Interested in doing tile requests.

[catbread]

I'm really interested in contributing to this game, but I'm not sure I entirely grasp the constraints of the game. To better understand this, I want to help with ideas more feasible than my own and make tiles for those who can use them (or just want them). I'm aware of the huge difference that can be between requests and artists' depictions, but, if possible, I would like to give a shot at some tile making. It'd be neat to see some get into the game, but if not, it's always nice to practice pixel dotting.

Looking through the forums, I've seen a few tile requests, so I thought I'd try my hand at making them if anyone's interested in taking me up on it.

I'll attach a few tiles I made to show you where I stand artistically, and if you don't like the tiles I make for you, feel free to tell me where to make changes, alter them yourself, or not use them at all. On the other hand, some tiles may be above my skills, so after trying a couple of times, I may have to admit defeat. I'll try to give you at least something half-decent, though.

Just give me a description, and I'll go from there. If you want your tile to be specific, though, make the description specific.

Group of Dwarf Stuff

dwarf-group.png (7.48 KiB) Viewed 6675 times

Some Librarian Wizard

librarian.png (3.48 KiB) Viewed 6675 times

[Deimos]

Hum, requests you say? That's really nice of you :3

To warm you up, what say you to making a domestic dog with black and white fur? I'll leave everything else up to you, but I'd like to see what a nice "pet" dog tile would look like.

This is just a want though, so feel free to pass it up for someone else's request

[catbread]

To warm you up, what say you to making a domestic dog with black and white fur? I'll leave everything else up to you, but I'd like to see what a nice "pet" dog tile would look like.

Sorry it took a bit. How's this?

dogpet-bw1.png (3.37 KiB) Viewed 6643 times

[Deimos]

That's actually really good! Thank you

[catbread]

No problem. Got anything else for me? I really enjoy the practice.

[Patashu]

It's commonly complained that the Robe of Misfortune (unidentified name 'a fabulously ornate robe') shows up as 'TODO', making it trivial to spot and avoid wearing. What would you give it as a tile?

[rchandra]

It's commonly complained that the Robe of Misfortune (unidentified name 'a fabulously ornate robe') shows up as 'TODO', making it trivial to spot and avoid wearing. What would you give it as a tile?

I'm 99% sure the Robe has a randomized description and a bit less sure the tile thing is an unrelated bug.

[dukplx]

I'm 99% sure the Robe has a randomized description and a bit less sure the tile thing is an unrelated bug.

The robe of misfortune is always a fabulously ornate robe according to knowledge bots. A tile would be nice as experienced players would know that its always fabulously ornate and a graphic wouldn't further trivialize it.

[mageykun]

I'm 99% sure the Robe has a randomized description and a bit less sure the tile thing is an unrelated bug.

The robe of misfortune is always a fabulously ornate robe according to knowledge bots. A tile would be nice as experienced players would know that its always fabulously ornate and a graphic wouldn't further trivialize it.

...huh. Want some fun? Go to wizmode and create the robe of misfortune, and pick it up. Then start toggling &i and &I. ID-ed, it has a tile. Un-ID-ed, it does not. Weird.

They changed the robe of misfortune so it no longer has a fixed unidentified description (specifically so you can't recognize "a fabulously ornate robe" as terrible). Maybe that's what broke the tile association when unidentified?

[catbread]

So it already has a tile?

Regardless, I gave it a whirl. I used the one of the other robes to keep the similar robe design going. I could make one from scratch if you'd prefer?

Here it is with and without the shadow.

With Shadow

fabouslyornaterobe1shadow.png (4.67 KiB) Viewed 6588 times

Without Shadow

fabouslyornaterobe1.png (4.66 KiB) Viewed 6588 times

[edlothiol]

The robe of misfortune tile is now fixed. It was supposed to be the normal randart robe tile.

[Patashu]

So it already has a tile?

Regardless, I gave it a whirl. I used the one of the other robes to keep the similar robe design going. I could make one from scratch if you'd prefer?

Here it is with and without the shadow.

fabouslyornaterobe1shadow.png

fabouslyornaterobe1.png

That's a really nifty robe you've got there

[XuaXua]

So it already has a tile?

Regardless, I gave it a whirl. I used the one of the other robes to keep the similar robe design going. I could make one from scratch if you'd prefer?

Here it is with and without the shadow.

fabouslyornaterobe1shadow.png

fabouslyornaterobe1.png

That's a really nifty robe you've got there

It's fabulous.

[roctavian]

I like it quite a bit! One thing to experiment with is adding depth by making some parts of the tile much darker, and then adding more mid-tones between the dark portions and the lighter ones. As far as making shapes goes, that robe is all aces.

[catbread]

Thanks, all!

I like it quite a bit! One thing to experiment with is adding depth by making some parts of the tile much darker, and then adding more mid-tones between the dark portions and the lighter ones. As far as making shapes goes, that robe is all aces.

Yeah, I agree. Contrast helps a lot, but when there's so much detail I'm trying to squish into such a confined space, it makes depth quite difficult to develop (for me at least). Also, the pastelly colors kind of blend with the light blue and yellow, so I tried tweaking the purple a bit and putting a bit of darks around the lights. I've only made half a dozen or so tiles, so I'm still working out technique and I appreciate critiques even more than compliments. Thanks for the suggestion. If you have an example, it'd help me too.

Here's my tweaked version:

Deeper purple

fabouslyornaterobe2.png (4.66 KiB) Viewed 6521 times

[roctavian]

I definitely know how hard it is to introduce depth when you're working with really tiny images, it's always trial-and-error. The tweaked version looks great, and I thought that perhaps I'd illustrate a couple of things that work for me:

1) Zooming out and look at your tile at native resolution, frequently. I all too often get into tiny details and realize that nobody will be able to see them.

2) There's three ways to make things contrast -- hue, value (read as: lightness), and saturation (read as: color vividness). Your yellow/gold lacework is around the same value as your white fur, and even though it's much more saturated, it's hard to differentiate yellow and white. I added three more shades of yellow (varying the hue) that are just a touch more orange than what you originally had. I put it around the jewel on the collar and between the horizontal yellow lines. I also made the fur more gray around the yellow lines, but then made it more white closer to the darker purple (varying the value).

3) I added a bit more shadow in the neck-zone and inside of the sleeves. Don't be afraid to span the entire spectrum of value from black to white, though keep in mind that most floors in Crawl are quite dark and tiles that sit on the floor should probably be lighter. I tend to make tiles that are too dark.

4) While we're at it, keep a spare "dungeon floor" file that you can paste your tiles onto, so you can see what they're like in the wild. You can discover things you didn't expect -- you have some light semi-transparent white pixels outside the outline of your tile, by the shoulders. This is hard to see here on the forum, and hard to see in most image editing programs. Try to catch these when you can. I could stand to follow my own advice here a lot more, of course, as I submit tiles with rogue pixels all the dang time.

5) Some colors are just hard to distinguish. Even when I added some darker cyan, the "jewel" or what have you in the collar is hard to see. I made it green in one version and it stands out more. In any case I didn't add too many new colors to your own tile, and what new colors I added are included on the right.

Uh, there were a couple other things I did but I forgot. Showing is better than telling; I scaled this file up so you can see more differences.

I like your work, keep it up!

[catbread]

Ah wow! That looks so much better. I see what you're saying now. I was trying to put lots of tiny details into it, which was gumming it up a lot. But with less variation of colors (and more of a gradient), you've pretty much captured the same idea. I always forget it and get married to ideas then when I remove them, it tends to look better. Must. Remember.

I tend to keep crawl tiles up when working on these to keep the style similar. I'll sometimes put a tile against one of the background/floor tiles. As for the edges and transparency, I try to catch this, too. Sometimes I rush through it, getting sick of looking at square dots.

Other than that, your post really helped me. I'll try to take it to heart when making things in the future. Hopefully practice will help me master this.

[Grimm]

That robe looks like a pimp's overcoat.

[roctavian]

Catbread, here's a suggestion for something to try: new wall and floor tiles for Cocytus.

I made the ones that are currently in the game, and I'm not so crazy about them anymore -- these are relics from before I learned to make mock-up models myself. The topmost row of tiles (for harder stone walls) aren't too bad, but everything else just looks crappy when tiled across the whole screen. There could also be more than 4 wall tiles.

I've tried re-doing them myself a few times but I just can't think of any ideas that I'm satisfied with.

[catbread]

Oh, I thought this thread was dead, and I've been murdering octopode wizards in various ways for the past few days.

Backgrounds are tough, but I don't mind giving it a shot. Is there any theme I'm going for or any immediate "avoid at all costs" deals that I should know about? (Besides that the tiles are supposed to be muted and icy colors, not distracting, aesthetically pleasing, and infinitely repeatable).

[roctavian]

I think that's a pretty good outline of what to go for! I think it's better to aim for darker floors/lighter walls because that's often more pleasing to the eye, but that's certainly no rule.