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Making my tiles stand out more.


Tristen Shaw

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Hey all,

I'm trying to make some stone floor and wall tiles in a medieval theme.

I drew up some initial rough tiles and while I think they look pretty good, I'm afraid that the wall tiles blend into the floor tiles too much.

Anyone have any advice?

wall_example.jpg
 

ibclare

Queen Bee
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I'm a little disoriented by the layout. Which ones are floor tiles?

How do you plan to use them? Shadowing and light effects can distinguish wall and floor as can perspective of the floor coming forward. Color variation might also help. The floor could be darker in places and more worn from being walked on. You could use a little blur here and there on the floor, though wall tiles/stones would look a bit worn by time (unless of course the time is actually Medieval era and recently built, lol). If ancient, the walls might have some water damage and mold or lichen. Some cracks . . . But it all depends on how you want to use them.

If it's for a game, then not so literal and I would suggest that floor stones would be a larger dimension than wall tiles.
 

Tristen Shaw

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Thanks for the fast reply! :)

Ok, the thin one is the wall with an attached dropshadow. The square is the floor tile and then next to that I have a couple set up with the wall on the floor tiles to show how it looks together.

It is for a game and will be viewed from about the zoom in the picture, maybe even a little further back. So super detail like water or traffic wear and tear probably isn't needed. But I don't want the wall to just vanish into the floor.

So far, for lighting effects all I have is the drop shadow on the wall.

I like your idea on making the floor stones larger than the wall stones. Maybe that would set them apart enough.

I will post back shortly! And thank you for the suggestions! :)
 

ibclare

Queen Bee
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I'd like to see your idea of how it will be used rather than just a diagram. Here is what I mean by applying perspective and a gradient to indicate a shadowing (this is probably too subtle) where the wall and floor meet.

tiles.PNG

Sort of like this.

But I would like to see how you will lay it out when it is in use.
 
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Tristen Shaw

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Hey, nice artwork! :)

For my uses though, the tiles will be seen from directly above, no angled perspectives.

Basically they are tiles that will be used for RPG maps, here is a very basic mock up of a room.

wall_example2.jpg

Obviously it has the problem that the shadows seem as if there are 4 sources of light but it's just a basic mock up at the moment.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, there probably shouldn't be any dropshadows inside the wall. It would be dark in the entire room with the exception of light sources.
 
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ibclare

Queen Bee
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Currently, your layout looks like one large floor, one dimension. You need to add some perspective IMO. Here is a demo of that, obviously not worked out to fit pieces together but you can do that with some edge adjustment. Someone may have a better idea.

tiles.PNG
 

Tristen Shaw

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I dunno. These RPG maps a traditionally one dimensional. See, I'm not making a flash animation RPG video game. I'm making maps for pen and paper style RPGs.

I'm hoping to make this into a simple program that allows me to quickly snap the tiles together into maps.
 

ibclare

Queen Bee
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OK, so maybe if you made 45 degree lines at the corners, making your wall tiles trapezoidal so they still snap together in a square, but have a bit more illusion of rising upward. Just a thought. Otherwise, I have no comment other than it looks like a floor with a border.
 

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