29 replies to this topic

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Map of the Month #3
Yes, we've made it to month number three... and I think that alone is an accomplishment... We've had great maps every month too!
This month is no different.
I've got four great maps this week, from four respected quest makers...
So... why drag out the time? The maps are now ready to be voted on... So... what are YOU waiting for?!

CastChaos: http://img84.imagesh...astchaosac0.png
Ebola Zaire: http://img237.images...olazaireaf4.png
Radien: http://img237.images...4/radienrh9.png
Schwa: http://img356.images...99/schwabu7.png

Like em? I certainly do! A great month!
Keep em flowing folks! Keep cranking out these great maps!

-Migo out

[The Satellite]

I like CC's dungeon layout. Nice palette, nice design, it's great. The rest of the maps are great, too, and Radien, is that ZC Stone Henge?

[Dawnlight]

CastChaos: Hey you stole my floor dungeon idea. Looks pretty complex to me
Grade: B

Ebola Zaire: Did you steal that shot from Migokalle? Becasue it looks a lot like a Migo Shot. It looks really great. No Complaints.
Grade: A

Radien: I'm liking this shot. It looks very magical.
Grade: A :votes:

Schwa: Great Dungeon! It feels like a LBDX Dungeon!
Grade: B+

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

As I said in my post, all of the maps are great... but the one captures me the most, is... Radiens... but it's mostly because fo the palette and the awesome trees...
The best designed one, in my opinion, is Ebola's...
It might be because, as TriMaster pointed out, it looks like something I could have made... And ti really do... it's my style... and of course, I'm living my own style... so my vote goes here... Great work Ebola!

[Schwa]

Discluding my own, CastChaos's map would've got my vote. The others are too small for me to like a whole lot. CC's map, I'm looking at that going "Whoa... I wonder what that's for? And what's that thing? And what about this over here?" And I think the best maps are supposed to do that. The other two are boring.

Basically it's the meat that gets me into the map, not the artwork. It's kinda too bad that not many of you guys seem to agree.

Great Dungeon! It feels like a LBDX Dungeon!

Th-Thank you, Tri, that's quite a compliment. Don't know what to say to that, really... I never imagined myself ever as good as Mr. Z.

But you should really post in my Project Thread some time.

Edited by Schwa, 30 June 2008 - 08:25 PM.

[lucas92]

CC one got my vote. Radien's one has awesome graphics, but I don't really see gameplay opportunities... And is way too small. Schwa's one is maybe a little too squared for me... Ebola Zaire's one would have come second.

[Ricky of Kokiri]

CastChaos: This looks like a fascinating dungeon. I guessing the entry point is the golden warp tile, but that might be the escape route, also. This is designed very well. I especially like the fact that it seems to have very little "stuff" thrown around haphazardly- the floor mostly looks well kept, unlike the dungeons I've seen thus far in the demo. I'm a little curious why the floor design changes in the room with the Boss Key, though... and hey! There's that pendulum I helped you with! Excellent dungeon. *votes*

Ebola Zaire: For a forest, there don't seem to be a lot of trees. It looks a lot like a valley, actually. I really like this.

Radien: This looks like a great place to wander around in, and I love the circular formation of the stone gateways. Those trees are huge!

Schwa: A spiral dungeon! Fascinating. As a map, it looks rather straight-forward, though; there seems to be only one way to go, generally. But, considering there seem to be a few missing doors, and a few doors that led to a lower floor, I'm assuming this is a lot more puzzling than it looks.

This was a rather hard vote, but I went with CastChaos this month. Great maps, all of you!

Edited by Ricky of Kokiri, 30 June 2008 - 09:19 PM.

[Mitchfork]

Well, I can't say I expect to do terribly well, because
1) The map isn't finished. I've still got... about 12 screens to add before this village (I know you wouldn't know it yet, but it is ) is done. It probably would've been smarter to finish the map and submit it next month, but whatever.
2) The individual screens aren't done. I still need to add NPC's and such. Again, I was just anxious to submit this month.
Not that any of you should factor that in when judging it- please, judge on what you see, not what you read. Speaking of which... it's my turn to rate the maps. Note that maps are a whole different beast to rate than screens, so I haven't assigned a numerical rating to each-I'll just comment.

CastChaos
Awesome dungeon. The rooms flow extremely well, and it has many places of interest. Well done.
Radien
Beautiful palette and extremely well-designed. Flawless.
Schwa
Because of the modular (by that I mean each screen is separated from the next) I find it very hard to judge this one. However, I can tell that a lot of thought was put into the design, and that's enough for me to like it.

Great turnout this month. You guys rule.

[Radien]

Radien's one has awesome graphics, but I don't really see gameplay opportunities... And is way too small.

The reason it doesn't look like it has gameplay opportunities is because it's a different type of map: it's a crossroads, not a traversable overworld or a navigable dungeon. By nature, it's supposed to be as small as possible. If I could make it smaller than nine screens and still function the same way, I would.

As for why I chose such a small map to submit to MotM...creating a map with trees that size without relying on forest brush at all is really, really hard. Placing the archways in a circle without messing up individual screens wasn't easy, either. Every single screen on the map uses 6 or 7 layers. After all that effort, I wanted to show it off.

Anyway, vote for whichever you like best, but I wanted say one thing: overworld maps are much harder to construct than dungeons -- in my opinion, at least -- and the payoff isn't quite as obvious since there aren't walls to guide the eye.

Personally, my favorite among the opponents is Ebola Zaire's map.

CastChaos' is nice, but I still don't like the walls or how some of them zig-zag at such narrow intervals.

Schwa's is a solid Pure-style dungeon, but it has the "overused floor borders" problem that most Pure/LTTP dungeons have. It also would look better with either darker sand or lighter walls.

Anyway, good job folks. I think this showing is pretty darn strong for month 3. Looks like we aren't running out of good maps yet.

[nicklegends]

CastChaos
I love the wide-open design. It's really refreshing to see a dungeon that doesn't use any doors. The colors are also well-suited to the environment. Nice.

Ebola Zaire
That water stands out so much, it's almost glitzy. Besides that, I love the colors and the beautiful use of shadows. It's small but sweet.

Radien
Oooh... pretty. Everything looks so lush, the stone pathways give the map a natural feel, and the use of simultaneous symmetry and asymmetry is a huge plus.

Schwa
The whole dungeon is well-designed, but graphically it isn't up-to-par with the other maps. Good effort, though; that dungeon will be fun to play.

I vote for Radien's beautiful area. I wish I could be there right now.

[Zenith]

CC: Part of Source of the Drought, am I right? Good, but nothing really sticks out a ton. On a side note, what are the hourglasses for? And did Linkus ever release the switch tiles you used?

Ebola Zaire: Whoa. Really good use of DoR, some of the best I've seen. *votes* You are gonna submit that water, right? RIGHT?

Radien: Welcome to Warp Zone indeed. Amazing, but you juuust got beat out.

Schwa: I remember that. Saying where that is would be a spoiler, but I will say that it's just the bottom floor of the dungeon.

Edited by zmaster, 01 July 2008 - 12:47 AM.

[Schwa]

Schwa: I remember that. Saying where that is would be a spoiler, but I will say that it's just the bottom floor of the dungeon.

Haha. Actually that's only B1. This dungeon goes down to B2. Rememberrrr? *noogies*

*turns to rest of crowd* And! And it has THREE entrances! THREE! Boing boing boing boing boing...

By the way, you'll be pleased to know that I'm giving the player the Magic Sword before he plays this dungeon, rather than once he's beaten it.

[CastChaos]

CC: Part of Source of the Drought, am I right? Good, but nothing really sticks out a ton. On a side note, what are the hourglasses for? And did Linkus ever release the switch tiles you used

HEY! Those switches I'm using were made by me! Linkus made stone-ish ones and I replied with these metal/glass ones. (But yes, he released the stone-ish ones, too.)
Furthermore, why you think it's Source of the Drought? Just because the walls? That's lol. If this was SotD, then it required more traps, there wouldn't be rubber circles, the floor would be different, etc etc. And there wouldn't be time themed things...



Ebola Zaire: It's like Joe's, except this one is better. And cleaner. And the left part is very good.

Radien: Nice garden, good plant layout (including the grass/stone floor) and I see RPG perspective. Apart from that, a simple little area. The palette that so many people hype is just one of the too bright DoR2.0 palettes.

Schwa: Perfect hit! All rooms differ so much and the whole place feels so special... Is this a completely new dungeon set? There are things like that water flowing above the player... very, really great.

[Twilight Knight]

CastChaos: Sure nice. I really like the floor patterns. 8/10

Ebola Zaire: Wonderfull! Absolutely great, but you seemed to place random stuff at random places too. So a 9/10. Vote.

Radien: Gorgious, but I dislike that you don't use your own tileset to it's full potentional. Add more details instead of only the SD3 Grass details. Some pebbles and such can make many variety. 8/10

Schwa: Very nice, I like the overall dungeon shapes. It looks like a decent Pure dungeon. Indeed reminds me of my good Dutch friend (not really, just to show that Dutchies can be awesome too! ) Mr. Z. 8/10

All very good maps, only Ebola's Map is a little better than the rest.

@CC: Yes and no, it's an edited version of the Radiant palette.

Edited by Twilight_Knight, 01 July 2008 - 12:58 PM.

[Mitchfork]

As I said in my post, all of the maps are great... but the one captures me the most, is... Radiens... but it's mostly because fo the palette and the awesome trees...
The best designed one, in my opinion, is Ebola's...
It might be because, as TriMaster pointed out, it looks like something I could have made... And ti really do... it's my style... and of course, I'm living my own style... so my vote goes here... Great work Ebola!

Yeah, looking back at your entry for last month, I see that we do have a similar style- however, there are differences, like that Migokalle's screens are a lot more spacious than mine- of course, what I have this month isn't meant to be a functional map, it's just supposed to look good for the time that you're supposed to be in it.

Ebola Zaire: For a forest, there don't seem to be a lot of trees. It looks a lot like a valley, actually. I really like this.

It's more of a woods than a forest- the forest is north of this area, you can kind of see where the brush starts. It gets pretty shady in the forest...

Ebola Zaire: Whoa. Really good use of DoR, some of the best I've seen. *votes* You are gonna submit that water, right? RIGHT?

Sorry, but the water is one of those things that makes the screens mine- kind of like the dirt. I'll say that it's really not my water, PrinceMSC did it, and if you want it, you can get it, but not from me. Sorry.

Ebola Zaire: It's like Joe's, except this one is better. And cleaner. And the left part is very good.

Yeah, I thought that the left side was more solid as well.

Ebola Zaire: Wonderfull! Absolutely great, but you seemed to place random stuff at random places too. So a 9/10. Vote.

Is that a good or a bad thing?