The Mana World Forums

Hi, here is my current cave tileset: Here is a test cave: You see a separate shadow layer on the upper parts on the left, on the right its without. I prefer the right one and add a darker color for the upper part..

any thoughts what can be done to make it looking good?

It looks really nice. What is the thought about putting the shadow on the upper part? It kinda feels unnatural to me. I prefer the ones on the right more. What I mostly miss is something between those small stalegmites (I don't know the English word so I just made something up,hope you will understand) and the walls. Think of 1x1 bulky pillars. Overall I like it

I like the walls a lot, but the floor could use some different patterns to break it up a bit and maybe less contrast between light and dark to make it less trippy and mud-like. I like the top shadow but it looks strange because it's *only* on top and it's maybe a bit dark?

WildX wrote:I like the walls a lot, but the floor could use some different patterns to break it up a bit and maybe less contrast between light and dark to make it less trippy and mud-like. I like the top shadow but it looks strange because it's *only* on top and it's maybe a bit dark?

Also to add this the transition from wall --> to floor is too "blended" and muted; maybe some more contrast to add depth?
The idea of arches and alcoves is great, probably need darker floor tiles to mimic shadows and such too. Also, an arch in a cave is never that perfect; need tiles with differences in height to give a more jagged look.

Here is a little bit of (hopefully) progress: I am stuck with the floor - I cant put more depth. It always looks ugly. Perhaps anyone can help me here...?
As usual, thanks for advance for comments and critics.

All I can think of to make the ground look better is some accessories like rocks, mushrooms, occasional bones, etc. If you couple that with having mobs on the map it should look much less flat. Compared to the older version of the cave ground this one already looks much better!

First of all: ditch the carpet.

As for giving the floor more depth, there are several ways to do that:
Like WildX said, accessories. Another way is to add tile variations like cracks, cracked mud, water, lava, etc. And finally you can also map it with more depth

Some inspiration screenshots for you:

Battle of wesnoth:


Golden sun:


Pokemon:

EJlol wrote: ↑06 Apr 2018, 07:51 First of all: ditch the carpet.

I agree since you wouldn't see a carpet in a cave, but that red carpet is kind of symbolic and iconic in TMW. It should not be used in most caves, but I think it can still show up in some mines and other caves that are more populated and more likely to have man-made accessories.

If that carpet is so symbolic and iconic to you then you can roll it up and put a NPC next to it with a message a long the line: 'Do you want to buy this ugly carpet from me? What the hell was I thinking? It doesn't suit the cave at all. Maybe I should decorate the cave with some pillows instead...'

otherwise, please do ditch it

From evol-dev:
[15:25] <WildX> We could compromise and salvage the carpet for other indoor maps where a carpet is more appropriate? That way we keep the red-gold carpets and let caves be caves.
[15:26] <EJlol> indoor maps may have carpets (including red-gold carpets), though I wouldn't use that carpet
[15:26] <EJlol> the carpet has no depth, is vague, and well, not really pixelarty
---
Ok it makes sense and I agree. R.I.P cave carpets.

Hey, what about making the bat cave man to sell carpets, as a second job besides looking how bats work? So we can keep carpet in one cave, for nostalgic reasons

Also, I always liked the wesnoth cave grounds. perhaps I try to use them as a base .. also added water already, same with lava.

Thanks for all your comments, makes the work much easier!

Micksha wrote: ↑06 Apr 2018, 16:36 Hey, what about making the bat cave man to sell carpets, as a second job besides looking how bats work? So we can keep carpet in one cave, for nostalgic reasons

If a carpet in a cave is out of place, a carpet salesman in a cave may raise some eyebrows. EJ convinced me that the carpet isn't good enough quality-wise anyway. If in the future you need to make a carpet, maybe you could try an improved version of these ones so we can re-use the same look for house indoors.

WildX wrote: ↑06 Apr 2018, 20:14

Micksha wrote: ↑06 Apr 2018, 16:36 Hey, what about making the bat cave man to sell carpets, as a second job besides looking how bats work? So we can keep carpet in one cave, for nostalgic reasons

If a carpet in a cave is out of place, a carpet salesman in a cave may raise some eyebrows. EJ convinced me that the carpet isn't good enough quality-wise anyway. If in the future you need to make a carpet, maybe you could try an improved version of these ones so we can re-use the same look for house indoors.

I feel another protest brewing. Keep cave carpets!

(I'd start one, but I don't want to lose another poll

That carpet comes from a game called Cave Adventure and is nearly 15 years old, about as old as I was when I first felt that very same carpet beneath my feet. Still, it feels like yesterday that I punched my way through those spiders in order to free the globglubs from their alcoholic overlord. Looking back I believe it was the carpet that kept me from going insane.


Original tileset

Nice to see you around again Modanung