Pokemon Styled terrain

Good or bad idea? I wouldn't know (or care). I have lately taken to grid-locked terrains out of pure boredom. My current boost of unoriginality is Pokemon. Yes, Pokemon. That game that a lot of people think is "just for kids/babies". I'm currently putting together a single-player campaign, because a multiplayer map is limited in space. I know that a lot of members on this site are going to come running at me with "get off the site n00b!", I'll just ignore them. Anywho, here's two WIPs of the terrain so far (started yesterday):

Starter town WIP (unnamed town)

First route WIP (unnamed route)

Suggestions please. And note this: I am aiming for a style close to the hand-held games, as I have not played any of the ones on a console.

EDIT2: changes to the terrains have been uploaded. If I have to, then I will make a thread in the Art Gallery for this (unless this is moved there first).

EDIT3: Oops! Removed the WIPs from this post because I thought I could fit a campaign file into the database. Sorry to those still trying to compare the differences.

The console ones don't HAVE terrain, really.

I'm kind of impressed. I like this so far. But from Route 1, you need to have cliffs. Those dark brown patches (the long brown strips in-game that you can jump down) are edges of little cliffs (hence why you can jump down them but not up)

However if you're not too concerned about it, then at least make the strips a little thinner.

Hmm, how would I make the ledges smaller... Those brown strips were done on the terrain with a size one brush... Should I use custom ubersplats?

Nevermind, they're the smallest they can get. They looked bigger at first.

Don't worry, I'll worry about replacing that Rough Dirt terrain with splats later.

@ admins: I still want to know whether this is in the correct forum or not.

Raise the height of the ground on the top of the cliff compared to the bottem, and then have the non cliffs not slope as much

Depending on your camera angle, the grass may look funny. If you are doing a top view, look toward make some models with planes facing upwards rather than sideways.

Huh? I did raise the height on the parts above the "ledges" (20 clicks with the raise tool), I only sloped it like that be cause I didn't know how it would look otherwise. And... Here's two more WIPs:

Second town

Route from higher level cave back to second town

And I'm only using that plant model because of it's Death animation (do the plants here have those?)
All of these buildings are destructibles with the TC replaceable id, which makes it a pain in the arse to place any tilesets near them.

lol will pokemon still pop up when you walk in the grass?

Why not improve the terrain? Right now it looks as bad or worse than old pokemon terrain. You should improve it. Don't use straight paths, and use better tile variation. Maybe I'll try and make something as an example.

Fine... I'll try a more detailed terrain and set it up for a different movement style. I'm doing this out of boredom anyways. If I like the one with more detail, then I'll do that.

The current terrain is the way it is because it isn't finished. And yes, I'll eventually try for the random wild pokemon thing.

Gilles, I think he may have been going for that look. Pokemon terrain wasn't extraordinary in 1996 (it's not wonderful now, but still). If he made it "look good" it would lose the feel of basicness that pokemon terrain has.

Of course, there's always room for slight improvement, but this is good nontheless, considering the subject matter.

PS: Viridian City (the second town) needs a lot of love, it doesn't look anything like Viridian City... I would know. I have the game open right in front of me :D

Wait, you ARE making Pkmn Red+Blue, right? Or is it a different version you're using?

Outta the top of my head... wait, yeah. Top of my head, makes it difficult to name stuff. That second town indeed needs some love, but I don't know of any buildings that would work for the Poke center or Poke mart.

Just a question. for the Grid-lock variation should I aim for the middle of the medium WE grid? or should I continue to grid things where those lines cross?

Attempting an uber detailed map is killing my knuckles, I'm going to stick with the grid (it'll give me practice with arrow-key movement). I do agree with more detail, I plan on adding some of the high-res or better detailed stuff.

Does anyone know of a plant that could work for the tall grass (and one for the really tall grass) that that has stand and death anims? If you've ever used the HM CUT through the tall grass, you'll know why.

You can't do that in the newest pokemon games =(

Uhh... not that I can think of off the top of my head. I would go searching in the object editor though. (Go through all the grass/bush/fern/etc. models and check if they have stand + death)

I can't think of anything in particular for the pokemon center, but... Hmm...

Wow, you're right about the grass. I guess I'll use a different set of grass for the heck of it. And I'll get a screeny up soon with some splats for ledges.

EDIT: How do I place custom textures as splats? Triggers at runtime? or should I forget about splats and just use a series of floor switches?

EDIT2: Forget me using splats. I found that the elevator looks more realistic.

Heh. Kind of interesting.