Messing around with paths

stevenshepherd

New member
I think there are a lot of potentially creative uses for paths that could really save your tilesets. I thought I would start a thread for cool path uses.

I made a house of out paths. I wanted a house to have a solid black outline so it pops. However, this would take up several tiles (left edge with black line, right edge with black line, and center section). Plus I wanted to add some wear and tear on the building, but unless i want the damage to be on every time (which looks weird), that too would require several tiles.

I took all of that and reduced it into one path. Then, all I needed was a door and windows, and I got a house with the details that I want out of 2 tiles and a path as opposed to using 5+ tiles.

The path could also be reused to make worn out floor boards or something somewhere else.

Right now the roof on the building is a separate set of tiles, but one of them is just the same as the wood floor in the house and the dock wood that you see in this pic.

house and path.png
 
I really need to dig into paths more. They seem powerful, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around making one. ( I haven't tried very hard hard, in my defense)

EDIT: This looks great, by the way!
 

stevenshepherd

New member
thanks!

Yea I am only starting to figure it out. I would recommend editing the different sections one at a time when viewing the path under graphic assets (i.e., the right image) and seeing what their effects are. You don't even have to do anything interesting, just a scribble or a line, and then see what it does. You start to get a sense of what is what.
 
SONOFABITCH!

you beat me to the punch :D

i did the same thing but with brick textures to save some tiles while doing city buildings for another path asset drop.
i am very happy great minds think alike!

the only thing i haven't been able to crack yet is roofs.
 

WolfMerrik

New member
Those look really great!
I was going to start messing around with paths, as its a part of the graphics I have not really explored. I watched the video for how to use them, which is great, but learning the art of making them is indeed a lot harder than I expected. Any tips for a noob like myself?
 

stevenshepherd

New member
Thanks! It has really just been trial and error. I go into the graphics bank, and then path info where you can view what the path looks like. I just make little changes one at a time to get a sense of what they do when drawn on a screen.
 

WolfMerrik

New member
I actually just figured out like 10 minutes ago (don't laugh) that you can edit the tiles in the Path Editor... So yeah... I was trying to make them all in the pixel editor, saving, looking at them, writing down which ones needed fixes, and then going back and forth... I feel dumb now. haha.

But seriously, keep up the awesome work! They look awesome!
 

stevenshepherd

New member
Yea it isn't entirely obvious (I have been playing around with betas for a while so I have maybe had a bit more time with the program). But yea it is much easier to visualize things in path editor than in the row of 8x8 tiles in the pixel editor. I still find myself going to the pixel editor for paths occasionally. For example, in Path editor I'll draw a line or something in the box to mark the one I want to edit, and then I'll load it up in the pixel editor to make use of the copy and paste function.
 

WolfMerrik

New member
That is a smart way to do it. Make an obvious mark on the block that you want to edit, and then go from there in the pixel editor!
 
http://www.nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=239

this is how i do it, but i show a little "cheat" by numbering the tiles.
although i do offer up the pyxel edit file and the program is only 9 bucks.

nice brag point i'll have about my file is the resulting tilesets are organized in precisely the layout nesmaker needs,
so you can just spit out a .bmp right into your assets folder.

the program is great for making tilesets and even making mockups right on the spot.
 

zypher

New member
Wow, I can't believe I missed the 'edit' button in the Paths section... So much easier than guess and check in the pixel editor.... Thank god for everyone this thread!
 
Top Bottom