Thread: Post Apocalyptic Campaign Planning Map WIPs

Thanks all, for the kind words. After doing some more writing for the campaign, I decided that the overland map needed a serious overhaul. As air travel will play a key role, it needed to be massively upscaled and I wanted to add more interest to the terrain. A barren wasteland doesn't have to be a boring one. Thought if I was going to go through the trouble of reworking the whole shebang I would experiment with a different style, outside of my comfort area, and try to learn something. I like what I've got going here so far, still need to add major roadways (suggestions?) and other things - like making the labels legible.



Much thanks to Tear for the Saderan tutorial! (oooh... THAT'S what layer masks are for.)

Hey! Nice maps! Some comments:

You'e using Chisel Hard beveling in Photoshop a *lot*. I've fallen into that trap many times as well, so I know how easy it may seem to get quick houses and mountain ridges. But they all look very "automatic" which is unfortunate. As for the first map of the road and houses, I think you should draw the houses individually and not use beveling. You can create them in Illustrator if you want them to be perfectly square.

Be sure not to overuse drop shadow as well. Drop shadow in Photoshop creates a flat drop shadow based on the outline of the items in your layer. This is very effective for 2D objects such as text, but not that much for houses or other stuff. The height of the house and the shape of the roof would make the drop shadow look completely different, which means that using PS drop shadow actually just makes them look strange.

Also, when using textures as overlays for your map, be sure to use a texture that is big enough where the repeating pattern isn't all that obvious. I'm sure you could find a nice non-tiling texture to cover your entire map canvas, just do a nice google search for "grunge background". Also make the textures small enough so they look like they fit to the objects they are supposed to texture

In the overview map, the chiseled mountain ridges is a quick way to make them look correct. If this works for you then I have nothing to say about that. I'd remove the outer glow on them, however, since they seem to be floating off the ground at this point. Then perhaps add another layer with a smaller bevel to create smaller mounds and hills on the map, to make it look not so very flat with huge super-sharp mountain ranges.

BTW, I see now (oops) that you've changed the overview map, but I'll let my comments stand either way - the new Map looks a lot better!

Thanks for the C&C, Sandman - and yeah, guilty as charged. The world bending powers of layer styles are a fairly recent discovery for me, and it is awfully tempting to go the 'click click click done' route, even if the finished product isn't exactly what I'm looking for. But hey, I'm here to get better, and I think the new overland map (with nary a Hard Chisel) is a step in the right direction. Thanks again for taking the time to look and offer advice! (btw - That is some truly beautiful stuff on your website.)

I can totally relate to how tempting it is to use the automated styles to create content. And sometimes it looks really good as well. But then you take the time to actually do it manually and both the level of satisfaction and the end result is a lot better. And yes, your new overview map is a lot nicer! I'm sure you could improve your closeup-map in the same manner

Thanks about the comments, back

Final workup of that new overland map, I'm pretty happy with it. Time to move on to the next town... I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun with these.