I made this and so far I am exremely pleased with myself ;) I will take any criticism you throw at me but please try to be nice. This is obviously my best map yet, by far.
Looks unfinished, but otherwise the corners look good terrain-wise, add doodads and other things though
a few things you should work on:
The map is overall a square. Chip off corners, dent some places, just get rid of the straight lines, or at least use manmade cliff type, or w/e it's called. straight natural cliffs don't look very good
the corners stick out very much due to the extremely different terrain color. Use more textures to transition into the new color in a way that looks more natural
The middle needs work, its empty.
Looking at it, i take it it's unfinished. It's a good start :)
The texture you use for most of the center of the map should not be used in that way ! Note that the pattern of the texture repeats itself 10 times. You should use a simpler terrain and mix it with another...
Usually I work from the outside in. I am still trying to figure out what to put in the middle and I will rework the corners as some of you said. Also, it is defieinley unfinished.
When you make a new map you can check off random height and change its variability.
There's probably a way to do it with existing maps as well.
Noise can give a similar effect, I suppose, but I think it could be tedious if you have a big map. Plus you may want to smooth it out after or whatever.
Attaching an image below, behold my amazing paint skillz.
Red lines: The square i meant, avoid that, it looks bad.
Yellow lines: What i recommend you turn the red lines into, at the very least
Green lines: Good example of what you did and should redo to get rid of the red lines
I also did some copy pasta and transpareny to show you what i meant with more texture in the top left corner. either put the dark textures on top of the cliff, or have the lighter texture go below the cliff - make it transition, right now it just doesn't look right to me :/
Nicely done though :) Looks a lot better than before
its late, i'll use my leet paint skillz tommorow again to give a suggestion for the expansions then ;) Also, you dont have to make big cuts, just make it look less straight - If it were an urban map like Metalopolis, straight would be ok, but you're using natural cliffs and shakuras (my favourite tileset btw), so straightness kinda doesn't fit.
Yup, I see what you mean. Well thanks for helping so much :) I like Shakuras too, loving the colors. I also like Monolyth foliage a lot also. I did fix that color transition you were talking about.
Needs more doodads, just not sure what to put where... There is foliage but you can't see it in this shot for some reason.
The terrain textures look a lot better now :) I'll attach an image below, i tried to copy one part of your terrain and show what i meant with the yellow lines (I also did some texture transitions, but they might make the minimap look terrible if done wrong)
About doodads, check the Zhakul'das ones. I really like the obelisk, i thing you can throw a library disk under the xel'naga towers. You can try and put up some archon statues here and there as well. Toss some plants here and there. Maybe some weather effects as well (Put up fog around the entire center?)
Just scroll through all doodads once and put the ones you like onto the terrain.
O ok :) I can do that fairly simply. Great ideas for doodads as well. I kinda feel like you are the one mamking the map through my hands now. O well, still loving the advice.
You really think it has potential? To be honest, it is my first decent map and I want to do it right.
I remember my first maps I made in wc2-3 etc and well.. you will always start out with not-so-good maps but you'll learn to improve it and perhaps even rework your old shitty map you made years ago. Keep working on it, people giving you advice will only help you learn to do it on your own in the future.
Remember, you can mix textures more than this, some textures fit pretty well together(like "dirt" and "dirt-cracked"). Mixing two or more textures, either with a little transparency, or just roughly mixed together, can give a great result.
Also, more height-variation on organic ground is important, and a little bit on man-made ground. (I see you have some, but it's hard to tell on your provided screenshots)
Maybe post a few in-game screenshots, instead of only whole-map screens?
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I made this and so far I am exremely pleased with myself ;) I will take any criticism you throw at me but please try to be nice. This is obviously my best map yet, by far.
...How i can say this..i think the terrain is "boring" ...add some variety...add some random height , and doodads of course.
Definitely this. Right now it's not that good, but it has potential.
Looks unfinished, but otherwise the corners look good terrain-wise, add doodads and other things though
a few things you should work on:
Looking at it, i take it it's unfinished. It's a good start :)
The texture you use for most of the center of the map should not be used in that way ! Note that the pattern of the texture repeats itself 10 times. You should use a simpler terrain and mix it with another...
Sorry for my english.
Usually I work from the outside in. I am still trying to figure out what to put in the middle and I will rework the corners as some of you said. Also, it is defieinley unfinished.
Obvious troll is obvious!
How can I add "random height" Do you mean noise?
When you make a new map you can check off random height and change its variability.
There's probably a way to do it with existing maps as well.
Noise can give a similar effect, I suppose, but I think it could be tedious if you have a big map. Plus you may want to smooth it out after or whatever.
Well I fixed the corners and changed the colors around. Now I need something in the middle and doodads.
Ok, I think this is more what I was going for :) Advice still apreciated though.
Attaching an image below, behold my amazing paint skillz.
Red lines: The square i meant, avoid that, it looks bad.
Yellow lines: What i recommend you turn the red lines into, at the very least
Green lines: Good example of what you did and should redo to get rid of the red lines
I also did some copy pasta and transpareny to show you what i meant with more texture in the top left corner. either put the dark textures on top of the cliff, or have the lighter texture go below the cliff - make it transition, right now it just doesn't look right to me :/
Nicely done though :) Looks a lot better than before
@TheAlmaity: Go
Ok, I choped the corners like you said. Question though, if I cut into the straight natural cliffs, then where will the expansions go?
its late, i'll use my leet paint skillz tommorow again to give a suggestion for the expansions then ;) Also, you dont have to make big cuts, just make it look less straight - If it were an urban map like Metalopolis, straight would be ok, but you're using natural cliffs and shakuras (my favourite tileset btw), so straightness kinda doesn't fit.
@TheAlmaity: Go
Yup, I see what you mean. Well thanks for helping so much :) I like Shakuras too, loving the colors. I also like Monolyth foliage a lot also. I did fix that color transition you were talking about.
Needs more doodads, just not sure what to put where... There is foliage but you can't see it in this shot for some reason.
The terrain textures look a lot better now :) I'll attach an image below, i tried to copy one part of your terrain and show what i meant with the yellow lines (I also did some texture transitions, but they might make the minimap look terrible if done wrong)
About doodads, check the Zhakul'das ones. I really like the obelisk, i thing you can throw a library disk under the xel'naga towers. You can try and put up some archon statues here and there as well. Toss some plants here and there. Maybe some weather effects as well (Put up fog around the entire center?)
Just scroll through all doodads once and put the ones you like onto the terrain.
O ok :) I can do that fairly simply. Great ideas for doodads as well. I kinda feel like you are the one mamking the map through my hands now. O well, still loving the advice.
You really think it has potential? To be honest, it is my first decent map and I want to do it right.
I remember my first maps I made in wc2-3 etc and well.. you will always start out with not-so-good maps but you'll learn to improve it and perhaps even rework your old shitty map you made years ago. Keep working on it, people giving you advice will only help you learn to do it on your own in the future.
@Mogranlocky: Go
Yup. I don't think this is horrible though :) Least not after I put more work into it than I started out with.