48 replies to this topic

[The Satellite]

Wow. AMAZING first week. I voted for Moonwhisper's rebirth of ALttP's overworld, but it was a toughy.

Nice maps from all of you. Very creative, and I liked them. But I guess I was wrong: overworlds still have more of an advantage over dungeons in this kind of contest.

[Rocksfan13]

Majora, what you are doing is blatant flaming. Flaming is not tolerated. If you have an issue, kindly leave it off of this forum.

[Bourkification]

I voted for Joe123, his screen remined me somewhat of the Wind Waker, and also had a good layout. I would have voted for Plissken and Migokalle in a tie for second place. Plisskens was one of the best Pure Map/Screen I've seen. Good work everyone.

[Fuzzy]

I have imageshack blocked from my computer, so I can't vote, but I'm glad you were able to get this thing rolling. I imagine it would be quite fun.

[Son]

Joe123 gets my vote . Although migokalle was close.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Okay... No, the voting isn't going to stop yet... But I would like to get some maps for next month... I've gotten none yet... Sure, you've got some more time to do it, since we aren't near the next month yet, but if you've got one now, feel free to submit...

[CastChaos]

I will surely submit for next month, I just don't know what. If I finish the next overworld by the end of month, I send it. If not, I choose a random overworld/dungeon and send it. MotM need to go on.

[sigtau]

Joe123 it is! That's the most awesome forest map I've ever seen. It truly takes me back to the days when I played A Link to the Past thinking it was the most magical realm ever made.

Plissken, you're a close second, that's some freakin' amazing dunegon carving.

Migo and Moonwhisper tie up for mah third place.

Everyone else? You can go die. </asshole>

Edited by TheMasterSwordsman, 18 May 2008 - 09:34 AM.

[Zemious]

Wow, this was a very tough pick.
I liked almost all of them, I had to go with Moonwhispers LTTP map.
I really liked Plisskens subrosian styled OW!

[Nathaniel]

Joe123 - 9/10
Good combination of tiles. Good consistency throughout each screen. The flow is excellent from screen to screen, as you almost forget where the edges are. I see this screen being created in a top down sort of way: Every individual screen is mainly dependent on a bigger picture.

CastChaos - 6/10
The map certainly contains a lot of clear points of significance, but each individual screen on average doesn't look all that well detailed. The creation of the map as a whole looks more bottom up than top down: The big picture is very dependent on the results of each individual screen.

Moonwhisper - 7/10
The map looks more bottom up to me, but still with a good amount of planning to help keep the screens at least somewhat flowing, thus my rating for yours being somewhere between the previous two.

Migokalle - 8/10
Like Joe's, the map looks more top down to me. I love the trees you chose, and everything else seems like they go together as well. Flow from screen to screen is excellent, as you also tend to forget that this is broken up into a grid. With bridges, rivers, and buildings, that can sometimes be hard to do, but you certainly have mastered that skill.

Phoenix - 7/10
While I generally prefer top down designs for overworlds, my attitude on dungeons plays less to that mentality. Despite that, this dungeon looks well planned out with how everyting is divided up. It is a well planned maze, and the screens show good consistency with each other. Some extra details of attraction could spice it up more, though.

Plissken - 8/10
Looks like another well done top down style map. The screens flow well from one to another, and the tile usage is very consistent within each screen. Plus I like the choice of lava. The island with grass clearly shows a point of significance while at the same time fits in with the mostly barren/less fertile remainder of the map. The dragon skeleton or dracolich (whatever it is) was a nice added touch of detail as well.

Schwa - 6/10
Ah, a sidescroller. A nice added touch of diversity to this contest. While the variety of tiles used is pretty limited, what you do with what you used seems organized. I am not sure what the gray and cyan triangle tiles are for, but it's significantly greater brightness looks out of place, unless they are supposed to be windows of some sort. On a positive note, I like the old school video game feel of the entire map.

My vote of course goes to Joe123.

[Joe123]

=O

I've caught up!

Yay =D

Didn't see that coming =P

[Xiion]

Now these are interesting...

Joe...
I looked at this for the longest time, trying to figure out what was 'wrong' with it... And then it struck me. The paths are really linear. Lots of detail/obstacles on the corners, nothing so much breaking up the middle... and that hurts the forest feel of your map in my opinion. Other than that, it is very beautiful.

Castchaos...
Square town is square! Sorry had to say it. But seriously, aside from the blockyness of the overall layout, I could go on for another 30 minutes a couple hours nitpicking your map. But then I could also spend as much time picking out details I like (if you really want, I could sit down and mark it up with my opinions. I'd rather not, but if you really want... ). So overall, its a meh...
But I have to ask, how many whistle warps are in this town! 'Cause treking across such a massive town is going to become a pain real fast!

Moonwhisper...
I am obligated NOT to vote for this. Why? Because I've already seen this, and it was good then, and if it wasn't still good, well, there'd be some problems. So you've done a good job of re-tiling LTTP, but there's not a whole lot more that makes it stand out as anything more. So, yes, its good, and you've done a good job, but without some originality....

Migokalle....
Please tell me your quest is to hunt down the serial fence-builder in your world. Seriously, thats a lot of fences blocking off... trees... that ONE bush.... seriously, who builds a fence around one bush? They also kill the openness of your field. But its not all bad; I do like your transition to forest, and the tileset overall is really nice looking. You've done a good job making a field look good, now make it more field-y.

Phoenix...
Your dungeon seems really nice... It's obviously a puzzle based dungeon, or so I hope: all those narrow corridors are going to make combat a pain. It seems like an interesting dungeon to play.
On a side note, the water in front of that locked door looks really.... bizzare...

Plisken...
Wow. That looks really nice. At first I thought it was a normal overworld, but on second glance, I definitely got that dungeon feel. That kind of relationship really makes the area feel more natural. The one thing that irks me is your elevations... some parts, especially along the bottom, just don't seem to flow right together.

Schwa...
Hmmm... First off, let me say, I'm not a huge fan of sideview dungeons. Putting that bias aside though, and giving the area a second look over, its not as bad as I initially thought. Its not good, but its not bad, its just kind of meh... Your right though, this area as a static screenshot really hurts it, you've got a lot of dynamic elements there, and not seeing them function... doesn't help raise opinions. I think this is something you really have to play to get a good feel for, and on a screen by screen basis, it might make some things clearer (like what are those white button things for? are the pots obstacles or background? can you go down through those thin grey floors? or do they fall apart? Are any of those pits that look like their connected really bottomless?) Graphically, it could use some touchup as well. I would definitely try and give the all your lamps a large wall glow; lighting dynamics are going to make this dungeons aesthetics, so I would go back and look into that. A little more wall detail would go really far too, maybe some changes in background scenery too. And your platforms, they could use a color change too. A bit of foreground detail would look good. Like I said earlier, its pretty meh right now, but theres a lot of room for polish, and with a bit of effort, this could look REALLY amazing.

Still trying to decide who I'd vote for, probably Plisken, Phoenix is close, Joe and Migo aren't far behind, and the rest just need to tap their potential.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Okay, now, I need more maps before I can start number 2... in a couple of days..
I've got one map so far... Just saying

[CastChaos]

Castchaos...
Square town is square! Sorry had to say it. But seriously, aside from the blockyness of the overall layout, I could go on for another 30 minutes a couple hours nitpicking your map. But then I could also spend as much time picking out details I like (if you really want, I could sit down and mark it up with my opinions. I'd rather not, but if you really want... ). So overall, its a meh...
But I have to ask, how many whistle warps are in this town! 'Cause treking across such a massive town is going to become a pain real fast!

Err, what town you speak of? There's just a small town in the middle... or was that sarcasm? Also, this is just one overworld, it wouldn't deserve more than 2 whistle warps, but it doesn't get any, since you don't get the ocarina in the Light World.
Heh, when I first made it, I was satisied by its LttP-ishness and I still think it serves well.
And you don't have to go on hours long analisys of course. Naturally, you could tell at least one example for what bothers you so much and for what you liked, but it's still OK. Unless it really was sarcasm.


And Migokalle, don't fear I send a map in, soon. Good that you reminded me.

[Xiion]

Honestly Castchaos, I wasn't being sarcastic. Looking at your map the first time, I genuinely got the impression that the entire area was one large town. You got the big dirt wall blocking it off to the south, all those people on the river in the NE,the paths branching off the map, the buildings scattered everywhere... it really feels (to me) like a really large sprawling town. Maybe thats what your going for, I dunno, but from the whole map view, thats what it feels like.

The one, biggest thing, that I feel detracts the most from the map, is the blockyness. Your lake is square, your plateaus are square, your field is square, the mansion area is square, the dirt walls along the south border are square, your castle is a bunch of squares... Even the whole map has a one tile square border to it.

Square isn't bad. The areas can be squares, thats ok (thats a limitation of the program, no fault to you). The problem is when the areas actually LOOK like squares. Long flat boundaries with right angles, it kills the natural feel of an area (which also adds to the unnatural/manmade/town feeling).

For counter-example, the south cliff of the plateau with the windmill, its perfect. It's a border of a square area, but it itself isn't just a flat cutoff. If you made all your cliffs like that (front, back and sides), and did something similar with your lake boundary, rivers, and the dirt paths outside your town, it would be an amazing map.

The next biggest thing, which is pretty far from the first, is you've got a bit of a repetition problem... (not that none of us do, working with a finite number of tiles). Specifically referring to the rocks in front of the church (the gray ones). Mix them up a little, maybe not have them all in nice neat rows (same argument as above), maybe some could be a different color. You've got other kinds of rocks too, mixing in some of those could help. Theres a couple other areas that suffer from this

Also, since it seems like your big on the maps continuity (which I like), you may want to fix up the cliff interfaces on either side of your waterfall (by the screen edges), also the corner of the river SW of the windmill. And perhaps consider an extra layer to fill in the water in your forest, as it goes N into the underbrush.

Those are the biggest things. Aside from that, I really do like it, its got a good layout, and lots of nifty details. Like I said before, It's not bad, but with a bit of polish, it'll look spectacular.

And for the whistle warp comments, If thats not the only overworld you have, . Remember, the original LoZ (which is about the same size area) had 12 warps, and without them, it would take a lot longer getting to places. 12 might have been overkill, but they all really helped. I don't know the details of your quest, but keep that in mind. This is a large map, and without some way of getting across it in some reasonable time frame "oh man, that ____ is soooo far away..." will become a big gripe. At least in my opinion.

What! an hour already! I must type slow.... or I just type alot.