Let me get a little pedantic. None of what I say below is intended to criticize the tileset. I love the tileset. But in light of some of the comments here, I wanted to point out the following:
Thick undergrowth happens in particular locations in a
typical coniferous forest like this, but for the most part Klatchain is right in mature stands it will be open like we see here. You see undergrowth at edges of mature stands where more light is allowed in, a stream's edge is a typical example. At slightly lower elevations (up to 3000 feet or 900 meters) you'll get a mixed evergreen forest which has more undergrowth. This later is one of my favorite forest types as I grew up hiking through it as a kid, but its full of all kinds of plants and undergrowth is common.
A thick growth of trees is unhealthy for trees like this, and in a fantasy setting that could be accompanied by swarms of dangerous beetles or some other nasty organism in higher numbers than expected. The reason for such a thing happening could be clearcut logging, a dragon burned the entire stand years ago, or some other all encompassing disturbance. It takes many years (or helpers which thin out particular trees) for a thick stand to recover and resemble the kind of scenes Baba has shown us.
The funny thing for me however is that the type of tree that Baba mentioned when he first modeled them, Redwood, has an unusual range and environment on Earth. They grow in more humid areas as they are a kind of
temperate rainforest tree. And rainforests break the rules I mentioned above. You'll find much thicker undergrowth - although not necessarily shrubby undergrowth - in a rainforest. Anyone who has hiked in the
Olympic Peninsula or in a rare stand of
Old Growth Redwood in California wil know what I am tlaking about. There are such forests in British Columbia and southernish South America but I have never been to those places so can't speak of them.
BUT I wanted to add, in a fantasy setting a redwood tree could be a more dominant tree as it once was in ancient times. The earth was as warm as it is getting now, and more humid. A wet fantasy world would be covered with trees like this.
Modifié par henesua, 12 juillet 2012 - 02:18 .
