The Mana World Forums

Yosuhara recently commented that caves are a little plain (http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... 89&start=0). I've been thinking about that and have come to the conclusion that they are, and are not. I think it depends on the type of cave we are talking about.

I think caves can fit into one of three categories:

1. A plain ol' cave - this is defined as being an old waterway that was carved over thousands of years by erosion and has now been moved geographically above the water table.

2. Mines - defined as a subterranean network of paths dug by an intelligent species for the purpose of removing ore. These types of caves in TMW could be dressed up with additional tiles depicting leftover ore, old tools, wooden support beams, rails, and carts. Straighter paths would make sense in this type of cave.

3. Cave dwellings - whether they were created by natural forces or intentionally by some being, this category of cave is defined by having elements and signs of intelligent life. Our tilesets have some of this already, but the following could be added as more options: torch holders (facing east, west, and south), large stone tile floor pieces, a stone pedestal for ceremonial or other purposes, fire pits, and sarcaphagi for tombs and catacomb type settings.

Some pics for inspiration:

Sarcaphagi:




Catacombs:




Torches:

I currently got some practice with wood, so this didn't took me very long:

The color palette is negotiable and the scrap wood looks as if it were floating. I'll work on it if you like the idea.

heh, u must read my thoughts, i was thinking about tombs, catacombs and torches too....

about torches: they would look dumb without animated fire so i guess they need to wait for new server supporting animated tiles

about catombs: i was trying to do some not so long ago:

and that nice entrance surely need to be implemented....

Crush wrote:I currently got some practice with wood, so this didn't took me very long:

The color palette is negotiable and the scrap wood looks as if it were floating. I'll work on it if you like the idea.

nice, just keep on working, we'll eventually see what come out

yosuhara wrote:about torches: they would look dumb without animated fire so i guess they need to wait for new server supporting animated tiles

We need no new server for animated tiles. This is a purely client sided thing. What would be needed would be an elegant way to integrate animated tiles in Tiled (hey Bjørn, are you reading?).

About the mine structure, I made the whole stuff a lot larger:

Looks even better Crush.
All it really needs is some shading and maybe some shadows.

Crush wrote:

yosuhara wrote:about torches: they would look dumb without animated fire so i guess they need to wait for new server supporting animated tiles

We need no new server for animated tiles. This is a purely client sided thing. What would be needed would be an elegant way to integrate animated tiles in Tiled (hey Bjørn, are you reading?).

ah, right...

Cool stuff! Two things I would add to the conversation:

1. I didn't mean to imply the torches had to be lit. Originally I was thinking just old rusty and abandoned torch holders from an old mining operation or civilzation (see MolePeopleCave). But hey, if the team wants to go with lit torches, that's great too!

2. Crush, is there an easy way to make the wood look older? Obviously the breaks in it add age, but how about coloring?

yosuhara wrote:
about catombs: i was trying to do some not so long ago:

and that nice entrance surely need to be implemented....

Nice. Maybe some cobwebs in there?

Crush wrote:

yosuhara wrote:about torches: they would look dumb without animated fire so i guess they need to wait for new server supporting animated tiles

We need no new server for animated tiles. This is a purely client sided thing. What would be needed would be an elegant way to integrate animated tiles in Tiled (hey Bjørn, are you reading?).

I think in this case animated static decoration based on AnimatedSprite would be suitable. Still, it would certainly be nice if these could be placed in Tiled.

Bjørn wrote:I think in this case animated static decoration based on AnimatedSprite would be suitable. Still, it would certainly be nice if these could be placed in Tiled.

Animated map tiles will be simple looping animations. The whole AnimatedSprite class with its action and direction management would be overkill for that. The Animation class has all functionality needed and can be used stand-alone.

Quiche_on_a_leash wrote:Looks even better Crush.
All it really needs is some shading and maybe some shadows.

Madcap wrote:2. Crush, is there an easy way to make the wood look older? Obviously the breaks in it add age, but how about coloring?

Better?

I like the beams, though I think the outline should be darker, It's too much the same as the floor. The big ones are a great improvement over the earlier version. Are they high enough for the player to walk under btw?
Also if the support beams have collapsed there's a fat chance some dirt did so as well. So maybe it would be cool to have heaps of dirt that block (part of) the tunnel. With optional pieces of wood sticking out. This could also be used to create a dead end to a map.

NOTE: I started writing this post before Crush posted the above.

Much better

Yeah, nice Crush. On Modanung's point about the edges, maybe darker and a little thicker would give them the appearance of being "worn" as well as aged in color? I have no idea as I am no artist with the pixels.