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Map of the Month 85

Demonlink

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Poll: Map of the Month 85 (36 member(s) have cast votes)

Which map would you like to be trapped in? (Vote for the best map)

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#1 Eddy

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 05:31 AM

Welcome to the reboot of Map of the Month! We got 6 entries this time round, so let the contest begin!

 

Joelmacool

The dungeon from my quest, Chocolate Shadow Temple

 

Russ

The terminus of one of the many branches of the Northern Alasian Rail System: A small depot town, acting as a supply hub for the nearby farming communities. The perfect kind of town to find a protagonist...

 

TheRock

Where did all of those monkeys come from?

 

Polaris

Wildland Shrine from Sanctuary Tree.

 

Demonlink

Behold, the North area of the entire Lydian Overworld of Hylian Legacy. Such a mighty map this would have been...

 

Matthew

From my new project. :)


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#2 Naru

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 06:00 AM

Joelmacool - great looking dungeon. The coloration fits perfectly to the theme, is otherwise not too awesome.

 

Russ - do I have to know what "Earthbound" is? Zaxaphone mentioned it in the last SotW. Looks great. Clashes a bit with DoR though. Then again DoR clashes often enough with itself :P

 

TheRock - TheTree looks interesting but I don't like it too much. The map structure is good and interesting but the screens themself rather empty. The flowers used in masses are a bit overkill. And I don't like the palette.

 

Polaris - regarding looks alone: awesome and perfect. Great details and color-choice. But looking a bit closer the dungeon doesn't seem to be too enjoyable, Joelmacool clearly wins for me in that regard.

 

Demonlink - I don't like DoR, you cannot win my heart with such crap. How dare you to give up on EZGBZ. But yeah, the map is just too good and well-made, don't really have a choice to not vote here...

 

Matthew - solid and great-looking map. And EZGBZ. I really want to vote here. Damn Demon, keeping me from doing so.



#3 CimFighter

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 08:22 AM

I'll be honest, the last 3 maps gripped me more than the first 3 maps. Of the last 3 maps, I think Demonlink's looks the most appealing. Very detailed aesthetic and I appreciate maps like this.


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#4 Norzan

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 09:10 AM

Again, Demonlink makes a fantastic overworld that i wish it was put in a quest.

 

The overworld Matthew made is pretty great, honestly now looking forward to that project.


Edited by Norzan, 01 May 2017 - 09:13 AM.

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#5 Binx

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 05:05 PM

Gonna have to give it to Demonlink, his map is just stunning.

Matthew: This is really well done. Personally not a fan of the EZGBZ tileset, but you use it well, this would be my second-place choice.

Polaris and Joelmacool both had excellent-looking dungeons, but Joel's seems a bit more fun to actually play, I'd say he's got the third-place spot, IMO.

Russ: The map is nice, but honestly is just too small to really be considered, when compared to the other maps in the contest.

TheRock: Eh, it's got some promise, but it looks very empty, it would really benefit from a lot more detail on the ground


Edited by Binx, 01 May 2017 - 05:06 PM.

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#6 Shane

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 06:13 PM

Polaris - regarding looks alone: awesome and perfect. Great details and color-choice. But looking a bit closer the dungeon doesn't seem to be too enjoyable, Joelmacool clearly wins for me in that regard.

Polaris and Joelmacool both had excellent-looking dungeons, but Joel's seems a bit more fun to actually play, I'd say he's got the third-place spot, IMO.

Want to be a little more specific than that? Frankly it's not very constructive to just give vague but critical feedback like that that's not useful at all. It's why I'm slowly dropping out of these contests, this is destructive criticism if anything. I'm all for improving, but how am I supposed to work with this? It's one thing to be vague about feedback on minor details but we're talking an entire dungeon here...

 

(Also I don't get how you can judge a dungeon's fun-ness on just looking at a map without knowing any technical details but OK, more power to you.)


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#7 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 07:50 PM

Joel:
This looks like a well-crafted dungeon, shapewise. Nothing that I am going to look at and say, hey, this is exceptional, but still fine.

Russ:
I feel like the buildings look less odd in map form than they did in screenshot form. It's a nicely constructed town.

TheRock:
I do like colors and the shapes. So I give you a thumbs up. But I feel it's lacking in detail. Maybe thrown down some grass or other things to make the ground more lively.

Shane:
I think this looks magnificent. Detailed, and really nice. It makes very interested in both the dungeon and the rest of the quest.

Demonlink:
This is astounding. Everything just flows together really nicely. Transitions are seemless and the colors are great. Would love to see it finished.

Matthew:
A very nice GB style map. It looks like something I might see in an official game. Excellent overworld.


I had a close decision between Shane and Demonlink. I chose Shane's though. It was just overall fantastic, and full.
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#8 Shane

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 07:53 PM

Shane:
I think this looks magnificent. Detailed, and really nice. It makes very interested in both the dungeon and the rest of the quest.

Unfortunately the quest got cancelled. There is a unpassworded and very incomplete set of files laying around in this thread. I have been interested in making a successor to this dungeon so we'll see.



#9 Matthew

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 07:54 PM

Ultimately, Demonlink and Shane had the best maps. However, I really like what Shane did with the layout and palette of the dungeon, and since I'm sick of overworlds, I voted for Shane.


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#10 Binx

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 07:55 PM

Want to be a little more specific than that? Frankly it's not very constructive to just give vague but critical feedback like that that's not useful at all. It's why I'm slowly dropping out of these contests, this is destructive criticism if anything. I'm all for improving, but how am I supposed to work with this? It's one thing to be vague about feedback on minor details but we're talking an entire dungeon here...

 

(Also I don't get how you can judge a dungeon's fun-ness on just looking at a map without knowing any technical details but OK, more power to you.)

Ok, first off, there's no requirement for people to give ANY sort of feedback in these contests, so getting mad about the feedback you do get isn't really helping your case. And secondly, these are just opinions, not fact; and they don't necessarily mean there's anything that can or should be changed. There are a lot of things you can determine about a dungeon just by the look of it. For example, your dungeon clearly uses a lot of switch puzzles, multiple entrances, and seems to involve a lot of backtracking in order to complete. Plus, the sheer scope of it is daunting; between the two floors, it seems to take up nearly half a map, and anything that size is going to start feeling like a chore to get through, in my opinion. Joel's is similarly huge, but it's half the size and is the only dungeon in his quest, afaik, and the detail (especially on the floor), color and puzzles in the dungeon just feel less, well, boring, to be frank, as well as much more fitting for the theme. His dungeon has the switch puzzles, just like yours, but it also has spikes and pits and just feels like a place you'd have to be really careful in and stay on your toes, while yours just feels like "find a switch, hit it, go find the next switch", which isn't very engaging. It doesn't feel like it belongs in the "wildlands", it just seems too new and shiny and clean.



#11 Shane

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 07:58 PM

Ok, first off, there's no requirement for people to give ANY sort of feedback in these contests, so getting mad about the feedback you do get isn't really helping your case. And secondly, these are just opinions, not fact; and they don't necessarily mean there's anything that can or should be changed. There are a lot of things you can determine about a dungeon just by the look of it. For example, your dungeon clearly uses a lot of switch puzzles, multiple entrances, and seems to involve a lot of backtracking in order to complete. Plus, the sheer scope of it is daunting; between the two floors, it seems to take up nearly half a map, and anything that size is going to start feeling like a chore to get through, in my opinion. Joel's is similarly huge, but it's half the size and is the only dungeon in his quest, afaik, and the detail (especially on the floor), color and puzzles in the dungeon just feel less, well, boring, to be frank, as well as much more fitting for the theme. His dungeon has the switch puzzles, just like yours, but it also has spikes and pits and just feels like a place you'd have to be really careful in and stay on your toes, while yours just feels like "find a switch, hit it, go find the next switch", which isn't very engaging. It doesn't feel like it belongs in the "wildlands", it just seems too new and shiny and clean.

First of all, I'm not mad. Being frank isn't the same as being mad so drop that accusation. Accusations won't help your case. Secondly, I know these are opinions, but pretty unhelpful, destructive ones at that.

I wasn't going for just looks, I've planned the gameplay and layout of this dungeon before the looks. And this was going to be a four dungeon mini-quest hence the size. But I'll take all else into slight consideration, especially the switches because I agree there at least. This dungeon only had one item in mind because it was an open ended quest with minimal items. It's unfair to compare it to Joel's who's entire quest is inside one or two dungeons and has all the tools to work with.


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#12 Naru

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 08:14 PM

And that from the guy who told me not long ago on another occasion that he neither has a problem with taking critism too serious nor being overly perfectionist.

 

#1. I could give you reasons, but they are just personal opinions, so it doesn't mean the dungeon is generally less fun. If you are fine with your dungeon then you should be proud of it. Don't let yourself down because someone else thinks otherwise, you are you and you can do things like you want them to be.

 

#2. This is an unfinished dungeon of a cancelled project, I actually looked into your questfile the day you gave them out and I looked also for secrets to grasp what you planned for it - and didn't find any flags. Joelmacool's dungeon is finished, obviously your unfinished dungeon can't keep up with it. And not long ago you stated that you want to do things your way and wish to get not influenced by feedback as much as before, so what you do right now is exactly what you should stop to do.

 

#3 Destructive Critism? Seriously? OK, my wording was a bit negative, I in general tend to word things too negative, but I at least didn't say that your dungeon looks like it is no fun. But to call Binx comment destructive is hilarious, or is it not allowed that others can do better than you? I know that you don't mean it like this, but to say that it is destructive that Joelmacool's dungeon looks like a bit more fun is in my opinion really rude towards Joelmacool.

 

Since it took me forever to write this other replied beforehand. Binx said anything that could be said about your dungeon.


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#13 Shane

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 08:22 PM

And that from the guy who told me not long ago on another occasion that he neither has a problem with taking critism too serious nor being overly perfectionist.
 
#1. I could give you reasons, but they are just personal opinions, so it doesn't mean the dungeon is generally less fun. If you are fine with your dungeon then you should be proud of it. Don't let yourself down because someone else thinks otherwise, you are you and you can do things like you want them to be.
 
#2. This is an unfinished dungeon of a cancelled project, I actually looked into your questfile the day you gave them out and I looked also for secrets to grasp what you planned for it - and didn't find any flags. Joelmacool's dungeon is finished, obviously your unfinished dungeon can't keep up with it. And not long ago you stated that you want to do things your way and wish to get not influenced by feedback as much as before, so what you do right now is exactly what you should stop to do.
 
#3 Destructive Critism? Seriously? OK, my wording was a bit negative, I in general tend to word things too negative, but I at least didn't say that your dungeon looks like it is no fun. But to call Binx comment destructive is hilarious, or is it not allowed that others can do better than you? I know that you don't mean it like this, but to say that it is destructive that Joelmacool's dungeon looks like a bit more fun is in my opinion really rude towards Joelmacool.
 
Since it took me forever to write this other replied beforehand. Binx said anything that could be said about your dungeon.

I like constructive criticism which implies critique that is useful to help me improve as a artist and as a developer. I want to avoid making another dungeon that isn't enjoyable but I can't if I don't know what's not so enjoyable about it. Binx brought up one good point and I'm taking it into consideration for future dungeon designing. I just want feedback to help improve my skills, so I can be even more proud of my work. Also does it being from a cancelled quest really affect the quality of the map? I said I don't want to be influenced by destructive criticism aka "nothing special", "not very fun"; non-specific criticisms that help no one but just express mild distaste for someone's work.

 

Saying Joel's map looks more fun means there's room for improvement on my map. Where exactly? Is asking for clarification being rude now?

 

Again destructive criticism is grabbing someones work criticizing it in a manner that isn't helpful. What am I supposed to do with this criticism? Do I delete the map and redo it? Do I remove certain elements? That's destructive. You're not telling me anything and pointing this out isn't something criminal here. Just saying.


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#14 CyberGamer1539

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 08:30 PM

Demonlink has my vote this week. DoR is absolutely beautiful if you know how to use it well, and this map clearly shows that Demonlink does indeed know how to use it. I've always wanted to learn to use this tileset, but it us pretty complex.

 

The other shots were pretty good as well, nice job to everybody to entered!


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#15 Matthew

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Posted 01 May 2017 - 08:34 PM

In all, this is a pretty good MotM. High quality stuff all around :)


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