Graal Forums - Tucked Away

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A small town tucked away under the shadow of a mountain range.

Attachment 52024

My main concern is that it may be a bit too visually busy.

It gives me the Kakariko Village feeling from ALttP, I like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DustyPorViva (Post 1614566)

A small town tucked away under the shadow of a mountain range.

Attachment 52024

My main concern is that it may be a bit too visually busy.

Make a server please :[

nice, ill get the level off you on MSN and correct a lil something that's bothering me

Looks like Andrew's Bravo Online. That is a good thing :)

The four way split where the fences meet bothers me. It seems a bit unnecessary to have the blank space in the middle.

Thanks :)

Added a few more custom tiles to hopefully break up the busyness of the paths.

Attachment 52025

I do not like the cave exit at the top right. You have to squeeze past the sign to jump down, and the platform is a bit too crowded/busy for a zelda-style cave. Also I am not sure I like that you can walk down to the right of the blue building, narrow paths that lead nowhere look really untidy.

Apart from that I think the main business problem is the lack of colour coordination in the tileset you are using, what does the level look like with a newer tileset?

Edit: Maybe cut down on the fences a bit and go with purely visual delineations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loriel (Post 1614632)

I do not like the cave exit at the top right. You have to squeeze past the sign to jump down, and the platform is a bit too crowded/busy for a zelda-style cave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loriel (Post 1614632)

Also I am not sure I like that you can walk down to the right of the blue building, narrow paths that lead nowhere look really untidy.

This was my original thought as well, but I kind of liked it. Sure it might not serve any purpose but I like exploring nooks and crannies like that. Who knows, if it was real maybe there would be a hole under the bush. I was going to actually stick a chest back there but I think that would have just crowded that area even more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loriel (Post 1614632)

Apart from that I think the main business problem is the lack of colour coordination in the tileset you are using, what does the level look like with a newer tileset?

No idea. There are so many custom tiles in use that using the newer tileset just makes it look like a mess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loriel (Post 1614632)

Edit: Maybe cut down on the fences a bit and go with purely visual delineations.

I did kind of go overboard with the fences, but as I worked on the level I found they served their purpose in a logical sense: dividing up lots to their specific purposes. Though I suppose some areas like behind the stakes could do without the fences. Otherwise what may seem like crowded fenced areas arose sort of from design and symmetry. I wasn't going to crowd the left area as much as it ended up being crowded, but it looked weird if some sections weren't mirrors of the right side. I'll see what can be removed without annoying me, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrAnonymous_P2P (Post 1614629)

The four way split where the fences meet bothers me. It seems a bit unnecessary to have the blank space in the middle.

Hmm, I dunno, I kind of liked it. Sure, it doesn't serve much purpose but I think it looks better than just a +

Attachment 52026

Tucked away under the shadow of a mountain range? This scene is practically screaming for a chimney puffing out some smoke stacks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DustyPorViva (Post 1614633)

I was thinking you could make the cliff extend a bit further down and have the player walk to the sandy part to the left to jump off, handily blocking off the area behind the blue house. I kind of like the cliff/cave because it is an appropriately Zelda thing to have in a level, and one of the things that Zelda does distinctly different from your average Graal level is having actual planned out barriers and paths around them and stuff like that.

Personally I always get frustrated with things like the area behind the house because chances are, there is no hole under the bush. Because there never is. But I still have to try and then I am in a continuous state of disappointment while exploring levels.

Quote:

No idea. There are so many custom tiles in use that using the newer tileset just makes it look like a mess.

Yeah, it was just a random idea. I missed most of the custom tiles when I was first looking at, I guess that means you are using them cleverly. Oh well.

Quote:

My problem with that is the process usually works out as "okay i have this level with distinct lots" -> "hmm, better add fences inbetween so they are clearly separated" -> "**** now everything is crowded as ****". The lots are already kind of divided up because of the grid nature of the whole layout, helped by the paths, and it feels like the fences mostly serve to make everything narrow and to be in the way. I think the whole thing could have used a bit more room altogether for fences between everything to make sense.

I would probably try using those grass-to-grass transitions to separate the lots from each other and the path but those usually end up looking terrible so who knows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteDragon (Post 1614634)

Tucked away under the shadow of a mountain range? This scene is practically screaming for a chimney puffing out some smoke stacks!

Oh man we could have an archaeological expedition to dig out that three-frames glacially-paced animated gif of chimney smoke, and copy it a couple of times so we have a few chimneys puffing out some smokes in sync, it will be awesome.

Is it bad that I want to write a gani script to randomly animate custom smoke puffs now?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loriel (Post 1614636)

Is it bad that I want to write a gani script to randomly animate custom smoke puffs now?

Heh I actually tried something similar. I wanted to recreate the look of the old gifs with particles. I don't think I got it quite working out like I wanted, sadly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DustyPorViva (Post 1614633)

Aye, it is a bit too crowded but it was my original intention to have some cliffs up there from the start, but there just wasn't much room to work with. It could probably do without the sign, as it actually doesn't say anything and if the cliff was part of a real, purposeful level, I'm not sure if it would even be needed. I guess I wanted to give the appearance the platform had a purpose since you can't actually play and see that it does.

This was my original thought as well, but I kind of liked it. Sure it might not serve any purpose but I like exploring nooks and crannies like that. Who knows, if it was real maybe there would be a hole under the bush. I was going to actually stick a chest back there but I think that would have just crowded that area even more.

No idea. There are so many custom tiles in use that using the newer tileset just makes it look like a mess.

I did kind of go overboard with the fences, but as I worked on the level I found they served their purpose in a logical sense: dividing up lots to their specific purposes. Though I suppose some areas like behind the stakes could do without the fences. Otherwise what may seem like crowded fenced areas arose sort of from design and symmetry. I wasn't going to crowd the left area as much as it ended up being crowded, but it looked weird if some sections weren't mirrors of the right side. I'll see what can be removed without annoying me, though.

Hmm, I dunno, I kind of liked it. Sure, it doesn't serve much purpose but I think it looks better than just a +

Attachment 52026

To be honest I love that second fence design, the first one seemed to be almost the centerpiece of that level. That might have just been because of the screenshot though.

Either way good work :)