Map Game: Pokemon Iron and Stone
Map Name: Lunar Forest
Credits: On first post of thread
Comments: Well, this map will play a kinda important role in my hack, mainly for obtaining rare items and Pokemon. You battle against the evil team for the first time here, and you can catch elemental monkey's underneath the large trees. You can also catch Tropius at the bridge at the top on Fridays. I honestly think this is my best map so far, except for the part with the mountain near the bottom right, but I honestly couldn't think of what to put there.
Map:
Review: I strongly agree with the general consensus here; the pathways of this map are far too restrictive and have far more grass than they should. I think that the greatest example of this is up in the top left of the map, where the player would descend a mountain level and walk along the path. During this part, the player would step in 33 grass patches
minimum - This is far to much to ever subject a player to. That pathway also shows how you are restricting the player's movement, where 2-3 width is generally recommended if you want a map to be 'enjoyable'.
A more minor aspect which is bothering me is your construction of the cliff faces. At the top of the lower mountain, you have used two distincly different ways to show that the mountain is large - Overlapping one level over the other, while also hiding all of the levels underneath the very highest. While I have no problems with either of them, the fact that you have used both styles within a very close proximity to one another seems strange to me.
Suggestions: Widen your pathways and give the player 'breathing room' where they aren't forced to wade through tons of grass. Try to keep your construction of mountains consistant across the map.
Anyway, I finally murdered the horrible palette. Here it is with a better palette:
Review: This is a nice early map, even though I don't think you've perfected the palletes completely. There are a few tile errors within the centre trees, but thats as much as I can see :)
On the top path, you have a 'small' tree which is sticking out in the middle of the walkway, which I can't see as being a good placement option. Try putting it directly below/ above/ next to a larger tree like the others rather than sticking out like a sore thumb. the small tree above the ledge should probably be moved as well, but there isn't anything inherently wrong with it. The only other thing about this map I could say is that the bottom could use some more grass, considering the top has none what-so-ever.
I like this map, and with a little extra tweaking, I'm sure that it will look and play fabulously :D
Suggestions: Move some of the small trees to better positions. Add some extra grass to the bottom path.