Mapping Improvement Thread 4

[candle]

i mean vary the spacing and the placement. make it look more random and natural

 

[Crystal]

Okay, I moved the trees around. Is this better?

 

[candle]

much better

 

[Necrile]

I know its hard to make out all the details, but how does this dungeon look?

Note: Theres nothing I can do about that bottom left area. It's an area where you dodge boulders and I needed an exact movement path layout for that.

Edit: Just realized the uncompleted area near the left upper corner :P

 

[Tuna]

It's looking pretty bland at the moment. There's a difference between winding pathways and pathways that just wind around annoyingly. Add some cross-cuts between paths, and block off the paths in some parts at random. It also helps to include treasure to give the player some extra incentive to explore off the beaten path. Any details you could add to the floors and walls would also help. It would also be good to expend the paths in some areas, even if it's just to include a skeleton or a gaping hole in the floor. Here's a really basic example of how you could improve it:

Red = New paths
X = Blocked off (by rubble, gaping hole, etc.)
Yellow = Treasure

edit: Another little path you could add would be to a room in the top right corner of the map. It's nice to put these extra areas in places where the player can get just a brief glimpse of it so that they know that it's there and want to explore.

 

[Necrile]

I guess I should put some backstory behind it, its an agility dungeon much like runescape's agility dungeons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pus_SbY3fAg

This means that there is no reason to include treasure or encounters, as the player is trying to get through as fast as possible for agility exp. Also, its not EXACTLY the same, there will be more skill to it than just pointing and clicking, but the design of going around in laps is the same.

I do, however appreciate the input, but I'm not sure how much of that would carry over to an agility dungeon. Anything else I could do to improve it beside adding/removing paths?

Edit: Just to add a bit more detail, you are start in that room and go right, all the way down, and the back up. There are 2 shortcuts which you can probably tell by looking at the map, and they require more agility to complete.

 

[regi]

Everything is incredibly square. Caves never form in such perfect shapes. I'm sure you could vary the shape and add in some more obstacles to keep the path the same. Don't force the player to move down several bland repetitive tunnels.

 

[Ellie]

Since agility dungeons the runescape-way are designed for grinding - to be done over and over again - I think that may be too large and take too long to do.

 

[Danielle]

It is really very square. That would get boring quick considering the screen size. At one point all you'd see is four tiles on the screen just duplicated in a line which isn't a good design at all, sorry.

 

[Necrile]

I'll touch it up a bit and you all can try it out think it's boring or not for yourselves. Between sprinting and everything, a lap can take only about 25 seconds, which is faster than runescape's agility dungeons. I'll try and post a video of me going through the dungeon with some redesigns.

 

[Ares]

How is this for a HUD?

It consists of 4 parts:
-Health
-Equipped Items
-Action Button (disappears when there's nothing to display)
-Gold
(I know it looks a lot like Zelda. But hey, that works and I like it!)

The map is just for practising purposes.

 

[Ellie]

Hearts seem to work best when there are only a few (as in Zelda), as that's why they're there pretty much and why bars are used for higher values. It looks nice though! It doesn't take up much of the screen at all which is great.

 

[Tuna]

Yeah, it looks great, but a number of hearts like that is something a player should probably work towards, not be given immediately. Leave a space where the second line of hearts should go, though, because that will make them work hard to earn them. :biggrin:

 

[Ares]

Yes, this is the maximum number of hearts possible. You'll probably start off with 4 or 5 hearts. But thanks for the comments, I'm glad you like the HUD. I'm currently working on an ABS that uses it, but that's not as easy as I thought :huh: .

 

[Tuna]

Better learn some Ruby. :biggrin:

 

[Jorge420]

Hi, I was looking for any feedback I've been making maps recently and still working on more but I just really want to see what some people might have to say if anything, thanks.

Spoiler

 

[Necrile]

That water dungeon looks incredible. That being said, fuck any water dungeon in any game. Also...

Spoiler: update, what think?

 

[Tuna]

Those are some pretty good looking maps you have there. I particularly like the immensity of the first one, especially considering the fact that you still managed to make all of the passages unique on such a large map.

The only real problem I see is your use of the stair tiles. They seem to go up a bit too far. I believe there are tiles that have the top tiles of the stairs not extending as high. These are the ones you want to use for the tops of your stairs.

Also, the side of the cliff below where player is standing in the second screenshot doesn't appear to merge with the neighboring cliff very nicely. It cuts in as opposed to continuing straight.

Great job!

 

[Tuna]

That's look a lot better Necrile. You managed to mix it up a bit. The long hallways are still a bit monotonous, though. Maybe try cutting into the walls a little more?

I really like the cut-through you did right above the triple hop area in the bottom left. Maybe you could mix in one or two more of these but make the passage so thin that the player can't actually squeeze through?

 

[Necrile]

It seems pretty hard to make a linear running dungeon look pretty and diverse, but I'll try some of your suggestions and post back here shortly :D