Screenshot Critique, Please read first post Options

[Shaddow]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, I'm going to rework that and edit this post soon with a new SS!


@Yuu - the screen looks impressive, aside from some of the lighting effects not looking like light, just color. Aside from that it looks really great! I can't wait to see more of your work.

Edit: Here is the promised SS, I hope this looks better.

[Show/Hide] It's a bit big

[kayden997]

@Shaddowval
Wow, excellent improvements made. The statue, carpet, wall, everything is just perfectly placed.
One notable thing is that the East couch has a shadow on the back end that emits on the wall.

Great work indeed

[Yuu-Mon Musuedo]

@ Shaddowval

A lot better, though I'm afraid of that plant could catch fire with those candles on the wall near it. XD If you want, you could put the shadows on the wall like what the floor have on the left.

[amerk]

Technically the plant is one space away from the wall, so it's safe, but darn VX's mapping. In any case, I like the back of the room with the sofas better than the front. The front with its single desk and statue seems so... lonely, and everything appears sort of oddly placed.

[Shaddow]

The best part about all of this is, that these maps are only the beginning area, I doubt the player will spend much time at all in them. I just want to have high quality maps, even if they are just seen for a moment. I wonder if that is strange, if I'm working too hard on these maps?

Also, thanks a ton for all the feedback, everyone. I feel like I'm becoming a stronger mapper thanks to all of the tips and help.

[amerk]

My thought, move the desk so it's more centered, replace the statue with something less gothic and frightening, and have two of them placed on both sides where the wall sort of extends out.

While you don't normally see uniformity in the wild where nature tends to grow haphazardly, manmade structures usually are created and decorated with a pattern of sorts, and the way it appears now seems a tad in disarray.

Edit: Even one statue (less gothic looking, perhaps) would be fine if it seemed as if it was up against a wall instead of standing in the open, ready to topple over at the first curious customer.

[Madurai]

Oh! Fun! Here's a couple from me!

While waiting for other people to post Screenshots... I want to post another one,

Here is the screenshot and I wanted to try the beach map out for myself

[Show/Hide] Screenshot

I realllly love the perspective on this!

[TheCableGuy]

Not sure I can see the point of that fan in the first on. Looks more like it's just mounted to the wall instead of serving a function. Maybe if the window was big enough so the Fan fits over it (or better ye, the fan was re-sized down.)

Also, Using VX tilesets with XP characters looks very uncomfortable.. The doors look like the characters would need to crawl through to use.

[Madurai]

Not sure I can see the point of that fan in the first on. Looks more like it's just mounted to the wall instead of serving a function. Maybe if the window was big enough so the Fan fits over it (or better ye, the fan was re-sized down.)

Also, Using VX tilesets with XP characters looks very uncomfortable.. The doors look like the characters would need to crawl through to use.

Oh! I'm actually going to switch to bigger doors!
Very interesting fan idea! Noted! =)

[Shaddow]

@Madurai - I like your style with your maps, you can feel a dark and gritty approach. I do have to agree that the doors look way off as does the fan, I also see 'medieval style' tiles along with the more modern ones and it looks a bit off, such as that lantern in the second frame. It's definitely a great start and you are on the right path.

So I attempted to make my first map, this is the courtyard type area of the academy I posted before. I think this one turned out a lot better then before. I don't really care for the door, I wanted to use the rounded gate instead, but it refused to line up correctly.

[Show/Hide] Screen Shot

[TheCableGuy]

Only thing I notice on your map there is those trees besides the water actually look like they meet the water. Unless a tree is a Mangrove-like tree, I don't think trees should touch the edge of a tile that borders water.

Plus, the Water looks "squarish." If you're going to have right angles across water, it should be because of an actual bridge. A natural bridge looks more interesting but the water should also look more natural to fit it.

[Shaddow]

Yeah I caught that after the fact too, I've adjusted the water to look less square already. Thanks for catching that though.

[amerk]

Good job with it, Shadowval, however, I'd suggest making the shoreline a little less straight and perfect. Maybe have part of the land jut into the water on one side?

[Shaddow]

So I'm supposed to post a comment on the last person to leave a map, right? So er....hey Shaddowval! Good job, with that map! I...er like the pink trees, nice choice! Yeah.... So I made up a simple dungeon map, took me like an hour It feels a bit barren to me, but I wasn't really sure what to add to an escape route sewer thingy. Anyways here is the picture.

[Show/Hide] Candy Inside

Judge me, please!

Edit: updated the screen shot after I noticed some things wrong with it.

[highlander4]

This is the map I made for the competition: http://www.mediafire.com/?y7hosywhichm6mn

I got 4th place cause I haven't put in gameplay elements.
everybody is free to say their opinion about it so don't hesitate everyone!

Note: Use the RPG Maker VXAce editor instead to open the map.

Don't be selfish, critique on the previous image ~ kayden997

[The Welsh Paddy]

Shadowval: I like yer sewer map. I wouldn't add anything else to it because, well, it's a sewer. I guess maybe a little bit of floating debris or something if you've got the resources, or some bugs or rat npcs or something.

It could do with shading, though. I generally stick with the autoshade (in Ace, not sure if it's the same on other makers), but make slight adjustments to it so it looks right. And with the water, maybe use some shift-clicking on the tiles that are up against the black ceiling/roof tiles. Right now it looks like the stone border is going around the top of the wall as opposed to around the base. Annnnd one more thing! On the left hand side, the bridge facing down/up, it looks like it has joined onto the top of the wall. Maybe make some changes to that?

And if you want to make it look a lot less barren, why not have the whole map tinted and then use some lighting script for the torches? I would like to see some in-game screens of this map if you do anything further with it.

As for yer other map, I don't really have anything to say that hasn't been said already, and that's just the issue with the square bodies of water. Just doesn't look natural.

Other than these little things, these maps look very nice!

Highlander4: I'd leave you some feedback if you could put up some screenshots.

[Shaddow]

Thanks Paddy, that was all really helpful. These maps are a bit outdated though, I'm going to be attempting to do all my maps in a water color style, as though they were painted by hand. It's a difficult look to pull off, that's why I don't have any posted yet. I'll keep your information in mind when I redraw the area.

[The Welsh Paddy]

I think that would be a very interesting look, and I look forwards to seeing this.

[highlander4]

@Madurai - I like your style with your maps, you can feel a dark and gritty approach. I do have to agree that the doors look way off as does the fan, I also see 'medieval style' tiles along with the more modern ones and it looks a bit off, such as that lantern in the second frame. It's definitely a great start and you are on the right path.

So I attempted to make my first map, this is the courtyard type area of the academy I posted before. I think this one turned out a lot better then before. I don't really care for the door, I wanted to use the rounded gate instead, but it refused to line up correctly.

[Show/Hide] Screen Shot

@kayden997 sorry about that I didn't realize th rule should be in mind all the time.

@shaddowval about this map I just don't like your castle as it looks like a floor I don't know why and for your dungeon I know that the player will stay there for just a few seconds but I think you shoud put things that will make it more like a real dungeon cause it's too clean for me

This post has been edited by highlander4: Sep 28 2012, 07:42 PM

[Anuxinamoon]

Been paying with Umi's overlay lighting and tried to do some quick tests... Do not like so far :< Too contrasty! Will have to see how far I can push it.



My Ideal look would be for the darker areas to become less saturated (Desaturated) than the light areas.... but this effect seems to do the opposite

You need to comment on another screenshot before posting your own! ~Jonnie19

This post has been edited by Jonnie19: Oct 8 2012, 07:22 AM