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[PlayMeTape]

Hey there, TIGers. I'm pretty new to this community and just thought I might cook up some interesting thread that could be pretty helpful to a lot of people (not least of all me!).

So, I'm having problems designing tilesets for a platform game I'm working on and was wondering what kind of tilesets you guys enjoy in platform games?

Do you like the Cave Story approach where they tile up nicely next to eachother?


Or maybe the slightly more minimalistic approach of having some details on the top and leaving the rest darker?


Another example with a lot of more details (allthough highly advanced!)


Maybe something a little more 'abstract'?


Or maybe the tastefully simplistic 'Knyttstyle'?


Something 'boxbased'?


I'm having some trouble deciding what style to go for as there are tons of them. Tell me about you're favorites and how come they are! Help a fellow indie gamer out .

Images from:
Cave Story
The Underside
Ciellus
Across the lake
Knytt Stories
Super Mario Bros.

[John Nesky]

A nice side effect of leaning towards "box-based" is that it becomes clear after a little practice how high your character can jump. If the character can jump 3 squares, then when you see a platform that is clearly 3 squares above your current platform, you know immediately that you can jump to it.

When the shape of the world is more organic and the tiles less obvious, it takes more practice to predict which distances are jumpable and which are not.

Note that, given the screenshots you posted, The Underside, Ciellus, and Across the Lake do not display any platforms above the ground, whereas the more boxy screens from Cave Story, Knytt Stories, and Super Mario Bros do have platforms.

Another advantage of the boxy tiles is that they are a bazillion times easier to make. ^_^

I like the environments in Wario Land: Shake It!

[PlayMeTape]

Yeah I know what you mean. Right now the actual geometry of what I'm working on is square. But I have some slight bumps and piles and stuff to make it look a little more organic. I'm not very experienced so working with a lot of slopes would take up far to much time for me on this project.

But to be perfectly honest I'm not a huge fan of the boxed design. I just included it because lets face it, it's a classic !

[Shade Jackrabbit]

I should get around to experimenting with a hexagonal grid some time... hmm.

[Inanimate]

Organic areas are nice, and pretty. But if you are going for a more retro feel, boxes are the way to go. However, for the middle, I like The Underside's style.

[moi]

do what you CAN for a start

[PlayMeTape]

I should get around to experimenting with a hexagonal grid some time... hmm.

That could be really interesting. But it's also likely it would end up being lots of pyramidlike shapes. But if you hade some interesting physics it could play great! Maybe using the slopes to launch yourself into the air.

Edit:

do what you CAN for a start

Ofcourse. I definitely couldn't do anything along the lines of Ciellus. Probably not even Cave Story. But maybe something along the lines of the latter. I just wanted to see what people prefered.

[KittenEater]

Okay, I'm going to compare the those different tilesets to candies, since they are delicious and pleasing to the eye, and take either a long or a little while to make. A Cave Story-like tileset would be like a yummy chocolate covered nougat bar, it's pretty good but it's hard to get it to look right since the tiles kind of flwo into each other, while the Underside tileset is like Snicker bar... the nougat isn't refined and the peanuts get stuck in your teeth, but it's still good and not too hard to get/make. However, those Ceillus tiles are like those Ferrerro Rochers, or maybe those crunchy english toffees that are all covered in crushed cashews. It's reeeaaaallly nice looking, but it's hard to make and hard to set up to look right. Across the lake is like... a Butterfinger bar, it doesn't look hard to make but it's pretty tasty, and Knytt stories is the same, but it's a Twix bar because they both have chocolate outlines. Finally, Mario Bros is candy corn. It's not hard to make, but it's not very tasty and a lot of people don't really like it compared to other candy/tiles.
Sorry if that didn't make a whole lot of sense or if it just made you hungry, but what I'm getting at is that good tilesets take a while to make and get to look right, while okay ones don't take a long while to make, but people won't like them as much. This applies to your sprites, gameplay, music and everything else going into a game as well.
Also, I'm seconding what John Nesky and Moi said. Don't try to start wih Ferrerro Rocher graphics, start with what feels right to you and the game.

[PlayMeTape]

So here's a tileset I just made. Pretty basic but what do you think. Criticism is welcome since I do want to get better . But be gentle and keep it constructive  .

[pgil]

I prefer something with the detail level of Cave Story, but instead of having those rock tiles in an orderly pattern, arrange them more organically to break up the grid. I could definitely go for the texture and shading style in annabelle's art too, though I'd be a lot more sloppy.

A cool thing about Knytt: even though it uses square tiles in a grid, it manages to pull off a really organic look.

Christoffer: I'm guessing this is a dirt or stone tile. I like the texture of it.. the colors too. I'm not sure about the white outline though. Anyway, I think you're off to a good start. It's kind of hard to crit this without seeing it in context. Maybe add some other scenery.

[PlayMeTape]

I prefer something with the detail level of Cave Story, but instead of having those rock tiles in an orderly pattern, arrange them more organically to break up the grid. I could definitely go for the texture and shading style in annabelle's art too, though I'd be a lot more sloppy.

A cool thing about Knytt: even though it uses square tiles in a grid, it manages to pull off a really organic look.

Christoffer: I'm guessing this is a dirt or stone tile. I like the texture of it.. the colors too. I'm not sure about the white outline though. Anyway, I think you're off to a good start. It's kind of hard to crit this without seeing it in context. Maybe add some other scenery.

Thanks for the advice! The white outline is supposed to be a thin layer of snow but I suppose that is kind of hard to see out of context. I will definately post an image once I've put it in the engine with some background and stuff!

[ChevyRay]

The Ceillus tiles are by far the nicest of that whole bunch.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i've never found plaformer tilesets too interesting -- i feel that it restricts what you can do to have to draw everything from the side, which feels somehow unnatural to me, like paper cut-outs. i like the 3/4 top-down perspective tileset best (like zelda 3 or terranigma for example), it gives a better sense of depth. although depth in side-view is somewhat improved by parallax.

[Μarkham]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjz48ZRBPp4/Snobnul1PcI/AAAAAAAAAEw/nM3hc7T-I3U/s1600/test.png

So here's a tileset I just made. Pretty basic but what do you think. Criticism is welcome since I do want to get better . But be gentle and keep it constructive  .

You might want to get a Photobucket account or something, since Blogspot won't let you hotlink images.  As for the tileset, it's pretty big for only 9 tiles.

[PlayMeTape]

You might want to get a Photobucket account or something, since Blogspot won't let you hotlink images.  As for the tileset, it's pretty big for only 9 tiles.

Oh, thanks. That's good to know. It worked yesterday, which is kind of odd. But do you know any good sites besides photobucket? That site always seems heavily trafficked.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

flickr is another one. also, just because it "works" for you doesn't mean it actually works: it's just using your computer's cache.

[PlayMeTape]

flickr is another one. also, just because it "works" for you doesn't mean it actually works: it's just using your computer's cache.

Okay thanks. That's good to know. I just assumed it worked since I got responses but I guess they followed the link . I fixed it now.

[Eclipse]

The Ceillus tiles are by far the nicest of that whole bunch.

this.

Annabelle rules.
All hail the queen of indie games pixel art 

[Xion]

Tiles are, without doubt, without exception, my least favorite and most hated thing to pixel. Moreso even than an 8dir walk, and that's saying quite a lot. I like to pull a knytt as often as I can get away with it.

[PlayMeTape]

Tiles are, without doubt, without exception, my least favorite and most hated thing to pixel. Moreso even than an 8dir walk, and that's saying quite a lot. I like to pull a knytt as often as I can get away with it.

Haha, thanks for sharing that. It gives me far more reassurance than it should .