level...
 

Been awhile leveling with pics1, stuck on that GK tileset for too long!
Anyways, I'm going to continue making this level better and better. So feel free to critique in a way I can build off of, thank you!
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/3...elinawhile.png

I never liked these classic levels, tho it looks nice.

a few things i would change to make this a lil bit better.. the tall grass tiling, its a bit squareish, i would add some of those corner tall grass tiles to the borders of appropreite areas. the right side, above the topmost cliffs, i can see your mixing the two types of grass dirt trans. tiles. not sure if thats a great idea, it looks a tad choppy. The dirt tiling for pathways consists of three tiles 2 rock sizes and one dirt tile, i can't help but feel this is a bit repeatative.. maybe add in another dirt texture tile? I hope this helped, its looking pretty good. :)

I like it, the things I see wrong with it is

• the house

  I don't really feel as if it goes with the level. I cannot make houses at all and I have trouble creating one that looks good with whatever I make. I'm not going to attempt to tell you what could be done to improve it because I'm probably the last person you should be taking advice on about how houses should look.

• swamp tiles

  I like full swamp tiles and not just half of them. I always hate it when I go up to slash some swamp and realize I can't because it's not a full swamp tile. The corners do not really matter in most cases if it's done right however if you think it will look better go for it.

• grass to dirt

  I'm not a fan of the darker grass to dirt tiles that you're using for a majority of the paths. I just don't like it that much, again personal preference. As for mixing them they I have on occasion done that because of the current 'fad' thats going on with making over complicated levels but that's for another conversation. I no longer do it because I feel adding lots of detail actually makes levels ugly and sometimes hinders gameplay.

I do like how you went easy on the grass detail and I like the overall layout of the level, the cliff positioning and tile placement.

I'm not excellent with the whole house tiling, I personally suck at it and I need to improve on that as a whole.

I will start making improvements with what ideas you two have given me, thanks a lot.
It really helps!

The house doesnt stand out like the rest of the tiles. Make sure that the house has enough detail to make it stand out!

Is it you me or does my cliff tiling look to jaggedy and not enough curves?

Here is the file...

I personally can't say this is the type of level I'd see, though my preference can differ from the majority. I find the "deep dirt" tiles to look square when laid out and ultimately ugly to look at -- I much prefer the other dirt tiles. Not only do they look better and don't stand out as much(dirt and grass should visually appear on the same plane of vision, and the black outlines on the deep dirt makes them pop too much), but they also come with a ton of other tiles to give the paths more variety in their turns. I definitely don't think the look good when interchanged, but I can't say it's the worst looking thing.

I also don't prefer that style of cliffing. The ^ and v turns just look like tile errors to me, and they end up looking like a slinky or something.

The swamp tiles could probably be better laid out, and rounded off. Right now they look pretty square. You can use the other swamp tiles(there are two, the main, and the edge) to make that a bit more smoother to look at. Also, you should keep the stuff like bushes and all off to the edge of the playing area(like up against cliffs). It looks more natural to look at and also helps from obstructing the playing area.

If you want to post the level I could possibly show some edits, or maybe someone else can.

hmm the house, was intersting, i feel like the perspective of the house was lost by this top layer.. i hope this helps explain what i mean, roofs aren't flat right after the roofs borders, they slant upwards, look at a house in Link to the past for an easily visable slant. the upside down U shaped ledge on top voilates this slant. Personally i wouldn't have it there, at all. However, if i did have to have it there i would change it, to make more sence perspective wise like the middle image, or even expand apon it, shown in top image... http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/1...ofdepth.th.png

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/7...utsideedit.png

As far as you can see, I started to replace the grass to dirt tiles with the others ones that Dusty mentioned...
I kind of got scatter brain and started removing some detail without replacing it so before I continue to keep working. (Don't mind the stupid tile errors)

I never really got what the other grass detail was for, so I started to see if I could make something out of it...?

For some reason it doesn't look right the way I used the tiles so... where is this supposed to go and what effect is it suppose to create within the level?

Cool level, the swamp tiles look a bit square though...maybe use the other set of swamp tiles to smooth off the corners? The perspective on the house looks sorta off, too :x
Personally, I prefer sand paths with a mix of the black outlined tiles and the green outlined tiles. I hadn't thought about why until just now, but perhaps because alot of paths in real life have outlines which partly stand out and partly which are faded into the sand. However, mixing it up like that takes too long so I don't always bother with them.
I like to use it to break away from boring grass detailing (it takes up space); it sometimes works depending on how you use it - for example, I think it works well around those two trees in your level, but the ones used at either side of the level...not so much.

The transition to the lighter path tiles looks good, keep doing that. Also, I'm not a huge fan of layered grass. That's just me though.

I'm not a fan of the random fences. I don't think fences work as decoration unless they're fencing something off, like cows.

As I continue to make the outside better, I made an inside as well!
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/9/taylorinside.png

Good levels, but the inside needs an "eyepiece". A pottedplant.png on the table or something should suffice, just something to give the level a little flare. On the outside, this is more of a suggestion: Maybe add a waterfall, and a river with a bridge over it.

Edit: Looking back, how are you going to get to your house *Shift + E* ?