Constructive Criticism for this tilesetting amateur?

[TrollerBlader 1]

Right, so today since my spriting skill is < 0, I decided to recolour one of the RTP forest tilesets. The below picture is the result of my recolour. Tell me, what do you think?

 

Now, this I spent a day on just recolouring the tiles seen, so I hope it isn't that bad. The map took maybe 5 minutes to make. Constructive Criticism would be nice, or down-right hate; whatever really floats your boat I guess.

 

Thanks for reading, and hopefully responding!

~Joe

 

 

Map: TilesetTest

Tileset: Large_Forest02

 

[Moonpearl 32]

Doesn't look bad, but it looks somewhat disorganized. Are we in a forest or a swamp, like the tombstone/chopped trees suggest? Are we in summer (greenery) or in autumn (reddish trees and dead leaves)? Why are there pillars on the shore of what looks like a perfectly natural stream in a perfectly natural environment? What does a barge do while a bridge is blocking the path? And so on...

 

Your map is good by the looks but unless there's very good justification to such questions (which might be, I don't have any context to put this map into), it seems odd to navigate. It feels more like you wanted to use the highest number of tiles possible, rather than put together a definite environment.

[ForeverZer0 44]

As far as colors go, my only suggestion would be to reduce the vibrancy of the fallen leaves. Make them match the color of the leaves of the trees more, even make them less saturated than that, It wouldn't make sense for fallen leaves to have more color than the leaves of the tree that they fell from, it isn't natural.

 

Aside from that, I think the colors look good and uniform.

[Jon Bon 43]

The overall design is pretty good, and I think to an untrained eye (non game maker) no one would think anything of it. But to me everything looks a touch to close together/dense (which some people like), and I don't think it looks 'real'. The only advice I could think of is every time you place something down think "Why is this here?". If you can't answer that question, it probably shouldn't be on the map.

I got it;

"Less is more."

Save some of your detail, don't put it all in one map. You got like 12 kinds of flora there, but only one or two of each, that's not how plants grow. It makes it seem too chaotic and less stream lined. But I could be wrong, it's all a matter of opinion.

[Marked 197]

Since you're not looking for mapping advice, the only real thing to say is what ForeverZer0 mentioned. The leaves really stand out. If I was playing the game I'd be running all through those leaves, looking for why they stand out so much. Then I'd suffer disappointment, and promptly close the game.

As far as colors go, my only suggestion would be to reduce the vibrancy of the fallen leaves. Make them match the color of the leaves of the trees more, even make them less saturated than that, It wouldn't make sense for fallen leaves to have more color than the leaves of the tree that they fell from, it isn't natural.

 

Aside from that, I think the colors look good and uniform.

[TrollerBlader 1]

This isn't a display of my mapping abilities, as i should have mentioned. However, this map is built just to show the all the tiles that have been edited/created. The map makes zero sense what so ever and I understand that. That's why I asked for tilesetting criticism, not my mapping. I apologize for not being as specific with my request.

 

Thank you for the responses, In the time that the website was down for me, I had already managed to desaturate as when I looked at the picture that I posted, it stood out way too much.

 

Anything else you can see with the tileset that needs editing?

~Joe

[LaDestitute 3]

Not bad looking. I do kind of like the orange fall leaves (is that what it is?) auto-tile but you need more original sprites and less recolors.

[TrollerBlader 1]

Not bad looking. I do kind of like the orange fall leaves (is that what it is?) auto-tile but you need more original sprites and less recolors.

Nope, not an Autotile, it's actually four separate tiles. I consider Spriting one of my worst traits. so recolouring/ frankensteining is probably the best I can do at this point.

[LaDestitute 3]

Only thing I can say to that is: Practicing will always improve your skills, even gradually.

Also, you may want to start simple as for the scheme or colors per sprite

[Heretic86 25]

I'd say that both the tileset and the mapping are very very good! Maybe tone down the color saturation on the fallen leaves a tad to look a bit more like the rest of the color tone of the rest of the map!

 

(useful hint for aspiring mappers: double clicking on an autotile allows you to select specific sets of that autotile instead of being auto assigned!)

[Jon Bon 43]

Hmm. Well I do get what you wanted an opinion on, I have a suggestion for your asking method. If you are asking for opinions on an edit, show us the original right beside your edit in a separate picture with a solid color background. Do that for each edit, then also show us a single frame of your new creations, then post the overall picture with them in use. If you had of done that I would have given the opinion you were looking for without even reading the post. I can't really tell what you made or edited on the map, but if you showed me I could compare etc.

 

But if I can't tell what you edited (other than the leaves of course), then I suppose it looks great!

-Cheers

 

P.S.

I consider Spriting one of my worst traits. so recolouring/ frankensteining is probably the best I can do at this point.

I started with frankens and recolors, and I can finally create from scratch but barely. It's a great place to start, plus not everyone knows how to do it. More materials for new users the better, recolor away!