Hiya guys.

I'm pretty new to mapping and was wondering if you could give me some tips?

I have a created a mountain path like map and I thought it looked a bit plain, but wasn't sure how I could improve it.

If anyone has any ideas that could help me improve my mapping that would be great, don't be afraid to critizise either.

Heres the map

First of all... post in another part of the forum (Halls of critique or the screenshot thread for example)

My suggestions:
-More little things like plants or rocks to make the floor more interesting
-Also, you could place some stuff on the walls
-You have a lot of non logical spots were edges are missing etc., try to use shadow tiles or something like this to make it more plausible
-There's shadow missing on the top most part
-don't use connected tiles in 1x1 square fields- like on the bottom right part. it looks to much like rectangles (and normaly you want to avoid a rectangle like look on outdoor or nature inspired maps)
-get a bit of extra color (plants, little grass patches) into the map, and maybe special effects like sunrays

Hope you can make use out of my suggestions

Thanks mate that was just the kind of stuff I was looking for

http://dev.oceansdream.net/?tag=maps
You can check out my blog, it has a few articles on mapping in general.

In your specific case, I'd focus on how the cliffs work in particular. As you're making cliffs, pay attention to how tall they are. Focusing too much on layering them is making you not pay attention to the cliffs heights. I'll illustrate it here:

This bad handwriting shows the floor, the part of the cliff that is 2 tiles tall, and the part that is 1 tile tall.

If you had stairs going up from the 1 tile cliff floor to the 2, then it'd make sense. Try simplifying the cliffs and get a hang of getting them level and even first. Here's an example:

This is not meant to be an example of marvelous mapping, but rather using the cliffs in a basic way. Like the top right cliff is 3 tiles tall, the parts where there's a height difference are separated, and any sections where you want to go from the lower cliff to the higher one have stairs on it.

I hope it helps and feel free to ask any other questions about it!

Thanks for the reply mate

Are you saying that I should try and keep the mountains the same hight when using the tiles?

Or are you saying I should increase the high in tiles as we move further up the pathway? so it looks like the mountain is bigger and taller?

EDIT.

Is this starting to look better added bits and bobs to the floor ect

Lose the shadow. It's excessive.

VX sux, ditch it for some curved cliffs.

Cliffs don't look normal. These gaps in the slopes (lower left, center, and top right) are checkered looking and would be better filled with more cliff.

Shadows may be hard to work with in VX witout a script. At least in VXA you have a lot more control over them. You've got the idea for layering cliffs, which is definitely a good start. However, the map is too plain. As others stated, add in some mountain like details, barren trees, rocks, maybe a cactus or two. As OD stated, some of the layerin does seem a bit off. Also, the mountainous path doesn't need to be so flat, stairs going up higher into the mountain may also create a needed effect. Also, the bottom edge of the mountain looks more unnatural, as if it was a wall built by humans versus a part of the mountain. I'd change that up somewhat to make it still look like a mountain with uneven peaks and elevations.

Since you've got a trail leading through the mountain, as well as caves, this could easily have been a trade route at one time, so maybe some leftover signs of civilization is warranted without going overboard. Another idea may be to include a waterfall that's flowing down a portion of the mountain.

To be honest, though, in spite of the errors I think you are at least off to a good start for a semi-decent mountain trail. Mountains and prairies can be one of the hardest things to map on any maker, especially VX.

okay thank you for the replys and ways of improvement

EDIT

I ahve Edited the map again Does this look better? have I improved or does it look worse? ( It could xD)