I was going to do a frosted variety set, so I don't see any reason why I can't do a volcanic version too. The frosted variety would of course have to have an avalanche area, so the volcanic one will have to have special groups too.
I also wanted to do some matching arches/buttresses, either in-set, or as placeables which fit. You could just prop the arches up against any of the outcrops and just walk around it as normal with the pwk files. I already have planned to create a few more "spires" other than the stand alone one you see in the image. Having been through Cathedral Spires while climbers are about, I just can't resist modeling that area.
So my end goal, AFTER this one, is to do a red rocks/arches national park kinda deal. And then after that, I want to revisit this one and do some addons, like devil's post pile/devil's tower (unless I just do that now, which I should, since devil's tower is technically part of that black hills range).
I see absolutely no reason once I get this out, you guys can't do your underwater magic on it. I don't personally have use for it right now, but I am NEVER against people recoloring anything I make. Anything I put out is free as is -- take it and run with it!
And just so you know, I am taking a lot of cues from Skyrim right now, so if you find an image of something Skyrimmy that you think I have use for, please pop me a link to the picture, or just show the image. I spent about a week researching skyrim and oblivion before I started this tileset. But that doesn't mean I saw everything.
So right now, I am just going through the motions, making sure all the basic mixers are finished enough that I have one copy of each. I keep forgetting certain corner combinations. It just took me 4 hours to do a full set of mix between raised (my mountains are the raised in tileset) and greater elevation (grass+2). I don't see a reason to mix grass+1 with mountains, or grass+1 with grass+2, at the moment, but that doesn't mean we can't later. Contour variety does make for a great scene, and that is why I have these little non-compatible raised subtiles. Especially when one has flowing water. Flowing water loves elevation!
Speaking of variety, what I basically have planned out is this:
- Mountain is the raise/lower feature. This is a 10 meter change in height.
- Grass+1 is a visually raising type which goes up only one meter, and is always smooth.
- Grass+2 is similar except it goes up two meters, and can be rough or smooth.
- Grass+2 can merge with raised areas to reduce the angle that the mountain enters the current level. Basically that ramps up the edges around the angular mountains. Not so high as foot hills, but it reduces the look that the mountain suddenly comes out of the ground.
- Grass+2 can be placed at raised levels, so you can actually make a mountain chunk slightly taller.
- Carve crosser. This is like a corridor through mountain areas, but if used on the edges of a mountain tile, it makes the tile melt back, producing a sheer face. Normal mountain tiles are 45 degrees. The sheer face would be massively more steep.
- Fluff crosser. By default the mountains are going to have a walkable ledge every 1000 meters up. Using the fluff crosser, you can erase that ledge. It will place jagged boulders, or cause the mountain tile to overstep its bounding box and flow into the adjacent tile, sealing off the ledge. This crosser can be packed with variety: Boulders, fallen logs, jagged rock, walkable cave mouths...
- Water will be at base levels only, never grass+1 or grass+2, except as stream crossers. I expect a lot of waterfall variety.
- Lots of tile groups will exist for the base level areas. Entrance type tile groups will exist in large variety for the mountain edges, especially caves and mines.
- Grass+1 and Grass+2 might have just a few special tile groups, but for the most part, those are just tileset fluff. Expect a few dolmen or rune circles, maybe a tiny temple.
- The entire tileset will have a set of dedicated plant species. The first release will have a combination of poplar and tall spruce (what people in Skyrim still refer to as Pines). Smaller trees will be made walk-through for ease of walkmesh use. Basically, if the trunk is as thin as a man, I am not going through the trouble of walkmesh holes, unless I plop down a rock for it to grow from. Somebody else can get picky with it later if they need to. I probably won't do a lot of large trees, if any. Mountains are known for destroying their plant population often.
- I plan to do some forest tiles for use with the base levels. A burned off area is not out of the question. This is obviously a great place for worn path crossers.
- Base levels will be fully stocked prairie as a default.
- It seems important to make a treeline crosser. This could be a bunch of suffocated or gnarly trees at the edge of forest/mountain combo tiles. Anything above treeline crossers should just be painted prarie, or an optional ground, such as...
- Tundra tiles! These could be an alternate tile above a treeline crosser. The prairie could give way to rounded, bald granite and lichens. Simple retexture will do, and just add to the tiles list. If you've ever been up on top of Harney Peak in SD, you'd probably also make use of the Grass+1 or Grass+2 varieties at this location too.
- In addition to tundra tiles, maybe just a few glacier tiles, or a glacier tile group. Especially sitting in those concave areas of the mountain tiles.
I have no problems finishing only parts of this at a time, and then releasing upgraded versions as needed. So nobody is going to have to wait forever for me to finally finish. I will say, this Coffee is helping a lot, since I am getting one tile combo done per day. That won't take long to flesh out. Just the details will be time consuming. Detail can come over years for all I care. I've wasted enough time holding things back until detail was "finished". That's how I lost the last version of this tileset.
