Savanna Tileset

I'm making tilesets for DJ Gopher's upcoming Wild World KS level. I struggled with this one for quite a while. It's a savanna. I'm very happy with the results.

I'm including two examples to show off how it interacts with different gradients. It also holds up well at night. I can't give you the tileset yet. I'll do that after DJ Gopher releases his level.

Edit Sept. 14, 2010: The tileset is now available below.

One of the best KS tilesets I've yet seen, from the looks of the screenshots.  I don't like that blocky stuff in the background, however - I can't even tell what it's supposed to look like.

The blocky stuff is middle-distant terrain. I made it to look like the foreground terrain. I reduced the tan foreground tile to 60% opacity and varied the height. I know it's common practice to ignore the blocky appearance of the foreground when making distant terrain, but I made it look the same. This is partly due to the fact that Fredrik Andersson's Rough Sea Landscape tileset is being used in the level it's for. RSL's distant ground mimics the close ground, it's 100% pixel art, and it's simplistic. In that light, I probably have too much detail in the trees and rocks. RSL is also to blame for the weird highlighting on the collision areas. Or maybe, I'm to blame for putting an outline meant for rocks on grassy soil. Guess I'll take another crack at it after I get more feedback.

By the way, thanks for the praise Minmay. I know you don't give that out lightly.

I think the level of detail on foreground objects is very good.

The problem with the background is that it tries to mix a very granular and well-defined style (blocky ground) with a more "fuzzy" one (no outlines or shading, low contrast).  The problem is exacerbated by the level of detail on the background trees.  Basically, it's inconsistent.

These are very stunning images. Great tilesets.

It is amazing how changing the gradient almost make it look like its a different tileset. Well done!

Amazing

From what Minmay said here and DJ Gopher said privately, I made some adjustments. The biggest change is in the middle-distance. I darkened the ground to ensure it's value stayed between the mountains and the fore-ground. I also added a subtle blue tint to the top edge. This helps define it on red gradients. The distant trees were too well defined in comparison to the ground they stood on. The trees now get more transparent as they get further away. In the foreground I altered the grass a bit to make each section less distinct. It's harder to pick out repetition now. (wasn't noticeable in the sample images) I didn't alter the highlights on collision tiles yet. I'm not sure if I want to.

If you're dying to get your hands on this tileset then you're in luck. I've discussed it with DJ Gopher and he says I may release all the tilesets I've made immediately. The others still need work. I'll be making a similar desert set in the near future.

Below is a before and after comparison with before over after, and the tileset.

Edit: The clouds are lame generic clouds. DJ Gopher didn't like my cloud concept, so I threw those in. Any suggestions?

The tree change helps quite a bit, though I still think the blocky background is rather ugly.  But hey, opinion.

Nice tileset. One of the best i seen.

I don't remember disliking a cloud concept?
But any way.. This tileset is fantastic.
The tree idea was very much needed to compensate for the transparent mountains, great concept / idea
However I still think the background blocks could benefit from having a slight outline, so they look like a continuation of the foreground.
Thanks a bunch,
Dj.

These look really good ego.  The hair line cracks in the stone...    Very nice pixel art there.  And the varying shades in the collision layer look very good.  It is a nice way to create some variation.  As for background, I think it looks better but it does still look a little out of place... maybe it does need a slightly dark outline.   

@ DJ Gopher: Remember this (see image below)? I said I might make a full screen gradient of similar clouds. And you said you weren't a fan of that idea.

@ all: The problem with outlining the middle-distant terrain is there are too many edge combinations possible. If I lose the clouds --you can get similar from dozens of default tilesets, then I'll have more room to work with. I'm going to experiment with outlines and more natural shapes.

By the way, the picture below is from Squaresoft's Final Fantasy VI, and it was used for educational research purposes. I was teaching myself how to draw a savanna. It's grass looks so much better than mine. I just couldn't translate it into vertical repeating tiles.

This tileset looks amazing ! Great work 

Latest version: I removed the clouds and gradients to make room for sloped middle-distant hills. The middle-distance also sports darker outlines. I had 3 tiles left after the changes, so I added dead tops for the foreground trees.

Genius tileset, really. Now finally maybe someone will make a good African-themed level! (I know of just one attempt, the apparently abandoned Savanna Dance by Merdion - http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=334.0 - and it was far inferior tileset-wise.)