WIP: floating boulders (need help/suggestions please)

[Neyjour]

New map I'm working on (currently unnamed), of large boulders floating above a poisonous fog.

I don't want to add any other major elements to it, but since it's such a simple scene, I do want to include some nice details (on the rocks). Problem is, I've been staring at it (off and on) for the past couple hours and I'm having a complete mind blank.

Any ideas/suggestions about what I could add to "spruce it up" and make it a little more interesting would be much appreciated!

Also, I did consider adding some monkey bridges between the rocks...but I think I'd rather leave them like this, so players have to figure out how to traverse them.

Floating Boulders WIP.png Floating Boulders WIP detail.png

[Jacktannery]

This is beautiful Neyjour. The rocks are perfect.

I really can't think of any possible way to improve it. Have you considered changing the colours of the background? At present its yellow-green, similar to the foreground rocks. One option would be to change this to an 'earth-from-space' blue-green scheme; that might be interesting if it works.

[Neyjour]

Thanks very much, Jack. Glad you like it.

It would be easy enough to change the background colours, and at first, I did consider doing a black/red/orange colour scheme (hot and lava-like). But I've done a few lava themed maps before and wanted to try something different. And the sickly green/yellow really makes me think of poison gas, so I think I'd like to stick with those colours. But thanks for the suggestion!

I thought about maybe adding some small, glowing flowers amongst the creepers, but haven't been able to find any flowers that look right. Actually...I don't have very many flowers to begin with. I may have to do a search at Dundjinni and RPGMapShare, and see if I can find some more. Other than that, I'm still kinda stumped on ideas. LOL! *sigh*

If anything else comes to mind, please let me know!

[Bogie]

If green clouds is important, then change the rocks to a light charcoal grey and you will still get the contrast difference Jack is suggesting, and the plant life will standout more as well.

Otherwise, it looks great!

[Neyjour]

Thanks Bogie.

Okay, I changed the rock colour. Tried grey and brown, but liked the brown a bit better with the yellow background. It also gave the moss a nicer, more natural colour (since its layer is set to "overlay"). Such a small thing, but it really made a big difference. Thank you both so much!

And I also added some chains, to enhance the "floating" feeling...like they'll just drift away if they're not anchored to each other. And I left the smaller one unchained to give the impression that other, smaller chunks drift around aimlessly. Should I add a couple more smaller, unchained ones, or just leave it as is?

I'm also going to try adding a few small, craggy trees leaning out over the sides, with their roots clinging to the edges of the rocks. Still looking around for some elements that will work for that, so we'll see...

I wasn't feeling terribly enthusiastic about this one, but it's really starting to shape up now. Thanks again!

floating boulders 2 WIP.png floating boulders 2 WIP detail.png

[Bogie]

It is a subtle change in color but it works. Yeah, maybe one more rock, but small and off by itself.

[Neyjour]

Added 2 more little boulders (it needed an extra one to balance things out), darkened the moss and chains a bit, and added a tree.

Do you think the tree looks convincing? It's kind of difficult to do something like that, that's not completely top-down, and I'm not sure if it looks right or not...

floating boulders 3 WIP.png floating boulders 3 WIP detail.png

[Christie Shadow]

You've done a really nice job on this, congrats!

I'm not sure about the tree. It looks like it's on top of the boulder, but the way the picture looks, it's supposed to be on its side, right? If it's hanging off the boulder, I'd suggest you go with a less thriving-looking tree (it looks almost too thriving for growing on a boulder that floats over poisonous fog!) - a windblown, almost naked couple of branches, maybe. If you add a couple of roots that seems to be coming from two boulders close to each other, you could emphasise that they are drifting apart, but has been closer once.

[Neyjour]

Thanks very much Christie.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of, that it looked too much like it's sticking straight up off the top edge of the rock. But I think I found one that works much better! I rendered this one myself (on an angle), and the way the roots are shaped/modeled gives a much better "clinging" illusion I think. It's also less thick/sturdy than the other one, and I used a wispy willow tree for the top, instead of the thick foliage. I didn't really want to go with something dead, since vegetation does grow up there. I imagine it has adapted to the environment and thrives in that gassy/foggy atmosphere.

The fog pretty much stays down below, and the air up top is breathable, so adventurers don't have anything to worry about...unless they fall off! Or...I was thinking maybe some of the gasses do rise up (this could explain why the boulders float), so I might try adding some very thin wisps of fog up top. So, adventuring up here won't kill you, but prolonged exposure could make you very sick.

I'm attaching a full-rez detail shot of the tree. Let me know what you think.

And thanks again!

floating boulders 4 WIP detail.png

[Jacktannery]

I think that looks great Neyjour.