finalbossblues
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Remastered Elevation/Cliff Rocks
🕑 Added 2024-12-20 16:00:13 +0000 UTCHello! Today's release has a lot of potential!
So I was getting started on my little idea for a Time Fantasy world map sample game.
I needed to export some new tilesets to make maps. So of course I started with the base tiles that are core to the Time Fantasy style-- the main terrain for grass and cliffs.
We have so many existing tiles from all sorts of packs and patreon releases, I thought it would be a good opportunity to gather them and organize them into more complete biome-based tilesets.
Easier said than done!
So... I got side-tracked again... 😂
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A Tangent about Cliff Tiles
I have so many cliff variations and different ways to assemble them. I gathered all sorts of cliffs and terrains together from previous releases, and I spent a loooong time trying to figure out the best way to organize everything in a way that would maximize their use, and allow me to mix-and-match the tiles in the most efficient ways.
I found myself looking at a lot of images of maps from Pokémon-- their cliff tiles work very differently from the more classic "cinematic SNES RPG" structure that I'm more familiar with. Inspired by Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, those tiles treat cliffs like walls with the primary purpose of making collision boundaries for zones. That way to organize cliff tiles was carried through the biggest influence on me, the RPGMaker RTP, and in turn influenced how I structured the original set for Time Fantasy.
Pokémon's tiles were structured differently-- they're designed to really work elevation into the level design-- which fits exactly with what I've always done with my style of mapping and tiles. A quick search for fanmade Pokémon maps will provide tons of impressive uses for these style of elevation cliff-walls.
This method of organizing cliff tiles makes them look more clearly "layered"-- it's an effect that works well for some games but might be jarring in others.
I think that the next step would be to find a way to blend these layered-walls smoothly into the existing TF cliff textures. 🤔
Notably-- the Pokémon tile structure allows for something that wasn't in the original set: a rocky top to the cliffs. This is ultimately what convinced me that it's be worth it to make these: the rock-top is a brand new texture that I made, designed to work with the cliff walls, and the idea is that it can be used to represent non-walkable rock levels (despite the character sprite standing on them in the preview!)
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So, here's what we came up with:
I think it came out really nice. Though, now I have some big ideas to expand on it even more... 😂
Downloads:
Reminder: Like all my add-ons, these are arranged in a regular grid so you can paste them into any existing tileset.
Let me know if these are useful to you, and especially if you are interested in more tiles like these-- do you think other biome cliff types should get the same treatment?
Would it be worth it to make a remastered cliff set for the whole series? It'd be a big undertaking because TF has been so sprawling and unorganized... but maybe that's exactly the reason we need to do it? Depends on if you'd have a use for these kind of tiles!
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By the way:
I published the Omega Modern Alien expansion pack on itch.io. Didn't make a post here because it's been previously released for patrons. If you want to get it on itch, the access link is here.
The sprite from the previous release was re-uploaded. I messed up some frames when exporting the original. If you have repeated frames, then refresh and download the new version. Sorry about that!
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Anyways-- I plan to mess with these more over the upcoming week while I'm playing around in RPG Maker. We'll see where things go.
But for now, that's it...
Next week is Christmas!
It's gonna be mostly holiday vacation for me-- but it's likely that I come up with something to drop for you next week. If you don't see me during the upcoming week, then I'll make some time over the weekend to have at least one more patron release before the year is over.
See you then.
Have a merry Christmas! Thanks!
Comments
finalbossblues
Great point! Good call on the potential character mismatch-- I see how they almost look like minecraft block stairs because the characters are taller. I was really focused on the tileset structure so wasn't thinking too much about the rest of the style! Now you've got me going down an even more ambitious path-- wanting to make a whole new character set style that could match these ⚠️dangerous, 🤣 we already have so much to do! thanks man merry christmas!
schM0ggi
I don't think it's a good idea. Let me explain: The reason why this style works with Pokemon is because everything is scaled appropriately. Pokemon falls into the chibi style and due to being more tiny (with bigger heads), those walls and cliffs actually look like what they are trying to be. In your preview, it doesn't look like proper walls/cliffs, they are more akin to small hills or stairs, only reaching up to the waistline. There is little and less depth than in the original graphics. That's because the character is too big to suit the rest of the style. And trying to layer the walls more, to let them look high, will let everything end up looking like pyramid things or Lego bricks stacked together. Maybe I'm missing something or didn't understand proper, but your linked "style of mapping" with the original graphics is perfectly fine, to be honest. I'm loving it. Therefore, I think the "cinematic SNES" approach is the way to go for Time Fantasy and Time Elements. On the other hand, I see potential in a new set of graphics with this approach, kind of like your Omega project. Ultimately, it could end up being its own thing and emulate more the Pokemon route. As an inspiration, you could take a look at the Tiny Tales series from Mega Tiles on itch. It works very well there due to everything being scaled properly and I think it shows best what I tried to describe in my first paragraph. Merry Xmas!
Shaun
These are great!!
