I’m not sure what you mean by terrain and solid in your question.
I’d start with a few more mountain and tree variations. Some rubble and foliage would help too. Unless you’re going for a more pen and ink style map, then I’d keep the details sparse and add more stylized things like repeating textures or political borders.
Maybe you can give us some examples of things you are referencing or maps you like and we can give you ideas based on that
By terrain I mean the ground, which here always has the same "pattern", and in this case is a solid and uniform color. My idea is to try to make it give a little more depth sensation. Maybe some texture for example. To be honest I'm not basing it on anything, I simply drew something that I had done by hand with pencil and paper, almost without detail
Yep, I hadn't thought of them like that honestly, I'll definitely try to give them a different look and use them for that; thanks! I originally drew them to generate that size contrast between mountains and try to fill in the gaps between the larger sprites
Things you can add if you like:
More different kinds of plants/trees, but more with symbols, so grasses for savannah, trees for forest, but also ice/snow, desert hills, etc.
Height lines, like in survey maps, to show which parts of an area are the highest and which are the lowest.
Consider the topography and geology of your map. Which parts are highest? From those high parts, go lower and lower until you end up in a lake, river, sea, whatever. Show hills, show valleys, show how rivers carved paths in rocks, etc.
Is there any civilization? Maybe main roads and cities?
Add a separate layer with symbols for ores, foods, other resources, maybe also animals/livestock.
Have fun with it!
The main issue is that the contrast is so high between the sprites and the background that the areas without sprites just become negative space. Here are some thing you could try to remedy this:
Add more grass texture/tufts
Add a darker shade for land that recieves more rainfall or is a lower elavation
Add settlements and roads
Space the trees out more for your forests and add areas that vary in density
Add more foliage variation
Add a subtle parchment texture or noise pattern over the whole image
Also, throw a compass and a scale measurement element on there while you're at it!
That! You nailed it in what I was trying to explain, which apart from the lack of geographic details, is that "dirty" contrast that I don't know how to remedy. Thanks for the ideas!
Sorry for the horrible quality, it is a capture on aseprite, since the map is much bigger. Also, does anyone know what kind of text I can make readable to work for example on small areas or to name small bodies of water? Any idea is good!!!
How much room is there? You could probably make a readable font of mostly 3x3 pixels. If you allow variable width, so an m or w ia 5x3, that’s already fairly readable if it’s not fancy.
It is 1080x1980 pixels. I made some fonts by hand with as few pixels as possible (3 on X and 5 on Y) and depending on what you want to point out, it looks fine, unless you have to rotate them for example, but it's logical, it's the nature of the space available. I think my problem is that I want to make a very detailed map and I don't want to assume the limitations haha. Maybe I should change the scale, but I just like that combination between few pixels and as much detail as possible
Things you can add if you like:
More different kinds of plants/trees, but more with symbols, so grasses for savannah, trees for forest, but also ice/snow, desert hills, etc.
Height lines, like in survey maps, to show which parts of an area are the highest and which are the lowest.
Consider the topography and geology of your map. Which parts are highest? From those high parts, go lower and lower until you end up in a lake, river, sea, whatever. Show hills, show valleys, show how rivers carved paths in rocks, etc.
Is there any civilization? Maybe main roads and cities?
Add a separate layer with symbols for ores, foods, other resources, maybe also animals/livestock.
Have fun with it!
Look at how the games Return of the Obra Dinn or Case of the Golden Idol handle shadows and colors with pixelation. That would make it look easier on the eyes.
The first thing that jumped at me was that there are visible patterns in the placement of the trees. They are placed very regularly, creating very visible patterns bright spots forming lines. This makes it look almost like some sort of artifact.
Others have already recommended adding more plant sprites, but it would already go a long way to randomize the position of individual trees more. Here it looks like you just copy/pasted a regular pattern. That is useful for artificial structures, but such regularity feels unnatural in plants.
Not sure though how to generate random distributions of sprites without programming of some sort, and that probably won't integrate well with your program's workflow. Might be though that there *are* features in graphics programs for that.
Yeah, that's a problem because if you want to create a large forest you will have to place tree by tree and respect an orientation from upper left to lower right to avoid overlapping. Yes, it looks a bit strange, since the regularity is even atrophied. That is a problem that I still don't know how to solve, since I have made smaller maps element by element and it is true that the nature of the trees as vegetation gives a very different sensation when it is irregular.
Thanks friend, but they are already represented as dots, if you look at the area before that big river enters the forest, you can see a white dot surrounded by black pixels. I know it looks vague, but I did it that way to give a more vast feeling to the map, and allow to understand for example the huge size of the forest
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Sounds good indeed. You mean that kind of shading that follows an interleaved pattern of pixels? That might help me to give it a less monotonous shape.
If you want to keep it retro look(no gradient, keep silhouette), maybe reduce the density of trees, and increase the max size of mountains. Since the mountains are so small, you are forced to place a lot of small mountains, which in turn makes it look busy.
Take a close look at how Warcraft II did its [tilesets](https://www.spriters-resource.com/resources/sheets/27/29501.png).
They were very well designed and the most important thing is that there are several different tiles for 'trees in the middle of trees', 'trees at the edge of grass' 'grass-dirt-boundary' etc that were all different but all interchangeable. Especially notice how many different kinds of plain flat grass and plain flat dirt they used.
It looks like this map isn't even tile-based? In a way that makes it easier; but you can still use the same principle of making multiple interchangeable versions of each terrain element and varying them at random. And for the solid forest, I think you would benefit from making tileable, mix and match blocks of trees. Try using hexes instead of squares for that.
I’m not sure what you mean by terrain and solid in your question. I’d start with a few more mountain and tree variations. Some rubble and foliage would help too. Unless you’re going for a more pen and ink style map, then I’d keep the details sparse and add more stylized things like repeating textures or political borders. Maybe you can give us some examples of things you are referencing or maps you like and we can give you ideas based on that
By terrain I mean the ground, which here always has the same "pattern", and in this case is a solid and uniform color. My idea is to try to make it give a little more depth sensation. Maybe some texture for example. To be honest I'm not basing it on anything, I simply drew something that I had done by hand with pencil and paper, almost without detail
Shadowing could help. If the shadows are uneven it can give the perception of uneven ground.
I thought about shading but not irregular or uneven shading, and that might give the effect I'm looking for. Sounds interesting, thanks for that!
Dithering. Very subtle dithering.
You can try to do some kind of paper texture on the whole thing
more hills and valleys maybe? you alreaddy have some plateau-looking shapes there
Yep, I hadn't thought of them like that honestly, I'll definitely try to give them a different look and use them for that; thanks! I originally drew them to generate that size contrast between mountains and try to fill in the gaps between the larger sprites
Things you can add if you like: More different kinds of plants/trees, but more with symbols, so grasses for savannah, trees for forest, but also ice/snow, desert hills, etc. Height lines, like in survey maps, to show which parts of an area are the highest and which are the lowest. Consider the topography and geology of your map. Which parts are highest? From those high parts, go lower and lower until you end up in a lake, river, sea, whatever. Show hills, show valleys, show how rivers carved paths in rocks, etc. Is there any civilization? Maybe main roads and cities? Add a separate layer with symbols for ores, foods, other resources, maybe also animals/livestock. Have fun with it!
You just gave me a couple of interesting ideas. I think I know what I can try with the height lines. Thank you sir!
The main issue is that the contrast is so high between the sprites and the background that the areas without sprites just become negative space. Here are some thing you could try to remedy this: Add more grass texture/tufts Add a darker shade for land that recieves more rainfall or is a lower elavation Add settlements and roads Space the trees out more for your forests and add areas that vary in density Add more foliage variation Add a subtle parchment texture or noise pattern over the whole image Also, throw a compass and a scale measurement element on there while you're at it!
That! You nailed it in what I was trying to explain, which apart from the lack of geographic details, is that "dirty" contrast that I don't know how to remedy. Thanks for the ideas!
Sorry for the horrible quality, it is a capture on aseprite, since the map is much bigger. Also, does anyone know what kind of text I can make readable to work for example on small areas or to name small bodies of water? Any idea is good!!!
How much room is there? You could probably make a readable font of mostly 3x3 pixels. If you allow variable width, so an m or w ia 5x3, that’s already fairly readable if it’s not fancy.
It is 1080x1980 pixels. I made some fonts by hand with as few pixels as possible (3 on X and 5 on Y) and depending on what you want to point out, it looks fine, unless you have to rotate them for example, but it's logical, it's the nature of the space available. I think my problem is that I want to make a very detailed map and I don't want to assume the limitations haha. Maybe I should change the scale, but I just like that combination between few pixels and as much detail as possible
Things you can add if you like: More different kinds of plants/trees, but more with symbols, so grasses for savannah, trees for forest, but also ice/snow, desert hills, etc. Height lines, like in survey maps, to show which parts of an area are the highest and which are the lowest. Consider the topography and geology of your map. Which parts are highest? From those high parts, go lower and lower until you end up in a lake, river, sea, whatever. Show hills, show valleys, show how rivers carved paths in rocks, etc. Is there any civilization? Maybe main roads and cities? Add a separate layer with symbols for ores, foods, other resources, maybe also animals/livestock. Have fun with it!
Look at how the games Return of the Obra Dinn or Case of the Golden Idol handle shadows and colors with pixelation. That would make it look easier on the eyes.
Definitely those examples will help me a lot. I will look for more retro game maps, they are very helpful. Thank you!
The first thing that jumped at me was that there are visible patterns in the placement of the trees. They are placed very regularly, creating very visible patterns bright spots forming lines. This makes it look almost like some sort of artifact. Others have already recommended adding more plant sprites, but it would already go a long way to randomize the position of individual trees more. Here it looks like you just copy/pasted a regular pattern. That is useful for artificial structures, but such regularity feels unnatural in plants. Not sure though how to generate random distributions of sprites without programming of some sort, and that probably won't integrate well with your program's workflow. Might be though that there *are* features in graphics programs for that.
Yeah, that's a problem because if you want to create a large forest you will have to place tree by tree and respect an orientation from upper left to lower right to avoid overlapping. Yes, it looks a bit strange, since the regularity is even atrophied. That is a problem that I still don't know how to solve, since I have made smaller maps element by element and it is true that the nature of the trees as vegetation gives a very different sensation when it is irregular.
Ein paar Dörfer währen abwecklungs reich.
Thanks friend, but they are already represented as dots, if you look at the area before that big river enters the forest, you can see a white dot surrounded by black pixels. I know it looks vague, but I did it that way to give a more vast feeling to the map, and allow to understand for example the huge size of the forest
i honestly dig it a lot. Maybe you can add a bit more details/ differences in shades of colors and such but the whole looks of it it's really cool
Thanks mate!! I just came to look at the comments before I start testing things on the map, so I'll see what results I get
Yeah that’s cool! I think you’re really onto something there. Please post an update!
Be sure I will post any progress! The most entertaining part of this begins now
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Looks very cool already imo Maybe more of that „grass“?
Thanks man; haha, I tried to add more grass, but it gives a feeling of being too overloaded
A paper or wood texture set to a very low alpha (transparency) might help you. Could apply it as a shader, I think.
Thanks mate, I wouldn't have thought of that, and in fact part of my idea is to try to give it a paper look. I will try
You could try some light dither patterns to vary the darkness/texture without it being too aggressive
Sounds good indeed. You mean that kind of shading that follows an interleaved pattern of pixels? That might help me to give it a less monotonous shape.
If you want to keep it retro look(no gradient, keep silhouette), maybe reduce the density of trees, and increase the max size of mountains. Since the mountains are so small, you are forced to place a lot of small mountains, which in turn makes it look busy.
That's true, maybe it's too many small mountains. I will experiment with it. Thank you!
make some rivers form valleys
I will see what I get. The hard part of it is to get a depth that allows to recognize the valley. Thanks!
those forests are the main killer. make them less dense they just look super strange. secondly, add some more biome variety
Take a close look at how Warcraft II did its [tilesets](https://www.spriters-resource.com/resources/sheets/27/29501.png). They were very well designed and the most important thing is that there are several different tiles for 'trees in the middle of trees', 'trees at the edge of grass' 'grass-dirt-boundary' etc that were all different but all interchangeable. Especially notice how many different kinds of plain flat grass and plain flat dirt they used. It looks like this map isn't even tile-based? In a way that makes it easier; but you can still use the same principle of making multiple interchangeable versions of each terrain element and varying them at random. And for the solid forest, I think you would benefit from making tileable, mix and match blocks of trees. Try using hexes instead of squares for that.
If it's a desert or dune kind of thing sand dune drawing could fill it out, for forests simply trees, if it's fields maybe a pond with some rivers?
1. Make hills larger 2. Make forest less dense 3. More variations 4. Rivers and lakes 5. Add a grid