[Normal/Misc/Exploration][KS+] Advena

This level will be designed for egomassive's KS+ mod. You will need the mod to play it!

Advena: Explore A New World

The story

Juni is travelling by sea to return home from an adventure when a storm hits. She gets stuck on a mysterious land and has to work out how to return home. Will she quickly figure out how to return home or will she explore this new land before leaving?

The features

Custom art: This level will feature 100% original tilesets and some original gradients.

Pseudo 3d environment: There will be foreground objects aplenty, giving a sense of depth to the level.

Custom sound: All custom music and some custom ambiance.

Massive world: Exploration is a major theme in this level. You're in a strange new land, remember? Of course you want to explore.

Secrets: Oh my, yes! There will be many, many secrets to find. Secrets within secrets even!

Multiple paths: Nearly every power-up will have multiple (some 3 or even 4) locations. There are many paths to take once you start exploring! You'll be able to play it a little different each time (until you exhaust all possibilities that is).

KS+ features that will be utilised

Golden creatures: All 50 golden creatures will be hidden in the level. Explore and find them all!
Artefacts: Three different artefact sets can be found in the level.
Advanced signs: Signs will not automatically pop-up thanks to advanced signs. Meaning less clutter on the screen.
Foreground tiles: An important function of the KS+ mod. This will allow for a sense of depth to the level.
Coins: Finding a secret area will allow you to collect all 100 coins.

Screenshots

I'll be updating as frequently as I can and posting a lot of screenshots. With the exception of a few special or secret areas, I'll try to post at least one screenshot from every area of the level.

Oh my Knytt!
That would be awesome. I love your first screenshot, it looks like interesting improvement of tileset 29.
Looking forward to it...

I didn't like "The Tree of Life" that much, but this looks fantastic! I like first and second screen. Lookin' foward  .

Shipwrecked is fine.  I like to hear your level will be little based on this.

And the last screenshot is cool.

First screen shot is cool.  *thumbs up* 

The clouds and neon green bug me about the third.

Second is ok, but seems too plain, ya know?  Is there some background stuff you could have happening there?

Don't let that discourage you, I'm picky.    I'm glad you are going the ambitious route of custom tilesets.

Glad to see people interested!

Oh my Knytt!
That would be awesome. I love your first screenshot, it looks like interesting improvement of tileset 29.
Looking forward to it...

As a matter of fact, I took inspiration from that exact tileset. I liked the way it felt but it wasn't cave-y enough for me. So I decided to make my own.

First screen shot is cool.  *thumbs up* 

The clouds and neon green bug me about the third.

Second is ok, but seems too plain, ya know?  Is there some background stuff you could have happening there?

Anything specific about the clouds and green? Also, the second screen is a beach scene and that look is intentional.

Now for a little update! We've got 11 tilesets, with several more planned. I usually add or edit some things once I actually use the tileset and see how it looks in the game environment so I wouldn't call them all finished yet. The screen count is up to roughly 60. I haven't done much world building because I've been working on tilesets, COs for foreground objects, and shoring up the story elements.

There will be some new screenshots in the next update.

It is fine to have little happening on a beach I suppose, but beaches often have large sand dunes which can spruce up the screen a lot.  Try google image searching Sand Dunes National Park.  That one might not be near a body of water, but they are still similar.

The clouds are too uniform and squarish.  If you can make it so that the pattern is less symmetrical or variable it would do a lot to help.  The trees in the background are a little too close to the foreground colors which flattens things out, and most of all the green and blue are too green and blue.  They look plastic where as if you added a little more black or white, or add a little contrasting color to the mix (red to the green) it will dull that plastic quality down.

Important announcement! Unfortunately, the regular KS editor won't really be able to do what I have in mind for this level. After much consideration, this level is now being designed with egomassive's KS+ mod. You will need the mod to play it! I've updated the opening post with some more info about the mod features that will be used.

The clouds are too uniform and squarish.  If you can make it so that the pattern is less symmetrical or variable it would do a lot to help.  The trees in the background are a little too close to the foreground colors which flattens things out, and most of all the green and blue are too green and blue.  They look plastic where as if you added a little more black or white, or add a little contrasting color to the mix (red to the green) it will dull that plastic quality down.

Ah yes, the background trees were the wrong colour. I forgot to adjust them but that problem has been corrected. After some careful consideration, I re-coloured the ground tiles to a darker shade of green so that "neon" feel should no longer be present. In addition, I've redesigned some level elements so there's now a different background in that area. Also, I made the clouds a little fluffier but they will remain unchanged. Thanks for the feedback.

Finally, as promised, a couple more screenshots. These are both from the same area.

I've not put in the time to properly adjust this (just a quick select by colour and flood fill to give you an idea) but I'd say there's room for a lot more variation between foreground and background.

Obviously the trunks in the background would want the same treatment aswell. As a general rule of thumb; the more distant an object, the less vibrant the colour. We can see shades of light and dark (i.e. black and white) over a greater distance than we can perceive colours accurately; the effect of that is that as an object gets more distant from a viewer it appears to "wash out" into gray shades.

They're both very nice, but the second one would be even better with some clouds or something like that.

Just so you know, I'm still here to help if you want me to.

Also, looking forward to this!

I don't mean to harp on this.  I think it is looking better, but your colors are still a little similar, as Widget has said.  Here is a fantastic tool:

https://kuler.adobe.com/#create/fromacolor

This is a great tool for choosing various types of complementary colors so that you end up with a nice, natural look rather than a kids toy look.  Which is fine, if that is what your going for, don't get me wrong.  If you choose just the right complementary colors, however, you can end up with something really nice looking.  You can choose what the program suggests, or tweek it a little to fit the mood your trying to set.

Edit: and just to be clear, it is looking really good.  I like the tileset for the bottom screenshot.

I've not put in the time to properly adjust this (just a quick select by colour and flood fill to give you an idea) but I'd say there's room for a lot more variation between foreground and background.

Obviously the trunks in the background would want the same treatment aswell. As a general rule of thumb; the more distant an object, the less vibrant the colour. We can see shades of light and dark (i.e. black and white) over a greater distance than we can perceive colours accurately; the effect of that is that as an object gets more distant from a viewer it appears to "wash out" into gray shades.

Honestly, I had not even thought about that! I'm still very new to making tilesets and basically have zero skill or talent.

As per your suggestion, I added a few more tiles, re-shaded for the background trees. Also, the background trunks are already re-shaded from the foreground trunks.

They're both very nice, but the second one would be even better with some clouds or something like that.

This screen is supposed to be a little open but I'll consider adding some clouds or something to the tileset. Thanks for the suggestion.

I don't mean to harp on this.  I think it is looking better, but your colors are still a little similar, as Widget has said.  Here is a fantastic tool:

https://kuler.adobe.com/#create/fromacolor

This is a great tool for choosing various types of complementary colors so that you end up with a nice, natural look rather than a kids toy look.  Which is fine, if that is what your going for, don't get me wrong.  If you choose just the right complementary colors, however, you can end up with something really nice looking.  You can choose what the program suggests, or tweek it a little to fit the mood your trying to set.

Edit: and just to be clear, it is looking really good.  I like the tileset for the bottom screenshot.

Not at all! Like I said before, I really have no idea what I'm doing so all this feedback is really nice! Plus, I am technically colour-blind. I'm sure there will be plenty of things that look great to me but horrible to "normal" people. And the latest two screenshots are the same tileset.

At any rate, thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Also, the first post has been edited with the newer versions of the two screens that have been adjusted but I'll post them here as well.

Sorry for double post but it's time for an update!

Work has been a little slow over the past week or so because I was busy but I'm back to actively working on this. Progress has been made with a couple new tilesets and several more screens have been added to the level. So far the screen count is up to 80 or so. To give you an idea of the scope of things: there are 80 screens and only the climb power-up (at one of three locations). Run doesn't count because it's so close to the start. I'm looking to start work on a few more tilesets this week as well so things are definitely moving along.

Here's two new screenshots for you. Please enjoy.

The first one is lovely, I would not change anything.
However, I think, that hats of the mushrooms on the second does not fit the rest, maybe if they are lighter, it would look better. But this is just minor exception, both are nice.