Tileset tips

These are just some things that you should think of when making a tileset:
- General -
- The tileset itself - Mask -
General

- Just as with levels, "different" is the most important word.

- If you can't think of anything to make, movies, tv, books, art, games and other things might give you some inspiration.

- Design your tileset on paper before you start making it. Just sit down and write and draw all your ideas on paper for a while (perhaps even week or so to make sure you don't forget anything you'll otherwise have to put in in a next version).

- Things to put in a tileset(bold things are most important):
ground
wall
ceiling
tunnel
fore- and background extras (eye-candy)
background for layer 8
vine
hurt
V- and H-poles
buttstomp and destruct scenery
animations
signs (exit, bonus and text)
directional arrows
hook
collapsing scenery
teleport
disappearing ground(like in Medivo)

- Look how it's done. Take a look at other tilesets. Remember the good ideas, forget the mistakes.

- When you think your tileset is finished, test it, test it, and test it more until it's 100% bug-free (or until you run out of coffee ;) ). Try making several levels with it. If there's a problem, you'll find it.

- And when you're done testing it yourself. Have some friends test it. Other people can often spot mistakes that you didn't notice or didn't think were important.



The tileset itself

- Make your tileset easy to use. So, put the most important things at the top and the least important things at the bottom.

- Use a good graphics program to make your tileset. Tilesets made in "Photoshop" or "Paint Shop Pro" tend to look better than those made in "Paintbrush".

- Unless it will totally screw up your tileset (in color terms) always mark the "remap tileset palette" option in the tileset menu. If you don't, Jazz' colors will be weird and usually text will be unreadable. People don't like that. So unless it's absolutely out of the question, use that option.



Mask

- MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE that the mask fits the tileset. If it doesn't, your tileset won't work (correctly).

- Avoid sharp shaped pits in your mask or players can (and will) get stuck in it.


© Rabbits Only 2000
tutorial written by Ninja Dodo