So this video covers mostly how I approach making tiles, both in terms of what I think visually looks nice, but also how I approach it from a technical aspect. I might have a slightly inefficient approach from a technical standpoint (and I hope I didn't make any errors), if you do have any tips feel free to comment, so that both I and others can learn more :) Thanks for watching and feel free to check my Patreon if you want the textures I showcase (but as I said, they aren't technically "finished"). Ohh, and I was unsure on how much of the topic to gloss over, vs how detailed I should be. As you can see, I went for something in between, the video became quite long, but hopefully not boring. But if you actually want to learn how to implement automapping/autotiling, there are great channels out there that can also be more 'engine specific'
I really enjoyed the video! It seems like one approach is to start with the default greybox tiles, create 47 tile set and then use that as a guideline for a more complex patterns, which you do directly with the entire tile set. Am I understanding this this correctly? Also how did you generate the 47-tile set from one tile? Is there a tool you recommend?
Ye basically. Originally I started making the 47-tile set based on a 3x3 minimal autotile template. I essentially just looked at the bitmask necessary for godot to use auto tiling. But I eventually altered the arrangement to better fit how I draw. I don't know of any tools other than just using a template of sorts to "know which tiles to make"
One important thing not touched on in this video is that you can overlay more than one tilemap to the same cell. For instance, the example of the stone tiles with scratches on them, you can make the stone tiles one set and the scratches another set, so you're effectively adding grunge, graffiti, and decals as a tileset and you can reuse them for multiple tiles.
This video was exactly something I was trying to Find. I'm starting my game dev journey sometime in November. I've decided on GameMaker for my first project. However I was super worried about make tiles at first. Glad you post this video. Thank you!
You might be the channel I've been looking for. I've been thinking of a side project, and making stock images got me bored, so I have been thinking of assets for games. But I'm brand new at it (in terms of no gaming dev background knowledge - I do have 3d development (products) knowledge tho). Thanks, I'll definitely be doing a deep dive in everything you have posted :)
Really great info. I used your tilemap template in LDTK and it worked really well with the auto layer functionality. You use a different layout but I was able to map all the tiles. Thanks heaps!
I’m new to game art and your videos have become a great resource. If you have anything for isometric art, would love to watch. Thanks for all that you do here.
You can also make a separate interior dark tileset, and render this on top (more foreground). I would at least try this to experiment, and as long as there are no issues with performance, probably do it like that.
Great tutorial, and overall amazing content on your channel. Most intuitive way to learn as a non-artist. Curious if you will continue focusing on platformer art or will also look at other game types (e.g., top-down 2d)?
I definitely am intending to do top-down and other stuff. I have already started on some things, but I have trouble saying when I'll be ready with it. Hopefully soon, but since I do this part time and videos take a while to make, it's tricky to say when I can find time to fix some of the necessary surrounding things.
I'm using a similar technique to this in my game (you can see a demo video of some early gameplay on my RUclips profile.) However, I made the mistake of making the "fill" area a lighter colour than the surface area. Unfortunately I was kind of limited by other elements of the design; the area was meant to be a kind of sterile, high-tech environment with mostly greys and desaturated blues, and I'd already used two shades of blue on the surface tiles and dark grey in the background (to contrast with the light-coloured player character) so light grey was the only colour I had left. I've since redesigned the tileset to use light blue for the entire surface, freeing up a darker blue to be used for the fill, but I haven't updated my screenshots with those assets yet. I've also got a rocky underground area (not in the video, but you can see screenshots of it by clicking the website link on my profile) that uses a similar technique to what you mention here with the edges of the tiles covering the player's feet, but instead of shrinking the collision box I instead created a set of tiles that consist only of the edges of the rocks and didn't apply collision to them at all. In fact, that's the only part that I'm using a tilemap for in that area, since the main "fill" rock pattern is done using a textured polygon. I did this because the rock texture is four tiles rather than just one and I didn't want to have to constantly alternate between tiles.
I needed this video 4 years ago lol ... but why do people make tiles for others to use? I don't think anyone uses them for serious projects otherwise all games would look the same.
The purpose I made it in this case was mainly if someone wants to take a look at how the asset actually looks in relation to my explanation, I felt that some explanations might not come across as well unless you actually look at how I personally make the assets (layer structure, brush strokes, details, etc). If someone wants to actually use them as is, then I wouldn't mind, but they aren't production ready anyway so I wouldn't :)
I think making all 4 sides of a tileset's "blob" walls identical is fine for placeholder art. but I feel it's worth the extra steps to make ceilings look different from floors, and different from walls, though. depitct them differently for visual variety. it really helps to sell what this environment is, materially/architectually, if this makes sense.
Hi! Can you say something about using a hybrid technique like this? Using tilemaps as objects that can be transformed, similar to floating sprites, could be useful. For example, you might set up a tiled tree in the background and give it a slight rotation to add visual interest. Or you could place a log between two banks, with a slight rotation to create the effect of it being partially submerged in mud. Another idea is to combine floating sprites and tilemaps, not just as background elements but also in gameplay and physics. You could add individual objects at specific points in the level to enhance the scene or introduce gameplay elements, like a falling object (e.g., a large rock or fragile floor). By the way, a tilemap could also serve as the visual element for a rigid body in physics simulations.
Thanks a lot for this video! I’ve also subscribed to your patreon and I find it really useful! I would like to ask you if you can make another video where you describe how to create assets that will be animated (with spine2d or the engine animation system). For example: characters, environmental items (trees,…),… thanks again!
I've actually thought about doing this for a long time. And I really want to do it, so it will come, but I can't say when exactly (it depends on which script I feel is 'most ready')
I really like your videos but I'm wondering if you could make a series on 'top down' view, too. Games with a perspective like stardew valley or the old Zelda games are very popular and I while I think some of the concepts you described in your videos can be applied, others can not. I feel like it is more difficult to to have cohesive assets for these kind of games since you have to fill out the space with something and you can't 'cheat' that easily
I wonder how perspective is considered when drawing assets or animation sprites. Is it just overlapping forms and shapes without scaling in depth? I am confused on what type of perspective to learn right now if the goal is doing 2D animation for sidescrollers. :o
Okay, so I love your tutorials, and I swear to god a while ago I saw a tutorial from you (I remember the mushroom guy) about adding background particles and effects to bring the game together. Does that video exist or am I imagining it because I REALLY need it.
I just recently watched a video about dual-grid systems and how using it can reduce the number of tiles required for auto-tiling to just 15 tiles. It's such a clever trick it feels like cheating
I've also seen the video you are talking about, maybe I should check how it would function for sidescrollers (since if it is the video I am thinking it showcases top down examples), I haven't entirely thought about how it would impact level design, but if it works out fine then you are right, it would be an insane upgrade :)
In your video it looks like you are using Procreate ( which I want to use ). But, when I clicked on the link in Patreon it wants to open Gimp. I also just watched you How to draw game art in Procreate video but I was hoping you would just tell me what settings I need to use. You've mentioned 128x128 but I don't really know what that's talking about. What should my screen size on a new canvas be? What should my grid size be to draw my own template? Thank you for your videos!
Ye, the file is created in procreate but saved in the psd file format (photoshops file format, which most programs can open, including procreate). As for settings I don't really know if I have any particular settings (I draw in rgb, but that is standard). the 128x128 is the pixel dimension of a single tile, if you are making a sprite sheet or a tile map you will generally set a dimension for how big each sprite should be and powers of 2 tend to be the standard (due to performance) so you'll see 16x16 pixels per tile a lot in pixel art, but since I do hand drawn I go for larger sizes, such as 128x128 pixels per tile in this case. If you are not doing individual tiles, but free floating sprites the same principle often still stands that it can be helpful to make your canvas size be in powers of 2, so 256x256 or 128x256 etc. I have a video called "what size should your assets be" that cover a lot of this stuff and more. As for the grid size, I kind of talked about this a bit, but I tend to make my own grid following the tile size I am using, so 128x128, but also apply a grid in my software that is significantly smaller, in this case my grid was 16x16. But It depends on what you want to use the grid for, I have a 16x16 grid to better keep track of where I want my details to line up.
I think for pixel art all of the stuff I mention is probably just easier. lining up tiles becomes easier, programs like aseprite have really good tile modes that can help, so yes. it should work!
it's a 4x12 grid, with 128x128 tiles, so the canvas size is 1536x512. The grey blocks are drawn just like you would with any tile. You generally want to draw with the grid on. If you feel completely lost, I would just Start by filling colours on one tile, and then try adding that tile in Godot. once you have done one tile, you can try adding a textureatlas and make more tiles and add those. But you would draw them in any software such as procreate, krita, gimp, affinity. And then you just add the png into Godot.
It's just a really small white dot in a png that I add as a texture to a particle system in Godot. It is really easy to implement in both unity and Godot, just search for particle effects. The reason the texture is white is because you can colour it in the engine.
My computer is 9 years old and absolutely terrible, and I make do with it, even though I'm doing HD and not pixel art. I think as long as you go above 4 gb vram you are probably fine for most 2d games :)
So this video covers mostly how I approach making tiles, both in terms of what I think visually looks nice, but also how I approach it from a technical aspect. I might have a slightly inefficient approach from a technical standpoint (and I hope I didn't make any errors), if you do have any tips feel free to comment, so that both I and others can learn more :) Thanks for watching and feel free to check my Patreon if you want the textures I showcase (but as I said, they aren't technically "finished").
Ohh, and I was unsure on how much of the topic to gloss over, vs how detailed I should be. As you can see, I went for something in between, the video became quite long, but hopefully not boring. But if you actually want to learn how to implement automapping/autotiling, there are great channels out there that can also be more 'engine specific'
I really enjoyed the video! It seems like one approach is to start with the default greybox tiles, create 47 tile set and then use that as a guideline for a more complex patterns, which you do directly with the entire tile set. Am I understanding this this correctly? Also how did you generate the 47-tile set from one tile? Is there a tool you recommend?
Ye basically. Originally I started making the 47-tile set based on a 3x3 minimal autotile template. I essentially just looked at the bitmask necessary for godot to use auto tiling. But I eventually altered the arrangement to better fit how I draw. I don't know of any tools other than just using a template of sorts to "know which tiles to make"
@@Nonsensical2D thank you!!
One important thing not touched on in this video is that you can overlay more than one tilemap to the same cell. For instance, the example of the stone tiles with scratches on them, you can make the stone tiles one set and the scratches another set, so you're effectively adding grunge, graffiti, and decals as a tileset and you can reuse them for multiple tiles.
This video was exactly something I was trying to Find. I'm starting my game dev journey sometime in November. I've decided on GameMaker for my first project. However I was super worried about make tiles at first. Glad you post this video. Thank you!
You consistently make some of the highest quality videos on game art. Really helpful stuff thanks
This is a wildly useful analysis. Thanks for the work here!
You might be the channel I've been looking for. I've been thinking of a side project, and making stock images got me bored, so I have been thinking of assets for games. But I'm brand new at it (in terms of no gaming dev background knowledge - I do have 3d development (products) knowledge tho). Thanks, I'll definitely be doing a deep dive in everything you have posted :)
Really great info. I used your tilemap template in LDTK and it worked really well with the auto layer functionality. You use a different layout but I was able to map all the tiles. Thanks heaps!
Thank you for providing the best answers in therms on making art for a game
I’m new to game art and your videos have become a great resource. If you have anything for isometric art, would love to watch. Thanks for all that you do here.
Great information, thanks for sharing! Just wanted to mention helpful tool - Tilesetter which could help sorting out initial tedious and boring setup.
You can also make a separate interior dark tileset, and render this on top (more foreground). I would at least try this to experiment, and as long as there are no issues with performance, probably do it like that.
This is such valuable advice. Thank you!
Finally you have created a Patreon! Glad we can support your work further
this channel is incredible - thanks!:)
Great tutorial, and overall amazing content on your channel. Most intuitive way to learn as a non-artist.
Curious if you will continue focusing on platformer art or will also look at other game types (e.g., top-down 2d)?
I definitely am intending to do top-down and other stuff. I have already started on some things, but I have trouble saying when I'll be ready with it. Hopefully soon, but since I do this part time and videos take a while to make, it's tricky to say when I can find time to fix some of the necessary surrounding things.
@@Nonsensical2D totally understandable and thanks again for your content, I've learned a ton already. Will subscribe to your patreon in the meantime!
love your videos/classes! thanks for sharing!
I'm using a similar technique to this in my game (you can see a demo video of some early gameplay on my RUclips profile.) However, I made the mistake of making the "fill" area a lighter colour than the surface area. Unfortunately I was kind of limited by other elements of the design; the area was meant to be a kind of sterile, high-tech environment with mostly greys and desaturated blues, and I'd already used two shades of blue on the surface tiles and dark grey in the background (to contrast with the light-coloured player character) so light grey was the only colour I had left. I've since redesigned the tileset to use light blue for the entire surface, freeing up a darker blue to be used for the fill, but I haven't updated my screenshots with those assets yet.
I've also got a rocky underground area (not in the video, but you can see screenshots of it by clicking the website link on my profile) that uses a similar technique to what you mention here with the edges of the tiles covering the player's feet, but instead of shrinking the collision box I instead created a set of tiles that consist only of the edges of the rocks and didn't apply collision to them at all. In fact, that's the only part that I'm using a tilemap for in that area, since the main "fill" rock pattern is done using a textured polygon. I did this because the rock texture is four tiles rather than just one and I didn't want to have to constantly alternate between tiles.
Great video, it was really helpful for a solo game dev! 😄
Great informative video as always. Hope you get plenty of support through patreon so you can produce more videos.
I needed this video 4 years ago lol ... but why do people make tiles for others to use? I don't think anyone uses them for serious projects otherwise all games would look the same.
The purpose I made it in this case was mainly if someone wants to take a look at how the asset actually looks in relation to my explanation, I felt that some explanations might not come across as well unless you actually look at how I personally make the assets (layer structure, brush strokes, details, etc). If someone wants to actually use them as is, then I wouldn't mind, but they aren't production ready anyway so I wouldn't :)
I think making all 4 sides of a tileset's "blob" walls identical is fine for placeholder art. but I feel it's worth the extra steps to make ceilings look different from floors, and different from walls, though. depitct them differently for visual variety. it really helps to sell what this environment is, materially/architectually, if this makes sense.
have been binge watching ur videos lol
Hi! Can you say something about using a hybrid technique like this?
Using tilemaps as objects that can be transformed, similar to floating sprites, could be useful. For example, you might set up a tiled tree in the background and give it a slight rotation to add visual interest. Or you could place a log between two banks, with a slight rotation to create the effect of it being partially submerged in mud.
Another idea is to combine floating sprites and tilemaps, not just as background elements but also in gameplay and physics. You could add individual objects at specific points in the level to enhance the scene or introduce gameplay elements, like a falling object (e.g., a large rock or fragile floor). By the way, a tilemap could also serve as the visual element for a rigid body in physics simulations.
Thanks a lot for this video! I’ve also subscribed to your patreon and I find it really useful! I would like to ask you if you can make another video where you describe how to create assets that will be animated (with spine2d or the engine animation system). For example: characters, environmental items (trees,…),… thanks again!
I've actually thought about doing this for a long time. And I really want to do it, so it will come, but I can't say when exactly (it depends on which script I feel is 'most ready')
Good job!
I really like your videos but I'm wondering if you could make a series on 'top down' view, too.
Games with a perspective like stardew valley or the old Zelda games are very popular and I while I think some of the concepts you described in your videos can be applied, others can not.
I feel like it is more difficult to to have cohesive assets for these kind of games since you have to fill out the space with something and you can't 'cheat' that easily
I wonder how perspective is considered when drawing assets or animation sprites. Is it just overlapping forms and shapes without scaling in depth? I am confused on what type of perspective to learn right now if the goal is doing 2D animation for sidescrollers. :o
Thanks for the video! :DD
Okay, so I love your tutorials, and I swear to god a while ago I saw a tutorial from you (I remember the mushroom guy) about adding background particles and effects to bring the game together. Does that video exist or am I imagining it because I REALLY need it.
sounds like a video called: "How to make your Game come to LIFE | Particle effects | Shaders | 2D Animations" :)
@@Nonsensical2D YAY found it! Thankyou so much! (I looked through all your videos but i couldn't find it at all)
I just recently watched a video about dual-grid systems and how using it can reduce the number of tiles required for auto-tiling to just 15 tiles. It's such a clever trick it feels like cheating
I've also seen the video you are talking about, maybe I should check how it would function for sidescrollers (since if it is the video I am thinking it showcases top down examples), I haven't entirely thought about how it would impact level design, but if it works out fine then you are right, it would be an insane upgrade :)
Cannot access patreon regardless of the browser or device I use😢
In your video it looks like you are using Procreate ( which I want to use ). But, when I clicked on the link in Patreon it wants to open Gimp. I also just watched you How to draw game art in Procreate video but I was hoping you would just tell me what settings I need to use. You've mentioned 128x128 but I don't really know what that's talking about. What should my screen size on a new canvas be? What should my grid size be to draw my own template? Thank you for your videos!
Ye, the file is created in procreate but saved in the psd file format (photoshops file format, which most programs can open, including procreate). As for settings I don't really know if I have any particular settings (I draw in rgb, but that is standard). the 128x128 is the pixel dimension of a single tile, if you are making a sprite sheet or a tile map you will generally set a dimension for how big each sprite should be and powers of 2 tend to be the standard (due to performance) so you'll see 16x16 pixels per tile a lot in pixel art, but since I do hand drawn I go for larger sizes, such as 128x128 pixels per tile in this case. If you are not doing individual tiles, but free floating sprites the same principle often still stands that it can be helpful to make your canvas size be in powers of 2, so 256x256 or 128x256 etc. I have a video called "what size should your assets be" that cover a lot of this stuff and more. As for the grid size, I kind of talked about this a bit, but I tend to make my own grid following the tile size I am using, so 128x128, but also apply a grid in my software that is significantly smaller, in this case my grid was 16x16. But It depends on what you want to use the grid for, I have a 16x16 grid to better keep track of where I want my details to line up.
@@Nonsensical2D Awesome! Thank you for replying! I'll watch your "What size..." video right now.
Could you make some step by step drawing tutorials 🌹, Btw your videos are amazing 🤍
How did i guess you were working with 128x128 tiles before you said it? Kinda impressed with myself
Super handy
Does it work well for pixel art too? Or is that harder to pull orf
I think for pixel art all of the stuff I mention is probably just easier. lining up tiles becomes easier, programs like aseprite have really good tile modes that can help, so yes. it should work!
👍🏻
Alright, it's time to subscribe to your channel already 😅
How to make these tiles? Like how do you even draw them? Canvas size? I'm lost
Also how do you add those grey blocks in godot?
it's a 4x12 grid, with 128x128 tiles, so the canvas size is 1536x512. The grey blocks are drawn just like you would with any tile. You generally want to draw with the grid on. If you feel completely lost, I would just Start by filling colours on one tile, and then try adding that tile in Godot. once you have done one tile, you can try adding a textureatlas and make more tiles and add those. But you would draw them in any software such as procreate, krita, gimp, affinity. And then you just add the png into Godot.
@Nonsensical2D ty so much!!
Hello! How did you add those particles? 13:17
It's just a really small white dot in a png that I add as a texture to a particle system in Godot. It is really easy to implement in both unity and Godot, just search for particle effects. The reason the texture is white is because you can colour it in the engine.
@@Nonsensical2D Thank you!
Is 4070ti enough to make these pixel art games?
My computer is 9 years old and absolutely terrible, and I make do with it, even though I'm doing HD and not pixel art. I think as long as you go above 4 gb vram you are probably fine for most 2d games :)
@@Nonsensical2D Thank you 😊 sir by the way you're like teacher to me
I'm sorry but Ori does NOT have great game art.