Reworking Pillar Mountains Part 02: The Ground

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So last time I was reworking the walls of this map. Today, it's time to take a look at the ground, and paint some new grassy edges! 

Here's where we left off in the previous post: 


The first step I'll take is to adjust the colors of the grass slightly. Since these walls are much brighter and 'cartoony' in it's shading style, the grass comes across as a bit over saturated and dark. In order for it to match the walls a bit better, I'm gonna edit it's shade to a more pastel-y hue:


During this step I also work around the path, editing the colors of the edges to adjust its appearance slightly.

Once this is done, it's time to start painting new grassy edges to go on top of the new rocks. As usual, this is all about making some basic sketch/line art, then refining it by removing unnecessary pixels.

Here's a couple of examples:



And here you can see the whole map, with the new grass added on top of the mountainsides:


One thing is still missing though: the stairs! In the promotional art, the stairs have a yellow/brown-ish hue, so I thought I'd try it out here as well. We haven't decided if we want the stairs to be this color in the end, but since it's real easy to just turn the saturation down and make the stairs the same color as the rocks, I thought I'd at least give it a go:


Below, you can see the before and after version of a small portion of this area.
It's coming along, slowly:

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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous20 April 2015 at 19:04

    I really like the change. :) The darker stones looked like they belonged more at an end game dungeon, an entire mountain composed of them. The newer ones with the grass really capture that 'Baby's First Steps' feeling that most RPGs have, when you wander out of your hometown (before it burns to the ground) and beat up some slimes in the countryside.

    Question, though - you guys changed how you do backgrounds, in the Winterlands you made the horizon a shrunk version of the normal game graphics. That looked rather nicely done.

    Are you going to be redoing the Pillar Mountains / Flying Fortress backdrops as well to match the shrunken-graphics look? It would be pretty cool to see a shrunken Halloween Woods in the distance up on the Flying Fortress outside area, or the walls of Evergrind City far beyond that. Probably too much detail, though.

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    1. Vilya20 April 2015 at 19:54

      Thanks :)

      We haven't talked about the background (yet) so no decision has been made! I guess we'll see what happens once we see what everything looks like with the new walls and the bg next to eachother :)

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  2. Unknown21 April 2015 at 09:35

    Hmmm... .I'm sorry to say but I really dont like the new rocks. They feel "built". The mountain looks much more like a big house then a mountain now. I guess there is alot of details missing (moss, cracked rocks, birdsnests etc.) but when I compare the two styles I must say that I liked the old jagged one more to mark the area as a mountain compared to the new smooth round one that makes the whole area look moore "built". Im sorry to say but this is prob. the first time I have disliked the art-decision in the game, althou I should prob wait until all the details are in place before I cast a final verdict.
    But to end on a highnote: The quality of the actual stone is superb! Its just the "type" of stone for this kind of area that I dont find suiting.

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    1. Vilya21 April 2015 at 12:46

      To be honest, we're a bit unsure of whether we like these new stones too, for various reasons. We've actually halted making them for now, and later today I'll make a post about our worries. Hopefully you guys can help us figure out if we should continue making them or not!

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    2. Unknown21 April 2015 at 14:03

      Oh! Oki I'l try to Think of something that might help. I absolutley see why you would like to change the rocks. The old ones does not Clash that well with the overall theme of the game. They look way to "realistic" compared to the overal cartooney-feel of the game. You could mabe try abit more "jagged" approach to the stones? Make a few examples of diffrent stones and just multiply them and then decide for the ones who works best or smthn.
      Keep up the good job!

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    3. Unknown21 April 2015 at 14:06

      Also, all the stones themself can easily be used somewhere else in the game (like stoneage houses) so atleast the assets of having tonnes of stones does not go wasted!

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    4. Vilya21 April 2015 at 15:18

      Trying to give the rocks a bit more jagged feel sounds like a good idea, actually :) Maybe I'll play around with that for a bit!

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    5. Unknown22 April 2015 at 07:41

      I would increase the size of the stones aswell, that will make em feel like bart of something bigger. Best would be that the stones actually have no clear start or finish to make em feel like part of a big rock but Im no artist so I cant help you with the "HOW" there :D

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  3. Anonymous21 April 2015 at 10:49

    They do look like they would look right at home on... well, a home, I agree.

    But I don't know if the pillars of Pillar Mountain were naturally formed or created by making giant columns of stone by those who live there. That would be kind of neat if so, actually.

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