On Tiling

[Su]

_{i think this is the right place to put this}
are there any tutorials or advice with regard to using specific tilesets? i recall there was one on here somewhere about the general rules for making things look "organic" - but i look at say, the various brinstars, and i've got no idea what is what.

also, could we have a wiki section for this kind of thing?

[Vismund Cygnus]

The problem with having guides for usage of tilesets is that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to use them. You just do what you think looks good.

Judging by what you've said, I'd imagine you've already taken my only piece of advice on the subject, which would be to take a look through the Room of the Week and Room of the Month archives, see what looks good and why it works. The next step would be to simply open up SMILE, pick a tileset, and play around with it! Don't even worry about trying to go for the stock standard of tiling - create your own unique styles and just roll with them. If you think you're onto something, show it off in Room of the Month or the General Projects thread and see if you can't take away some feedback from there.

Basically, my advice is just to practise, practise, practise. Don't expect that you're going to make the greatest thing ever on your first attempt: but do make sure you show that stuff off, and take the feedback you are given as a way of improving yourself and learning what works and what doesn't.

And sometimes even the things that don't work can work in their own weird way.

[MetroidMst]

I would like to point out my first room was the greatest room I have ever made. Everything has been downhill for me since.



That being said, Vismund is right in that practice is a huge piece of it. You develop your own style as you design, and even that changes and alters as you go. It's a never-ending process that keeps improving. We/I can make tutorials for things such as doing the Eris Hallway thing, but that is completely different than the design you're talking about. That's more of a technical issue and understanding layers than actually designing rooms.
I have also personally noticed that I suck with certain tilesets. Some people can do wonders with rocky Crateria, I can't. I can't do Green or Pink Brinstar either. I don't do Wrecked Ship or Tourian, and most of Norfair is bad for me. Don't get down if a tileset just doesn't seem to be working for you. You can always nuke it and import a custom tileset you think you can work better with. (Especially with bubbles.)

[Quietus]

It's very much about experimentation with the tiles. While each tileset has groups of tiles that are designed to fit together, and generally do so pretty well, there's nothing that says they have to be used exclusively for one purpose, and only with the tiles they naturally join with. This becomes more true as you become accustomed to using two layers.

[Grimlock]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Judging from your room you might find this interesting (Found it a couple months ago)

8-Bit NES version of "Dark Side of The Moon":

You can download it here:
http://rainwarrior.ca/music/moon8.html

Youtube Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euLdKW_Db1k&list=PLAEC593B121C0DE02

[RealRed]

Do a little bit of "Research"-- Review and understand how the creators of the tileset used them. Look at existing rooms carefully. That will give you an edge.

Additionally, you're going to have to spend time figuring out how foreground tiles best connect on layer 1. They're pretty variable between tilesets- While quite a few have the standard floors + connectors + slopes + walls. Red Brinstar, for example, only offers large bricks that will require a completely different method of thinking. Even more challenging, Wrecked Ship. Heck, Tourian...

Review, research, examine.

At the same time, think about the "physical" nature of the room. It would be beneficial to build rooms simply with blocks to give yourself an idea beforehand of what you want and to help you decidehow samus will interact with the environment. This is actually more important than aesthetic choices and should be done first. Don't spend hours detailing a room only to find out it's unfun to play and painful to navigate. (Thereby making your hack shittier.)

Function > Form

Sorry if I went overboard on the FX1 of my post; Levels are serious business and very few people actually consider the function when they're drawing with tiles.