Making towns is not easy.

[Bob423 52]

So I'm making a town. It's kind of a big town and I've made half of it, but I'm unable to add much detail to it or make it look semi-decent because I can't seem to find any tiles that fit what I'm trying to make.

Here's what I have so far.

 

Anyone got any tips? Is there something I'm missing?

[ShinkuAura 15]

Actually looks very decent. But the details such as foliage. I like that attention you gave to the town. A sense of height i must say.

[Bob423 52]

Thanks :D

 

I sort of finished it...Haven't added any people yet. It really feels like it's missing a lot though :(

[zahraa 26]

oh I can see that you've put time and effort on this, Although you didn't have many tiles. The town structure is very nice, but as you mentioned, it looks like it's missing something and I think you need more tiles to improve it, It's capable of becoming more beautiful and professional. :)

Edited December 15, 2015 by zahraa

[Bob423 52]

I added the benches from the sci-fi tilesets and some other little details. I'd add street lamps, but those haven't been invented yet at the time this game takes place.

 

I'd really like to add an outdoor blacksmith area, guard barracks and training area, and maybe some flowers, but there are no tiles for any of that except flowers...and the flowers look like weeds.

[ShinkuAura 15]

It needs some foliage details. I know it's not possible with the current tile-set but can you do something to make it a bit better? it looks a bit dead without these small details. Add NPCs or add some cloud shadows (Like in RPG MAKER XP) hell even some particle effects in the background. Maybe some fire or something.

 

The important part is to make it alive and great.

[Bob423 52]

I added torches to the fronts of building and already said I haven't gotten around to the NPCs. And...cloud shadows? You mean that fog thing that's not possible in MV?

And Particle effects? What particle effects? What backround? Gotta remember, I'm very limited in what I can and can't do lol. If this were Unity and I had someone who could make anything I needed, this would be the best damn town anyone's ever seen.

 

I'll add some of those little grass patches, but I think I'm pretty much done after that. Thanks guys :) (And Pol, who helped me via steam)

[Kitsuki 17]

Hmm, I think some flowers and similar things would be nice. I see a lot of grey, green, and reddish-orange--some nice flowers with a variety of colour would help to mix that up a bit.

 

MV does let you import custom tiles/tilesets, right? (What am I kidding, if they didn't then there'd be hell for sure.)

... why is cloud shadow not a thing in MV.

[Bob423 52]

If I HAD custom tiles, I'd be importing the hell out of them...unfortunately, the tiles are 48x48 and a different style, so no other RPG Maker will work. And honestly, I don't feel like searching all over the internet for this...at least not now lol

[dolarmak 23]

There are a few critiques I can give you on your town.

 

Don't use the same building tiles for every house. It looks nice but if you want a semblance of reality is that not everyone will have the same contractor, and not every one can afford the same building supplies. If you want to remember that every society has 3 basic social economic groups: Low, Middle and Upper Classes (it's obviously more complicated in real life but this is a good start)

To keep in mind people social class in a town you have 3 factors: Size, Quality and Luxury.

 

Size is obvious, more money means bigger houses. You have this factor well in hand.  :thumbsup:

 

Quality is pretty self explanatory too, more money a house hold has, the better materials their house will be made of. This is where not every house should look like the same contractor built them of the same materials. also use different colors for roofs just because not every one wants the same colors. Poor families generally have shacks of cheap lumber and roofs of cheap thatch or lumber. Some of these cheap houses may not even have windows, rather just shutters. Middle class homes generally have better quality lumber, bricks or even decent stone work depending on the contractors with roofs of tiles and possible windows. Rich homes are made of expensive stone like marble or finely crafted and styles bricks and their roofs are usually just as expensive tiles. Don't forget about upkeep, not every place will be in perfect condition.

 

Finally Luxury can be a bit tricky, sure rich people will have a lot of frivolous stuff (patio set, groomed gardens, and statues ext..) but even the Low and Middle classes have some. Middle class families might have a small garden or nice trees/potted plants, maybe a family grave. Low class families might have vegetable gardens, tools might be around the property.

 

My suggestion on flavor things you might add is flower gardens, in poor spots vegetable gardens, and every one needs wood to heat their homes so a stack or 2 of fire wood wouldn't be a bad idea. Also if your town has shops, maybe have some crates or barrels by the shop lots of places don't always have time to bring everything in at once, maybe some exterior vendors?

 

 

Here is my first city map for the test game i'm making. it's not perfect, but uses many of the qualities i suggested.

[Bob423 52]

Thanks :D I never thought about it like that before. I guess I'll have to redo a lot of it then...

I just have 1 question. Where are these flower gardens you're talking about? Even on your map, I don't see any.

[dolarmak 23]

i opted for vegetable gardens for my town, it's not a very rich place.

[ShinkuAura 15]

I added torches to the fronts of building and already said I haven't gotten around to the NPCs. And...cloud shadows? You mean that fog thing that's not possible in MV?

And Particle effects? What particle effects? What backround? Gotta remember, I'm very limited in what I can and can't do lol. If this were Unity and I had someone who could make anything I needed, this would be the best damn town anyone's ever seen.

 

I'll add some of those little grass patches, but I think I'm pretty much done after that. Thanks guys :) (And Pol, who helped me via steam)

 

Particle effects are possible is possible. I don't know how possible with RPG MAKER MV. CyberDrive had particle effects and it was an RPG MAKER VX game. I wish i could show you the full game though.

[zahraa 26]

dolarmak's map looks so beautiful and it's fairly detailed. I assume he's used the default tiles only. I didn't know how detailed MV tiles are (Because I don't have it) But by looking at his map, I can simply tell that it's easy to improve your map using the default tiles. You should make the town look like people are actually living in it. dolarmak has some great points and I'm not going to repeat them. :) Just make sure that you'll add more details to the town itself (excluding the houses and buildings)