Pixel Hex 1 Remaster Update

*The store page has been updated with the Pixel Hex Tileset 1.2 files!*

Hello everyone!

It's been five years since the original launch of Pixel Hex Tileset, and I wanted to thank everyone for their continued support in my journey. There are a lot of folks from different communities who've bought my hex tiles to make maps, and I am very grateful for all of you! Today I wanted to share 3 items- remastering Pixel Hex Tileset 1, commercial licensing, and general updates.

REMASTERING PIXEL HEX TILESET 1

I've had a variety of requests over the years, and so I thought it was appropriate to make some major changes to Pixel Hex 1 to align it with the transparency/overlay style that I introduced in Pixel Hex Tileset 2. My goal is to make the hexes more compatible and easy to use across sets.  So with that, let's jump into the details:

UPDATES:

• All transition tiles (grass to dirt, mountain to desert, etc) have been replaced with transparency tiles. So as an example, the mountain set has "half tiles" where one side of a hex is mountain and the other is transparency. This allows more flexibility in layering borders across ALL land and water types.
• Tiles will now be available in 32, 64, and 92 pixel hex sizes, to accommodate more map sizes and commercial licensing.
• More hex tile variations. I couldn't help myself. Of note, the ocean tiles are now full sets in both dark blue and blue. The few lumpy dirt tiles are now the "boulder" set. The road has a new gravel recolor. All mountain sets should be standardized with each other- no missing tiles. There are additional full tile variations on more sets.
• The volcano island demo set has been added into the main pixel pack to avoid confusion. The volcano island received the same love as the other land sets. I have updated the demo on the store page to include the new transparency tiles.
• I've added a few more locations/flora with the backgrounds removed for more customized placement.

I hope you all enjoy the changes.

COMMERCIAL LICENSING

Part of the reason behind this update comes from the multitude of requests I've had for commercial licenses over the last few years. Depending on the requests, costs to individuals to use my tilesets for specific projects has ranged from $50-$3000. Only problem is it's a complete pain to manage individual contracts, and I wanted to make commercial licensing easier (and cheaper) for indie ttrpg and game developers. As such, I'm launching commercial license purchases as a separate item on eligible tileset store pages.

THE DETAILS:

• A commercial license for each individual tileset will be available on itch for $60.
• If you're interested, please read the example contract on the store page in the demo section.
  
• A commercial license purchase lets you use the tileset for as many projects as you like.
• The assets are intended to be used as part of a larger project (video game, ttrpg adventure, etc) and not for copying and reselling.
• I just ask that you keep a receipt of your purchase (and own the email address you used to purchase the license). 
• Feel free to email me your products/projects when published and I'd love to share on social media.
• Email me if you have questions.

I'm opening Pixel Hex 1 and Pixel Hex 2 for licensing first. Pixel Hex 2 will not have 32 and 64 pixel sized tiles at launch, but I'm currently looking at exporting those assets and updating the pack shortly.

I will look at my other pixel work to see what would be appropriate. Critical Pixel Tokens seems an obvious answer, but I have lost some of the original working files and would not be able to provide different sizes, at least in the short term. Feel free to let me know if there are specific sets you're more interested in for commercial use in the future.

GENERAL UPDATES

My energy for creative projects has dwindled over the last few years. I'm sure many of you have also experienced similar with your own hobbies and passions depending on your situation. I feel more stable now, but I'm being careful to avoid pushing myself back into burnout. The timing for updating Pixel Hex 1 worked well, as I regained some desire to get back into creative work recently. I used that energy to create this update, and to gauge additional work.

I have a variety of half finished projects, from a fantasy Pixel Hex City tileset to isometric mecha. I don't know what (if any) will see completion, but I have a desire to release more content in some form. This is a half-joke, but maybe it'll be Pixel Hex 3, since I've built a familiar workflow for map tiles.  I'm also excited for the release of the Break!! ttrpg, which I think may inspire me to create more adventure content. The Curse of Dread Pirate Zarr was featured on CBR.com the other day, which was kind of surprising!

Thanks for your patience and I hope you are all doing well!