Slope tileset (WIP)

[trevor]

Ceraus, very cool

As a thought, you might grab Wink, which is a free screencast tool, and record yourself whipping up a quick map with your textures, that would be pretty cool

[Ceraus]

That's a good idea. However...

MapTool is mean to me. For some reason, even though map objects can be brought to the front, sent to the back and put anywhere in-between, it's not saved. So when you start the program again, some cliff tiles are randomly moved under slope tiles. I have no idea how to circumvent the problem.

Slopes will do fine regardless, but I lose the possibility of having slopes right next to cliffs. Well, unless I make tiles specifically for that... which I might have to do anyway, as slopes over cliffs can't be done with the current tiles. Ah well, problem circumvented, in some way.

With essentially positive feedback, I'll keep the general slope design, although I might make some change to the slope "texture" before I start all over. I also intend to make a base tileset (what's been released so far) and an advanced one that includes even more slope configurations for maximum flexibility. I realize that some people might just want to use the slope tiles to make printable maps and don't need to worry about memory issues.

But for now, I'm still on break, especially after the MapTool aggravation. Hit a roadblock with path tiles, too, so I've been relaxing with beach maps. I'm not decided on the look, though.

Tiling the sand/water edge while keeping those gradients is going to be such a headache...

EDIT: I'm really incorrigible. I did the whole beach work in 64px. Good thing it's nowhere near to final.

[RPMiller]

Hm... Are you dropping the tiles on the correct layer? What version of MapTool are you using? I recall that there was a bug a couple versions ago similar to what you are describing, but I thought it got squashed already.

That water is freakin' awesome! Love the look of those beaches. Great stuff!

[torstan]

Yep, I don't find this to be the case in 1.3.b56. I have a map with lost of tiles under and over each other. They certainly remember their configuration between saves and reloads.

Those maps look amazing! I love the water. I agree that the beach gradients are going to be tricky, but you're doing a fantastic job of it. I'm impressed.

[Ceraus]

(Apparently, I was getting behind on MapTool releases. I had no idea they pumped those out that fast. Works fine now as far as I can see.)

I switched to 100px to restart the beach from scratch. I had taken notes on the creation process, but no matter how I'd deal with the white border (as seen in the pictures above), I couldn't get it to look right. I don't know if it ever looked right.

So I kinda snapped, thrashed it and tried something else. Hit a lot of roadblocks, but I'm pleased with the first tile, which fits with itself (obviously) and should properly join any sand texture with any water texture.

Left: the tile
Center: the snap-to-grid background texture
Right: the result of the superimposition

Please criticize. I am looking for the following feedback:

1. Are the sand and water textures appropriate?
2. Is the sand -> water gradient marked enough?
3. Does the damp sand look right?
4. What about the foam? Does it extend far enough? Does its top edge (water-side and sand-side) look right? Is it too crooked/smooth?
5. If you had final say, would you have anything be any other way?

Personnally, I think that the sand -> water gradient is not apparent enough, that the damp sand has something wrong (looks like a shadow) and that the foam could stand being smoother. Also, the sand might benefit from a slope, of all things. However, when you spend a few hours on something, you just can't judge it properly anymore.

So please nitpick so I can try making the definite beach tileset.

Oh, and just in case you missed it: 100px ! (Forever.)

[Ceraus]

Reworked the sand -> water gradient. The tiles will be 600px thick instead of 400px.

The image on the left subdues the damp sand texture. The image on the right also has some kind of sea floor texture that fades in at some point. Dunno if it's worth the trouble.

[Tumorseal]

Between these and the dungeon tile set, noobs like me can make some really great looking maps. Thank you so much!

[shpena]

Man, this is great stuff. Have you thought of sending an artwork pack to the maptools people? Regardless, these textures are great. Thanks for sharing!

[loogie]

haha, good resolution for map tiles thats why i like working with vectors! i can just change it whenever i want! looking good!

[Ceraus]

Hi people, it's been a while, but I'm not dead.

Last summer, I started a "modern" conversion of D&D 4th edition, and working on it has consumed my free time instead of tile-making. Must have put 500 hours into it so far, probably more.

Once I'm done, though, I'll come back to tile-making and probably start a new topic.