Arrrchipelago
The trees disappointed us--think sand-boxes lined with monkey grass. But we may have found another way.
Some context:
- We're using the Godot game engine.
- It can dynamically generate maps using tile templates that we create.
- Each tile has to connect to other appropriate tiles in a way that visually gels and that Godot can understand it.
We were using a 48-tile set. It's got some nice curves, and it provides a lot of the major shapes you'd want. But it only allows tiles to connect to each other side-to-side and top-to-bottom--no diagonals. Diagonal routes are zig-zagged, and zooming out reveals a map of squares.
We were also using 128px x 128px for the texture size. You get more control over micro-details but less control over macro-ones. That is, you can make lots of little things on a single tile, but the tile, itself, is 3x bigger than the player's ship. Straight edges go on and on between abrupt corners.
So, I set out to experiment with a tileset designed for diagonals and with smaller textures. We liked the results visually. But not understanding the engine yet, I designed something that Godot couldn't use.
Luckily, Jeremy found a tool that takes a 25-tile template and creates from it a 256-tile set that allows for diagonals. I spent a couple days working out the details, and it's working. Not only has it cut down on the iteration time--I only have to design 25 tiles and at 32px x 32px--we have our diagonals!
Now we just have to make sure it works with everything else. It's a step back, and it'll take some tinkering, but as Jeremy told me, "When it's right, it's right."
I will add pictures and links shortly.