Tiles - Grass/Sand/Snow Path Edging (*56K Warning*)

[Taledus]

Please see top post on page 3
I took the existing grass tile and created some edges for paths. These would just add something else to the maps... Please post thoughts, as well as suggestions for additional edits for other tiles.

Full Version 1 Grass/Sand/Snow Edits
Just clean cut edges:


Version 1 Edits Example
Here is an example of the grass edges for a path and water using version 1 edits. Varying edges can be given to the paths as I tried to show, but they could be more straight if needed by not swapping the tiles being used for the edge.

Blue cliff tile IS a blue cliff tile cause I wasn't paying attention :/

Full Version 2 Grass/Sand/Snow Edits
Blended in edges (Angles need better fading - they look too sharp still and do not match the other tiles fading effects):

Version 2 Edits Example
Due to the tiles that are on map_tiles_2_1, they are already able to be used for dirt paths that blend in with grass or whatever tiles they overlay. However, they are only able to be used with dirt paths. Also, there is no T-intersection, and if you will look at the Main Crossglen map, you will see that they are just square tiles that do not blend in. I could have just edited one to match, but editing entire grass tiles that can go over any bottom layer was a better option. The top right section of this one show the grass edits being used with multiple ground tiles. These were done using version 2 edits on the bottom of the tile sheet at the top of this post. These tiles are faded in better. I have also included additional additional 45 degree sections. The bottom right path show that the angle can still be curvy, however can still be straight also like the path going to the house. The Y-Intersection can be done as big as needed for an area using these tiles too. I have cleaned up the edges to of the entire version 2 set in order to provide a better fluidity instead of how "choppy" the tiles look in the first image.


This adds a lot of additional tiles that can be used with grass alone. The process to edit all of these took about 6 hours. In order to properly fade the sand and snow tiles I am going to need additional time to make them look right. Both the sand and snow edits would essentially be replicas of the grass edits, so keep that in mind on why I have not completed them. This is a lot of work and I would rather have them used then do them for nothing. So if I can get a good number of votes on this I will make the corrections to sand and snow before sending them in for approval for the game. I do still have some additional grass tiles to make, but this should give a good idea of what everything is going to look like.

Full Version 2 Rough Example
A very, VERY rough example of some of the effects that can be done across different ground tiles with version 2 edits.


More examples
A simple test forest village:


blackwater_mountain32 map edit (Cliff edge tiles are just an example - they need re-modification in order to look like cliff edges. Need darker bottoms.):


Original blackwater_mountain32 map for comparison:


Additional Requests
Please note, if there are other tiles that can use modification, post the image name along with x/y coordinates (i.e. map_tiles_2_1 x5, y3) and I will see what I can come up with. It's alright if you don't know this information too, just try to be as detailed as possible so I can find which ones to modify.

Changelog
8-21-12:
- I need to re-work the angle fades to fade a bit more so the fading effect will match the other fading tiles. - Edges used for cliff, like in the Blackwater example should look more like over hangs with darker edges. This is going to require about 4 more tiles per set, but will look better when being used for cliff edges.
- Once I get all corrections completed I am going to keep the same poll but delete the entire original post, and replace it with better examples that use version 2 edits.

v.1.3
- Swapped out version1/version2 split grass sheet with original full version 1 grass/sand/snow tile sheet
- Added full version 2 grass/sand/snow edits
- Added rough example for full version 2
- Deleted references to tiles being used with water...current water tiles look better.
- Fixed angle tiles on version 2 edits so they wont stick out sides
- Added additional test village, and pre-existing map edit for comparison

v.1.2
- Swapped out tile sheet with 2 versions of grass edits only
- Posted second image using version 2 edits
- Changed polling options to have voting for version 1 and version 2 edits
- Formatted for clarity

v.1.1
- Added example tile sheet with grass/sand/snow edits
- Poll added

[phydeaux]

Those look good

[Taledus]

Thanks

I am going to work on the additional tiles sometime this weekend for sand and ice. I'll see if I can post a better example of how they are used, maybe edit an existing map, to show how these would allow things to look a bit better. Then I will change the original post wil updates and run a poll. Maybe they can be voted on being added to the game.

BTW these go on the layer above the ground layer to provide the effect like they do

[buddyCasino]

Great! In the game there are single tiles that don't have smooth transitions from one tile to the other. Especially if there are transitions like meadow->sand->water on cornered and winding ares. It would be great if someone took a look at them and did some work. There are some snow tiles on the way to BWM that have rough edges too.

[Taledus]

buddyCasino - can you tell me which sheet they are on? I will take a look at the BWM maps to see if I can take a look at the snow tiles that might benefit from some modification.

Also, I have not seen cliff/grass edges that wold provide a bit more for some of the areas. I will take a look at making some of them from scratch if they aren't in there.

I am thinking of proposing 1 additional tile sheet to be used that would contain grass/sand/snow edges. However if there are too many for each one I might separate them into 3 sheets. I just like keeping everything together, which is why on the example there is the basic grass tile included so that someone wouldn't have to go back to another sheet to find it. I have thought of a few additional grass tiles...they are missing parts that would provide a better transition between paths and grass. I'll work on these sometime today.

Edit: I have checked and map_tiles_2_1 do have some dirt tiles with faded edges, but I think having the grass edge in this way allows a more flexible tile that can be used for path edges, and water edges. Will have to see once I get a good example up...

Edit2: Alright, after looking at what is available in the tileset and how they are used, these would not go with them as these looked jacked because they have no fading transparency. I am going to fix these to properly match with fading, make additional tiles, then repost.

[Taledus]

Please re-vote as I now have 2 versions of the tiles up with options to vote on one or the other...or neither of them

[nether]

GREAT job on these.

[sdevaney]

Adding this topic to the next dev meeting. Very nice work.

[Antison]

The water tiles look terrible as they look nothing like water. What is wrong with the preexisting water tiles? They look great as currently used.

[Taledus]

Thanks guys for the support.

I tried to find an easier way to do the edits but nothing was looking right doing things easy...so I had to actually fade in each line of pixels with varying opacities in order to achieve the same effect that the current dirt path have on map_tiles_2_1, these are just more versatile and can be used over several different ground tiles. I too like the version 2 edits...they take waaaay more time but look waaaay much better.

sdevaney, since you are bringing this up at the next dev meeting I am going to work on editing the sand and snow tiles. I still have a few grass edits, but I think I can have everything for all 3 grass/sand/snow all on one sheet for easier mapping.

One thing I would like to point out is that the tile sheets are extremely inefficient for mapping. In order do get the small cliff I had to swap between 3 different tile sheets, and there are several more sets that are scattered throughout various sheets. I'm not going to make an entire post for re-organizing the tile sheets, but is there any way you might be able to bring it up as well? It would more than likely require (A) just adding the reorganized sets to what is used, or (B) re-mapping all the maps...for which there isn't really that many I should point out.

Also, overhangs! There is no matching overhangs for the roof tops. I think I am going to try and make matching overhangs for each roof set. I think I can get by with taking the top or bottom and rotating it and put it on one side to go on the "Above" layer.