I started off this thread getting feedback on my custom tileset, I have gone ahead with a tileset and how have started terraining, and am looking for feedback and criticism to make it better, I will update this post with updates whilst discussing in thread. Latest update and links will be at the top of the corosponding links
Updates
New
- Did terraining work to the biological side and finished up the pathing in between the two bases, currently I am not sure what to fill up the middle with, doodads will help, but any advice on what terain to use?
Old
- In the Overview screenshot you can see islands around the edges I plan to doodad with pipes and wires to bring them together, the lava pit in the center won't be pathable but I will make it look like a lava processing pit, somehow :) doodading will come later, new thoughts?
- I have added a link to my first attempt at the mechanical base, link is below, critique and suggestions? Note this is just terrain and cliff work, not doodadding. I have no idea how i am goign to terrain the ramps or around the back of the base, any ideas? obviously doodads will help fill up the area but no idea what terrain to use. again thoughts?
- I am thinking about using these 8 terrains (terrain set link) in my new map idea. basically there are 2 teams one team made up of mechanical units so I want that side to feel robotic. the other side is going to be biological units so I was going to give that more of an army style camp feel.
I have chose the two korhal concretes for road pathing, and the grass because I havn't seen another decent looking grass texture.
The avernus mesh and braxis alpha metal detail I was planning to use for the robotic side.
and the korhal dirt and cracked dirt for the human side.
the center of the map will be made up of grassy and sandy areas
Back to my original question do you think these textures will work allright together, if not which ones and what would you replace the terrain with.
Army base rear - airport sorta landing place, I don't think the bridge suits, anyone know of a better bridge or a better idea to design a way to get a path to the rear?
Overview of the gameplay area - overview of current pathing between both bases, this is where all combat and fighting will occur, there are 4 checkpoints which will be capturable and there are 3 additional paths between both sides
middle and both ramps - ramps have textures down them and have stared the roads between the bases. The lava pit I am going to try and make it into a processing area once doodads are up, not sure how it'll work out, thoughts?
Rear of mech side I will add some mechanical doodading to these other islands to give them a better feel once terrain is done
It doesn't look to bad, but the Xil duney sand seems to be a bit of an odd man out. I reckon that one can be replaces, possibly with the small tiles tile from Castanar - give it a go and see what happens.
@Mozared: Go
I like how you say "doesn't look too bad" lol, does that mean it could be better?
yes that was the one I wasn't so sure on.
Reason i am asking now is I don't have the greatest eye for terrains, and don't want to get closer to an end product and everyone think its an eye sore, and have to remake it all.
Terraining doesn't come naturally to me, I'm more of a coder than an artist.
Heh - no, I say "it doesn't look too bad" because I'm an incredibly critical person and have really high standards for calling something good. I like your combination, it's just not what I'd call "good" - it'd need to be properly visually pleasing for it to be so. I'd need to be able to look at just the set and go "Hmm, I really like this, awesome!". Don't knock yourself out though, I don't think I'd be able to call any kind of terrain set that doesn't use assets "good".
I do kind of like what you've done, and I think it'll work fine, just not more than that - it's not gonna make me go "sweet mother of god, this is awesome". It's up to you to decide whether that's good enough to go with in a map.
Hmmm which one of the three were you referring to the brush, the light or the dark? the brush seems to be too off coloured to use on its own, the light grass looks pretty nifty I like the textures and looks a bit more realistic to the korhal grass. as for the dark grass it seems to be a bit to dark to use.
Thats exactly what I need! more people to be critical! I need some more insight, I'm not affraid of peoples opinions nor will I be offended. I have been watching this terraining forum and the stuff people can pull out inspires me, and I want to be able to pull something like that out of the hat, but bad ( well not necessiarly bad but not awesome ) terrain will make it hard accomplishing that product.
I plan to post updating pictures of the terrain as I go, for criticism, because I do not have an eye for it, and I would love people to be brutally honest! my main problem is my brain is logical so having terrains square edged appeals to me, but final products with terrain and doodads combined arn't square edged :P
So if you don't mind, knowing what I am trying to acheive in my map what would you recomend as a tileset?
Could you provide us with another screenshot like your first one? It helps if you see them all together. Overal I think your first idea works as well as you can get it without importing custom tiles, save for the sand which looks a bit out of tune. You will get a bit of a cityscape-like look, though, not sure if that's your intention.
Edit: Hmmmm. I'm not sure. It definitely looks interesting like this, but I don't immediatly see much use for the castanar tileset. You should try the 'Castanar large tile' instead, see how that works. I was trying to get another tile in there that could be used for detail, but if you use the large tiles as 'main zone', you can use the grid-tile as detail instead - it performs that function admirably.
I'm not entirely sure which tiles your talking about from the castanar set, there is a grid, which looks like a larger tile, and then there is a castanar tile
Below is an image of an idea I had with the metal detail and mesh, it fits in nicely and give a good mechanical pathing sort of look, I will probably tone it down so that its not so prominent to fill up the whole gap but I think those two terrains work nicely together.
Hmmm, nice one there Nevj, that *is* the kind of stuff I'm looking for when I say aesthetically pleasing. That screenshot does make me go "Hey, this is awesome!". I guess that that one's prolly just for demonstration, but I do suggest you fill up every bit to the edge with the metal 'path'. Have the little borders of the mesh texture be the actual borders between the metal and the mesh.
As for the texture I meant; it's called "Castanar Grid". I'm not entirely sure how well it would go with what you've cooked up in that screenie, but I suggest you at least give it a try.
Hmmm, nice one there Nevj, that *is* the kind of stuff I'm looking for when I say aesthetically pleasing. That screenshot does make me go "Hey, this is awesome!". I guess that that one's prolly just for demonstration, but I do suggest you fill up every bit to the edge with the metal 'path'. Have the little borders of the mesh texture be the actual borders between the metal and the mesh.
yea that was done hurridly, but glad that got the "mozared tick of approval" :P
As for the texture I meant; it's called "Castanar Grid". I'm not entirely sure how well it would go with what you've cooked up in that screenie, but I suggest you at least give it a try.
Texture added below, I do seem to think the castanar grids colour will go with it all better, how you would go about using it in with the other terrains I'm not entirely sure
To be fair, I found that all the Castanar tiles just worked really well with the Castanar Mesh - the Grid tile as well, and that's really what I'm trying to point out. What you did in that other screenshot, I did with mesh and Grid tiles in my map. Try and combine the grid wile with the other two 'robotic' tiles you have, I'm curious what'll happen.
@Mozared: Go
With having very little idea with what to do with it, using the grid texture in moderation, you could pull of sections of tiles that would look like floor panels.
just gotta be careful to not over do it to remove from the mesh and metal look I guess.
Haha see you in a years time, nah I'll get to work on the terraining now, and I'll come back to you with some more finished looking terrains for critisim
oh actually one more thing, what cliff textures to use >.< on that one I have absolutly no idea
edit. cliffs i'm going to use meinhoff manmade and monlyth organic see how i go
Updated first post with my first try and terraining the mechanical base for my map, Note this is just terrain and cliff work, not doodadding. I have no idea how i am goign to terrain the ramps or around the back of the base, any ideas? obviously doodads will help fill up the area but no idea what terrain to use. again thoughts?
Mechanical-style ramps are actually a funny thing in SC2. Usually doing fancy stuff with ramps makes them look horrible because it draws attention to them, which - back in games like SC1 was a horrible idea as they tended to look horrible in the first place. In SC2, for some reason, doing weird combinations of tilesets works. Here's a random screenshot of the 'Piercing the Shroud' mission with a ramp in the background. That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. I'd say play with ground decals and just try weird stuff - one of your options will work.
On screenshot 1 I did what you did except I only used castanar. For combo 1 I used castanar metal and mesh. For combo 2 I used castanar grating, grid, and small tiles. For combo 3 I used castanar mesh and regular tiles. The 4th screenshot is an overview.
allright so I should just continue terrain with the same style terrain around the base also, I'll try and get the ramps looking semi decent, I also have to do a bit more cliff work, it still looks a little square edge in some places
otherwise no comment on the terraining done so far?
I started off this thread getting feedback on my custom tileset, I have gone ahead with a tileset and how have started terraining, and am looking for feedback and criticism to make it better, I will update this post with updates whilst discussing in thread. Latest update and links will be at the top of the corosponding links
Updates
New
- Did terraining work to the biological side and finished up the pathing in between the two bases, currently I am not sure what to fill up the middle with, doodads will help, but any advice on what terain to use?
Old
- In the Overview screenshot you can see islands around the edges I plan to doodad with pipes and wires to bring them together, the lava pit in the center won't be pathable but I will make it look like a lava processing pit, somehow :) doodading will come later, new thoughts?
- I have added a link to my first attempt at the mechanical base, link is below, critique and suggestions? Note this is just terrain and cliff work, not doodadding. I have no idea how i am goign to terrain the ramps or around the back of the base, any ideas? obviously doodads will help fill up the area but no idea what terrain to use. again thoughts?
- I am thinking about using these 8 terrains (terrain set link) in my new map idea. basically there are 2 teams one team made up of mechanical units so I want that side to feel robotic. the other side is going to be biological units so I was going to give that more of an army style camp feel.
I have chose the two korhal concretes for road pathing, and the grass because I havn't seen another decent looking grass texture.
The avernus mesh and braxis alpha metal detail I was planning to use for the robotic side. and the korhal dirt and cracked dirt for the human side. the center of the map will be made up of grassy and sandy areas
Back to my original question do you think these textures will work allright together, if not which ones and what would you replace the terrain with.
Updated Links
New
Army base - Overview of the army base
Ramps and Middle - army base ramps and center, on this side I am going to to continue the road up and into the base rather than making culdesacs
Army base platform - The raised platform for the actual army base
Army base rear - airport sorta landing place, I don't think the bridge suits, anyone know of a better bridge or a better idea to design a way to get a path to the rear?
Overview of the gameplay area - overview of current pathing between both bases, this is where all combat and fighting will occur, there are 4 checkpoints which will be capturable and there are 3 additional paths between both sides
Old
Overview of Mech side 2 - complete overview of the robot side so far, still no doodading
middle and both ramps - ramps have textures down them and have stared the roads between the bases. The lava pit I am going to try and make it into a processing area once doodads are up, not sure how it'll work out, thoughts?
Rear of mech side I will add some mechanical doodading to these other islands to give them a better feel once terrain is done
Mechanical Side Attempt 1 - First Attempt at putting the mechanical base together
terrain set2 - Second set of tiles for my Terrain set, changed grass and the sand dunes
terrain set - First set of tiles for my Terrain set
It doesn't look to bad, but the Xil duney sand seems to be a bit of an odd man out. I reckon that one can be replaces, possibly with the small tiles tile from Castanar - give it a go and see what happens.
@Mozared: Go I like how you say "doesn't look too bad" lol, does that mean it could be better?
yes that was the one I wasn't so sure on.
Reason i am asking now is I don't have the greatest eye for terrains, and don't want to get closer to an end product and everyone think its an eye sore, and have to remake it all.
Terraining doesn't come naturally to me, I'm more of a coder than an artist.
You say you couldn't find any better grass textures, have you checked Bel'shir? I think those grass/brush textures are quite nice.
@nevjmac: Go
Heh - no, I say "it doesn't look too bad" because I'm an incredibly critical person and have really high standards for calling something good. I like your combination, it's just not what I'd call "good" - it'd need to be properly visually pleasing for it to be so. I'd need to be able to look at just the set and go "Hmm, I really like this, awesome!". Don't knock yourself out though, I don't think I'd be able to call any kind of terrain set that doesn't use assets "good".
I do kind of like what you've done, and I think it'll work fine, just not more than that - it's not gonna make me go "sweet mother of god, this is awesome". It's up to you to decide whether that's good enough to go with in a map.
@Mogranlocky: Go
Hmmm which one of the three were you referring to the brush, the light or the dark? the brush seems to be too off coloured to use on its own, the light grass looks pretty nifty I like the textures and looks a bit more realistic to the korhal grass. as for the dark grass it seems to be a bit to dark to use.
@Mozared: Go
Thats exactly what I need! more people to be critical! I need some more insight, I'm not affraid of peoples opinions nor will I be offended. I have been watching this terraining forum and the stuff people can pull out inspires me, and I want to be able to pull something like that out of the hat, but bad ( well not necessiarly bad but not awesome ) terrain will make it hard accomplishing that product.
I plan to post updating pictures of the terrain as I go, for criticism, because I do not have an eye for it, and I would love people to be brutally honest! my main problem is my brain is logical so having terrains square edged appeals to me, but final products with terrain and doodads combined arn't square edged :P
So if you don't mind, knowing what I am trying to acheive in my map what would you recomend as a tileset?
I have edited the op with another terrain set, with the belshir grass and with the castanaar small tiles, new thoughts?
Could you provide us with another screenshot like your first one? It helps if you see them all together. Overal I think your first idea works as well as you can get it without importing custom tiles, save for the sand which looks a bit out of tune. You will get a bit of a cityscape-like look, though, not sure if that's your intention.Edit: Hmmmm. I'm not sure. It definitely looks interesting like this, but I don't immediatly see much use for the castanar tileset. You should try the 'Castanar large tile' instead, see how that works. I was trying to get another tile in there that could be used for detail, but if you use the large tiles as 'main zone', you can use the grid-tile as detail instead - it performs that function admirably.
@Mozared: Go
I'm not entirely sure which tiles your talking about from the castanar set, there is a grid, which looks like a larger tile, and then there is a castanar tile
Below is an image of an idea I had with the metal detail and mesh, it fits in nicely and give a good mechanical pathing sort of look, I will probably tone it down so that its not so prominent to fill up the whole gap but I think those two terrains work nicely together.
Hmmm, nice one there Nevj, that *is* the kind of stuff I'm looking for when I say aesthetically pleasing. That screenshot does make me go "Hey, this is awesome!". I guess that that one's prolly just for demonstration, but I do suggest you fill up every bit to the edge with the metal 'path'. Have the little borders of the mesh texture be the actual borders between the metal and the mesh.
As for the texture I meant; it's called "Castanar Grid". I'm not entirely sure how well it would go with what you've cooked up in that screenie, but I suggest you at least give it a try.
yea that was done hurridly, but glad that got the "mozared tick of approval" :P
Texture added below, I do seem to think the castanar grids colour will go with it all better, how you would go about using it in with the other terrains I'm not entirely sure
To be fair, I found that all the Castanar tiles just worked really well with the Castanar Mesh - the Grid tile as well, and that's really what I'm trying to point out. What you did in that other screenshot, I did with mesh and Grid tiles in my map. Try and combine the grid wile with the other two 'robotic' tiles you have, I'm curious what'll happen.
@Mozared: Go With having very little idea with what to do with it, using the grid texture in moderation, you could pull of sections of tiles that would look like floor panels.
just gotta be careful to not over do it to remove from the mesh and metal look I guess.
again a hurried job, so its not cleanly cut
Does anyone else have any thought, or is everyone just lurking :P I would like to hear your thoughts
Thanks mozared I'm loving your input as this area is a weakness of mine
Well, it looks like it does add something - this wasn't really true for the sand dunes, if you ask me, so I guess that's a pro.
Now off to work you, I want to see a more finished version of this map of yours =P
@Mozared: Go
Haha see you in a years time, nah I'll get to work on the terraining now, and I'll come back to you with some more finished looking terrains for critisim
oh actually one more thing, what cliff textures to use >.< on that one I have absolutly no idea
edit. cliffs i'm going to use meinhoff manmade and monlyth organic see how i go
Updated first post with my first try and terraining the mechanical base for my map, Note this is just terrain and cliff work, not doodadding. I have no idea how i am goign to terrain the ramps or around the back of the base, any ideas? obviously doodads will help fill up the area but no idea what terrain to use. again thoughts?
Mechanical-style ramps are actually a funny thing in SC2. Usually doing fancy stuff with ramps makes them look horrible because it draws attention to them, which - back in games like SC1 was a horrible idea as they tended to look horrible in the first place. In SC2, for some reason, doing weird combinations of tilesets works. Here's a random screenshot of the 'Piercing the Shroud' mission with a ramp in the background. That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. I'd say play with ground decals and just try weird stuff - one of your options will work.
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Curse Premium@nevjmac: Go
I have something that might give you some ideas.
On screenshot 1 I did what you did except I only used castanar. For combo 1 I used castanar metal and mesh. For combo 2 I used castanar grating, grid, and small tiles. For combo 3 I used castanar mesh and regular tiles. The 4th screenshot is an overview.
allright so I should just continue terrain with the same style terrain around the base also, I'll try and get the ramps looking semi decent, I also have to do a bit more cliff work, it still looks a little square edge in some places
otherwise no comment on the terraining done so far?