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Breets June 4th, 2010 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siper x (Post 5853351)
here is the 5th city to my hack.
reason there are so many flowers near the gym and house next to it is because that is the gym leaders house, and it is a grass type gym.
rom base: fire red
hack: pokemon investigation


The bottom left part of the map is very square. I would add some variation to the trees.
I won't critique the flowers by the Gym, though there are quite a lot. However, the flowers at the top of the map should be spread around the town, not clustered all together.
There is an obvious tile error on the second house to the left of the PokeCenter that should be fixed.

Rating: 5/10

Can you or someone else please rate my maps? I'm the third post from the top. I only got one rating, which was severely lacking in detail. I'd like someone to give proper suggestions and a rating please. xD

siper x June 4th, 2010 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breets (Post 5851132)
Fourth time's the charm, I suppose? Eh, probably not...

Town Name: Tanzan Town
Description: A small farming town on the edge of a forest, Tanzan Town provides the rest of the region with freshly-grown berries. This is the main character's home town.



Route Name: Route 1 (for now at least)
Description: Connects Tanzan Town to Tanzan Woods.



They're my first maps, but don't be afraid to give some good criticism!

EDIT:


Pros:
- The tree placement is nice. Not too square, not too wild.
- The grass placement is also nice, for the same reason.

Cons:
- That river looks a bit weird to me. Those zig-zags make it look unnatural in my opinion. Make it flow more smoothly in the place where it looks jagged.
- Instead of having the river stop abruptly like that, perhaps a bridge would look better? Having the land cut the river into two parts like that looks odd to me.

Rating: 8/10

I hope that helped a little!

the first one i think is good 10/10, but the route i'd give a 5/10 because you don't have to walk through graa to get to the forrest. just my opinion, but i thing that it should force you to battle, like most routes.

Lyzo June 4th, 2010 11:08 AM

Mkay, so I have some time...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breets (Post 5851132)
Fourth time's the charm, I suppose? Eh, probably not...

Town Name: Tanzan Town
Description: A small farming town on the edge of a forest, Tanzan Town provides the rest of the region with freshly-grown berries. This is the main character's home town.



Route Name: Route 1 (for now at least)
Description: Connects Tanzan Town to Tanzan Woods.



They're my first maps, but don't be afraid to give some good criticism!

Ok, they're definitely not bad for first maps!

The First Town: Well, it's good to know that those paths on the side are farm patches, but still the player doesn't know that, so you'll need to make some extra tiles for that... But ignoring that, here's my other comments:
First of all, the border with trees is very well done, you haven't made it square at all and you've "randomed it up" nicely. Here and there you could add an extra tree, but it's done quite well.
The house placement is ok, but what really bothers me about this map, is that it is quite empty. Fill it up with paths, that will give it a bit of a fuller feeling.
The thing that you did in the center of the map is meh... xD It doesn't look very natural, try to fill it up with something else. Try a few different things, maybe just some extra trees, or something with fences or bushes, I dunno, but don't put ledges in a square like that. Ledges often don't belong in a town at all.
As an extra touch, try not to put the flowers to the side like that and so close together. Put them throughout the map and try to avoid putting them next to each other.
Oh, and try to do the tree shading correctly! (shading when it's next to a tree and when there is no tree, then no shading)

Uhm, I'd give it a 6/10

The Route: Again, tree shading xD!!! One thing about routes, a player must never be able to walk through a route without going through tall grass! This is exactly what is happening in your map! The tree placement is again done wonderfully. Also try to add some paths in there, it fills the map up.
Also nicely done, with using all the different types of grass tiles ;)

I'd give this a 7/10

Quote:

Originally Posted by siper x (Post 5851779)
well here are the cave maps for my first beta
Hack: Pokemon Investigation
game: Fire Red

part 1


part 2

About posting maps... please don't use that white color... it makes it annoying to read, also please post your maps in spoilers! I did it for you now, but otherwise it takes up space...

Buuut moving on to the rating of these maps! I'm not exactly sure how these two maps are connected, seeing as one ladder goes up and two are going down :\...
But... you should really work on natural mapping, I've seen more of your maps and you should try do do things with the comments you get...
These aren't very natural, try to connect each mountain with the side of the map, you don't see mountains in caves do you? Make them more like walls by connecting them together. Add more layers to the border and random them up a bit, you've got them exactly the same as the previous layers... Try looking at how QuilavaKing makes his cave maps, as he is a genius at making them xD Here's an example:
It might seem like a lot of work, and believe me, it is xD But the result is really nice. The average amount of time put into a good map is probably about 2 - 5 hours, depending on the size of the map. But study other maps to get your maps right ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by psychicboy (Post 5853341)

Wow, this is becoming a long post xD

I disagree that this map is too large, a map can almost never be too large, if you fill it up correctly and beautifully. But I have to say, that this map is very unnatural. The mountains are very square, try making those mountain edges more random because the way they are now, well it doesn't look nice... The rest of the map is really empty, which is why simdu probably said that the map was too big, try putting more trees in there, and don't put them there in square patches, but make them like Breets does (The maps at the top of this post). But really fill the map up with more trees. Put some more flowers in there, add some bushes and most importantly, how about adding a few paths here and there? Also, the fence idea with the trees, at the top of the map, it's a nice try, but it doesn't really look natural.

I also notice a lot of tile errors when it comes to the mountain areas!

Rating: 4.5/10 (really work on it a bit more!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedBaron474 (Post 5802370)
Map Name: Amber Pass
Game: Fire Red
Comments: Umm . . . to tell you the truth this is the first map I have ever made. Different trees I didn't connect because I lacked the desire to block edit. Enjoy!! ;)

Your first map? That I don't believe xD It's way too good for a first map xD

Well I actually really, really like this map. It's great how you used 5 different kinds of trees, this really adds great variety to the map! Your tree placement is also really great, those paths in there are great as well. But, however nice it may look, there is really too much tall grass in there. When walking through here as a player, you'd probably hate this forest, because you'd be getting into too many battles. Try putting the grass together in patches (and no, not square patches, because that would ruin the natural look of the map, but just patches that block the road and aren't so spread out). I'm not exactly sure how you'll be doing this with the border block :\ But I love the rest of this map!

Rating: 9/10 (bonus points for it being your first map, but point deduction because of the playability of the map)


Well that was it xD

Rabbit June 4th, 2010 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simdu68 (Post 5852747)
map name: route 3
map game: FR

comments: well, it's a map I made on FR just like this, but I really like this map so I'll redo it in my hack^^
credits: nintendo

Awesome river! It looks really natural with the waterfall and canyon around it. A+ work on that. The rest is fairly unexciting. I don't like how symmetrical the area with the tall grass is. I think you could make the bottom side of the canyon steeper. That way you'd give the player more space in that area and make it more visually interesting.

Quote:

map name: donnow, starter town^^
map game: FR

comments: a map for someone else's hack, so I want to know the rating to have the map as good as possible since it's for someone else^^
credits: nintendo
Eh...I don't like the shape on this one. The top house is really isolated from the others, which is going to be annoying for the player. I prefer the standard square layout for starter towns. The flowers are scattered around pretty much randomly. It's interesting that you elevated the lab, though.


Quote:

Originally Posted by RedBaron474 (Post 5853386)
Skipped from a long time ago . . .

I do love these tiles. And I like the way the trees are staggered - it gives patches of trees a rounder shape than the usual square pattern. I wish you were more consistent with that, because when you switch placement methods, you get holes between trees.

There are lots of itty bitty paths in this forest, like the one at the top and the one between two patches of trees in the middle. Can the player actually enter these paths? Are they meant to lead anywhere? You also have really wide paths, like in the left half of the map. It's a little confusing. I prefer maps with a clearly visible 'main route' to make it easy for the player. Because you don't have that, the player will have to wade through miles of tall grass.

The map is also rather uniform - one side looks much like the other. It's just a vague sort of forest. Maybe if you added a large pond, or some ledges, to give it structure.

Looking closely, I can actually count six kinds of trees. Are you going to be using the same varieties of trees in all of your maps? It might be a good idea to save some trees for certain areas, to give the impression of a different climate/landscape. Furthermore, the variety might go unnoticed because all of the trees use the same palette. Your two fir trees are practically identical, and the two two-tile trees are also quite similar at a first glance.

siper x June 4th, 2010 12:39 PM

well here is route 3 for my hack (the building is a fake gym run by the evil team)

Sawakita June 4th, 2010 1:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simdu68 (Post 5852747)

map name: donnow, starter town^^
map game: FR

comments: a map for someone else's hack, so I want to know the rating to have the map as good as possible since it's for someone else^^
credits: nintendo

well, this starter town is awesome, in my opinion. natural aspect is really realistic! yeah probably it's a little bit annoying for the player, so i hope that player/hero 's house is the one in the middle, so it's at half path between the lab (i really like how you arranged it) and your rival's house and you don't spend too much time going back and forth.
By the way may I use this idea and recreate this map for my blue hack (1st gen hack)? I probably won't release it ever, so..?

rating: 9/10

siper x June 4th, 2010 1:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siper x (Post 5853680)
well here is route 3 for my hack (the building is a fake gym run by the evil team)

still need it rated, and apparently no one likes cake...

Breets June 4th, 2010 1:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyzo (Post 5853520)
Ok, they're definitely not bad for first maps!

The First Town: Well, it's good to know that those paths on the side are farm patches, but still the player doesn't know that, so you'll need to make some extra tiles for that... But ignoring that, here's my other comments:
First of all, the border with trees is very well done, you haven't made it square at all and you've "randomed it up" nicely. Here and there you could add an extra tree, but it's done quite well.
The house placement is ok, but what really bothers me about this map, is that it is quite empty. Fill it up with paths, that will give it a bit of a fuller feeling.
The thing that you did in the center of the map is meh... xD It doesn't look very natural, try to fill it up with something else. Try a few different things, maybe just some extra trees, or something with fences or bushes, I dunno, but don't put ledges in a square like that. Ledges often don't belong in a town at all.
As an extra touch, try not to put the flowers to the side like that and so close together. Put them throughout the map and try to avoid putting them next to each other.
Oh, and try to do the tree shading correctly! (shading when it's next to a tree and when there is no tree, then no shading)

Uhm, I'd give it a 6/10

The Route: Again, tree shading xD!!! One thing about routes, a player must never be able to walk through a route without going through tall grass! This is exactly what is happening in your map! The tree placement is again done wonderfully. Also try to add some paths in there, it fills the map up.
Also nicely done, with using all the different types of grass tiles ;)

I'd give this a 7/10

Thanks for taking the time to post such an in-depth review! I will take these points into account when recreating the maps.
I just have a quick question though. What do you mean by tree shading?

Alice June 4th, 2010 1:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siper x (Post 5853827)
still need it rated, and apparently no one likes cake...

You just posted it less than an hour ago. Have a little patience.

Lyzo June 4th, 2010 2:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breets (Post 5853877)
Thanks for taking the time to post such an in-depth review! I will take these points into account when recreating the maps.
I just have a quick question though. What do you mean by tree shading?

No problem ;)

What I mean with tree shading is that you have two different tree tiles in the tileset, as you may have noticed. The one has more shade in the back than the other.

Here is your first map again with some markings:
The red squares are examples of the shaded tiles. While the purple squares are examples of the non shaded tiles ;)

Breets June 4th, 2010 3:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyzo (Post 5853955)
No problem ;)

What I mean with tree shading is that you have two different tree tiles in the tileset, as you may have noticed. The one has more shade in the back than the other.

Here is your first map again with some markings:
The red squares are examples of the shaded tiles. While the purple squares are examples of the non shaded tiles ;)

Oh, wow, I didn't even notice the variations in trees! Guess I have to fix that, huh?
Thanks a ton for pointing that out to me! I'd have never caught that! xD

Chaos190 June 4th, 2010 5:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siper x (Post 5853351)
here is the 5th city to my hack.
reason there are so many flowers near the gym and house next to it is because that is the gym leaders house, and it is a grass type gym.
rom base: fire red
hack: pokemon investigation

http://i49.*.com/2ag9gfk.png

Pretty good expect the one tile spot in the left corner. (Can you explain that?) Also the house in the middle has a bad tile error. The ledge all the way to the left has a tile error as well. Same as the other side.
5.5/10

Alice June 4th, 2010 8:28 PM

Map Name: None.

Map Game: Emerald

Comments: Made for my hack, which still doesn't have a name... lol. This one took quite awhile, but it was worth it. About the strength puzzle... the hole in the middle will be walk-over-able after pushing two of the boulders into it, and if you look at the ice directly south of the boulder puzzle, you'll see that there is a patch of breakable ice from FR/LG. I tried to blend it in, but I dunno if I did a very good job of it... Anyway, it's there because you're supposed to push another boulder into it, but I didn't want the player to be able to fall in while sliding around on the ice. Oh, and the items are just collectibles scattered around for an extra challenge. I wouldn't actually put 7 items on the same floor lol.

Mapshot:

Rabbit June 4th, 2010 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuilavaKing (Post 5854745)
Map Name: None.

Map Game: Emerald

Comments: Made for my hack, which apparently doesn't deserve it's own thread... I really disagree with that decision, so I'm trying to get it fixed... in the mean time, I'll be posting the occasional ice puzzle here for everyone to try and figure out. Moving on... This one took quite awhile, but it was worth it. About the strength puzzle... the hole in the middle will be walk-over-able after pushing two of the boulders into it, and if you look at the ice directly south of the boulder puzzle, you'll see that there is a patch of breakable ice from FR/LG. I tried to blend it in, but I dunno if I did a very good job of it... Anyway, it's there because you're supposed to push another boulder into it, but I didn't want the player to be able to fall in while sliding around on the ice. Oh, and the items are just collectibles scattered around for an extra challenge. I wouldn't actually put 7 items on the same floor lol.

Mapshot:

R/S cave tiles, awesome. You've done an excellent job of making it un-square - this is the most natural looking map I've seen in a while. Even the random lumps of rock in the middle of the ice look good.

It's also the biggest ice puzzle I've ever seen. Have you actually played through it? It's fairly easy to get to the boulder puzzle from the stairs down - so easy, in fact, that some of the rocks seem superfluous. Once the boulder puzzle is finished, though, there seems no way for the player to continue. She falls into the crevasse with the item at the bottom and runs out of options. There's a similar problem with the path from the stairs up. Once the player passes the patch of ground and rock in the middle of the ice, she moves down and to the right, picking up the item there. From there, the only way to go is left and up, which leads to another item. But from that item, you can only go down and right...the player is stuck.

Some areas seem to be unreachable, like the item at the very top, and the patch of ground surrounded by rock not far from the stairs up. I could be wrong. It's annoying not being able to actually play through it. If you have a solution to the puzzle, post the path through it, 'cause I'd like to see it.

Ooh, tile error! You're missing an elbow tile on a rock pyramid in the bottom half.

siper x June 5th, 2010 6:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siper x (Post 5853680)
well here is route 3 for my hack (the building is a fake gym run by the evil team)

still not rated. i need ratings, because it might be in my first beta.

Ven June 5th, 2010 2:04 PM

JAJAJAJAJA
 
Ohai, well I've been working on this for a while, but I still have mixed feelings about it, can I get a few ratings?

Credits to Fangking Omega for the house tiles.

Ninja Caterpie June 5th, 2010 3:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ven (Post 5856678)
Ohai, well I've been working on this for a while, but I still have mixed feelings about it, can I get a few ratings?

Credits to Fangking Omega for the house tiles.

I <3 your cities... I wish I could map them like that. D:

To be honest, I find nothing wrong with it. The layout of the city is beautiful except that bit above the Pokemon Center. Maybe you could move the whole thing, including the ledge, down? that way, that awkward little bit of path near that lower-right house goes away too. :D The path outside the gym is a big dodgy looking too. Maybe a tile across?

The Mart and Gym should also be block-edited so the roofs don't stand out like sore thumbs. And on the topic of the Mart, that little block of land above it seems rather superfluous, as does the sand bank next to it.

And is that dark water meant to be for diving? :D

Logan June 5th, 2010 4:15 PM

Can people stop bumping their maps unless a page has passed, please? Thank you!

Alice June 5th, 2010 6:24 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Rabbit (Post 5854906)
It's also the biggest ice puzzle I've ever seen. Have you actually played through it? It's fairly easy to get to the boulder puzzle from the stairs down - so easy, in fact, that some of the rocks seem superfluous. Once the boulder puzzle is finished, though, there seems no way for the player to continue. She falls into the crevasse with the item at the bottom and runs out of options. There's a similar problem with the path from the stairs up. Once the player passes the patch of ground and rock in the middle of the ice, she moves down and to the right, picking up the item there. From there, the only way to go is left and up, which leads to another item. But from that item, you can only go down and right...the player is stuck.

You start off at the ladder leading up, and you really do cover every inch of the map in order to get to the end. (Other than the boulder puzzle, but it's required to complete the next level, so you'll have to go back if you try to skip it.) About the part where you can get stuck... you're forgetting that when you hit the item, you don't actually stand on top of it. If you moved forward after picking up the item, you would get stuck though...
Quote:

Some areas seem to be unreachable, like the item at the very top, and the patch of ground surrounded by rock not far from the stairs up. I could be wrong. It's annoying not being able to actually play through it. If you have a solution to the puzzle, post the path through it, 'cause I'd like to see it.
Like I said, you'll use the whole map to get to the end... and I do have the solution saved... I'll attach it. (I noticed that I actually did leave a rock out, so I made a couple changes. That's really the only way I could think of to fix it.)

Quote:

Ooh, tile error! You're missing an elbow tile on a rock pyramid in the bottom half.
THE ERROR, IT BURRNNSSSSS!!!

Rabbit June 5th, 2010 7:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ven (Post 5856678)
Ohai, well I've been working on this for a while, but I still have mixed feelings about it, can I get a few ratings?

Credits to Fangking Omega for the house tiles.

Looks great! I love how you used elevation and trees in the town. It's got a great shape - all of the buildings are close together and actually look like a town. The way you've used the path tiles means there isn't any empty space. The beach looks nice, too. 10/10!

The one thing I don't like is how the stairs to the gym don't line up with the edge of the path below it - but that's minor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuilavaKing (Post 5857238)
You start off at the ladder leading up, and you really do cover every inch of the map in order to get to the end. (Other than the boulder puzzle, but it's required to complete the next level, so you'll have to go back if you try to skip it.) About the part where you can get stuck... you're forgetting that when you hit the item, you don't actually stand on top of it. If you moved forward after picking up the item, you would get stuck though...
Like I said, you'll use the whole map to get to the end... and I do have the solution saved... I'll attach it. (I noticed that I actually did leave a rock out, so I made a couple changes. That's really the only way I could think of to fix it.)

Aha. I see what you did there. And I see what you do after getting the item beneath the boulder puzzle. I thought it was a dead end but no, my bad. So that just leaves the item at the very top, the one that's unreachable. You just need to move one rock and it's perfect. Great ice puzzle! It's fiendish. :)

Chaos190 June 5th, 2010 7:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ven (Post 5856678)
Ohai, well I've been working on this for a while, but I still have mixed feelings about it, can I get a few ratings?

Credits to Fangking Omega for the house tiles.

Pretty good but some errors in the map concerning the mountain. The top right corner of the market kind of messing up the mountain and above that the top part may or may not have screwed it up.
Rating: 9.5/10

Ven June 5th, 2010 9:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ninja Caterpie (Post 5856824)
And is that dark water meant to be for diving? :D

Teehee :cheeky:
Your routes make mine look like crap though ._.

Ninja Caterpie June 5th, 2010 9:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ven (Post 5857642)
Teehee :cheeky:
Your routes make mine look like crap though ._.

That would make us a pretty good team, wouldn't it? :D I'm bad at filling space; in routes I can use grass, but in towns...I just cram it up with trees and it looks horrible. D:

Seeing as this map isn't going to be used, I'll just post it.



Help anyone? D:

Ven June 5th, 2010 10:15 PM

Well I'm not very good with ratings but I'll give it a shot.
You don't always have to add tree's or flowers or something to fill up space, empty space might make you obsess (trust me I know the feeling) but in game it honestly looks fine. Too much stuff can make the map feel really busy in game. Maybe even out the trees on the top right, and take out those flowers, and maybe extend the path a bit. I like the layout of the map though, the buildings are placed very well. Maybe extend the bridge/port thingy a little.
(Just an idea to make it more original/exciting)
Maybe instead of the beach, at that whole estuary/shallow water thing you had in that map you made with emerald tiles. That was awesome :3

Chad - June 7th, 2010 4:35 AM

Ninja Caterpie, your map is simple and enjoyable. There's a couple of tile errors, though.

First tile error is at the small bridge-thing at the beach. I think you used the wrong tile here. Not sure, though.

Second tile error is the tree shadowing in some places. An example is above the PokeCenter.

Other than that, the map is playable and nice. I give it an 8/10.

Chad -


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