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Thread: July/August Entry: The Blue Fortress

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    Guild Journeyer Aelyn's Avatar
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    Default July/August Entry: The Blue Fortress

    It took me some time to ponder about everything, but finally, here's the first draft of my contest entry:

    The Blue Fortress

    Almost a city itself, the Blue Fortress was built outside the walls of Oreas more than 40 years ago. It's a sign of the Golden Empress' wish to foster the arts and unite the three main pillars of Aurelian culture: Combat, Magic, and Science. Therefore, the Blue Fortress does not only offer arenas, but also podia for speeches and discussions. Oh, and not to forget the amphitheatre crawling up the hill!

    Apart from minor events, the city of Oreas hosts a nation-wide contest every three years. It's the most important cultural event designed to bring together people from all over the country in peaceful competition (and therefore minimise the chances of a civil war).

    More information will follow as I progress with the map. Of course, it still lacks colour and tags and everything. And this is just the visitor's map. I'm working on a 3D model of the Temple of the Three Ways and perhaps I'll even get round to prepare a real floorplan of one of the buildings.
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    Now that the warm fuzzy part is over we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?

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    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    Sounds like an interesting entry...good luck!
    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.



  3. #3
    Guild Journeyer Aelyn's Avatar
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    Added colours and tags. Next part will be the crest of the fortress. And the 3D model, though I don't know how well that will work...


    ### Latest WIP ###
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    Now that the warm fuzzy part is over we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?

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    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    Not a fan of the font, but that's just personal preference. The layout is very cool, and I like the color scheme.

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    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    The washed-out colors are, indeed, splendid. I like the hand-drawn look, as well, and the grunge and paper look good. Nice job.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


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    Guild Journeyer Aelyn's Avatar
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    Gidde: Not a fan of the font, but that's just personal preference.
    I don't think it's the perfect font either, but it's the best handwriting I had on my computer. If you know any other pretty yet legible handwriting font, let me know!

    Ascension: I like the hand-drawn look
    Thanks. It's actually hand-drawn, following the steps of the tutorial I just translated and posted in the tutorials section. A bit of Illustrator and Photoshop, too, of course.

    I don't want the map to seem too confusing, yet I feel something is still missing. It's designed to be a "real" visitor's guide, so probably it wouldn't be cramped with unnecessary ornaments and stuff... but you know, it's just not pretty enough. I'll let it rest and focus on other things. My brother and I are currently working on a 3D model of the Temple of the Three Ways (which also contains a sports ground, albeit a very different one) and I hope I'll be able to present it by Wednesday.
    Now that the warm fuzzy part is over we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?

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    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    There are a ton of handwriting fonts over at dafont here and here ... what bothers me about this one is that the slant is all over; it doesn't look natural because most folks' handwriting is usually slant-consistent (may not be consistent in any other way, but the slant usually is).

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    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    If you want it to look like a real hand out or guide (like a real tourist brochure) then you're going to need a border and some fonts that are slicker - stylish title, basic key. You're title should probably be contained within its own box and be more prominent and stylish. The key should also be in a box. If you don't want to use boxes then you might want a simple line (or fancy line) to separate the areas. Now, those things have nothing to do with making the map look better - just the layout that you're aiming for. For what it's worth, right now it looks like a good antique map or player hand out for a game and I like it as is.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

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    Guild Journeyer Aelyn's Avatar
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    So I chose a new font which I'm fond of (pun intended) and made some minor changes.

    My problem with your comment, Ascension, is that it's supposed to be both antique and a visitor's map. I suppose a sports ground this size would have at least some plans hanging around the place, but they probably wouldn't have been edited in InDesign and printed (for neither computers nor printers exist. A printer's press, perhaps, though I doubt they would use it for this map- too complicated) I appreciate your input, I'll make sure to implement it once I make a modern style visitor's guide. But in this case the map is my imagination of what an ancient tourist guide would have looked like.

    As for the rest of it, do you think I should inlcude a full text explaining the in-game purpose of the Blue Fortress, the history of it, the rules of the holy game played in the temple, and so on? Does anyone actually read that kind of stuff?

    ### Latest WIP ###
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    Now that the warm fuzzy part is over we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?

  10. #10
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    Oh, ancient tourist guide, gotcha. Then I'd say you might want some sort of simple border with little scrolliwork bits, can't really describe what I'm getting at, but just some flourishes in the corners.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

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