Hi all! I started playin with the extended terrain capabilities of SCMDraft2 about a month ago. Since then I've started making an RPG map and would like some feedback on the terrain: suggestions how to improve my work, how to work more efficiently, etc.

Currently I pick an undeveloped corner of the map and place my doodads (Converted to terrain), cliffs, grass, water, w/e. Then I copy paste the tiles I want. I'll change the terrain in the corner spot if the subtile set that I want a tile from isn't represented there. Once pasted I'll use the subtile tool to fix up any tiles that aren't quite what I want them to be. I find it easier to subtile the finished product once all the tiles are pasted rather than subtile the intermediate terrain every time I need a different tile.

Here are some examples. I'm going a little easy on the sprites for now so I don't run out.
Hhopefully the .jpeg compression doesn't hide any imperfections...

This one's just a cliff stack. Any suggestions on High Dirt -> Water blends, I'm finding mine are a little blocky.


Here's my cliffside town!


A neat bridge tunnel idea I had


And my custom bridge to span a gorge.


Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 6 2010, 9:53 am by goobie.

I think your terrain looks brilliant. Although, while I'm at school I can only view images through a proxy from photobucket, so if you could do me a tiny favor and use tinypic next time I would be greatful

Okay, so for your terrain: Looks great. I'm seeing no ugly blocks while you try to blend your pieces. In order to increase your speed while creating terrain, the best way us to get used to the hotkeys, especially ctrl + c and Ctrl + v. You can also hold ctrl while highlighting specific sections of terrain rather than just squares of terrain. Once you gain a familiarity with a specific system it becomes really easy to create the same thing over and over again. For instance your stacked cliffs, you probably know how to stack cliffs along the edges of water in really minimal time by laying out your high cliff and copy//pasting the bulk over, then going over with the tileset index, or subtile tool, to touch things up. For some reason I actually hate the subtile tool

Since you are making an RPG there is one key thing you should avoid doing; don't make every bit of your terrain contain everything special you can possibly think of. While decking out a specific scene with every trick in book is good for generating impressive screenshots, it creates an annoying monotony while you are actually in the game. Instead, focus on giving each general area a specific theme or style. For example in my map (which will hopefully be released today), I have an area for a farm, an area using rocky tiles, an area with high to low to high to low terrain, an area that is a town, an area that is a barren jail, an area that has only one specific custom bush doodad, etc. I give each spot a distinct accent and then repeat that accent all over the place in that area to create a feeling of uniqueness for each location. Just something to think about while making your terrain.

Also, there is no shame in using sprites. If during the creation of your map you are in a hurry or short on time, you can cover up an ugly spot with a sprite and save yourself tons of time.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 6 2010, 3:47 pm by CecilSunkure. Reason: Typed and like five times instead of an.

It feels like I've sinned when I cover up a crap spot with a sprite.

I see a bunch of fantastically blended badlands cliffs, gives everything a nice canyon atmosphere. If I were you, though, I would get into the habit of fixing your terrain rather than placing a sprite over it, It saves sprites and you get a lot better at flexible terraining.

Very good terraining, really!
I personally do not care about block-hiding with sprites if done properly, and you did it rather well, IMO.
I smell a bit of inspiration from qPK's work, could it be possible?

The Bridge to Man Hole is excellent!!!!!

This is pretty good, hard work seen in your pieces but I see nothing new, even though any blocks is just overly covered in sprites
For rpgs you should have more a themed areas, alot of theming would come from sprites but i recommend that you try to lower your sprites to less then a 150 - 200 as it can be eaten up by unit attacks

His sprites are well-placed though.

Excellent blending, although I didn't like the town idea due to repetitiveness.

I like the bridge. Awesome. Your terrain is very good. Not much to critique.