Slope study

[Ceraus]

I'll manage, StillCypher.

Haven't worked on maps alot since then, but I'll be sure to post my "ground tiles" once they're done. I still think my slope looks too much like a cliff; I'll try having less of an edge at the top and have all the slope illusion be a matter of lighting.

Ideally, the slopes, cliffs and everything will be tileable on ANY grass-themed ground texture. And I'll have Ascension comment on them before they're finalized.

By the way, Ascension, the main reason why I use bland textures without relief effects like yours is that I need my cliffs, slopes and all to be tileable. (This also gives me a hard time with irregular borders.) Do you know a way to get such effects, but tileable? I could get better results if I could find something similar to your 4th pic, but, again, tileable (and transparent intead of white).

Out of curiosity, what are the favorite tile-resolutions used by people around here? I use 64 out of old Gametable habit and I wonder which starting resolution I should work from for maximum compatibility.

[Feralspirit]

Ceraus, I see what you mean about your slope resembling a cliff. I think it may be the rocky texture that implies a steeper grade than you desire. Sorry I haven't tried it myself, so I don't know if the effect will be desirable, but using Ascension's method above with the gradient applied to grass texture, with a quick fade back to transparency (to retain tilabilty) seems like it may yield something gentler. Thanks for the discussion, though. Whatever you decide the discussion and thread has been valuable to myself at least. *Repped* and rated.

[Ceraus]

Tried something simpler and made a hill.

There's white at the top that fades out a square away, equally inside and outside.

There's black at the bottom, fading out a square away toward the top but fading out much quicker outside.

There's also shadow on the slope, (starting from the top) fading in half a square after the top and fading out half a square after the bottom.

The slope texture, as before, is rock and grass, but this time it fades out equally at the top and bottom.

The first two layers are at 30% opacity and the last two at 20%.

Again, I haven't touched fancy effects, just using black and white fade ins and fade outs. I think I've successfully dodged the cliff look, but now the top and bottom are not defined enough, possibly confusing players.

I've attached a grass version, an earth version and a version with no terrain underneath.

[Ceraus]

Heh! The third picture looks like a bump in the messageboards.

Hey... that could be a good Mapping Challenge idea.

[Ceraus]

Spent a few weeks with writer's block about slopes, but got through tonight.

I scrapped everything, went back to the basics and tried to incorporate some of Ascension's feedback.

I especially reworked the texturing, adding subtle lighting effects to the slope texture (while keeping it tileable). Then white on top, black on bottom and a little shadow, but with new, improved numerical values that don't over-complicate creation.

This is preliminary, but I'm quite pleased by the results. Keep in mind that my cliff in the first post and this new image are supposed to represent the same thing.

[Ceraus]

I've also redone the hill with the new parameters. I'm posting the old one again for comparison.

I think the new one looks much better, especially in high resolution. Its sloped sides almost look stiff - which is exactly what I'm looking for. No ambiguity.

[Ceraus]

First tile!

I had to compromise a lot on realism. Making a 2-square thick slope fit on a 4-square tile means I can't extend any gradient or shadow very far. Also, the exact locations of the slope's edges were up for debate, so I just squeezed every variable until it gave a slope that fit well and read well. As the white top and black bottom barely extend anymore, I made them massively more apparent (probably overdone the white).

Here's the first tile and how it looks on generic grasslands and on sandy/rocky terrain. The tile itself is rotatable and fits with itself. I'll go sleep on it now.

(EDIT: Oops, the texture doesn't fit. I must have misplaced it somewhere.)