Thread: A corner of the crypts

Nice job so far!

I like the overall layout and the textures you've used for the wall and objects.

A few suggestions:

1) The floor seems very clean and pristine. Is it intended to be a very clean, well-maintained crypt? If not, I'd suggest darkening the floors and "grunging" them up a bit.
2) Try using a smaller and darker drop shadow for the coffins and other objects, so they look a little more grounded rather than floating up off the floor.
3) A couple light sources would also be a nice detail, unless visitors are supposed to just carry their own lanterns or torches?

And I definitely agree that the overall lighting is too bright. Darker lighting would look much better (IMO) and make more sense, especially if there are no fixed light sources. But if you added some wall torches (or similar) you could create a really nice atmosphere with light and shadow.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks for the feedback! I've been working on the clean floors issue this weekend (in fact I just posted up a quick tutorial on my solution). The current version is looking dirtier. I also plan on doing a grunge pass over the whole thing, adding some dirt and noise, once I'm further along.

Thanks for the suggestion on the drop shadows. I just tried that out and it really helps with the floating look!

So far as light sources, I'm kind of torn. I generally shoot for a pretty clean and evenly lit map with minimal fixtures, as it's easier to add than subtract. I want to get the caskets / coffins done and figure out the doors this week. If I get ambitious I'll take a look at some lights. It's something I need to figure out anyhow.


Thanks again for the feedback!

You're welcome! I'm glad the suggestion about the drop shadows was helpful.

Here's the latest version of my Tombs project, showing more or less the same area as the first. This version includes actual doors, a fair amount of shadow work, new textures for the tombs and crypts, and a statue in the hall.

I still need to do a layer of cracks and dirt in the floors, and figure out how to treat the walls themselves. I reverted to plain black lines for now so I could get doors placed. I had a dark textured stone in place, but I'm not sure I liked the look. I also need to convey that this is all underground, without filling the entire background with ink-sucking dark textures.

Anyhow, any feedback or suggestions appreciated.

This looks great mthomas - well done. I like your doors. I like your wallsjust the way they are - I think there is no need to treat them specially. My favourite maps always have block walls (either block black or block white) which works because it draws the eye towards the interior spaces. I think your background is fine the way it is too.

The only thing I'm unsure about is the dark borders around your coffins. My laptop screen at work is unusually dark, so perhaps it looks fine on your screen, but to me it is hard to differentiate between the small 'island' of walling in the centre of the left room, and some of the coffins. For this reason, I would suggest you remove the dark border around all your objects.

Wow, your laptop screen is *dark* The casket/coffin edges actually have grain and texture matching the body of the object. I'll take a look at those and see if I can adjust levels a bit, something I need to do with all the shadows to be sure things aren't too dark.

Thanks for the feedback on the walls. I was debating if keeping them simple and black-lined was the way to go.

Here's the latest version of this project. I've added a fair bit of dirt to the floors, so it's starting to look more like a disused tomb. This is the GM map, so it shows the location of various secret doors too. After some debate I've settled on showing all floors all the time, with the GM version showing secret door locations and labels, which are my next task. I feel like this is approaching completion, but as always suggestions / critique welcome.

if you are still looking for suggestions, I have a quick one: how about some little bits of moss between some of the floor tiles?

Looking great overall, nice work

That's a good idea, but the whole area is underground so I'm not sure how much moss is appropriate. I wanted to find some fungal-type textures to apply but didn't have much luck with that. Thanks for the positive feedback!