is still rather visually boring though, maybe so powerlines or something going between the roofs of a few buildings?

[lirmont]

Here's what that looks like:







Also, what I have planned music-wise for the two maps that are redone: On the Outside and Aboard the Airship.

[Cheetah]

Well I think this was a little too much, but I think it definitely adds a lot of visual flair to the map. Could you take down the power line poll and just have a few going between the buildings? Not every building, but like 3 or 4 lines, add a little dip to them so they aren't soo straight.

[RandMuadDib]

could the power lines be more terrain? best for range types to rain down hell on their foes? maybe i'm just wishful and have been playing too much inFAMOUS

[lirmont]

could the power lines be more terrain? best for range types to rain down hell on their foes? maybe i'm just wishful and have been playing too much inFAMOUS

>.< I almost don't want to change it now because that would be so epic.

[Kivutar]

This is starting to look very good! Please go on polishing this map. Your are close to define a new style.

Suggestions:
- you can work on the floor adding grass, puddle, small rocks, what ever
- add an animated model like this http://wolpeper.com/generation-eolienne.jpg

[lirmont]

Your are close to define a new style.

I'm gonna call it the "Crowd-Source Method". I just meant that making the power lines above the houses playable is such an intriguing idea that it has made me regret thinking about changing them.

Anyway, this is what it looks like toned down:

[Cheetah]

Awesome, and then have only one going across the middle of the map between two of the houses. You work very fast lirmont, and as Kivutar said you are really defining your own style.

[lirmont]

This adds lines between the middle section houses, and it adds a rusty wind-powered water pump. Puddles to follow.

[Cheetah]

The windmill is a great idea and it adds a nice splash of color. I thought the powerline between the the house might be in the air though. Can you do a few of this map without the haze?

[lirmont]

This is what they look like without anti-aliasing, if that's what you mean by "haze". If not, it's part of the lighting of the scene (which is set up for the dirt texture to look like it does, so I don't want to change it).





Also, here are two shots with no perspective or anti-aliasing:

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Could you add a platform and catwalk to the windmill, so someone could climb up there?  You might have to put the fan on a different side so it won't have arrows passing through the blades of the fan as you fire down, or you could make the fan higher and have the platform halfway up.  It might also be a good idea to make the windmill face a radically different direction from the rest of the map, so it looks less boxlike and artificial.

Also, windmills of this type are commonly used to pump water from wells in arid and plains regions in poor countries.  So you could put a cistern up there, and have water pipes come out from underneath it and run to a public pump and a trough, if you have horses or chocobos.  Also, windmills of this type are usually pretty big, something like 3 to 5 times as large as the houses around them.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/164426484_018acece54.jp
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/democratherald.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/b/e3/76b/be376b46-504e-11e0-a428-001cc4c002e0-revisions/4d818d7bb5608.image.jpg
http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/4102/PreviewComp/SuperStock_4102-15857.jpg
http://blog.seattlepi.com/insidebelltown/files/library/color_section_small.jpg
http://www.nwwsi.com/Images/16ft3000/7.jpg
http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/repairs/Mechanics-Household/images/Fig-148-This-diagram-shows-the-arrangement-of-domestic-w.jpg
http://rickardolson.com/Wind%20P1.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2473/5815693393_86e201504d.jpg

And if this is a desert town with at least electric technology, barbed wire should exist and wood should be hard to come by (no trees, it has to be carted in).  I'm not saying you won't have any wooden fences; I am saying there will be wire and barbed wire fences.

I don't know if there will be a Joshua tree in town (hardwoods are the first to be cut down) but there might be a cactus in a back alley or something.  And oil puddles won't show up in desert environments.  Most lubricated parts are covered and protected from blowing sand when in the desert.  The sand gets everywhere, and, being quartz and silicates, it will cut the crap out of metal when it gets caught between moving parts.  So you won't find a machine shop out there, unless there's a damn good reason to be there.  Like money.  Like oil, or coal, or gold, or silver, or uranium, or unobtainium, or whatever expensive magic mineral you want.

You need to figure out some of the story elements before you move forward, but keep in mind that  in this medium (video games) the artwork will influence the story as much as the story influences the art.  So, why is this town here?  Figure that out, and you know what to add to it, and the purpose of each building.  Is this a shantytown?  Where is worker housing (old broken bunk beds stacked behind it)?  Where is the company store?  Where is the whorehouse/saloon?  Where is worker gear storage?  Where is heavy wheeled equipment (this building will need one or two large roll doors, like those found on tractor barns) storage?  Where is precious mineral storage?  Are the minerals flammable?  What kind of protection do they need?  Could there be a scenario to blow up the minerals, or steal them?  Where is the bank?  Where is the mineral appraisal area, where they keep the well-paid nerds and geologists (mages, whatever) who appraise this stuff and decide it's worth?  Where is the management (the pitboss, the overseers, and the thugs, enforcers, and mercenaries the company or pitboss hires to keep the workers in line) housing?  Where is the geologist housing?

You won't be able to fit this all on one map.  So why not make a little reference drawing of the town (if you decide to run with this idea) so you can make maps of all the places you'll use?

[lirmont]

So, why is this town here?  Figure that out, and you know what to add to it.

I touched on this earlier, but this town is located on a volcanic island. The population is force-fed some level of technology by an outside source that lands there and subsequently cannot leave (because their mode of transportation is sabotaged). The technology (equipment suitable for farming) is given into the hands of certain land owners (as opposed to the population at large). This results in a majority of the workforce being unemployed (the goal of giving the technology only to a select few). The group that got stranded employs them (primarily with food and housing), resulting in a crappy living situation (something akin to forced labor) and dislocation from areas most suitable to farming into an area centered around a factory (run by said group). The maps are set a year into the arrival of the people/technology that landed there.

Anyway, it's not a desert climate; it's one suitable for farming/grasslands/etc. So, I can see tacking the cistern on and putting platforming around it, but I can't really tell from the pictures where/how the pump's out-flow connects to a raised cistern/reservoir. I'm not the most mechanically inclined (remember my design for the airship?) so any help would be appreciated. At the moment, there is a hole attached to the base of the pump's shaft that acts as an outflow. I am trying to make an effort to make sure every suggestion's 3d counterpart does have a function though, and this is one of the reasons I didn't go with a more advanced design (because I had trouble figuring it out just looking at it).

Thanks!

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

I'll draw something for you.  You could also look at the cistern in Fieval Goes West, or the cistern in the middle of Nibelheim in Final Fantasy 7.

[Cheetah]

This map looks like something out of the tv show "Firefly".

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Rough idea of a cistern, windmill, and platform.  Or is that a giant sunflower?

[lirmont]

Here's what I have so far (based off the drawing):