Japan Set Development

[Toni Babelony]

Thanks Sanchi! I really want to become good at drawing houses, but now I have some priority with manga drawing. I'm ATM working on a short story for my Doujinshi group:
http://toniproductions.nl/CC/MNRGD1/Page01.jpg
http://toniproductions.nl/CC/MNRGD1/Page02.jpg

Anyway, I also want to make a mascotte for the set. Completely in sprite-style and with the TTD palette

[krtaylor]

They are a good step in the right direction. But I think their scale is too small, particularly the second one. I mean, how high is one story in TTD, in pixels? Twice what you've got there, I believe. You can shorten this somewhat, particularly in Asia, but not by that much. The only people who would fit in there are Smurfs.

[Toni Babelony]

They are a good step in the right direction. But I think their scale is too small, particularly the second one. I mean, how high is one story in TTD, in pixels? Twice what you've got there, I believe. You can shorten this somewhat, particularly in Asia, but not by that much. The only people who would fit in there are Smurfs.

Also true. Again I used sprites from FreeTrain as a base, but they are too small. That means I can only use those a a very raw base and then expand them to TTD size.

[krtaylor]

Well, that is certainly one thing you could do. But another thing you could do is to leave them as they are, and simply take out the floor divider.

For instance, on your first one, the tile roof looks great - but there are two levels to it, the top one, and then a lower one that is the border between the 1st story and 2nd story I think. If you take out that lower one, then it becomes a one-story house with a cupola on top in TTD scale. The brick building next to it looks like 2 stories too, but that can be fixed by making what is now the second story windows, into instead an angled awning over the doors below. That would be an opportunty to make something looking like Japanese characters/colors. A little bit like this store maybe

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resource ... newide.jpg

only more old fashioned in appearance I suppose. Maybe like this one

http://static.flickr.com/87/262565906_06b30aed94.jpg

OK, I know it's Korean, but you get the idea...

[Toni Babelony]

I see what you mean, but some of the housing blocks (not the individual ones) in the buildingset are also quite low.

Also, classic housing in Japan used to be much much lower then they are now, but I could add a few pixels to make it look more acceptable.

[Sanchimaru]

Some new trees:
Here I darkened them, and I have also straightened them a bit

Ah, and I have noticed an error in the signals sprites: the east-looking PBS signals won't whow the lights because they were misaligned. Here is the correct version

[krtaylor]

The trees surely look much better, but a) they are still from the wrong point of view (that is, dead in front, rather than hovering over them in a very low helicopter) and b) they are still mostly all leaning to the right. You're on the right track though!

[stevenh]

I conned a friend into some pixel artz... check this beast out:

[Toni Babelony]

Nice shading, but the _ view needs some more depth in the roof. (common problem with starters in TTD sprites, I had it too)

[Sanchimaru]

Here are three more houses updated!

[Aegir]

Oooh, some nice updates of some of my old favorites, looking good, Sanchimaru!

[Trond]

Just wondered about this road/railcrossing... is it supposed to look like this? It looks a bit strange to me?..

Removing japanset makes the crossing normal...

[krtaylor]

Yes, that's the way it's supposed to look. It's because Japanese crossings use concrete or steel plates all surrounding the tracks to "bridge" the road over them. I suppose it's because it makes for easier maintenance, you can remove the panels and easily get at the tracks, ties, and ballast underneath if you need to do anything down there.

[Toni Babelony]

I suppose it's because it makes for easier maintenance, you can remove the panels and easily get at the tracks, ties, and ballast underneath if you need to do anything down there.

Which is quite common on in Japan... Suicides e.g. Chuo line Tôkyô - Mikata anyone?

P.s. Is it okay if I could re-use some graphic from the Japanese buildings to implement in my buildings?

*goes back to the drawingboard*

[Sanchimaru]

Here are some more building uodates, only a few to go!

>Tony: sure! use any parts you might need and don't miss this link: http://oldphotosjapan.com/ja there are some good pictures of old shotengai arcades there!

[dandan]

Just wondered about this road/railcrossing... is it supposed to look like this? It looks a bit strange to me?..

Removing japanset makes the crossing normal..

Well, apart from what krtaylor said about the steel plates, another reason it looks strange is that (in the absence of the Japanese landscape set) the Japan set will use the standard TT road tiles for crossings while you are using the opengfx-roads. You could simply put the gfx-infrastructure grf behind the Japan set in the grf-list. You would then get the default crossings of that set. The problem is that this will also overwrite the Shinkansen crossings with the default maglev ones.

[Toni Babelony]

You would then get the default crossings of that set. The problem is that this will also overwrite the Shinkansen crossings with the default maglev ones.

IRL Shinkansen tracks don't have crossings, so realistically seen there shouldn't be crossings. Now, please don't go and use the Yamagata and Akita Shinkansen as examples that actually HAVE a lot of crossings, because those are only regauged tracks from a normal line. (Very interesting to ride on though!)
Anyway, for the sake of gameplay and to make the overall feeling more eye pleasing, maybe this should be changed. This because it'll be unavoidable to not have crossings.

@Sanchimaru: thanks man! I'm going to have a go again when there is time and I don't pass out from one glass of wine. (I just did... Don't know why, since normally I can handle a whole bottle with ease.)

[dandan]

Anyway, for the sake of gameplay and to make the overall feeling more eye pleasing, maybe this should be changed.

The only way to change this is to draw Shinkansen crossings for more different road sets. Surely you wouldn't want to do this for *every* road set around, but maybe the TTRS and the opengfx roads would be nice to have. But remember, we do have Shinkansen crossings for the standard roads and the Japanese roads.

[Trond]

Ah, thanks for answers, I got it now

So, this leads to a new question Any chance of support for opengfx-roads?

[athanasios]

Sanchimaru: Your 5 floor building could fit in any building set. I am tempted to steal its plans.