Tilesets in need of input

So, I had decided to try to make a knytt level using preexisting tilesets, but just as soon as I developed a plot and started trying to use them, I got unhappy and started making my own.  *shrug*

Green hills - This first tileset is pretty much done, I just want some feedback.  I used a curve to solve the problem of angles going from screen to screen, and it works quite well.  And I used Sergio's Vestiges to test how it would work with other tilesets to create cave like situations.  Likes and dislikes?

The second one I'm a bit lost on.  It's based on a dream I had which I'll include a sketch of to show what I'm aiming at.  The place is based on one part of the dream which was a kind of sacred garden with low walls and many terraces and stairs, all the plants in pots with a small section around the edge.  There was absolutely no indication that anything even existed beyond the edge of the garden, so I've placed it in a barren rocky mountain.  I'm having trouble getting the amount of detail right and the feel of the place: open and very uneven.  Those attributes aren't translating well to KS.  The light is suppose to be a kind of barrier.  There was a kind of whitish gold light to the place too that I'm having trouble figuring out.  

Oh wow, this looks amazing.

 
That looks awesome.
I think that foreground green hills in the first picture would look a little bit better without patter or with a less bold one.
And vestiges does not fit it much although it's very versatile tileset. It might look better with Sinix's tilesets from Island of Mimir.
I don't know what to say about the second tileset. It's really pretty, but there's something missing. Maybe outlines of the brick-like parts ?
I know you've written somewhere that you don't like black outlines, but what about making them in colour only a little bit darker than tile (like in Poisonous forest) ?
P.S: I wish I have so peaceful and beautiful dreams as you have. Mine are all violent or scary and including trains, trams or stations.

I disagree with Polana. That green hill with its texture is perfect. It gives this detailed feeling, it says: I'm knytt stories, yet it gives a wow at the same time.

polana, you should look into what dreams mean. If a dream repeats itself, it means your subconsciousness wants to tell you something.

These look absolutely fantastic. I don't feel like I'm qualified to criticise these, but I'll give my opinion

The grass tileset is absolutely stunning. When I first looked at it I shared Polanas view that the textures didn't belong. But I gave it a second thought and realized that they kinda do. It makes it feel more like an actual level then an art piece. What I still can't wrap my head around though is the underside of the hills. I don't know if it's the texture or the sharp edges but it feels kinda off to me. It doesn't take away much though and overall I still feel it looks REALLY good ^^

The second tileset looks good, but I find it a bit odd. I really like the greenery, the platforms that the greenery is on (the one-tile high ones) and the background (to the left in the first image). But the textures used everywhere else seem strange to me. They seem quite random at a first glance, which is fine if that's what your going for (I obviously don't know how what your dream was like). But as it's obviously tilebased the random pattern will always repeat. In my eyes that looks very odd. That being said though, it's definitely an intresting concept for a level and I dig where it is going.

The screenshots look amazing overall. And I always get happy when I see what your working on

I think the problem with the pattern in the first one is that it kinda blends in with the background in the non-grassy areas. In this case though I'd suggest changing the pattern of the background, not the foreground. (Although it probably won't be too bad to tell which is which when you're actually playing the level, so really it's your call whether you want to change things around or not.)

Re: the second tileset: It took me a while to understand that the dark yellow areas were foreground and the grayish-yellow parts were background. Again, I think giving the foreground and background different patterns would help a lot here. Maybe make the pattern in the background much simpler than the foreground? Alternatively you could find a way to make the foreground "pop out", like Polana said.

I've looked at first picture again and I got another idea: I don't mind the pattern at the hills in background, but I don't like the one in foreground. But they are the same, only colours are different. So maybe my problem is that foreground pattern contrasts too much with the dark grass at top of hills (I did not get that tiles with patterns are "inside" of the hills first time). Maybe making it a little bit darker ?

Two suggestions:

• I think the zigzag on the grassy areas is fine, but a smaller zigzag in the distance would help with depth.
• The rock face in the bricked zone is too flat. A pattern like the one in Vestiges might help

Thanks for all the input guys!  REALLY helps.  I like the idea for a smaller zigzag in the background: that would fit my goals perfectly.  Different textures, especially for the background and small brick textures, will help a lot too.  Part of my biggest difficulty is getting the structure right for the garden.  You can see from the sketch that there really isn't any large brick structures, though the floor had large slab tiles.  The goldenish bricks was an attempt to translate the dream into a KS level.  I keep thinking I need to lean more towards a white brick with orange and gold highlights here and there.  I'll keep the dark outlines in mind too.

And thanks for turning me on to Island of Mimir!  Wow, very unique style.  Wish there were more tilesets like this.  However, it is a bit too painterly to fit in with what I'm trying to do.  I had though in the past about doing a level with similar tilesets, but it would have, I think, required me to do some RL painting to base it off of, and I'm not prepared to do that.  Maybe not thought... Anyhow...

Is there a temporary tileset compendium or torrent somewhere?  I don't have many tilesets and it would help a lot if I could look through a library of them.

I don't have many tilesets either, but the style kinda reminded me of these tilesets (attached) by oft99. But hopefully there is a compendium like that, would help me out as well.

They are taken from this thread btw:
http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=1407.0

Yeah, that may give me a little direction, though they are too plain for the rest of the level. Thanks.

If you wish for more tilesets, I will upload my collection somewhere. It has over about 700 items now. However, I am not sure if all of them are free to use and some of them are pretty crap. But they might be good inspiration.

Cool!  That would help.  I keep hoping we can eventually get organized enough to have a kind of library of tilesets where the authors agree to both use and edit so one can search by topic and grab what they need to make any level.  But that is the kind of huge structure I'm always dreaming up and is usually too much work to make happen.   

I hope link will work.
Pack includes some collection made before by Widget, Emeraldfire' tilesets and COs and tilesets I've taken from various levels.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/zpyxfw

I hope it is OK to post here something like this. If not, I am sorry and please let me know where I can post it.

Perfectly cool with me, though I do hope we can get a thread going for everyone to post their tileset collections on.  Stars all around!