Terrain tiling [Dirt for a change]

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Cernunnos
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Re: Terrain tiling is not dead.

Post by Cernunnos »

Hell! a lot of things to go with!

For forest, dirt transitions, farmland, water variations, all this is pure drawing, it's to say won't require nothing else than drawing, even if it can be quite hard in some cases already, so i could give a try on those.

But cliffs and water to chasm transition (regardless the fact than no one have the same idea about what should falling water looks like) require WML capabilities which i just demonstrate with the desert-plants i have not. (and also regardless the work that would have to be done for cliff tiles in terms of gameplay coding (movement allowed from cliff to cliff, forbidden for non flying from flat to cliff + all peripheral ideas as a path to mount on a cliff for ground units, ranged weapon/melee weapon, range of vision blocked/ non-blocked while up or down a cliff etc etc...))

As i said, regarding my WML capabilities i'm not able to do this. But if i can have some support about this part of the work, i could make the parts of it that needs to be drawn, maybe starting with mesilliac works on those, rather than from scratch.

This said, if some coder or developer have the will, capabilities and motivation for those, it's ok with me.
In the other case, i'll do with the works that don't need WML first (or no more than basic transitions)

Thanks, bye!

edit: when i talk about my WML capabilities i want to add that i'm not even able to test a tile which need concave/convex parts in game (for the water to chasm for example).
"While portrait art may be where Wesnoth gets its glamour, and sprite art may be where Wesnoth gets its zest, it's the terrain art that's so crucial to Wesnoth's polish - it's the canvas that the rest goes on." Sangel
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Simons Mith
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Re: Terrain tiling is not dead.

Post by Simons Mith »

Here's a possible terrain suggestion: multi-hex 'villages'. I've seen several 'city' scenarios where the map designers have had to use multiple villages next to one another and it tends to look funny. Using the same idea as for multi-hex mountain tiles, how about some 'street', 'town house', 'tavern', 'guild hall', 'longhouse', 'terrace of houses' or similar graphics? Possibly even a circle of 3-7 houses inside a palisade. This would mean no change to the game mechanics, but on those occasions where there are multiple villages adjacent to one another, it might be nice to have some multi-hex village graphics available. [Edit] You would need multiple flag placements, presumably, because you could have a case where different sides control different parts of a multi-hex building. Also, you might need multi-hex ruins - and that would well be opening a can of worms. Just an idea.
 
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Re: Terrain tiling is not dead.

Post by fabi »

Maybe some villages for the factions that don't have their own.
The orcs or the drakes come to my mind.

About the water village:
It looks quite strange to me that the fountain produces waves but the water line around the building itself is static.

All your new tiles look really good :-)
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Lizard
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Re: Terrain tiling [in between projects]

Post by Lizard »

Cernunnos, your cacti are awesome :!:
(Sorry, I have nothing constructive to say, I only updated my avatar)
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JW
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Re: Terrain tiling is not dead.

Post by JW »

Simons Mith wrote:Here's a possible terrain suggestion: multi-hex 'villages'. I've seen several 'city' scenarios where the map designers have had to use multiple villages next to one another and it tends to look funny. Using the same idea as for multi-hex mountain tiles, how about some 'street', 'town house', 'tavern', 'guild hall', 'longhouse', 'terrace of houses' or similar graphics? Possibly even a circle of 3-7 houses inside a palisade. This would mean no change to the game mechanics, but on those occasions where there are multiple villages adjacent to one another, it might be nice to have some multi-hex village graphics available. [Edit] You would need multiple flag placements, presumably, because you could have a case where different sides control different parts of a multi-hex building. Also, you might need multi-hex ruins - and that would well be opening a can of worms. Just an idea.
I like this idea btw.
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Kestenvarn
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Re: Terrain tiling is not dead.

Post by Kestenvarn »

thespaceinvader wrote:But i'd lower the probabilities somewhat. That looks like a very busy desert at the moment.
People keep bringing this up, so I'd like to point out there are more types of desert than Sahara-like dunes. It can have shrubs, cacti and coniferous trees without looking out of place.
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turin
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Re: Terrain tiling is not dead.

Post by turin »

Kestenvarn wrote:
thespaceinvader wrote:But i'd lower the probabilities somewhat. That looks like a very busy desert at the moment.
People keep bringing this up, so I'd like to point out there are more types of desert than Sahara-like dunes. It can have shrubs, cacti and coniferous trees without looking out of place.
:hmm: "Desert forest", anyone?
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JW
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Re: Terrain tiling is not dead.

Post by JW »

turin wrote: :hmm: "Desert forest", anyone?
Indeed.
Sangel (on page 3) wrote:You know, with that kind of density, we could have a "desert shrubs" terrain type... though what aliases would it be? Desert + Forest? Just plain Desert? Hmmmm... :hmm:
It might be an interesting terrain....but would elves really defend well there?
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Simons Mith
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Re: Terrain tiling [in between projects]

Post by Simons Mith »

Petrified forest?

Although that's probably more likely to be dwarf- and/or undead-friendly.
 
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Cernunnos
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Re: Terrain tiling [in between projects]

Post by Cernunnos »

Hi,

First thanks again for the comments,

@Lizard, glad i can help ;)

@fabi, well, this is a good point for the animated water village, the big problem is that no one has the same idea of water in Wesnoth, in no particular order : falling water (color), animated water with waves/tides (for the basic tiles), water color in caves... All those are quite controversial issues which made me stop trying to develop a water to chasm transition in the first place. So : there is two other villages being usable or a toggle animations switch could be implemented... up to the community =)

At last, for the desert-plants, imo, there should be 4 different tile sets for the sand and desert : sand, desert, sand with plants, desert with plants. This way map makers would be more free. (but in the end it's up to developers)
For what those tiles should have as effects on gameplay i really don't know, the decision should be left to "balancers", coders, developers...
As people seem to take a point on this, maybe i can make a new topic in MP dev...?!

edit: which is here :wink: :
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23728

This way you can make your point about it!
"While portrait art may be where Wesnoth gets its glamour, and sprite art may be where Wesnoth gets its zest, it's the terrain art that's so crucial to Wesnoth's polish - it's the canvas that the rest goes on." Sangel
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kitty
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Re: Terrain tiling [in between projects]

Post by kitty »

:D i just wanted to add some praise - great work!
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Cernunnos
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Re: Terrain tiling [in between projects]

Post by Cernunnos »

Lol, thanks,

honestly seeing you going from topic to topic i feared a little your comment :D ,

but thanks a lot.
"While portrait art may be where Wesnoth gets its glamour, and sprite art may be where Wesnoth gets its zest, it's the terrain art that's so crucial to Wesnoth's polish - it's the canvas that the rest goes on." Sangel
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kitty
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Re: Terrain tiling [in between projects]

Post by kitty »

:shock: am i that harsh? :P you'll never have to fear me, i'm not competent when it comes to terrain stuff, it just amazes me to see stuff at this small scale....
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Cernunnos
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Re: Terrain tiling [First tree, first problems]

Post by Cernunnos »

Hi,

I think i'll give a try about those trees thespaceinvader talked about.

I have not much time right now, so i planned to start next monday, but well, i wanted to make a pause about my homework so i gave a try.

Beware! Bad drawing follows...

The basic idea was to go with each tree in it's winter form, it's to say without leaves, and then make layers for leaves/snow/whatever.

So i designed a first tree, and first problems appeared :

1) this is quite hard to make a tree "skeleton" looks like what it should look like...

2) i designed the whole thing over a blank background, as i found it difficult to draw among this green grassland background. I thought the result was quite ok for a test, but once put on the appropriate background... well i let you see :
tree-preview.png
tree-preview.png (25.11 KiB) Viewed 3351 times
So well for a test, that's not very promising imo, but as i said i'll have all the time wanted from next monday.

Well if you have any comment, moreover any clue, your welcome.

Thanks, bye...

edit: i found what was wrong, was not listening any music while doing it... :D ___ :| ___ :cry:

edit2: zookeeper found a great thing: existing forests are drawn over savannah when standing on a grassland background (what? this is clear... ;) ) well, it makes them contrast a lot more with the background. This is not a final result, but that's already quite better.
Thanks again zookeeper (no time to show you, but well, now i have my clue eheh...)
"While portrait art may be where Wesnoth gets its glamour, and sprite art may be where Wesnoth gets its zest, it's the terrain art that's so crucial to Wesnoth's polish - it's the canvas that the rest goes on." Sangel
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beetlenaut
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Re: Terrain tiling [First tree, first problems]

Post by beetlenaut »

I decided to give it a go myself. The results are here: http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23785.
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