I did this map at Lijj's request, but, like my other recent maps, I put it to all of you to suggest changes/improvements. If you're not familar with this process, I make a list of changes that have been suggested, and then I make the changes, posting updates later in the thread.
Reference, courtesy of Spriter's Resource: http://www.spriters-resource.com/snes/ff4/sheet/30406 (http://www.spriters-resource.com/snes/ff4/sheet/30406)
Texture resources: floor (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-square-1.png), walls (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-walls.png), ladders (left-to-right) (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-ladder-left-to-right.png), ladders (right-to-left) (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-ladder-right-to-left.png), and columns (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-columns.png).
Progress pictures: 001 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-001.png), 002 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-002.png), 003 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-003.png), 004 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-004.png), 005 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-005.png), 006 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-006.png), and 007 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-007.png).
Views: 008 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-008.png), 009 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-009.png), 010 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-010.png), and 011 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-011.png).
(http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-012.png)
What's already been suggested:
- Crystal underhang for ladders/ramps (contributed by lijj; will do, but need to come up with something that doesn't hinder visibility but does cover up the sides of the steps).
- Even out contrast between flooring and underhang (contributed by lijj).
- More obstacles/variation/too sparse (contibuted by Choto; possibly addressed by the hexagonal columns)
- Hexagonal columns like basalt mineral formations (contributed by PGF; exist in place of the two rectangular columns; one is walkable).
- Glow effect (contributed by PGF; possible to do, but I'll have to look up what Kivutar did in his glow test).
Track: Lunar Core (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/Lunar Core.ogg)
Thanks.
Kinda reminds me of FF7 - the battle with Jenova Rebirth at the green glowing platform. And a little bit of the battle with Bizarro Sephiroth at the planet's core.
It seems a little sparse or disconnected right now. Maybe tie the different areas together a bit more to improve continuity or put some landscape details on the main areas to give them a bit more character? Unless its meant to be sparse :P
Out of curiousity, what version of blender do you use? The one I have was a bit different from the version Kivutar used in his tutorial videos : /
@PGF: I'll have to look those areas up on youtube. FF7's water tower was good inspiration last time.
@Choto: You're better off using the one his tutorial uses, since it has the option of exporting directly to .EGG (via a script). This is a link to the version that supports that: http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-249/ (http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-249/). This is the script that blender can use to export your model to Panda3d form: http://sourceforge.net/projects/chicken-export/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/chicken-export/).
If you use the latest version of Blender, your option is to export your model to .X format, following that up by using the "x2egg" program Panda3d's SDK provides.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0DMYG7u67Y
^FF7 Jenova Rebirth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlbaFZIq8LQ&feature=related
^The platform battles. I guess it's actually called Jenova Synethesis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz6YYuEyqpw
^FF7 Bizarro Sephiroth.
http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/9/93/Northern_Crater.jpg
http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/d/d5/FFVII-NorthernCrater.jpg
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110522173417/finalfantasy/images/c/ce/Northern_Crater.png
http://www.jegged.com/Image/Strategy/FFVII/Walkthrough/Northern-Cave.jpg
^FF7 Northern Crater stills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSuhxje308Y
^The waterfall at about 1:24. It's pre-rendered, and in the back-ground, so it's hard to miss. I'm actually working on extracting images from this game, so maybe I'll have a good waterfall animation for you in a few weeks.
You may be better off making the crystal patterns hexagonal, instead of 4-sided. It's purely a cosmetic feature, since the walk layer and the image layer are separate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingal%27s_Cave
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/europe/basalt4.jpg
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/europe/basalt3.jpg
http://www.pilchuckcameraclub.com/05_Assignments_PSA_Nature_Image_Gallery/N_2010%2011_1_Basalt%20Pillars_%20Joyce%20Harvey.jpg
http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/hebrides_mm7701_010.jpg
^Square columns, with flowing water.
http://geo-mexico.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/basalt-prisms.jpg
http://www.carto.net/neumann/travelling/usa_westcoast_05_2002/06_crater_lake_24_05_2002/04_toketee_fall_with_basalt_pillars.jpg
http://www.scotland-flavour.co.uk/pictures/staffa_mull_scotland_G2197.jpg
^This might make a good battlefield for the entrance to the crystal palace. Just change the color scheme a bit, make the columns more prism-like (lots of rainbows, think of Final Fantasy 9, at the end of Memoria, where everything turns to crystal).
...
I just got down watching some videos of Memoria, so maybe not. But yeah, rays of light filtering down from the top of the palace, crystals glowing different colors, prisms, rainbows, waterfalls.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uzL7ZJ5iv9g/TKsN8LcUycI/AAAAAAAADQ0/kMpf1Z0vpKw/s1600/neweddystonerock.jpg
^Unrelated, I just think it looks cool. Might make a good "circle-the-outside-of-the-tower" or "race to the top" battlefield.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3454/3238698584_6c9be9f6b5_z.jpg
Where does the battlefield take place? Is it, in fact, on the moon? If it's on Earth - or an Earth-like planet - then it could do with some water, some living things, and a more cave-like ambiance. You know, pools of water with glowing things in them; waterfalls; stalactites and stalagmites hanging from the bottom of one level and forming staircases, slides, and mini-platforms to the next platform; and generally, the place needs to look less like something that was made and more like something that just happened. Less ordered.
http://lparchive.org/SaGa-Frontier/Update%2032/
^Some crappy screencaps of glowing things in SaGa Frontier. I can't directly link to them, so you'll just have to scroll by real quick. The crystals are actually animated, and glow on and off. Other than that, the graphics suck ass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7hvIopnhE&feature=related
^Here's a much better video of glowing crystals.
Here are shots with the columns: 014 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-014.png) and 013 (http://darkabstraction.com/showOff/ffhackticks/crystal-palace-013.png).
To get the geometry for those things in I had to remove the geometry for the walls, but I think it turned out well. I want people to be able to walk up the structure on the far left of the images, so there's some kind of contrived pathways in there. The far side (which will not be walkable) I made an attempt to match up with the kind of formations the basalt pictures had; I think that sub-section turned out well too, but you can't see it in the pictures I posted.
As to the race to the top picture being used for a different map (which is definitely interesting), I kind of think that structure is maybe as tall as Orborne Monastary's stuff, and that makes me think it wouldn't lend itself too well to the FFT-esque dimensions to be able to get all that detail on there (there are trees and bushes).
Nice map :)
The second picture looks much better. I really like the giant floating lighting crystal! Does it glow on and off?
I love the bottle-neck potential with the stairs to the highest and lowest levels.
I can't even imagine battling on maps this size in FFT. Would need to field an entire army of units to make it feel right. I still can't really fathom a battle of like 16 vs. 16 with a bunch of AoE mages involved. Pure anarchy.
Its gonna be so much fun. :P
You'd actually have a reason to use Archers, Ninjas, and Lancers.
It'd be even cooler with Fog of War. You could user archers to keep the enemy at bay, and then sneak a squad of Monks and Knights around, to attack the enemy's rear.
@Kivutar: Thanks!
@PGF: The crystal will be a glow filter target. I looked up what I'll have to do, and it requires that I get some eventing (e.g. python scripts) into the engine before it will work. As to eventing, I have a color-coded text editor control lined up (courtesy of MonoDevelop's own text editor control), but I have yet to add that into the control panel application. Once it's in, I'll still have to make the necessary changes to the engine to honor the event scripts. Once that's done, writing the glow filter animation will be about 7 lines of code to make it pan up and down between full effect and no effect.
@Celdia: I hope it's fun, too. You may be facing off against several different teams at once. It's big enough for that. I see 3 available starting points on the map that are somewhat fair to everyone.