Redwall 3D Game/Levels

[s_purs]

I have just inlisted the help of 2 really good character artists from work to make Martin the Warrior, Matthias and Cluny (to start with) so there should be at least a couple of amazing characters in the game at the start. I will ask for more characters when i start to get the rest of the game put together.

Hopefully I can get a layout of the abbey mapped up over the next week and I will put it online to get feedback from you guys so we can make sure everything is in tye right place. If anybody has made a map before or has seen one online then please send me a link =)

[Søren]

So you plan to make a Redwall video game? That's so cool!  Please, if  you could, tell me what characters are going to be in it?

[s_purs]

The characters will depend upon what my friends want to make- I do not make characters. I am hoping to have Martin, Matthias, Cluny, Asmodeus and Methuselah, and maybe a generic rat and mouse. But they will not be starting on the characters until the summer, so I will update then about that.

[s_purs]

I watched through the Redwall film today for reference, I really did not like it. It seems very poorly made, the storyline is disjointed where they had to cut parts of the book out, but they left odd parts in. It really does not do the series justice in my opinion.

On the other hand the graphic novel is impressing me. I am just going through it now ajd tur srt work is very nice, and beautiful in parts- though Methuselah is one ugly creature! The story flows much better than the film. I would recommend it to all

[s_purs]

A quick update- don't worry I haven't stopped working on the game, even though i have not put up a layout image this week like I said i would.

My website is currently being fixed and as soon as that is done i will put up progress images- hopefully early next week.

I have spent the last 2 weeks making the furniture and lighting- candliers, torches, etc- that will fill various parts of the Abbey, and I will show you an image of those 30odd items asap =)

[s_purs]

I am sorting out the basic layout of the Abbey at the moment and it would be great to get some quick answers on these questions:


In a few of the drawings I have seen and in this model the towers at the corners of the walls are all square:



But I don't remember reading anything about the towers existing/details about them in the books I have read. Does anybody know a good reference for these? Or have any details about them?

In most castle designs they would be circular towers as they are stronger and easier to defend, rather than square.


The next questions could be answered quite easily. Do most people think the above image accurately fits the layout they have read about in the books (even if the dimensions are not correct)?

If not then:

Which direction does the Great Hall face? Assuming the main door is at one of the ends rather than on the opposite long wall to Martin's Tapestry? Some images I have seen it line up with the Main Gate, so West, and in other images I've seen it face North/Sound.

Where abouts are the orchards, vegetable patches and pond? I remember in Mattimeo Ironbeak's birds go and raid the orchard for food, does it have any indication about the location of the orchard? (That book is in my parent's house at the moment so won't be able to check myself for a month or so).
I would assume that the orchard would be at the back of the Abbey grounds against the East wall? Then it would make sense for the vegetable patches to be next to them

The small North, East and South gates, do we know their locations on the walls? Conventional design from what I have seen for other buildings of this type would have them in the middles of the walls, but they would quite easily be in one of the corners?


Cheers

[Skipper]

When i watched the animated redwall series the belltower was square, i know they are not always correct but that is also the impression i get from reading the books.Also maybe you could add the abbey birds (you should know what im on about if you've read mattimeo.'
To anwser your next question  i think the image is not correct 1. where is the belltower? 2. i personally think there was more room for the abbey grounds 3. i could be mistaken but i don't think the gatehouse is there, i used to think the gatehouse was on the ramparts but when i watched the animated film it was on the ground. 4. This might be abit to much detail but i belive there were bulushes in the pond. 5. i got th impression from outcast of redwall the abbey pond was in the north-east corner and also where are the steps leading to the ramparts?
i belive the great hall was the area you walked into from the main entrance and the tapestry was straight ahead. i don't know where the small gates where but i have more theories about where cavern hole is etc, pm me if you want to know them.

[s_purs]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah the pond's location was a bit confusing for me- it would be good if anybody else knew exactly where it was meant to be?

I have added much more space around the Abbey- I assumed that in that model they made the building so big as thats the most interesting part of the model. In my version it is about half the size of that model.

I was going to have the gatehouse on the ground, as it gets turned into a cottage at the end of Redwall, and you couldn't have that up ontop of the wall.

I have added in the steps up to the top of the wall, I assumed there would be one set going to each corner.

I will make the towers square then

Yeah I will definitely be adding loads of detail in like the bullrushes, etc. Im just trying to get the layout and general shape of the abbey sorted out this week. If I added loads of detail and had to change all of the positions round too much then it adds extra work in.

I assumed that tower to the front left was the bell tower? If not what is it? Also where is the bell tower meant to be located if that is not it?


When I get a few more replies for feedback about the locations I will put up a map of it I am making so we can refine it more.

Thanks again

[Nightfire]

I don't think that there are towers on the outer wall of the abbey. Remember how in Taggerung there was a wallrace/groundrace? They wouldn't be able to race the perimeter of the wall if there were towards, because it'd stop their progress.

[s_purs]

The towers would have an arch in so you could go through them like in the picture above. I assumed they ran through that?

[rakkety tam]

ok i think that the pond is in the southeast corner the garden is basicly right in the middle of the east wall and the orchard is in the northern east wall get what i'm saying its just how i thought it was

[s_purs]

Ok thank you. I will make the changes that have been suggested and get my version of the basic layout up this week, along with some progress shots of the furniture I have made. Its been slow progress as i want to stick to the books as best i can- if i had just been making it all up it would hace been much more finished aleady!

The only thing I am really not sure of is what that tower is on the front left side of the abbey in the model? If that isnt the Bell tower then where is that meant to be and what is that other tower?

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

I don't think making towers circular would have been practical, given restraints, in that model.

I indistinctly remember artwork from artists in the novels that showed the absolute absence of wall towers. I am 99% certain they were never mentioned.

[Lily]

I agree with ToR, I can't remember any mention of towers in the outer walls.

As for which way Great Hall faces, I always assumed the entrance lined up with the main gate of the abbey.

[s_purs]

Yeah i didn't remember them from the books, but it makes sense from a historic point of view and its more interesting to look at, so i will keep them.

Still tryibg to work out what that front left tower on the main building is?