zchin, the biggest thing that's sticking out from your map is that canopy autotile. Either get rid of it (it's really not necessary) or adjust it to be a bit rounder, like the water autotile. The mapping itself isn't bad, though that seems to be a lot of wheat growing in the center of the road.

I was messing around with mapping in VX using the RTP. I don't think this map is very good but the tileset is pretty limited.

Now I'm not much one to criticize mapping, but maybe geographical features/cartographies are more my thing.

I'm pretty sure that, unless it's some kind of weird (really weird) marshland, you don't get the kind of river/water patterns you have in your bottom-left. You definitely wouldn't get mountains in the area if marshlands is the case.

Also, I'm fairly certain that rain shadow doesn't quite work that way and you'd have at least some coastal greenery on some of the coast-facing land on your desert island.

If it's an option, maybe get some Civ 4's Perfectworld map generator into you. It's not taking a geography major in college, but it's a lot better than nothing at giving you a good idea about how geographical features affect their surroundings in real life.

Its very well done Kiriashi. :D

I would personally get rid of the five weed and three weed tiles you have, as they are next to those rocks and create a line.

I would also get rid of the giant rock slide tile you have. I think by doing these two things, there will be less going on personally, making it less busy to the eye.

I would get rid of the stairs and open up the cliff. To me, stairs really don't seem realistic in a natural place. I think a series of ramps would be much better suited.

On the far left cliff, you are missing the inside corner tile.


Im just being really picky here. It really is a good map. :D

Thanks! I put the stairs there because I was too lazy to make a earth ramp work out. :p

The only comment that doesn't make sense is the rock slide. What's wrong with it? The more there is going on the map, the more lively and less boring it seems.

In my opinion, a busy map does not make it a good map.I guess its the mood you are trying to convey. In my opinion, the rock slide looks too bold. Not only that, it is the same size as the grass tile to tiles above.

I found two more little mini things that are basic opinions. I would get rid of the long grass patches throughout the map, or at least the on under the white flower. I would also get rid of the 5 weed tile under the tree.

Again, in my opinion, they make the map too busy. It looks like you were trying to create a serene look. Usually you can make your map look busy by just using cliffs and water when mapped properly. By getting rid of some of the clutter, you are creating that sort of sense of freedom and serenity. You can have a busy map and an open map, and maps that tend to do so look the best in my opinion. o:

Thanks for the C&C!

Much appreciated.

What can I do to spice this up? I'm stumped.

1) Do not use the dark space tiles against the lava tiles. They do not fit together. See how square the land is, that is bad when you map and is something you dont want to do.

2 I suggest you make the room twice as small. This is a case where you need to have a smaller map because there is not much going on in the map.

3) The carpet would burn if it were next to lava.

4) Add some more props such as stalagmites and rocks and whatnot. Do not try to make your map so symmetrical

5) Add some more curve to your walls. Make the go down and around the path, it will really help contribute to your map and make it look more busy.

thanks I'll see what I can come up with.

You completely neglected to mention that the ground along the lava is a cliff-style tile that needs the bottom attached.

This tileset is pretty limited, I can't really think of much to do with it.

1) Add some more curve to your walls. Make it more cave like, it will really improve the map overall. Right now you have just a boring rectangle.

2)The lava to land transition is still horrible. I suggest you custom make something or scrap the idea.

3) Decrease the fog tone. fog does not make a map look better, it improves a overall good map.

4) More scenery and props such as rocks and whatnot will also make your map better. Right now it is too plain and boring. It is boring to look at overall.

What tileset are you using? Ill see if I can throw an example together. If its custom, post it in spoilers and Ill work with it a little bit. o:

Well since you took all my points Bacon, I believe he's using the Evil Castle Interior tileset with a heavy color tone change.

Obviously, I am no good at mapping so all of those points help out a lot. I'm just gonna scrap the whole thing since it not really supposed to be a cave but the inside to a castle. I'll try something different, I just liked the idea of walking on those floaty thingies.

Aiming for a good desert town here. I think I overdid it a little with greens but I didn't want to show it to be empty.

I don't really think you overdid it. I mean, it's a desert right? And nobody is going to build a town in the middle of the desert with no water. And of course, water allows for life.

Personally though, I think it needs like a central "market" type area, where everybody can come outside and do all their trading. You've got little stalls set up around town, but I think it would be better if they were all in one general area. Small towns are usually friendly and like to gather around a central point. For a desert town, a market seems like it would be good for that.

Just my 0.02 pesos though.

Love its a pretty good map overall. Just a few things here and there involving logic and placement:

1) Some of your houses are extremely curvy. While houses have turns, they are not cliffs. Remember that human made things follow the path of uniformity and geometry.

2) Same things with the paths. Remember, that path was paved, not eroded. There is going to be more uniformity and straight lines with that path. Curves are always good, but its just a point.

3) The grass would grow around the water.

4) There is really nothing defining locations in your map. Everything is not only spread out, there are not real natural keys or signals that tell the player where they are. If you were to shrink the map up a bit and maybe work on your placement of object, it would help with navigation.

I followed both of your points, you two, which are very much appreciated. (Thank you!) However, Bacon, I didn't really understand your last point. How can I make it more navigational?

Here is the new one~

With those fixes, I think you fixed the last point as well. What I meant is that it seemed easy to get lost and there was nothing really that could act like a landmark or something that would tell you your location. I think more variation in your map would help it a lot. I suggest using the other sand autotiles and sprucing up some places that tend to be plain.

Hello. I'm new to RMXP and just started working on a project. This is my first map (that I've worked on for any length of time, anyway). I'd like some feedback. Thanks.

I just want to point out that I made some very important updates to the Map Image Maker nearly two months ago, which fixes character priority to work exactly like Tilemap (which is not like RMXP, it's priority based instead of layer based) and makes everything faster. It can create and save much larger maps as well, and the configuration is saved between uses in MapMaker.ini (which means some features are exposed, including features that weren't exposed before like the size of the preview image relative to command windows, starting tilesize, and where to save the images).

I point this out because it seems that not many people are using it. You can easily take a full-size image of your entire map with panorama, fog, and characters, then use any image editor as mundane as Paint to resize it smaller for the internet if desired.

1) The screentone is super green. I suggest toning it down a bunch.

2) I personally think you should expand your river a tile or two to make it look like a stream. Rivera and streams are not that short.

3) Add more curves to your long grass.

4) I have learned that using undulations like that in my opinion looks bad.

This makes undulations look a lot better. It doesn't have to be sand, but something that would make sense.

5) You seem to clump the same type of objects together. Spread them out.

6) Objects such as those piles of rocks make no sense. There are no cliffs or rocky surfaces, therefore there wouldn't be any rubble.

7) Just like the river, the path should be expanded. Remember, that is a path that is eroded in time or a dusty trail that has been forgotten. It naturally would be bigger.

8) Weeds look better if you clump the one and two weed tiles together and can really add to a map.

9) Those clumps of grass should be used on the sides of the long grass tiles, not out in the open. The big, round one is acceptable but the thin one just looks bad overall.

10) You can use a variation of trees that add life to your map.

11) Some areas are desolate. Add some more plant life to the places that overall have no plants, just trees.

12) Get rid of the pink flower. You had a nice palette of the while and yellow, adding a pink kinda ruins the feel altogether. You are trying to create a mood and the less colors you uses, the more precise the mood is.

Ok Bacon, instead of the Lava thing I had going last time, I decided to use the Church Tile. The idea from this map came from the show my game is based of but cartoons maps are different then game maps. So what can I do to make this look better?



This is supposed to be an evil lair or something thus the reason for the dark tint attempt, the normal screen tone seemed to light (mood wise).

1) The wall is really confusing and throws off the whole view. It looks like there is a wall separating the room.

2) The walls, both the ones separating and the ones surrounding, need more curves and detailing

3) The overall room is plain. Try adding some more things to it.

4) The window light tiles do not fit the position of the window.

5) It doesn't look really like an evil lair. There really isn't anything evil about it, it actually looks more holy. Try personalizing it more.

6) In my opinion, the screen-tone is a little bit to blue. But this tends to be different depending on the person you ask.

All valid points. Thanks I'm on it!

OK, after following most of your advise and making some modifications this is what I came up with.

1) The map is not centered. You have symmetrical placing yet the main focus piece does not follow suit. Shrink the left side by a tile.

2) The middle wall is still kind of boring and uninspiring. Try making it more of a pedestal. Kill the sides and curve it so it goes to the top wall.

3) Close the rooms and wall up the sides.

Try these few things and repost and Ill see if I can find anymore things. Its basically the layout and overall structure you need to work on. It is an improvement of your previous map however. :D

I don't completely understand what you mean in #2 but it's difficult to make this look anymore polish seeing how this tile is limited. All I could think to do was tighten it up, leaving less space?