Pumpkin Noir

Put simply, I do a lot of planning. I usually start with a simple floor plan sketch-- let’s take the Beretta mansion as an example.

A simple top down perspective is fine. This is the phase where I figure out what props I’ll need for any plot or gameplay scenes. It’s a good idea to think about tile size/location at this stage-- how many tiles should a couch be, where doors are, how much free space you need for characters to move, etc.

Now you know exactly how many tiles you’ll need to make for your tileset, and you have a rough idea of how it will all fit together in the end. This is also a good way to make sure your areas feel unique-- instead of the same old table and chair interior, you can plan to make interiors look more lived in. I decided to add a hearth and some fountains, to add to the feeling of an opulent mansion.

I love pokemon, but… don’t do this if you can help it! This is the result of a one size fits all interior tileset. Does this really feel like somebody’s house? It’s close enough, but it doesn’t really afford a sense of place. This is only really good for expansive rpgs that need a lot of generic houses.

Now that you know how many tiles you’ll need for your room, how do you make sure the tiles will actually look good and work together? What about your prop design and color? I take care of that in the next step.

First, I take the floor plan I drew up and use the transform tool to give it some perspective.

Then, I add lines and really plan what I want the furniture to look like. I basically adapted the strategies used in this tutorial.

As you can see, I skipped the hallway since I knew I could reuse tiles from the other rooms. Take shortcuts where you can!

Even here, the designs for the furniture are pretty rough. But, we’re getting into the ballpark! Next, let’s add some color to get a finished comp. Once again, I save some time by only coloring in one room. I can use the same palette for the office.

These colors still aren’t perfect-- I cringe looking at that green/red rug-- but it’s close enough to what I’m going for that I can start working on the actual tiles. It’s a good idea to spend some time here workshopping your palette, adding in overlays to see how it looks, etc. It will pay big dividends in the final map.

NOTE-- put your character sprites on or near it to make sure they look good with that color scheme!

Now I get to work on the final tiles. I typically start with the wallpaper and flooring, then move on to furniture and props, color picking from the comp. After the tiles are done, it’s just a matter of putting it together in-engine and finaggling some details.

And here’s the final map! As you can see, there are quite a few things I decided to change as I tiled it-- the couch designs, the rug, etc. But all in all, it is pretty close to the comp! This way you know exactly what you need to make and have an idea of what it will look like once it’s done. It isn’t the best strategy for all maps, but I’ve found it to be pretty good for interiors.

And, that’s all the tips I have for now! As a bonus, here are a few samples of Pumpkin Noir maps next to their comps! And a special map preview? :o As a side note, if this tutorial was helpful and you would like to see more, let me know!