Terraining - Dungeon Terraining

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	Terraining - Dungeon Terraining Tutorial By Battlemapsta K guys since I can't find a thread like this anywhere and with a dungeon contest going on I'd like to add some of my knowledge in the art of dungeons :P Now for this I am going to show you guys different varieties of dungeon types. The ones covered in this tutorial are indoor, castle like dungeons. In dungeons it may not look as pretty as in outdoor terraining but I will go over things like dungeon enterences and stuff like that. Indoor dungeon terraining is limited so be creative which is why this tutorial is here to lend a helping hand. (Now just for you all to be advised, I am using the dungeon tile set for the most of the sections in this tutorial except for the boss arena one.) Note- In my other dungeon tutorial I have gone over the use of having good terrain in a dungeon but this tutorial is meant to go more in depth in that topic. _________________________________________________________________ Dungeon Terraining Tutorial Contents 1. Dungeon Enterences 2. Dungeon Boss Arenas 3. Dungeon Prison Chambers 4. Dungeon Torture Chambers _________________________________________________________________ 1. Dungeon Enterences For the first dungeon terraining area I'll go over is the enterence. Now of course the enterence is how you get inside a dungeon but lets see how it can look. I'll show you all how to make it look really cool. Also be aware that this example is meant as an instance type enterence so when you walk through it, you teleport to the dungeon or something like that. Step 1 1. To start we're going to create a new map and we'll begin by adding some walls. Now thing about this is that you should remember that if you make it look equally the same in both side that you won't screw up since in this example I am going to make it look the same in both sides and if you don't make it equal, you'll have a pile of mess. Here is how my wall looks like in the example so far: Step 2 Now the second step now that the wall has been taken care of is the outside of the dungeon. Now if your dungeon is one where you need to fight in it's good that you make it look like people lost their lives there. 1. To begin with the outside I'll first start terraining to make it look pretty plus adding a road to the enterence will make it look good as well like this: 2. Now at the moment it's really flat so lets make it look better by using the height and lower tool plus adding some doodas to give it a satisfying feeling. I also took the chance of adding bricks as a support for the road so the road doesn't look so plan like this: 3. Now that that is finished we need to add a feeling of death to it as I mentioned above. For this I'll add corpses, remains, cages, and several other doodas for this step so it looks something like this: Step 3 For the third step in the enterence design is now the looks of the dungeon interior while still being in the exterior. It sounds wierd but you'll understand as you read further or just see the pictures. 1. To begin we will make the dungeon entry way look better. For this I will make it look like corridor and add a ramp that leads to a giant gate. I also add walls behind the gate and to the sides by simply using the increase 2 tool and keep doing it in the same spot to make it look similar to that. I had to decrease some of it for the gate to fit there though and it looked like this. Also note that I made the demonic gate scale size 2 for this: 2. Now that the corridor like walkway is done we need to use the increase tool to make a rising platform for the dungeon enterior which is what we're going to do now. In result in my example I make it look like this but note that I made the increasing equal in both sides but it turned out that I made a little mistake. Either way it looks good and it looks like this: Step 4 1. Now in the last picture you may have notice flat terrain in the left side of the wall. Now I did this so we can add some nice nifty water or in this case lava to cover it up. Note that since I am going to place them next to the wall that you use man-made walls for the lave placement and also a thing for this example though is that I am going to go circle the lava around the whole enterence so it looks like this: 2. Now that there is no way to go into the dungeon, obviously we need a bridge. For this one I'll add a bridge but in addition we'll need to decorate the dungeon with lights which will be in the example. Remember it's good to have lights in maps it looks better: Now that picture was actually the final product of a very simple dungeon enterence. If I ever feel like it I will post a more unique looking dungeon enterence but if you read this whole section, then you know that you have just made a dungeon enterence. 2. Dungeon Boss Arenas Now I've been over the look of a very simple boss arena map but in this I am going to be creative with a terrain that can both bring strategy and challenge. In this example of a boss arena we will say that this is home of a teleportation demon. Now since it's a teleportation boss, we need a good area at which his teleportation can bring a threat and challenge to his challengers. Also this is a simple OUTDOOR arena so be aware of that as well. Step 1 1. To begin I will make a map with the the Outland Tile set using dirt to fill the entire map like so- 2. Next we I'm going to use the increase tool to add cliffs and then ramp them that so they're all reachable by 1 unit like so: 3. Next add some water to some areas to it looks better and since I'm using the Outland tileset I also changed the terrain a bit as well like so: 4. K this one is very easy. Since this is an outdoor arena we need to cover the surrounding area and since it's the Outland tileset, I can easily do that by coveing the whole surrounding by abbys like so: Step 2 1. Now that the terraining is done we need to add some doodads. Now the reason this map is going to be hard because of teleporting is because of obstacles I'm going to create. First though I am going to add doodads of firepits and also show a resemblence of death in the area like so: 2. Now that we're done that, I will now add some enviromental doodads as well as doodads that will block some paths which actually now is the final step in this: Now add the boss and the enemy units and your done. This is the finished product of a normal simplistic boss map outdoors that would be good for a teleportation boss. 3. Dungeon Prison Chambers Now in some dungeons there are prisons. For this example I'm going to give I'll show how to make a good looking prison chamber. Step 1 1. To begin I'll make several walls which will house the prisons. My prison will store 4 cells in all: 2. Now that the wall is set we need to redecorate it with doses of terrain to make it look better. Here is my example with the terrain decoration but since it was so small, it was VERY limited: Step 2 1. Now that terraining is finished its time to move on to doodads. To start I am going to add prison gates as well as walls and lights to the hall so it looks like this: 2. Now that the doodads are in place, we need to add a lever in case the guards need to release the prisoners. Also it's good to add a table for the guards to relax while they're on duty like so with the addition of me placing some guards: Step 3 Now that those steps are completed, we now need to make the cells look good. 1. To begin we will first add some food and water in the cell for the prisonner. For this make a trough inside the prison and for food place in some dead fish or something else you may find there. Also add a bed but since there are no bed models in the editor, just add a bench so it looks like this: 2. Now the final step for the cell is to add a chain post in case the prisonner becomes a problem for the guards and of course add the prisonner Prison sizes determine how much can fit there so in mine I can only had one like so: Now you got yourself the finished product of a cell. Make each cell similar to that and you have a completed prison. Again this is small so I was really limited to my capabilities. 4. Dungeon Torture Chambers Here is one that bring horror to the likes of man. Torture rooms are as it's called, a room where people get tortured painfully. I am going to show how to make a good looking torture room now. Step 1 1. To begin I'm going to make a wall that encloses itself with 2 empty spots which will be used as doors/gates. Mine looks like this so far: 2 Next I am going to use the increase 1 tool to lift terrain in several areas at which lead to the next door. I will use a ramp to join the floors after this step but right now it looks like this: 3. For the final step in terraining right now I'm going to link the floors with a ramp, fill the left blank spot with some water which I color tinted in dark red to resemble blood, and I gave a little nice design in the top floor so it looks like: Step 2 1. Now that terraining is done we need to add some doodads and destructables. First I will add some iron gates as doors for the 2 empty spots and also I'll also add some cages with people in them. Torturers ready themselves for their duties as the prisonners are trapped, unable to escape from their fate which is why the cages are being added looking like this: 2. Next I'm going to actually add some prissoners to the cages as well as lights all around the room so it looks like this: 3. Since the room now is lighted up and has it's prey locked up, you need to put the torturing equiptment now. There are many in the dungeon section so use them all really. Remember to also add signs of death because torture rooms aren't meant to be pleasent. This is how the room is now: 4. This should be the last step to finished a nice normal torture room. Since the torture tools are a level lower than the prisoners in cages in my example, it's best to add guards rear the prisonners so they can't escape as well as adding a table for them to relax in. I mean no one wants to be torturered so thats why you need guards. Also for an added bonus using the weather effect of heavy red fog as well as adding some red fog in general can really make your torture room look more.... deadly. This is the final product with the fog effects: Now this is a pretty good looking torture chamber. Remember these tips and you'll do fine in dungeon torture design. _________________________________________________________________ Hope some of you got more info about dungeon visuals now :) I plan to update the tutorial whenever possible but atm I need a rest from all this typing ;) Click here to comment on this tutorial.