Dungeon tiles
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18800
Printed Date: 10 June 2026 at 1:23am
Topic: Dungeon tiles
Posted By: CELS
Subject: Dungeon tiles
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 9:39am
Any feedback at all? I know the plant sucks, but I'm particularly looking for feedback in regards to the tile textures, the ability to convey depth and scale, the perspective, etc. |
Replies:
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 11:09am
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Scale of bricks to door is just wrong looking as is the scale of the panels within the door. ------------- |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 11:31am
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Originally posted by jalonso
Scale of bricks to door is just wrong looking as is the scale of the panels within the door. Well, they're not bricks. They're more like stone tiles. I was going to make them marble or something similar, but I couldn't do a stone texture that didn't end up looking too gaudy or plainly repetetive at this scale. Could you elaborate beyond 'wrong'? I should say, everything is supposed to be very huge here, so I imagine the character to be about 50 pixels tall, barely reaching over the door knocker. Which means the plant is horribly out of scale. |
Posted By: inphy
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 1:28pm
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The bubble pattern on the tiles kinda reminds me of reflections from a pool, like the floor is covered by water. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 1:43pm
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Regardless of material, scale and proportion in architecture is probably the most important aesthetic thing. Its the difference between architecture and architorture.
To me here the easy fix is to remake the door to fit. If you need a gridline just ask. ------------- |
Posted By: tyrant
Date Posted: 01 May 2014 at 2:18pm
| I like your color choices! One issue that's a quick fix is the tops of the walls and columns have the darkest color in your palette right next to the brightest which makes them stand out. I would try and use one of your middle-range colors for the top outlines on the walls or maybe overlay them a pixel or two more so that the shine along the edge or the brick doesn't show through. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 03 May 2014 at 5:28am
Originally posted by tyrant
I like your color choices! One issue that's a quick fix is the tops of the walls and columns have the darkest color in your palette right next to the brightest which makes them stand out. I would try and use one of your middle-range colors for the top outlines on the walls or maybe overlay them a pixel or two more so that the shine along the edge or the brick doesn't show through. I'm not sure I understood the final bit, but I've tried to fix it so the brightest colour doesn't border on the darkest (see blue arrow). Thanks! Originally posted by jalonso
Regardless of material, scale and proportion in architecture is probably the most important aesthetic thing. Its the difference between architecture and architorture. To me here the easy fix is to remake the door to fit. If you need a gridline just ask. Well, I don't know much about architecture. I'd very much appreciate a gridline for the door, thank you. In regards to the first point, it is my impression that stone tiles for walls come in almost any dimension. Originally posted by inphy
The bubble pattern on the tiles kinda reminds me of reflections from a pool, like the floor is covered by water. Thank you. With 32x32 tiles, it was hard to find a good dithering pattern that didn't stand out too much, but maybe I don't need to use dithering or any kind of texture at all. Compare blue and yellow arrow, and tell me what you think, if you please. |
Posted By: inphy
Date Posted: 03 May 2014 at 6:16am
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Originally posted by CELS Thank you. With 32x32 tiles, it was hard to find a good dithering pattern that didn't stand out too much, but maybe I don't need to use dithering or any kind of texture at all. Compare blue and yellow arrow, and tell me what you think, if you please. If you just want a gradient and not necessarily texture, a more classic dither pattern would work pretty well when the contrast between the colors isn't so dramatic.  |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 03 May 2014 at 7:15am
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That's true, and that does look pretty good. But I'm afraid I've gone with secret option number 4, which is to just use more colours. I know, I know, I'm a monster. You just made me realize how much better it looks when it's smooth, and getting the rid of the dithering is even smoother.
I don't think I shall worry too much about the number of colours, so long as I don't add completely unnecessary colours (e.g. stray pixels here and there, nearly identical colours that serve no function). I'm not quite sure how to handle the reflection on the floor though. It doesn't look quite right to me to have those horisontal lines. Maybe I just need a smoother transition? 
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Posted By: tyrant
Date Posted: 03 May 2014 at 1:24pm
Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I meant these parts:
I just think the contrast is too strong right where the tiles meet and makes the tops of the wall look odd. |
Posted By: inphy
Date Posted: 03 May 2014 at 2:40pm
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Originally posted by CELS I've gone with secret option number 4, which is to just use more colours. I know, I know, I'm a monster. ... Maybe I just need a smoother transition? What you need, sir, is a mouth full of garlic and a stake through the chest. >:C I don't really have any input or even an opinion on the reflection, it doesn't bother me. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 03 May 2014 at 3:38pm
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@tyrant: Ah, I thought as much. Thank you!
@inphy: You fool! A stake through the chest doesn't work against horned-lion-Dracula! 
PS: Any jokes about indecent exposure will be answered with excessive violence. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 05 May 2014 at 6:42am
------------- |
Posted By: king_bobston
Date Posted: 05 May 2014 at 7:25am
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The exposure of-"PS: Any jokes about indecent exposure will be answered with excessive violence." ...nevermind then. Looks cool so far, will it be another reference to some angelic smackdown action that leaves me telling to myself I've to look up what it's about but then don't? There're a few things bothering me a little bit so I just point them out:
The trees and the thing they're in doesn't reflect in the bottom. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 05 May 2014 at 8:23am
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Originally posted by king_bobston
...I'm confused about the iso-pattern, if it's classic 3/4 rpg view, it's from a hight where squares don't translate to iso-diamonds, I think, at least if I've done my homework right... That said this is of course assuming they're squares. Yes. This bothers me too. A herringbone or rope tile pattern could be better to break up so many 'squares'. I'm an architecture snob tho :p ------------- |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 07 May 2014 at 5:32am
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Thanks, guys!
I will get back to the shadows, the patterns, the tiles in time. To be honest, I think I've got the cart in front of the horse again. I figured the perspective would be pretty straight forward, but it turns out I've just gone ahead and broken convention and done something no one else is doing, without putting much thought into it. 
The thing is, I think a lot of RPG's are designed to be optimal for gameplay involving combat, where you want to attack goblins in every nook and cranny of the map, so it's important that you have a good view. But the idea for this game is basically to do a point & click mystery adventure with no combat at all. Kind of like a mix between http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Home - "Gone Home" and Alone in the dark. So the ability to get a good view of every part of the room is entirely secondary to making everything pretty. I don't want to use a standard RPG view, because it would obscure too much of the details I want on the walls and objects. And I don't think I have the skills to do the standard isometric view, really. But I don't fully understand the consquences and limitations of sticking to the perspective I've chosen. And I have no idea how to draw a cube at an angle, for example. Help? EDIT: I mean, can I just keep using this perspective? Or is it too disorientating and weird? Edit: bobston, it's not some angelic smackdown. I'm rather torn about whether to make this about my personal nightmares and the things I find most scary, or whether to dedicate this to the Cthulhu mythos, which would probably make it more interesting. But the whole idea is that I want to make this creepy, without relying on stuff like chopped up bodies, poorly lit rooms, sawblades, beartraps or big insects. Now, pixel art isn't really the best medium to create something scary, it's more suited for platform games with chocolate fountains and gingerbread houses, but... oh well. I'll give it a go. |
Posted By: SuperTurnip
Date Posted: 07 May 2014 at 8:18am
| Your perspective is not a problem; it looks fine! Convention is not a requirement for game art! As for horror, it is entirely, totally, %100 possible for pixel art games to be creepy. Pixel art is one of the strongest mediums for horror, in my opinion. It lets the viewer make up the details, because there isn't the room to draw them all. Your art is totally fine, and let me assure you that once you've designed sound and mechanics, it will be scary. Still frames from horror games aren't scary, and remember that as you create your art. It's the game that makes the horror. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 07 May 2014 at 9:57am
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Thank you, SuperTurnip, for the words of consolation in both regards.
Can you think of any scary pixel art game though? SuperBrothers was certainly creepy, in no small part thanks to the sounds and music. Other than that, I am at a loss. 
Doors still WIP. Left out shadows and reflections for now. |
Posted By: SuperTurnip
Date Posted: 07 May 2014 at 5:51pm
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I like this so far, I can't think of any major criticisms. The plant looks slightly different than the rest, in terms of style, but it's all right.
But on the note of horror... Horror games with pixel art? I'm going to take pixel art a little broadly here, so some of this stuff is not Pixel Joint-approved stuff--it's just really lo-fi. But to me, it works almost entirely because of the pixel-art elements. Here we go: -Home -Lone Survivor (there's pixel art behind those filters--somewhere!) -I've heard that "the Last Door" is scary. -Go on GameJolt, and look around. You'll find some creepy stuff. with enough searching. A lot of these games us low resolutions and limited visibility, but that's not necessarily the way to go. They do fall a little into the "poorly lit rooms" category when you LOOK at them. But remember that looking and playing are two wildly different things. If you have something interactive, mess around with the interactions to make it scary--that might be the most rewarding thing to do at this point! I hope that this is helpful! |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 08 May 2014 at 4:19pm
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Thank you. I'll just keep pixelling then.
Last Door looks pretty scary. Now let's see if I can find a way to use these tiles for a scary mock-up, somehow. 
Now, the middle part is supposed to be one floor down. I've tried to show this with colour, but I'm worried it's not enough. |
Posted By: SuperTurnip
Date Posted: 08 May 2014 at 5:26pm
| Good bookshelves; sadly the one-floor drop doesn't quite work. It looks alright, but the brightest parts of the lower area seem to stick up above the floor of the higher area. Maybe add a tiny bit of shadow around the edge of the opening, like you did with the reflections of the walls? Adding a semi-outline like that might help separate the two levels. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 08 May 2014 at 5:59pm
Thank you. How's this?
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Posted By: SuperTurnip
Date Posted: 08 May 2014 at 6:35pm
| Definitely better around the top edge, and the lighter right-hand side of the opening is good. Maybe add a similar highlight to the left side as well, whilst keeping the dark line? Having both sides have an outline of sorts might help. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 10 May 2014 at 11:35am
I'm just worried that it'll get confusing in terms of light direction when both edges have identical highlights and dark lines. 
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Posted By: SuperTurnip
Date Posted: 11 May 2014 at 1:10pm
| Whilst it is tempting to make everything match the "proper" lighting, it is perhaps more important to have your areas readable as a play space, with visual indicators of the game's rules. The dark floor and light walls are an example of this: the player quickly learns that they can walk on the dark, not on the light. Think about providing your player with visual rules that they can follow easily, as that might be just as good as perfect lighting--maybe even better! |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 11 May 2014 at 5:43pm
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That's a fair point, thanks.
Speaking of dark and light, I've been playing a bit with colours and contrast. Here's three versions: if anyone can tell me which one they prefer, or even suggest a fourth direction, it would be very helpful indeed. 
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 17 May 2014 at 2:45am
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I wonder if I could manage to do some sort of fake lighting effect by combining 3 different images with different palettes.
I know this looks horrible, but it's just a quick test. The yellow layer is way too yellow. Actually though, I'm not quite sure how I would get this to look good. But it's kind of interesting, I think. 
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Posted By: PixelSnader
Date Posted: 17 May 2014 at 6:40am
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It's definitely possible to combine lighting with pixel art. There's a bunch of people that have experimented with normal maps, but you're not going to be able to do that in something like RPG maker, you'll need something like Unity3D instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0H4vza9knM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6AzfJGtNC8 ------------- ▄▄█ ▄▄█ ▄█▄ ▄█▄ |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 17 May 2014 at 9:57am
| Oh, I know it's possible to do for a game, but I'm not doing that. I'm just trying to make a pretty mockup. I'm more interested in what I can do to make it look better, rather than what programs I would use to make this into a game. |
Posted By: SuperTurnip
Date Posted: 17 May 2014 at 10:32am
| I'm not going to criticize your ideas for simulating lighting, because as you say, it's just a quick test. But for your actual piece, it might be good to create reflections of the characters on the floor. It might add some consistency. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 18 May 2014 at 11:38am
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I think the layered lighting may be a bit much, actually. But thanks for pointing out that I'd forgotten to create reflection of the characters!
This is nearly done now. I'm submitting it tomorrow, I think, but I'd love to hear any input you guys may have. 
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Posted By: Damian
Date Posted: 18 May 2014 at 11:47am
| Tables are pretty much the only things without reflections now. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 18 May 2014 at 2:16pm
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Originally posted by Damian
Tables are pretty much the only things without reflections now. Damnit! I mean, thanks. Will fix! 
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Posted By: Siikikala
Date Posted: 18 May 2014 at 3:00pm
| Real nice looking, especially liking those ivys on the walls. There's a ton of colours for something that doesn't look like it. I think the palette could be unified and be made a bit flexible. Checker says 101, but i think lot of it comes from the fade? Would seem an interesting game though, and iwould most likely play it in that case. |