Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 15

Thread: Oostangelt en de Verboden Pas

  1. #1
    Guild Member Meridius's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Fryslân, Netherlands
    Posts
    80

    Map Oostangelt en de Verboden Pas

    Unfortunately, I do not have a WIP for this map. After I sent Matrim here, he told me I should get my map on here... Even though I think it's

    The map is completely in Dutch, with Dutch-sounding names. May be a bit hard on the average English tongue and throat (topicname is Dutch too: "Oostangelt and the Forbidden Pass", I haven't thought up a decent English equivalent for 'Oostangelt' yet)

    On the map are the County of Oostangelt in a country called Bern. The Verboden Pas (Forbidden Pass) is also on this map because I didn't want two separate maps. Just imagine some random map-drawing peasant had the funky idea to draw exactly what the PC's need before they told him

    A bit of mission back-story: The players of my D&D campaign are on a mission to get to Khaz Dukar (extreme north on the map, land of the Dwarves), unfortunately, due to insane amounts of 'Pirates' most skippers won't take their ships out. The PC's bargained a trip on a ship from the west of the country to the east, the skipper and crew wanted to go home, and the PC's where to provide security. But now the only viable route is walking... through the 'Verboden Pas', which isn't a very inviting place judging by the name. They've heard of a way to go OVER it though. They came into Oostangelt near the village of 'Gammelbrug' (Which would be something like 'Ramshacklebridge' in English ).

    There aren't many villages, towns and cities on this map yet, since I haven't thought them up yet The county is divided in Baronies. Each barony may have more than one town/village in it. But those are still not found in the chaos that is my brain. I've mainly bothered with those I could think up.

    I may or may not eventually produce a world map, but I found that drawing maps is QUITE time consuming, (took me a good 30 hours I guess). I absolutely LOVE building this world, but I have to watch out not to overdo it since I still have to create adventures too

    The towns, cities and villages are probably oversized. I mainly copied Pasis' style and textures, so at first I didn't really think this was worth posting. Matrim convinced me to do so anyway.

    Things I've learned:
    - There's no such thing as 'high resolution'. As big as I thought this map was (and my computer agrees), I would almost say it's too small. But I fear my computer will explode in a huge fireball if I push it any further...
    - Map making takes cartloads of time.
    - Textures make or break a map (so I used Pasis' tutorial textures).
    - Mountains in this climate zone should have snow on them, and should be more greyish.
    - Having a large font collection is good!

    Things I wonder (partially jokingly):
    - Is it normal for computers to spend five minutes on a single (albeit complicated) command?
    - Is it normal for computers to warm the entire house? On the bright side, I never had cold feet during the making of this map
    - How in the world do people make make good tile-able textures?

    People I should tank:
    - Pasis, for making an awesome tutorial.
    - The creator of this forum, for making an equally awesome forum.
    - Matrim, for inspiring me to post this map.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Oostangelt-en-Verboden-Pas.jpg 
Views:	583 
Size:	1.31 MB 
ID:	21961  

  2. #2

    Default

    Now that's a map with allot of character. Perhaps the mountains should have snow on them, but visually they look really believable. I like your parchment-style legend/map key as well. Oh and can totally relate to your quandary about the length of time it takes for your computer to perform a single command: using RobA's tapered stroke path on the rivers of my map took literally hours on my computer. Great job, and here's some rep.

    Cheers,

    -Arsheesh.

  3. #3
    Guild Adept moutarde's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Vancouver
    Posts
    485

    Default

    That looks really great, and congrats on posting your first map here! The only quibble I have, is the gaps in the forest cover. They strike me as looking kind of squarish. But other than that, very well done!

  4. #4
    Guild Member Meridius's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Fryslân, Netherlands
    Posts
    80

    Default

    Which gaps exactly? The small ones, which are 'built into' the texture, or the slightly larger clearings?

    Oh, and thank you guys for the comments, and rep!

  5. #5
    Guild Adept moutarde's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Vancouver
    Posts
    485

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Meridius View Post
    Which gaps exactly? The small ones, which are 'built into' the texture, or the slightly larger clearings?

    Oh, and thank you guys for the comments, and rep!
    I was referring to the smaller ones - I didn't realize they were part of the texture though. They just seem a little jagged in some spots, like they just need a little smoothing or something...

  6. #6
    Professional Artist Djekspek's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    766

    Default

    That's a very nice "pasis style" map you got there!! As for the gaps, I tried the pasis tutorial some months ago and also found the little "gap" in the trees as well a bit out-of-style (compared to the rest of the stuff in the tut which is just pro). smudging would help or maybe a dark green background could make it a little smoother. cheers!

  7. #7
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Coyotemax's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,945

    Default

    What I found works well for creating the forest texture in that respect is to not use the magic wand tool, but the "Colour Select" (in photoshop anyhow, not sure about gimp). That way instead of a hard selection edge, it goes into a smooth selection when removing the black. That's what happened here I think - there's a hard defined edge between the black (removed, now transparent) and the almost black.

    Very small point, and doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the map!

    it's a wondeful piece, tutorial basis or not (I've done my share of similar mapping style, nothing wrong with that!), and conveys a lot of information without being overcrowded.

    Definitely worth posting, thanks! (and i love the parchment/legend/etc on the left, wonderful job, couldn't have done better myself!)

    My finished maps
    "...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."

  8. #8
    Community Leader mearrin69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    2,318

    Default

    Really great map, doubly so for your first time, so have some rep from me.

    Agree about the forests...the gap in the texture isn't great but it's still a nice looking map so fix it if you can but don't sweat it if you can't. If you still have the thing in layers maybe you can just make a surgical fix? If not, you might be able go in by hand and do some paint/smudge/smear to see if you can smooth out the worst parts.

    As for creating tileable textures I might have a solution for you. Visit this link and look at the lower-left of the list of tutorials. "Creating Tileable Textures" is (not surprisingly) the one you want. You'll have to register to download it but they don't spam you (that I've noticed). There's much great stuff on that site...many paychecks worth of tutorials are on my wish-list at present.
    M
    Last edited by mearrin69; 02-08-2010 at 10:23 PM. Reason: To clear up my meaning!

  9. #9
    Guild Apprentice Matrim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Groningen, NL
    Posts
    30

    Default

    This still blows me away! Gonna have to try that tut really soon, and can't wait to get to the next adventure in those woods.

    And see, I told you they'd love it, hehe
    Have some rep!
    Doodle it.

  10. #10
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Ft. Wayne, IN
    Posts
    9,530

    Default

    This is quite nice Meridius!
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •