World map of Cindaelus. Criticism wanted.

[jfrazierjr]

Heh... well... my first critisism would be to save it as a png or jpeg file rather than bmp. Other than that, there is not enough to go on. As far a your specific questions, I would suggest doing doing some VERY general mountains. Simple upside down V's would work and a place holder for further comment. Also, if you want "real" realism, you would need to show some type of temperature zones. For example, deserts will almost always fall between 30 and -30 latitude. But why and where depends on a huge number of factors. Wind patters are a major cause (thus if you REALLY want to make it fairly real you need to set those up) as well as mountain locations (and if you REALLY want to make this fairly real, you need to deal with tectonic forces) AND mountain height.

Personally, i just make crap that I think looks cool and leave the realism out of it...

Oh, and on a side note, if you can, I would suggest making the initial size bigger to let people really zoom in... of course this depends on what your machine can handle and what style(and scale) of map you are going for in the end.

[Talon44]

Personally, i just make crap that I think looks cool and leave the realism out of it....

I agree with this. Devotion to realism, like anything, reaches a point of diminishing returns. I guess realistic looking rivers are the most important, as are general locations of forests and such in proximity to mountain ranges. Beyond that, I'm not sure how important scientifically plausible air or water currents are in a map or world that includes dragons, elves, demons, magic, unicorns, fire-breathing caterpillars, or all of the above.

The continent on your right almost looks a little like north america (with a flooded mexico) to me, so that might be generally helpful for you.

[Joshua]

I agree with this. Devotion to realism, like anything, reaches a point of diminishing returns. I guess realistic looking rivers are the most important, as are general locations of forests and such in proximity to mountain ranges. Beyond that, I'm not sure how important scientifically plausible air or water currents are in a map or world that includes dragons, elves, demons, magic, unicorns, fire-breathing caterpillars, or all of the above.

How dare you doubt the existence of dragons! And my pet Smokey the fire-breathing caterpillar is now crying in the corner. Thanks. That'll be months of therapy for the little guy. :\

I do agree with the general sentiment though.