VIII. CLIFFS ( <3 )
Personally, cliffs are my absolute favorite part of mapping, but sadly, they are the most commonly messed up thing.
By themselves, they are pretty simple, but when you begin to complicate things and make them more intricate, that is when things begin to look ugly.
When making cliffs, try to add some shape and form to them! When you look into nature, you do not see many square cliffs. You can apply to anything in your map really, square things are usually a big no no. Not only does it make your map seem more realistic but it makes it more interesting as well!
A. Height Consistency
The height of a cliff, (number of tiles high), must be consistent throughout that section.
Example Image Explanations:
Incorrect:
Because it changes to 2 or 3 in the middle of the cliff, the height is not consistent, making the cliffs wrong.
Correct:
All the cliffs are 3 tiles high, since there are no additions, this is correct.
B. Additions
Original Cliff Height - Attachment Cliff Height = New Cliff Height
When you attach a cliff to another cliff, the attachment must the be the height that it subtracted.
Example Image Explanations:
Incorrect:
The bottom cliff edges are not the correct tile.
Since the attachment cliff is taking two tiles away from the cliff, it should be two tiles high.
Correct:
Even if the attachment is not fully connected, the cliff height still needs to be subtracted from each cliff past that point.
Example Image Explanations:
Incorrect:
The cliff height should be 2 there, since the cliff below is taking away one tile height.
Correct:
This one correctly subtracts the height from the original cliff.
C. Connecting Cliffs
To connect cliffs by bridge, they need to be the same height.
Example Image Explanations:
Incorrect:
One cliff"s height is 4, while the other is only 2.
Correct:
One cliff’s height is 4, and the other’s overall height is also 4. So the bridge works.
D. Cliff Corners
Do not forget cliff corners!
Missing cliff corners are probably the most common error associated with cliffs, which is also the easiest to fix. Whenever mapping cliffs keep tabs on your cliff corners, they can be very easily overlooked.
Example Image Explanations:
Incorrect:
Every missing cliff corner has been circled.
E. Cliff Holes
Cliff holes are a good way to add depth to a house!
When making a cliff hole, the back side (cliff height) of the cliff hole must be all visible, so the overall height of the hole is known.
Example Image:
A normal cliff hole is about this size.
This is the smallest size a cliff hole can be, but I would not advise using one of this size. Usually the rounded corners of the cliff holes look better.
F. Cliffs Facing each Other
Cliffs should not be “touching” front to back; this is if they are, then they are not the same height, but the image makes it look that way. This just causes problems with perception.
Basically it makes two cliffs of different heights, looks the same height.
Example Image Explanation:
Incorrect: 
One cliff has the height of one tile, while the other one has the height of 4 tiles, but still they are touching making them seem as if you could walk over them.
When this happens you will have to edit your cliff edges to separate them.