[WIP] "The Underkeep" iso Dungeon Map & Map Tiles

[Morgan]

I think the previous choice of drawing walls only on the far side is better. What you want to show is the interior of the room, especially if you plan to use some textures to give a sense of color.
If you want them to be less invasive, I think loogie's idea is good, 100% opacity at the bottom and it fades as the wall rises.
Then, perhaps I have a solution for the corners, and this SHOULD allow you to use narrow corridors too:
Instead of putting the wall on the whole side of a room, stop a square before the last. Then, draw some "angle" pieces that cut the wall rectangle into half.
Aww, trying to explain this is more difficult than drawing, here is a sketch of what I intend. Sorry, it was handmade in 15 seconds, so it looks... well, not worthy of a cartoghaper!

Hope this helps!

[anstett]

I think having the back walls in the back corners of the map is a nice idea to reinforce how it should be envisioned but you do not need them everywhere. The transparency just does not work for me sorry.

I also think it would be better with a more solid background, it sort of gives me the feeling now of the place floating in the clouds rather than being underground.

hmmm that could be a nice touch, no walls, just the flooring and bottomless chasms on either side

Overall a very nice job, glad to see how even the mostly clueless artists could take those pieces and turn it into something worth showing.

BOB

[bcholmes]

I agree with what others have said about walls on the far side, but if you're interested in experimenting, one other option can be to have quarter-height walls in the foreground. Perhaps with a rough top to visually communicate that the wall is broken away to help the reader see beyond.

[rpgmapmaker]

I was thinking of doing somthing like that for the Red areas in Morgan's picture... Thanks for the ideas!

?

[Morgan]

No problem!
And I think it should come out nice. The broken wall section allows you to show the bricks or at least the colors of the wall, so you can better determine the general atmosphere of the room.
On the other side (the viewer's side), as anstett was suggesting, you could draw some rocky chasms below the floor to avoid the "floating dungeon" effect. I think the general effect would be cool, like some old style Amiga videogames!

[rpgmapmaker]

I am not sure how I will pull of the "cave look" part, but it sounds cool and I will try something with that idea. I do think that it will help with the "floating" problem. I was also thinking about making some of the rooms "cave like" by making the floor not square.

At work there is no photoshop :-( and not much time to think about this. But later... ... :-)

[Morgan]

Umm, I can figure it in my mind. I'll drawn a sketch later when I have time to explain what I mean!

[rpgmapmaker]

... not very refined at this point but here is a new test.

Here is a test of some ideas.

Yellow: The walls with the "slant" and the "broken look".
Red: A fall off to the bottom of the world look.

And a big cave, thing...

[Morgan]

Yep, this is what I had in mind, more or less. But I think you should make the chasms longer, perhaps till the bottom of the map, so that it gets a more "interior" look.
Also, I think that archways obstruct visibility, not sure about them. Well, I did my sketch so I'm posting it anyway!
I visualized the background as a rocky-thing too, but a bit different from the chasms, perhaps darker texture/color. What do you think?

[rpgmapmaker]

Your picture explains better what you were saying and I like it. I have also found some other references for this type of map after doing some image searches. There are some things I would like to try but it will take me some time to figure out how to implement them.

Some things will need to wait until I have unveil my finished March competition Map.

Thanks for your intrest in this map and all of your help,

Stay tuned :-)