Trying something a little odd

[NathanC]

I'm taking a break from my massive underdark map and knocking out some other campaign maps that need to get done.

I started playing with an idea of a wall like the great wall of China, except in Russia and more like half keep half wall to keep. I've always liked the Super Nintendo look and wanted to see if i could pull something off close to that with out getting cartoony.

this is what I have so far.

As always it's a little dark and likely should be lightened, but other then that I'd welcome some feedback.
The Wall copy.jpg

[NathanC]

And here's where it ended up. It's super tiny sorry.

The Wall Reduced.jpg

[Jacktannery]

Hi Nathan,

I love the idea of your russian keep/great wall snow map! However, I find it challenging to work out where the walls are and what the different elevations are, if there are indeed different elevations. Perhaps you could provide a simple explanation of what you are trying to achieve - ie is it three rooms between two outdoor spaces in the lower part of the map, two larger rooms with odd holes separated by a thick wall in the centre, then a raised castellated walkway in the upper part? It's tricky because the central portion looks as though it is in profile to me. Sorry if I'm just being thick!

[NathanC]

Hey Jack,
Thanks for the input.

This was a exercise in early Nintendo LOL, so I knew defining the house and having a clear break between things was going to be hard.

I drew inspiration from some of the buildings in Dragon Warrior.
http://www.realmofdarkness.net/dq/im...maps/endor.png

The three buildings at the bottom are ground level building. I tried to give them depth by doing what I guess is kind of a forced prospective of raising the front walls then allowing for a top down look before reaching the back wall.

The back wall is part of the "great wall" if you will, and that runs until you get to the rampart across the top.

This is where I ended up after messing around with the middle building.
The Wall Reduced 2.jpg

[Jacktannery]

Ah I see - the map is 3D and oblique! Wow. So the whole central part is the side of the wall - right. This is like a Picasso-style encounter map, highly abstract and open to multiple interpretations. A unique style. I don't get a strong nintendo/early computer game vibe from the style, despite the use of oblique angle, perhaps partially due to the use of heavy shading under the lower side of the walkway, which really makes the map much more complex to interpret (assuming I've correctly understood that the central part is the side view of the wall).

[NathanC]

Ah I see - the map is 3D and oblique! Wow. So the whole central part is the side of the wall - right. This is like a Picasso-style encounter map, highly abstract and open to multiple interpretations.[/ A unique style. I don't get a strong nintendo/early computer game vibe from the style, despite the use of oblique angle, perhaps partially due to the use of heavy shading under the lower side of the walkway, which really makes the map much more complex to interpret (assuming I've correctly understood that the central part is the side view of the wall).

Thank you so much Jack, it really means a lot to get such a positive reaction from an experiment like this.

You are 100% correct the central part is the wall's side view. The early Nintendo reference is strictly the from the use of 2d to create 3d height, I always remember playing Dragon Warrior 4 and being amazed that I actually felt a sense of height in particular maps, and that feeling inspired this.

I'm really stoked you like it, thank you again.