My engine is going to use a 2D map that uses splatting. This is an example output (Click for the big version: 800x600 png; 669kb) What I want is some constructive criticism on the water area (the water in genereal as well as the water's edge and the grass' edge next to the water.) I know my textures aren't very good, thats not what I'm asking about (not trying to sound rude.) I'm looking for comments on effects of the specified areas. Thanks!

What bothers me is games always draw water as a flat mixture of blues and greens, as opposed to what it actually is, translucent. Even in 2d games this effect could be immitated by having another texture pass below the final water colour, then perhaps even adding a alpha blending effect. This way you could show some detail below the surface of the water, rocks, corral, land formations, etc. From your screenshot this shouldn't be extremely difficult to do, and IMHO would look very nice! It could even be implemented at a pre-runtime level, by simplying photoshopping in some detail to the water texture/tile.

Still, what you have done looks very nice, what sort of game will this be?

Thanks for the reply!

The water is blended with the dirt texture (although, the texture is too blue, but I already knew that), this is the base water texture:

If you look at the topleft corner, the dirt is more evident than towards the shore.


Its going to be a RPG similiar to the Baldur's Gate series.

-The sand would extend much further, especially if this is a sea and there are high and low tides.
-The 'lapping' at the shore is from waves, looks like small waves. This is not a random effect, but there are definite patterns and look to it. Try going to a lake or pond, or even fill up yoru bathtub or make a small model to figure out how small waves work.
-Its pretty uncommon for grass like that to grow next to the water. I know you said not to worry about your textures, but there's probably going to need to be two grass textures, one with dunegrass and sand underneath, eventually turning into normal grass.
-I don't mind the water texture, I like it actually. I can definately see the sand underneath, that's a good thing. Water is really dependent upon light, so if this is midday its fine. Ah, water does look so much cooler during twilight.

Well I rather like it as it is, though perhaps the grass is a bit bright? Although here in Australia our grass is much more yellow and patchy then say, Europe, so I often look at games and think it looks odd! As said, a seperate grass tone between the sand and primary grass area would be fitting.

Grass tufts perhaps? Flowers? Are you planning on adding specific details in a later pass, or incorporate them directly into the terrain textures? If you use the former approach, they could even be randomised onto the terrain, so that each time the game is played the terrain is slightly different.

@Professor420 - I actually have a picture that I used to make this image. I have studied the waves and actually talked to a few professional photographers about this. And the effect actually is totally random. I use the impressionist brush in photoshop to do it, so maybe using a smaller brush will help (but it looks much better than it did without the effect.)

Edit: I didn't mention that the photo is of a pond real close to my house and I've actually seen waves that look rather close. Its ~20 feet deep, ~30 feet wide, and ~100 feet long. It drops right quick like on all sides except for one, which has a little bit smoother drop (a REAL little bit.)

Both of the texture problems stated have been thought about thoroughly. I use 2 blended grass textures to get a pretty decent effect (can't show this one at the moment.) As for different looks (like flowers, etc) this is going to be generated randomly at runtime and rendered on top of the terrain.

As for bright grass - all 3 textures used were generated using combinations of effects in photoshop, so its just using a light and dark version of a color. I'm in the middle of coding part of my engine, but tomorrow I'll show a different version to see what you guys think.

I tried adding highlights to the water texture, but it ends up being non-tileable, so I'm still trying different approaches for this.

Thanks for the replies! Keep 'em coming.

If the water is a pond, its fine, but anything with an inlet and outlet that is affected by tides (sea, ocean, bay, large lake, etc) will have a larger stretch of sand. If its a small body of water (pond), then IMO the water is too green, not clear/blue enough.

Waves are not random, and their effect on the shore isn't either. I live a walk from a lake, next time I go running I'll take a look for you for some more reference, but the shore splatting between sand and water doesn't look so convincing.
The grass is too saturated and bright, IMO. Try picking your colors from a photo of the grass you're trying to emulate.
Reflections(highlights) on water will be difficult, it would probably be OK to forget about them.

Quote:

Original post by Professor420 If the water is a pond, its fine, but anything with an inlet and outlet that is affected by tides (sea, ocean, bay, large lake, etc) will have a larger stretch of sand. If its a small body of water (pond), then IMO the water is too green, not clear/blue enough. Waves are not random, and their effect on the shore isn't either. I live a walk from a lake, next time I go running I'll take a look for you for some more reference, but the shore splatting between sand and water doesn't look so convincing. The grass is too saturated and bright, IMO. Try picking your colors from a photo of the grass you're trying to emulate. Reflections(highlights) on water will be difficult, it would probably be OK to forget about them.

I thought you were talking about the waves in the photo, sorry. You don't have to worry about getting me references, we live pretty close to a lake and my dad takes pictures all the time, thanks for the offer though!

As for the grass being too bright and the water too green, I already know this (as stated in my original post.) I'm not trying to sound rude, its just that I already said that I know my textures are not great/realistic, I wanted input in the effects (the waves, which you've commented on, and the grass transition (effect, not color.)) I use real photos as my palette already (for everything that I'm going to use in a game.)

Thanks for the comments!

[Edited by - Programmer16 on April 20, 2006 2:29:59 AM]