New Terrain Variations

[Eleazar]

Well, since we're gonna have support for more graphical variations of terrains, i decided to start with some quick ones that i've wished existed.

First the Elvish Castle. Yes, Pekka's original is still visible, but it was 20x faster to modify the human castle. And i used the style from some of Jetryl's later Elvish villages. There are a ton of keep pieces to this set, and honestely i don't think all of them are used, but i'm not in a mood to mess with terrain WML, so i kept all the pieces.

[pekka]

There are a ton of keep pieces to this set, and honestely i don't think all of them are used, but i'm not in a mood to mess with terrain WML, so i kept all the pieces.

They all are used, but couple of the tiles are almost the same. I could make a list of the similar tiles, if you wanted to do some WML stuff.

Currently there are 30 tiles for the keep and 12 tiles for the castle.

[Eleazar]

There are a ton of keep pieces to this set, and honestely i don't think all of them are used, but i'm not in a mood to mess with terrain WML, so i kept all the pieces.

They all are used, but couple of the tiles are almost the same. I could make a list of the similar tiles, if you wanted to do some WML stuff.

Currently there are 30 tiles for the keep and 12 tiles for the castle.

Thanks, but castle WML makes my eyes cross. I'll leave it alone.

[pekka]

How about using this keep tower as a template? Color scheme matches with the elven villages. I'm busy IRL, so I can't contribute much more in the near future.

[zookeeper]

Elvish castle? I'd suggest adding small trees, vines, that sort of stuff, to really make it feel more foresty. Maybe even a lot of them.

[pekka]

Elvish castle? I'd suggest adding small trees, vines, that sort of stuff, to really make it feel more foresty. Maybe even a lot of them.

Yeah, I thought vines would fit in nicely too, but I think the castle/keep structures should be finished first before adding the juicy details.

[Eleazar]

How about using this keep tower as a template? Color scheme matches with the elven villages. I'm busy IRL, so I can't contribute much more in the near future.

That tower is nicer....

[Jetrel]

How about using this keep tower as a template? Color scheme matches with the elven villages. I'm busy IRL, so I can't contribute much more in the near future.

That tower is nicer....

Yeah - eleazar, do you think you could play around with a possible "normal turret" variation on pekka's tower design?



(On a side note, I do like how bright eleazar's version of the castle is, but I don't know if it's appropriate for this specific castle. Who knows, though - it's still an open possibility.)

[Eleazar]

That tower is nicer....

Yeah - eleazar, do you think you could play around with a possible "normal turret" variation on pekka's tower design?



(On a side note, I do like how bright eleazar's version of the castle is, but I don't know if it's appropriate for this specific castle. Who knows, though - it's still an open possibility.)

If Elves don't build castles out of white-ish stone who does? Gondolin and other Elvish dwellings come to mind. It also differentiates it from the other castles. The floor, i think is too bright. For Elves, i think it would be appropriate to add some grass there.

I don't like the idea of putting vines all over the castle, I believe it would tend to make it look like a ruin. Anyway if you want to do some sort of extremely sylvian castle, it's best to do that from scratch, and make it out of trees. That's more work that i care to get into.

[Jetrel]

If Elves don't build castles out of white-ish stone who does? Gondolin and other Elvish dwellings come to mind. It also differentiates it from the other castles.

Well, one thought I had momentarily was:
• Human castle
• Elven castle (the tan stonework, generally some sylvan influences)
• Semi-race-neutral Shining white castle (Gondolin, Minas tirith, Warcraft's Stormwind Keep, Camelot, etc.)

We already have at least one race-neutral castle (the encampment), having two would not hurt. I'd also like to see an evil, gothic castle, which could get used equally well for evil men as it could for undead (or even dark elves, of a sort).


That's only one thought, though, and I also like the idea of elves having bright stonework for their castles.

The one, the only "concern" I had about your idea, actually seems to be a moot point. I decided to investigate it right now, and knocked together a cheap recolor of pekka's tower on your castle. The concern was - with a castle adequately constructed to look like the same design that went into the elven villages (which pekka's achieves with the keep towers), would it still look enough like the villages if it was a different color of stone?

I think it does look enough like it, so I don't think there is really any problem with a bright castle. I think either color would work fine.

Please note - this recolor of mine is a _hack_, not my proposal for a final recolor.

The floor, i think is too bright. For Elves, i think it would be appropriate to add some grass there.

I don't like the idea of putting vines all over the castle, I believe it would tend to make it look like a ruin. Anyway if you want to do some sort of extremely sylvian castle, it's best to do that from scratch, and make it out of trees. That's more work that i care to get into.

Doing vines whilst keeping it looking "maintained" is tough. Amusingly enough, having the bright stonework might actually help with doing this, since "marble-white" stone tends to suggest the opposite of disrepair.


(edited for clarity)

[torangan]

Where's the problem if the vines make the castle look ruined? Then you've got a ruined elvish castle which is a nice variation as well.

[Eleazar]

I think this feels more elvish.
Note i haven't done anything with the towers yet.

Before anyone recommends it, i can't just fill the whole thing with grass, because then it will become quite difficult in some configurations to tell which part of the castle is the inside, and which is out.

[Jetrel]

I think this feels more elvish.
Note i haven't done anything with the towers yet.

Hmm. The idea behind it is very good, and will work, I think.

This specific try, though, has a distinctive "honeycomb" effect.
And that's going to be a bugger to get rid of.

A few brainstorm ideas are:
• Making entirely random patches of stone and grass. (may look too wild/unmaintained)
• Making the tile sit only around the edges (probably bad, for reasons you/eleazar mentions below).
• Having some set of different "path shape" tiles; in that 1 hex ≠ 1 island of grass, like it does now. A part of this might be making several different non-hex-centered grass shapes, possibly including some that have no grass.

Before anyone recommends it, i can't just fill the whole thing with grass, because then it will become quite difficult in some configurations to tell which part of the castle is the inside, and which is out.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

[SkeletonCrew]

I like it, only the keep looks odd... don't know how do describe it But the transition between the path and the wall seems to be to vague and the grass seems to fill the keep half.

[Eleazar]

OK, I rather like this tower. While i can propigate the base to the non-keep walls, i currently lack an idea on what a stylisticly similar top (without the roof) would be. If anyone has an idea please post.

• Ignore the keep's floor in my last example. It's just a glitch i havent' dealt with.

• Some random variations of the ground would definitely be called for.

• tsr mentioned that part of the path could be attached to the inside of the tower walls, thus allowing the path to be wider just inside the walls, without being super-wide in the in-between spaces. It's a sound idea, but a bit of work too.

• Elf-towers are stereotypically tall and slender, so i'll probably push the proportions a little more in that direction.

EDIT: Here's the keep tower after an extensive weight loss program: