[WIP] Bandit Fortress

[Johs]

Sorry for the spam, we're working hard and finishing a new map every few days. Here is our latest WIP, the Bandit Fortress.

Lots to be said, and we're far from finished, but here's what we have so far:

banditfort.jpg

And we're doing something realllllly cool for the "B-Sides" concept on these maps. The bottom right map's B-side will be flipable and be able to attach to the top of the wall, so you can have an alternate 3-map long wall. The B-side of the keep will be a completely different layout of the keep so you can have a better boss battle (but a less realistic keep).

Also, the plaza space in the interior of the keep is completely expandable by adding generic dirt tile in the center.

Here's our draft layout for the B-sides Ive just mentioned:

Screen Shot 2013-07-26 at 12.13.06 PM.png

[Johs]

At my request, my lead artist and I tried to brighten the entire fort up - make it healthier and use newer wood and brighten the contrast. However, we'd done a LOT of that type of work prior to getting to this point, and the problems have a lot to do with the dirt tile everything rests on. For a brown dirt, and then a darker richer "wall" edging, the ground floor of the buildings has to be light again for contrast... and now the dirt and interior floors look too similar. We'll be doing a lot of testing, but here's our "second-phase" attempt at fixing this.

Do you guys think its better or worse? I specifically didn't like the rotting texture for the keep interior.

Bandit Fort WIP2j.jpg

[AlexSchacher]

I like the second one a lot more, the more saturated wood is a lot easier on the eyes, and easier to distinguish from the rest of the map.

[Korash]

I like the second one better as well. My only critique would be that I think the shaded intersections of the grid create a false texture that is a bit offsetting to my eye at least.

[Johs]

Well, this still has a long way to go, from experimenting with additional wood textures to lighting and other things. Here is our latest WIP image, with some lighting done:

WIP 3.png

[- Max -]

Sorry for the spam, we're working hard and finishing a new map every few days.

I'm wondering why you're not opening a unique thread to put all you WIPs there.

[Neyjour]

This is looking really good! Love the overall colour scheme and textures, especially the weathered wood for the outdoor walkways! In your previous map, the indoor wood looked a little overly saturated to me, but with the new lighting it looks quite nice now! Also love how your walkways, steps and post walls are offset and uneven...gives everything a very organic and rustic feel. Excellent job! Looking forward to seeing more.

EDIT: You might want to consider asking a Mod to move this to the Virtual Tabletop/Battlemap or Building/Structure forums. Either one would be more appropriate, and would probably get you more views/comments. I almost missed seeing this one myself because I rarely ever check this forum...only happened to click on it out of boredom.

[Johs]

Thank you! I think this is the first positive response we've gotten, haha =D The coolest thing about this map IMO (aside from just being an awesome giant fort) is the B-Sides of these map tiles. The bottom right piece flips and becomes an alternate top left piece, or just rotates and becomes a top left piece, and the keep slides around to allow more dirt, leaving a really easy to build 2-page, 3-page, 4-page or 6-page fort with seconds of configuration. The versatility is just awesome.

Sadly (thus far) the log texture idea for the walk ways is not panning out. In part, this is because of our texture, so we're not quite sure yet whether to scrap the idea or rehab the texture, since both are options, but of course we kinda like the map as is, so any work is a loss of something else.

[Neyjour]

You're welcome!

What a shame the walkway texture isn't working out. It looks so nice! What exactly is the problem? Maybe someone could help you with that, or give you ideas on how to salvage it...

One other thing I forgot to mention, that Korash already pointed out, is that the shading where the grid intersects is a bit distracting. I'm guessing it isn't the actual grid that's causing that, but rather a repeating pattern in the ground/soil texture that just happens to fall at the grid intersection?

[Johs]

To give you more clarity, here is the image we're trying to capture the vibe of :

wooden_fort_by_luciuscaudill-d4byjw2.jpg

Note that the walkways are actually whole 'logs', and it's this new 'log' texture that's not quite working out (yet). With more time it probably will though.

As for the grid, it's a combination shadow, multiply and screen. This allows it to stand out on any background, and we custom refit the grid for each map. This process hasn't been done yet (for this map) so the argument is that it doesn't look good on dirt. It's a fair point, but not that important since 1> we haven't retooled it, and 2> it looks better in person. The shadow IS part of the grid though.