Legend of Ashville Beta 0.15

[Xyphon]

http://www.sendspace.com/file/9qvhuv


2 years ago, a boy and his dad were attacked by a strange creature, which resulted in his father's untimely dimise. Every sense, the boy was haunted by that day, and the nightmares of the strange creature. Him and his friends discover that they can bring his father back by destroying the strange creature himself. This what seemed to be small quest turned into a gigantic adventure. They travel everywhere looking for a way to defeat the horible creature, who is seemingly immortal..
There are many deaths, explosions, and sad momments around every corner, making this game very intense.

Characters
Xyphon

Spoiler

http://i35.tinypic.com/9glpqp.png[/img]
Xyphon has had very big problems every sense his father, Taikan, died. He has been obsessed with bringing him back. He is very emotional when it comes to his father.

Seth

Spoiler

Seth is Xyphon's best friend, and greatest companion. Seth isn't very emotional at all and is the most serious of the group, never taking breaks in the quest and always trying to hurry

Sashya

Spoiler

Sashya is Xyphon and Seths other friend. She has a soft spot for Xyphon which is often shown. She is extremely emotional and often thinks that everything that happens is her fault.

Gloria

Spoiler

Gloria is the most layed back of the group. She is always making suggestions to make pit stops, and doesn't care that much at all about her adventure. She is first met when Seth is being controlled by the creature.

Taikan

Spoiler

Taikan always wants to train and be strong. He hates losing and failing, and wants to keep trying until he succeeds. He is an exceptional fighter, and is also Xyphon's father.

Screenies:

Battle 1

Spoiler

http://i33.tinypic.com/34eyjpw.jpg[/img]

Battle 2

Spoiler

http://i37.tinypic.com/1si6nb.jpg[/img]

Outside

Spoiler

http://i38.tinypic.com/2lnbf6.jpg[/img]

Town

Spoiler

http://i35.tinypic.com/2lk7715.jpg[/img]

House

Spoiler

http://i36.tinypic.com/17csw7.jpg[/img]

I know the mapping is very basic, I am not a very good mapper. I am looking for other people to help with the project, mainly. Like mappers, ect.

 

[Mundane]

You're going to need a little more info bud. Some more on characters and story if you will. I advise that you brush up on your mapping. Not many people are going to want to do it for you, unfortunately. Just download games like Quintessence and take a look at the screenshot thread to get some good examples on how to map.

 

[bubbaclark]

Ok well I have 2 things.

1. You need to work on your grammar, alot of your story doesnt make sense and/or many spelling mistakes.

2. Yes your mapping is very bland and not showing much detail.

The only things I like so far is your battle system and your story a LITTLE.

Your story seems very short and not informative, maybe you can add how was the day going 2 years ago on that day? Just give background info. on the people's lives before this "Strange creature" took his dad.

 

[Calibre]

Fair enough you aren't good at mapping but I mean c'mon.  I think your bottom map could be the worst I have EVER seen. 

For a start, you need to use the roof autotile far more.  The room doesnt have to take up the whole screen, think how all your favourite rpgs do it, usually the room is very small and most of the map is just black.  People don't just plonk drawers in the middle of rooms, drawers go against walls.  Talking of walls, WHERE ARE THY!?  Your inside room has no wall at the top, just some strange shadow.

If you want to make a serious game one day, just STOP.  Practice just making maps, over and over if you can do that without getting too bored.  No one will play a game with maps like this, sorry.

 

[Xyphon]

Okay, I will try to increase my mapping skills (although that map is very old and I have gotten better from then)

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Give us some more information, particularly for the characters. Two or three sentences doesn't tell us a whole lot about them. Give us some more-their history, more on their personality, physical strength...just some more to work on so it's easier for us to help you. The story also doesn't have much. Tip: Take more time to give us maybe a good paragraph (at least six sentences) or two of story. I think around six sentences at the least are good fro characters as well. The more information you give us, the more we can critique, and the more we can help you.

I'll give you some tips on your mapping.

• First map: This is probably your best map. However, it is still fairly lacking. The water on the right side is perfectly straight line-a common mistake for earlier mappers. To make it seem more realistic, I suggest making it more uneven. The same can be said for the path-it's too straight.
• Second map (third screenie): This suffers some of the problems of the first map. Why are their so many puddles of water everywhere? That autotile is meant for things like creeks and rivers, not puddles, if that was what you were going for. The path is too straight as well. Also (this can be said for the first map as well) try adding more trees so it doesn't look as empty. It'll spruce up your map and give it some flair.
• Third map (town): When making towns, DO NOT copy and paste houses EVER. EVER. EVER. The path is too straight and the town looks barren and empty. It's nearly devoid of life! Add some bushes, trees, anything. Make those houses different too. Some may be tall, others may be short and wide, and others may be high and narrow. You decide. Just give it some variety.  :thumb:
• Fourth map (house): First thing to do to help this map is make it smaller. Condense the walls. Speaking of walls, where the heck are they? All I see is a (backwards) floating ceiling. Don't forget those walls. Make it smaller and fix those beds. Try and at least make it more house like.

Some more general tips for your game:

• I don't suggest using the default windowskin. Many people are probably tired of seeing it. It doesn't have to be fancy-just functional and basic si sometimes the best.
• Post your maps in the Mapping Improvement Thread. Some good mappers there are always happy to help you out. That should get you going with your maps as well.
• Don't be afraid to use fogs and different lighting. Seriously, just adding a darker tint in a forest or some clouds lazily drifting in a field can accent your game and make it stand out.

Phew! Hope that gets you started for now. Never be afraid to ask for help if you need it.  :smile:

EDIT: I feel extra nice today so I decided to link you some good mapping tutorials. :D
General Mapping Tips + Forest Mapping
More general mapping guidelines
Forest mapping

 

[moog]

calibre i dont get why you think thats the WORST MAP you have ever seen, i mean its balls but thats beacause its so vacant.

your mapping isnt bad, necessarily, its just droll. dadevster beat me to it with some really great tips, so take those and run with it!

 

[Calibre]

you are referring to the final screen, right?

It consists of a massively square ceiling with no walls to hold it up, two beds that are missing their bottom tile next to one that has it (sometimes i make errors in detailed maps but there's no chance of that here) , a drawer in the middle of the room for no apparent reason, stairs leading up to a room thats seemingly made of dirt.

I don't know how much worse you can go than that without being intentionally bad?

It's not just balls because it is vacant, it also is incorrectly proportioned, psychically impossible, lacking any logical item placement and contains mapping errors.

 

[Xyphon]

1. Not dirt, carpeting. 2. Err dude, that means it's just blankets not beds.. And also that was an old image.. I didnt notice the walls thing because back then I was looking at a birds-eye-view.

I'll show you my new maps on vx

Part of City:

Spoiler

http://i38.tinypic.com/2ln906d.jpg[/img]

Inside House:

Spoiler

http://i38.tinypic.com/2j0e2vb.jpg[/img]

 

[moog]

the first new map is visually HORRENDOUS it looks like a 3D poster, the floor tiles look like shit with the houses

the second one's not too bad but you can spruce it up with more things to make it variated.

 

[Xyphon]

Yeah I didn't know what tiles to use could you tell me ones that are good with it?

And I dont understand the point of that it's supposed to be a normal room not a super house.

 

[Calibre]

Err dude, that means it's just blankets not beds.

It doesn't work like that unfortunately, you can't just leave half of a complete sprite off and say yeah its just the blanket because it simply looks like the thing next to it with the bottom half missing.  If you want just a blanket you'd need to either find that sprited itself or edit it.

If that's a NEW map then you haven't listened to what I said to help, on tab A look for the solid black and make a big border round the room, then do the walls inside that.  That way you won't have a huge room with nothing to fill it!

 

[Xyphon]

Uhh dude, the Weird blue diamond things around that room appear as black on the game.

 

[Xyphon]

can you guys give me any suggestions as to which tiles I should use for the city?

And does this look better

Updated City

Spoiler

http://i36.tinypic.com/308wkue.jpg[/img]

 

[Desecration]

I think the biggest improvment you could make is some foiliage, trees, plants, grass etc. Unless it is designed soley to be a concrete jungle. Also try changing the floor tile, it looks very much like a kitchen at the moment, which is generally not a look many cities follow. Take another look at the threads that have been posted in your topic, they are very good, I'm sure it'll help you.

 

[Tindy]

Xyphon, have you looked at any of the guides they so nicely gave you up above there?  Or the mapping improvement thread?  They all give good and bad examples of what to do and what not to do without messing with personal preferences to mapping.  Your inside map is a definite what *not* to do.  Also, your maps shouldn't have just black - they need to actually end.  If your map has white anywhere when you're in the editor, you're doing it wrong. And also, no one cares if that room map is old - you're the one that uploaded it and it's still there.  Also, as said before you can't just cut a sprite in half and call it something else - my tutorial, at least, says what that "blanket" is.

As for your story.....  Nothing about it is screaming "INTENSE!" except your last sentence.  WHY is it action packed?  Why should we care about the characters?  How did they find out that by killing the monster they'll bring his dad back?  How does that work, anyway?  At the moment it seems like one very large Mary Sue story, which is fine if the gameplay is awesome, but not if the other facets of your game fall short.

 

[Calibre]

Uhh dude, the Weird blue diamond things around that room appear as black on the game.

Effectively it doesn't, it actually shows the panorama level, its better the tile them with black using the proper tile.  You don't need the weird blue diamond things because the map doesn't need to be set that big.  You are missing the point anyway, the size of that map in the screenshot is of a whole screen, does this make sense... when you click new map, you get a 20 x 15 grid and you have used all of this space for the house, ill make a shitty example hang on... I've never actually even used my copy of vx before, I use xp.

Ook here, you can divide an overall building up with rooms.  I'm not saying this is a good map, it's the first map I've ever just made in VX to show you cause I hated the mapping system but still... Thats a full screen view with a much smaller room so I don't need to stick random objects in to fill it up.

Spoiler

http://i38.tinypic.com/23iv1j6.jpg[/img]

 

[Xyphon]

None of my new houses had random objects if you didn't look at my newest ones. I added rooms as you suggested if that helps.

 

[The Map Helper]

None of my new houses had random objects if you didn't look at my newest ones. I added rooms as you suggested if that helps.

Look at Calibre's Map! It's not suggesting to add rooms! It's suggesting to make the houses smaller so that it isn't so blank!

 

[Xyphon]

Oh, okay Calibre. Thank you for the help. Let's say my maps are all simaler to or as good as th eone you posted up there. Is it nearly gameworthy?