parallax and library process (Patreon)

check me out i said i was going to make a post tomorrow, and here i am now, tomorrow, technically, with that post. incredible.

so i posted a screenshot of the library a while ago! i am very happy with how it turned out. let us talk through the process of making it!

first, basic floors and walls. i want to structure out the area and start getting a sense of what i need to fill it:

this is normal mapping. easy game once the tiles exist.

we make some more tiles. i want to feel more blue than purple so the walls shift a bit. let's add some books and shelves.

why is there a tree in the corner? because it's pretty. i need no more reasons. it's my magic world and i can make pretty indoor trees if i wanna.

more specific interior tiles. the thing with the gold disc is called a clepsydra! it's an old form of clock that runs on water.

we finish out the other parts with windows, lights, and a few more bits and pieces to feel lived in. hewaje helped out with the last handful of tiles so that i didn't go crazy.

all of this up until now is just normal run-of-the-mill mapping, same as i could've done in reborn technically. don't mind the tree, it'll be back soon.

now we parallax.

hey what's a parallax

idk really, google says this:

the effect whereby the position or direction of an object appears to differ when viewed from different positions, e.g. through the viewfinder and the lens of a camera.

um i don't really get it, i don't speak camera, i just make video game. 

by rpg maker history, parallax is effectively just a fancy word for map background-- like how you can see apophyll from the top of pyrous mountain, or the sky behind ametrine peak. those are parallax backgrounds! they move at a different rate than the tiles on the main map because they are in the distance.

...but actually, the way we use them here in starlight, and the way that the term and technique developed within the rpg maker community, it's now actually a complete misnomer from the denotation. "parallax mapping" became its own thing as a way of getting around the limitations of tile and map editor.

here are some examples of parallaxed maps i remember from my rpg maker 2003 days. there was no script editor in rm2k3, so you had to get really creative to get around limitations:

from sunset over imdahl.

from wilfred the hero

from the way. ...not all parallax maps are created equally.

in these examples, these images are loaded as backgrounds (like apophyll from pyrous) on maps that are otherwise completely blank (or just have a few layered effects for tile priority and animation). then, because (contrary to the word parallax) the background scrolls at the same rate as the player character on the map, you can just load in any arbitrary image and appearance!

the above are hand drawn/rendered, but we're not going quite that hard. instead, we are much more practically just using it to polish and gloss up the tiled map. this also became common practice in the rpg maker community in subsequent years. you can use it to brush up a basic map like this...

...with a few more tiles, into something much more polished and special:

so that's the idea here.

back to the library.

one thing i really wanted to try out, since it's otherwise also such a pain, is curves. let's start at the bottom edge while i'm learning how!

i figured out how!

i also drew in the cushions and decorations i was planning on. in back of the windows, we've also erased some of the shine texture to help it flow more naturally.

curve the middle area too, and put the tree back! i wanted one with a fuller feeling, custom drawn to fit the shape i was looking for. 

even basic light effects help so much! we drew some more flowers in front of the window too. this way we can match their curve! there's also a custom shape on the floor that would've been hell to tile. scatter some tree leaves!!

finally, a layer of shadows helps diversify levels of elevations, flow between areas, and suggest some negative space to draw the eye to more important areas:

ba-ba! maybe a few details tweak since the time of this screen, but that's the gist of it. just a few quick edits can help it go from feeling like a flat tile map to an actual place with flow and some vibrancy!

some people might say that it's a little too much effort, but what's messed up is that the parallax is the easy part. it's drawing the tiles that's a pain in the ass, and there's no getting around that one. isn't that messed up? i think that's messed up. anyway, after we've gone through all that trouble, we may as well go ahead and make it extra pretty!

very excited to do more map dress up.

for the level 25+ folks, i'll also post the layered project file in the future so you can poke around and see how that's set up! 

ok, bye bye bye bye