The Big Tree

Post by **Crush** » 08 Oct 2006, 14:01

Those of you who hang out on #tmwart regulary will have noticed my new "cork screw tree". Here an early WIP shot with the half finished leaf texture:

Some of you argued that the tree top would be too small in relation to the trunk. You might be right here that it might look better that way. But the problem is that this tree is already visually blocking 22 tiles while only blocking 2 or 4 tiles physically. That are a lot of omitted tiles. When the tree top would be even larger and when the trees are a regular map element the map would be almost unplayable because most of the objects would be hidden by the trees.

So i would like to know what you think about doing something like this:

By omitting the tree tops by fading out we hide a lot less map space. It also gives more a feeling of being "inside the forest" and not being a bird flying over it.

Dr Wahl · Post by **Dr Wahl** » 08 Oct 2006, 17:20

I really like the idea of fading out on the top. Like you said, it gives a feeling of being inside a forest. Maybe if you could fade it out a little bit higher, then there would be some room for wild life, such as birds, and squirls, and cacoons.

Maybe birds flying could also be an overlay for a forest type map too, but i digress....
Looks good crush. Great job!

Post by **Modanung** » 08 Oct 2006, 18:11

Test of fading out trees I did some time ago:

If you include both a fading top and a fading trunk (for different heights) I think it will look quite nice. The scale of the trees is great, finally a big tree.

You may consider using the non-faded tree for the edge of a clearing, so basically for trees you can't walk behind. I'm sure you know what I mean, but just to make really sure and just to show what it could look like:

You could make the tops flow into eachother almost seamlessly.

Post by **Crush** » 09 Oct 2006, 00:16

I am not sure about this:

BadMrBox · Post by **BadMrBox** » 09 Oct 2006, 02:23

that doesn't look too well. The grass and the tree's green are too much the same.

Post by **Crush** » 09 Oct 2006, 13:14

Thank you, captain obvious

Any idea how to fix that?

I would like to avoid to change the color palette of the tree, because i want it to use the same color palette the small trees are using.

Dr Wahl · Post by **Dr Wahl** » 09 Oct 2006, 15:35

i am not sure of the capabilities of the current server, or the new server, but maybe having the trees on the border of the screen be full (not faded at the top), and then as you get closer, the trees start to fade at the top. This would require the ability to have dynamic landscapes, but it would allow most trees to look decent, until you are right near the tree.

Post by **EJlol** » 09 Oct 2006, 16:37

that would be very useful, because then you can look behind a wall etc

Post by **Crush** » 09 Oct 2006, 16:57

It would be possible to do this client sided.

We could draw the tiles on map layer 2 (over layer) that are near the player character transparent.

But the question is if it would really look so right.

Another posibility would be to draw the layer 1 (object layer) again after the layer 2 but with half transparency. That way you could see sprites that are hidden behind layer2 tiles.

BadMrBox · Post by **BadMrBox** » 09 Oct 2006, 19:12

Crush wrote:Thank you, captain obvious

heh. Well, you could maybe make the leafs bigger on the tree. Not really sure if it would get any better thought. It's a tough cookie you have here Crush.

Post by **Modanung** » 09 Oct 2006, 20:45

Several solutions are:
a) Decrease the saturation of the grass a bit more
b) Make the grass slightly blue-er
c) Don't show leaves at all, just a fading trunk.

I'd prefer a & b, although c might be a good solution as well.

Website · Post by **yosuhara** » 09 Oct 2006, 20:58

personally, i go for bigger leaves, definitely it's a huge tree (in comparison to other ones) and that way it will be more distinguishable... but maybe i'm wrong

Post by **Crush** » 09 Oct 2006, 20:58

I want to change the color palette of the grass even less than the color palette of the trees. *sigh* i thought we would be over with this.

Post by **Modanung** » 09 Oct 2006, 21:23

Crush wrote:I want to change the color palette of the grass even less than the color palette of the trees. *sigh* i thought we would be over with this.

So you want the grass and the trees to be more distinguishable without changing either of their palletes?

Post by **Modanung** » 09 Oct 2006, 21:33

I hope this will convince you:

From left to right: Original, Chrono Trigger-ish, Zelda-ish?.

EDIT: Now also did one where I changed the colour of the leaves:

EDIT2: Finally... my personal favorite:

Blueish leaves, yellowish grass and less saturated trunk.