Well, nice to see so many people are willing to choose my opinion for me, thanks guys

I've actually been discussing this piece specifically with him over PM, and I think it has promise, the only problems I see with it is the left side terrain height, the right side looks correct, although that new addition of that jutting section somewhat messes it up, it's acceptable, the left side is the only issue, and I think your main problem there, is that you are trying to keep it to a scene that will fit in a single screen in SCM Draft on 100% zoom, and that is what you wanna get away from, it's gonna be even closer up in StarCraft, so why does the SCM Draft screen size matter at all? Be willing to make it a huge scene, the waterfall should be part of this scene, I think that left side should turn into more of a mountain.

I've already said this in PM, but it seems like you have a hard time using ramps, from all your terrain I've seen so far, you really like just putting terrain across cliffs, rather than having a transition, if you want to have correct terrain height(which isn't necessary, many great terrainers ignore it), you need to use ramps, for one, custom ramps are impressive, they add more to the piece, they take away from the dullness of repetitive terrain, by creating a radical transition across the cliff, secondly, they make vision work properly, which is a huge part of adding to the SC atmosphere.

Basically, I think you need to make sure there is an adjoining platform of terrain for each cliff face on the left side, furthermore, I think for the look you want, you need to use dirt on the bottom, and use different kinds of terrain, 50% of "cluttering" up an area is placing different bits of terrain, like grass or ruins in this case, just placing a few trees and sprites isn't going to cut it, doodads add clutter, but they don't detract from the repetitiveness of the terrain well, people like transitions, they look nice, and adding bits of different terrain adds lots of little transitions.

I really think this piece can work out, it's a fine idea, it just needs some more work.

EDIT: Okay. I feel a little dumb, although most of what I said it still true, I hadn't seen the map, and let me just say, HUGE improvement from the image, for those of you who are like me and are too lazy to open the map, enjoy:

(BTW, Jesusfreak, that larger image was creating by using File>Save Image in SCM Draft, converting the image to a PNG with Paint, and using Photoshop to copy the area I wanted from the map.)

I think it looks pretty good, although my comment regarding the clutter is still somewhat true, you're overusing the sprite trees, try just using the normal doodads more and more shrubs and terrain mixing up, the terrain height issues are still present, but they at least have transitions now, I don't mind these terrain issues much at all.

Just a suggestion, get rid of a few of the trees, and maybe try adding a few of payne's water trees, they add to a piece Also, those 4 tile water spots in the ground add to the piece, so you may want some of those, I would highly recommend opening up Jungle Custom Doodad Database.scm in my Terrain Compilation, it has many of those little doodads that really add to a piece, also, it doesn't have to be all plant life, little bits of bone and such also add a bit, as long as they're not overused.

Honestly, it looks great now, much better than the initial image, I'm impressed

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jan 4 2010, 5:04 am by Falkoner.

@samsizzle: Ha! I knew this guy had potential and was worth following!
@Jesusfreak: Falkoner, as I've said, Falk can help you much more in this kind of terrain ;o
@Falkoner: Nice analysis.

The 3rd paragraph talks about repetitiveness of the terrain. The brush "Doodads" might help you. I've designed some pre-made doodads placement and some touches of doodads you can randomly click and place around (such as little jungle patches or things like that). This is really stolen from Woodenfire's style, though

I've been doing some work on it. I just now read your suggestion on this thread, so it probably didn't get implemented, although I think I did some of the stuff on my own.

I don't have photoshop =/. I'ma see if I can do the same thing with Paint...



Sorry, I couldn't do ramps... all the ramps in the compilation involved high dirt and stuff that I didn't want =/. I did try to put in a ramp, but it turned into a little cliff doodad XD (the one with water, below the waterfall).
The most notable change is that I added a new path near the upper part of the waterfall. I also put in a couple barely-noticable water trees.

So next I'ma try looking through your collection of doodads... thanks Falkoner .

EDIT: Ok, I added a little spaceship of my own blend and some mushrooms (well actually they're coral or something, but they look like mushrooms). I think it looks pretty good. Any more doodads and it'll get difficult for units to move .

Attachments:

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jan 5 2010, 12:09 am by Jesusfreak.

The borders are incredibly blocky.

They aren't that blocky . Least not as far as I can tell... I never did have good eyes...

How would you do them, then? I want them to be high-dirt around the edges (like they are now). The whole thing about looking down off a cliff and not seeing anything (since the dirt on the mountain and the dirt off the mountain is technically on the same level) kinda bugs me =/.

Holy jesus, in terms of landscaping you did a great job at natural terrain. I would just TRY TRY TRY and rid this picture of all the blocks.

I did???? All I did was randomly place doodads... (well not completely random, I used like 3 of each little grass doodad thing and spaced each apart. Once I was done, I had a variety of grass things spread out evenly ).


So, uh, how do I get rid of the blocks? Bridge and ramp tiles are the best transition from high dirt to dirt that I know of, along with some doodad tiles... the thing about the transition tiles is that most of them point downwards, and I need the transition to go upwards...

EDIT: Wait, are you refering to the pic shown, or to the current product in the map file? I was talking about the current product in the map file... XD

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 5 2010, 3:23 am by Jesusfreak.

Very great job over the picture posted.
Post a picture of the map attached please

Ok, here's a screenshot of the entire mountain, plus some glimpses of other stuff in the corners =P.

Your transition from high-dirt to dirt is very blocky everywhere and your attempt at blending at the middle left edge is very poor, but the rest is neat.
I now see how "encastred cliffs" looks very nice. Giving moar ideas for my RPG's terrain

I'm talking about this. The way you laid out the cliffs is great.

Here's my jungle.



Not quite as fancy as the mountain, but it looks decent for a first draft .

It's blocky, and you can't use one of the ramps due to that half-doodad, but it's good for a first draft (seems oddly familiar).

Once again, quite blocky in spaces but i can see your getting better at terraining. I remember when you posted some unfinished rpgs of yours somewhere and the terrain was... not very good, and now your making good stuff. But try placing the sprites WITH their terrain bases.

@samsizzle The sprites can't be placed with their terrain bases, because the bases would take up too much space (I think). They're hiding stuff. Each and every one of those trees hides a resource/powerup unit (that will be disabled once I make triggers, so workers can't pick them up). I'll see if I can think of something though...

@pronogo You're not supposed to be able to use that ramp, the half-doodad is my fail attempt at making a door. I was originally intending for the structure to be an enterable building, and that ramp led to the entrance. Oh, and it might seem familiar because that building is an improved version of the building thing I posted in a different thread. It's mostly without sprites now that I found a temple-ruins blend .

I was referring to the



bit.

Wait a second... what exactly are you talking about too much space? You've got tons of space for the terrain bases.

I think he means that the terrain bases (which would be at least partially unwalkable) would prevent him from placing the trigger-disabled powerups. He could move the powerups, but that might run the risk of them being visible (poking out from behind the trees).

Alright but theres still room behind the sprite for a powerup to be completely covered.

Here's the volcano I've been working on...



It's... missing something... I dunno... how does it look so far?