Map Rating/Review Thread

[Disturbed]

Seeing as though I can't remember if I posted this before (I probably did) I'll repost it!

Birolis Town

EDIT:
Here's another one for the hell of it.

Dugilake City

(I know it's crammed, it's kinda old and I don't feel like fixing it.)

 

[Jordy San]

Hi guys, it's been a while.
I've improved my mapping slightly (My others sucked!) and thought i try something new.
So here is the first route. i'm still no very happy with it, but i want to know what you think.

Name:Route ...
Hack: Secrets of Shadow
Rom: Firered

Spoiler:

 

[~Cerberus~]

Map Name: Garnet Town

Map Game:

Comments: I made this pretty quickly, it's for my hack Pokemon Sandstorm: Mewtwo's Front. View the thread when you can. Anyway, rate away!

Mapshot:

 

[Makorin]

Hey everybody!
I've got a map I've been working on lately and I was wondering: What would people think of a Flaming Flarez style 'Natural' Map?
Thus leading me here to the Map Rating Thread!

Anyway, here is the Map!

Map Name: N/A
Map Game: Pokemon Fire Red
Map Hack: Pokemon Scarlet (not on the fourms yet)
Comments: See Above
Map Shot:

Spoiler:

Credits:
X-Buster - Super DP Rombase (Large Trees)
Neti - Natural Mapping Tut
I think that is it

 

[colcolstyles]

Hey everybody!
I've got a map I've been working on lately and I was wondering: What would people think of a Flaming Flarez style 'Natural' Map?
Thus leading me here to the Map Rating Thread!

Anyway, here is the Map!

Map Name: N/A
Map Game: Pokemon Fire Red
Map Hack: Pokemon Scarlet (not on the fourms yet)
Comments: See Above
Map Shot:

Spoiler:

Credits:
X-Buster - Super DP Rombase (Large Trees)
Neti - Natural Mapping Tut
I think that is it

Well the natural tree placement turned out alright in my opinion but I can't say the same about the actual map itself. There's really not much happening with only two houses and one exit. I also don't like the signposts, mainly the fact that you have three in close proximity (and the one outside the lab would probably look better directly to the left of the lab, not in front of it). Also, the path dominates the map. Paths should direct the player where to go and you can only do that by using them sparingly.

 

[Jordy San]

Hi guys, it's been a while.
I've improved my mapping slightly (My others sucked!) and thought i try something new.
So here is the first route. i'm still no very happy with it, but i want to know what you think.

Name:Route ...
Hack: Secrets of Shadow
Rom: Firered

Spoiler:

Can someone please rate mine :(

Jordy San

 

[Liquid Shadow]

Hey everybody!
I've got a map I've been working on lately and I was wondering: What would people think of a Flaming Flarez style 'Natural' Map?
Thus leading me here to the Map Rating Thread!

Anyway, here is the Map!

Map Name: N/A
Map Game: Pokemon Fire Red
Map Hack: Pokemon Scarlet (not on the fourms yet)
Comments: See Above
Map Shot:

Spoiler:

Credits:
X-Buster - Super DP Rombase (Large Trees)
Neti - Natural Mapping Tut
I think that is it

Just like Coolcolstyles said, the tree placement is pretty good, just the patch and houses and bad use of tiles.

For one thing, the house placement is horrible (only two houses next to each other? Is that even big enough for a map?!) You could make the map bigger maybe and add a few rocks here and there. The tree placement part is pretty good though.

 

[Rabbit]

Can someone please rate mine :(

Jordy San

Well, it's rather bland for a route. Nothing but a very open forest path. And there isn't any tall grass. I'd say tall grass is the most essential part of a route. Your route doesn't have any challenges or obstacles. It might as well be a blank space for the player to traverse while continuously pressing the up or down key. If this is a first route, tall grass is doubly important - it keeps the player from wandering out of their home town without getting a starter from the Professor, since they can't go into tall grass without a Pokemon for safety, and it's the first chance the player has to train their Pokemon.

I reccomend rethinking what your route is meant to do for the game and what you can add to make it a significant area.

 

[Jordy San]

Well, it's rather bland for a route. Nothing but a very open forest path. And there isn't any tall grass. I'd say tall grass is the most essential part of a route. Your route doesn't have any challenges or obstacles. It might as well be a blank space for the player to traverse while continuously pressing the up or down key. If this is a first route, tall grass is doubly important - it keeps the player from wandering out of their home town without getting a starter from the Professor, since they can't go into tall grass without a Pokemon for safety, and it's the first chance the player has to train their Pokemon.

I reccomend rethinking what your route is meant to do for the game and what you can add to make it a significant area.

I know what your saying, but i don't really need grass on this route because it's a route where your first pokémon 'hatches'.

(It would help if you knew the story but I haven't posted it yet.)

But the thing is that alot of challenges here are happening here.
But yeah, it really lacks challenge in the map itself...

 

[~Cerberus~]

Map Name: Garnet Town

Map Game:

Comments: I made this pretty quickly, it's for my hack Pokemon Sandstorm: Mewtwo's Front. View the thread when you can. Anyway, rate away!

Mapshot:

Could someone please rate my map? Thanks.

 

[Alice]

My first map didn't get rated, but I'm not surprised... it wasn't very good. So here's another much much better town I've made.

Not part of a hack since I screwed up on the edges (probably) but I like the map, and I might remake it later to actually use. (If I ever do a hack.)

 

[Rabbit]

Could someone please rate my map? Thanks.

The way the hedges and mailboxes are positioned, they're blocking the way north so the player can't move above the houses. I think the houses would look better sitting side by side, rather than one being above the other. The map has a rather crowded feel, not like a town but a forest clearing with three buildings randomly positioned, because the trees are so close to the buildings.

 

[Musician of Literature]

Map game: Pokemon Ruby Destiny Reign of Legends
Comments: suppp

Old Versions of my Maps: Don't rate these
Barkree Town:

Spoiler:

Nature Village:

Spoiler:

[/\spoiler]

New Versions: Rate these
Jiku Town:

Spoiler:

Kidate Village:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Kidate Village
Rating:9.4/10
Reason: It's not in the critics face that it's a remake of Viridian City, but if you look at it closely, you can tell. Nonetheless, the map looks good and so do the tiles. You moved a few things around, which is good. I like the cave tiles, even though I think the steps are too close to the trees. Overall, in the Chaos Rubric, I give it a 94%.

Nice map, and way better than I could do at this stage in my hacking career!

Map name: Yellowhive City
Hack: Pokemon Turquoise
Base ROM: Firered English (BPRE)
Mapshot:
Watch out! Big image!

Spoiler:

Commments:
- The yellow spots on the floor are honey trails. You can slip on them.
- The building on the middle-top of the map is the entrance to Amber Woods.
- The building on the right-top is the Rocket Warehouse. It's not supposed to catch attention, so the city people treat it as an abandoned building.

This map looks awesome, Tropical Sunlight. I am assuming that this is a major city in pokemon Turquoise, because it is pretty large. I can't tell what city you remade, which is excellent. The tiles are solid and look extremely natural. Your hack is coming along well. Now for the rating...[drum roll, please] a perfect 10/10. Love the map. It is perfect!

Seeing as though I can't remember if I posted this before (I probably did) I'll repost it!

Birolis Town

EDIT:
Here's another one for the hell of it.

Dugilake City

(I know it's crammed, it's kinda old and I don't feel like fixing it.)

Dujilake City
I can tell that this once was Sootopolis City. But, nonetheless, I still like the map. The tiles are awesome. Everything else is good. I give this a 9.6/10

 

[Alice]

My first map didn't get rated, but I'm not surprised... it wasn't very good. So here's another much much better town I've made.

Spoiler:

Not part of a hack since I screwed up on the edges (probably) but I like the map, and I might remake it later to actually use. (If I ever do a hack.)

I'm kind of anxious to get a rating on this one. I've rated a few, and never got one on my old one.

 

[colcolstyles]

I can tell that this once was Sootopolis City.

You'd think so, but you'd be wrong.

 

[Rabbit]

Map Name: Dragon Temple

Map Game: not a hack - just messing around

Comments: A lot of superfluous trees...yeesh. There are a few tile errors that I'm aware of, like the way the moutain/grass tiles are all mismatched and the north side of the mountain slope has no border. They'll be fixed when I make a proper tileset. The darker bits of water at the north end of the lake are meant to indicate depth - it's a diving spot, as the sign will tell you.

The out-of-place squares are placemarkers for where the arch will be. Originally this area was supposed to be all fenced in, but I decided to just leave the arch.

In front of the arch are two of the temple's guardians who will challenge you to a double battle. If you win, you get to pass. The dragon Pokemon are in the pond and tall grass beyond the fence. To open the gate, you need to battle some uber guy on the top level of the temple (he goes easy on you). The lake is full of Gyarados.

As for the south part of the map, with the waterfall, that isn't an error - I'm trying something different. The foreground mountains are meant to curve around the front, and the river disappears from view. Does it work?

Map:

Spoiler:

Tile credits: tall grass, path, beach sand, side stairs, and mountain-grass tiles taken from Richie's fantastic Pokemon Never Black&White. The wooden gate is my tile. Everything else is Nintendo's.

 

[colcolstyles]

Map Name: Dragon Temple

Map Game: not a hack - just messing around

Comments: A lot of superfluous trees...yeesh. There are a few tile errors that I'm aware of, like the way the moutain/grass tiles are all mismatched and the north side of the mountain slope has no border. They'll be fixed when I make a proper tileset. The darker bits of water at the north end of the lake are meant to indicate depth - it's a diving spot, as the sign will tell you.

The out-of-place squares are placemarkers for where the arch will be. Originally this area was supposed to be all fenced in, but I decided to just leave the arch.

In front of the arch are two of the temple's guardians who will challenge you to a double battle. If you win, you get to pass. The dragon Pokemon are in the pond and tall grass beyond the fence. To open the gate, you need to battle some uber guy on the top level of the temple (he goes easy on you). The lake is full of Gyarados.

As for the south part of the map, with the waterfall, that isn't an error - I'm trying something different. The foreground mountains are meant to curve around the front, and the river disappears from view. Does it work?

Map:

Spoiler:

Tile credits: tall grass, path, beach sand, side stairs, and mountain-grass tiles taken from Richie's fantastic Pokemon Never Black&White. The wooden gate is my tile. Everything else is Nintendo's.

Well this was a disappointment. Don't take that as an insult; strangely enough, I mean it more as a compliment instead. I'm saying that I had high expectations of you. I've enjoyed reading several of your in-depth map ratings which understandably led me to believe you were an expert on mapping. And to some degree, I suppose I can't argue that you're not. For this map is wonderful in theory. The concept behind it is nice and I can see that what you were trying to accomplish would have been beautiful. But I find the execution was subpar. Tile errors are abundant and blatant, like trees missing their base tiles and the disorienting physical paradox you have going with the mountain+waterfall area. Strangely enough, other areas have incredible detail paid to them, such as the bridge tiles and the tiles underneath them. One thing that baffled me was how you managed to get that block that has the top half of the tree over the southern edge of the pond. Usually, the water would be on the bottom layer but that only leaves one layer for both the tree top and the water edge. All three use different palettes (in the standard game) so unless you've done some serious re-graphicisizing, that would only be possible in RMXP or some Game Development tool that supports 3 layers.

Anyways, I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the block palette so that you know which blocks to use where and when. The mountains are chock-full of tile errors just screaming for correction. In addition, you're missing some key tiles when you use a grass block directly south of a water block. There is, in fact, a block for that, but I'll let you find it ;) I would also recommend observing some of the maps in the original Pokémon games as that is the accepted norm for mapping correctness. Your waterfall is a prime example of something that needs fixing. As I always say, take a look at Cape Brink which provides key information on not only correct waterfall usage (including the tiles used around the waterfall as well) but it will also help you with your issue with grass-topped mountiains.

Map Game: not a hack - just messing around

Actually, this means whether you made the map in Fire Red, Ruby, Gold, etc. Although if what I presumed was correct (that this wasn't made in AdvanceMap), then I suppose you're right, although Game Development maps are, unfortunately, not allowed here.

As for the south part of the map, with the waterfall, that isn't an error - I'm trying something different. The foreground mountains are meant to curve around the front, and the river disappears from view. Does it work?

To be completely honest, no, it doesn't work. I'm not quite seeing it and it just looks really unprofessional and sloppy. Some things that make perfect sense in real life just can't be made to look good in a ROM due to the way the graphics are rendered. Good idea though :)

 

[Rabbit]

trees missing their base tiles...

What? Where? I don't see what you mean.

Strangely enough, other areas have incredible detail paid to them, such as the bridge tiles and the tiles underneath them.

That's because I cheat. :B I'm using a Java program I downloaded off a forum somewhere. It lets you use as many layers as you like. Layers with transparencies. Unfortunately the result is an image, not a map, so if I do use this in a game I'll have to chop it up into a tileset to save space. Until then I rarely have to worry about how things overlap.

So...tile errors. I'll fix those and get back to you.

Edit: Fixed everything, from tree errors to the mountain/waterfall area (I edited the original tiles so that the slope looks fine) but I'm going to take it in for revamping and cultural accuracy, because I must have been thinking of a Shinto shrine when I began, but then started thinking about Buddhist monks and it all went downhill from there.

 

[colcolstyles]

Well I can't show you exactly where they are because 1) I'm not in a position to go through and mark all of them and 2) my phone doesn't seem to allow me to open these new spoilers (which is ironic since I was the one who suggested the idea :\) but I think I remember there being one on the western edge of the lake-thing.

 

[Alice]

What? Where? I don't see what you mean.

I saw a couple trees missing their base at the top left, didn't see any other than that.