Realistic Towns, What makes a town believable? Options

[MEands]

So I was going to just request a town, but from what I've checked, there are no places for requesting specific maps, only for people to join teams.
So I might as well learn, what exactly makes a town map look believable.

Stuff like this


Like, I guess I could take stuff from this picture, but do you guys have any specific details that would help in making a good looking town?

This post has been edited by MEands: Apr 11 2012, 04:00 PM

[kayden997]

People roaming the streets. That's a big one.
I'm short on advice ATM

[MEands]

Well that still helps.
I was kinda wondering about the design of the town though.

[amerk]

It depends on the sort of game you are going after. A more detailed adventure will need large towns, but a sort of 2D classic adventure mimicking games of old will probably need much simpler forms. There's really no right or wrong answer either, since some people enjoy large areas of exploration, and others just want the basics of what makes up a town (with added detail of course). And also, not every town needs to be huge. In a fantasy setting, most villages are small, with bigger towns closer to (if not part of) a royal castle.

[MEands]

In my specific game the town is more of a puzzle. So I suppose it needs to be small enough for the player to remember where things are, and also have enough detail to make it look realistic...
This helps though, thanks.

[MisterToonz]

If you have the tile set, I could help you. I am (Not trying to boast) one of the better mappers around, and I can certaintly work in puzzle aspects into the map itself, while keeping a grand deal of detail.

If you want skype me sometime, or PM me and we can work things out.

Skype: BlueDayReborn

Find "Nosaj?"

Mapping is probably my strongest aspect along side eventing and game balance.

[Titanhex]

MisterToonz I understand you want to help, but if you are not directly contributing to the original topic of the thread you should put your message in PM form and send it that way. Just a warning, please stay on topic and if you're directly addressing someone consider it for PMing instead.

That aside a town has activity. It's important to remember that. At varying levels of the day towns have varying levels of activity as well. Consider putting NPCs there on different tasks, errands, and activities to make it feel more alive.

Also consider the size of the town and the social atmosphere of the village. Small villages have close-knit relations and gossip mills. Large cities have tight groups and cliques, and fewer people socializing outside of those.

When designing a structure, villages are often erected as settlers come and plant down, and unless the two families settling down are close there won't be too much structure to where they build other than the quality of land. Cities are usually built around a central rulling power though.

[rewells]

I like the cloud shadow effect and the colors look nice overall, though the color of the rooftops kind of blend in with everything else and make the depth seem a little hard to determine for me...are those lamp posts on top of the buildings?

I think NCP's are what really makes a town. Giving each town a theme (a specific economy type, like mining or agriculture, or worship of a common god/goddess) can help give you direction in creating dialogue for its inhabitants.

So I was going to just request a town, but from what I've checked, there are no places for requesting specific maps, only for people to join teams.
So I might as well learn, what exactly makes a town map look believable.

Stuff like this


Like, I guess I could take stuff from this picture, but do you guys have any specific details that would help in making a good looking town?

[Oceans Dream]

Yeah as said, you want to have some ideas about the town before going into the map. You don't need to have straight line streets and rows of copy/pasted square houses in a field that is entirely too big.

Geography affects the town a lot. Is it by a river? Is it in the jungles? Is it a big port town? Is it up in the mountains? How do people get around? Is it a big town? a small town? What kind of districts might it have? how many floors/levels? What kind of technology are they working with? Building material? Is it a rich town? poor? Can you get around on the rooftops? Architectural style? Your own twists on it (For example, the city is built with cathedral style motifs all around)?

There's so much you could ask yourself, plus you can look at later SNES and early PS1 (possibly GBA RPGs too) for inspiration too. Even if they're not CROWDED WITH STUFF, you can still learn things about the layout design and object placement and all. Pictures/drawings/photos too.

Even real towns can have varying floors, small roads/alleys, government buildings, temples, nice architecture and all (Particularly early mediterranean ones) so I'm not just suggesting these things to build some crazy fantastical town (nothing wrong with those either, I love them).

This post has been edited by Oceans Dream: Apr 14 2012, 11:16 PM

[thatbennyguy]

Yeah I'm thinking about this, too, because I'm making a game set in a living, breathing city, where you go about making small changes to people's lives to make them better. It's heavily inspired by the movie "Amelie".

So I'm wondering how to balance the difference between a "large" city (in size), and a city that is full of activity. Because obviously a smaller city can have more activity, but will you lose that feeling of exploration when exploring lots of houses. I want the player to be free to explore the city how they wish, with tons of little secrets inside the city, meet new people, find new hobbies/activities/interests, that kind of thing.

Yeah, I'm ambitious. #dealwithit

EDIT:

Even real towns can have varying floors, small roads/alleys, government buildings, temples, nice architecture and all (Particularly early mediterranean ones) so I'm not just suggesting these things to build some crazy fantastical town (nothing wrong with those either, I love them).

Basically, *this*. Oceans Dream you set my imagination on fire

This post has been edited by thatbennyguy: Apr 30 2012, 01:00 PM

[Dark Gaia]

There's a huge difference between the size of a town and the amount of activity it has.

A "large" city would simply be a city that covers a wide area, has a huge map and takes ages to walk through, but doesn't really have much to explore. Imagine a typical RPG town: you've got your NPCs, your inn, your shops etc, except it's a lot bigger. Basically, it's technically larger in that it is a big area, but there isn't really much more to do than in a normal town.

Meanwhile, a town with a lot of activity may seem huge in scope, but may not neccesarily be a large area in terms of size. These places seem larger and deeper simply because there's lots of activity; tons of NPCs to talk to, sidequests to fulfil, items to find, problems to solve, lots of places to go and explore (each with something for the player), as well as atmosphere and general feel.
If you're aiming to create a town that seems large and realistic, you're better off creating the activity filled place I described above. You don't need to make a huge map, just make sure that there's a lot for the player to see and do, and not just a few shops and an NPC.

Imagine it this way:
You enter a huge map with 30+ buildings that takes an hour to cross. However, the only enterable ones are the shops and the inn.
Or...
You enter a smaller town with less than 20 buildings, but each one is enterable and has something inside for you to do.

Which one would seem to have more depth and realism to you?

[MrDenimLP]

Might I suggest this: Realistic Town Making

[Jonnie19]

One thing that I do enjoy and makes me feel that a town/city is realistic is those little tiny "alleyways" which don't seem to have any uses other than leading to a house, that you may not be able to access. The little area's that have no reason to being there apart from just being there.
Also, depending on how developed your world is:

• Road Blocks: how many times have you been disturbed by road works. It is something that is unnecessary and could wind up your players, but it is realistic. Sometimes things are rather irritating. This can link to....
• Realistic NPC's: Think about how your player will react to events, and then create NPC's that players can relate to. In relation to my above comment, the Road Blocks that are in the way which will frustrate the player...So how about create a selection of NPC's who are just as frustrated as you are with the annoying occurrence.
• ...i'll add more when I think of them

[Lato]

One thing I dont think everyone cover is the size of a individual house in the town, dont forget to actually make it big enough for someone to live in! That goes for the inside and outside. Dont make a house thats only twice as big as one person cause they cant live in that. and the same goes if you make a really small house dont make the inside of the house like a mansion lol.

[Renkai141]

I think jus available to roam around the city/town by going inside the houses and have little small spaces.
Kids(not just adult) playing games in a town, with a ball or something.
Have not just the same npc say the same thing.

Have a guy or something like "Did you know, that this town was named by the great king Alfredo? he was the founder of this town."(town named Alfredo)which that was a 1000 years ago or something.
Small facts, past of it story, Kingdom hearts 2 does a really good job on that. (Hollow bastion, Twilight garden(or that second town that aerith's gives it)

But something like that, slight changes and things. as well as Traverse Town. Sorry for relating to things like this, but they do a good job.

[userjosh704]

People roaming the streets. That's a big one.

I agree with Kayden. The NPCs make the setting more real than anything else. The SCALE you have in your screenshot looks beastly and I would tone that down. Realism is not THAT important.

What makes a good town:
*Exploration: A good LOOKING town is hard to define, but come up with an interesting layout. Think of the town as a simple maze, in fact. Tag it with something memorable to see or touch or explore or do or interact with like a bridge or a clock/bell tower or a water fountain or a bunch of street venders or a music performer or the construction of a big ass statue. Players should identify this town with a picture when they hear the name.
*NPCs: people who feel like they LIVE here! NPC dialogue should enhance the setting and possibly be fun. If you can squeeze in some information that is useful for the story to, do so.
*Music: Good Music is important. I repeat, Good Music is important. It's not just for establishing the atmosphere of the City, but since we're all probably using the RTP, this is kinda irrelevant.
*Loot: I want to be rewarded for exploring your town. Make some loot a little hard to get to or see.

This post has been edited by userjosh704: Apr 27 2013, 03:47 PM

[userjosh704]

One thing I dont think everyone cover is the size of a individual house in the town, dont forget to actually make it big enough for someone to live in! That goes for the inside and outside. Dont make a house thats only twice as big as one person cause they cant live in that. and the same goes if you make a really small house dont make the inside of the house like a mansion lol.

It's neither necessary nor practical to give every NPC a proper house. Also consider that in the medieval period a peasants' house wasn't going to have a very extravagant design. Individual rooms, doors, and privacy were a luxury. I take a utilitarian approach and make most houses the smallest map size possible. The space inside is divided by 1, 2 walls top.

In fact, I base the inside of my houses of these:

[Show/Hide] map1

[Show/Hide] map2

[Show/Hide] map3

If it fits the setting, right? It's much more manageable for the designer and the player!

This post has been edited by userjosh704: May 1 2013, 09:00 AM