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Thread: Wasteland Map - How do you draw ruined roads and other urban furniture?

  1. #1

    Map Wasteland Map - How do you draw ruined roads and other urban furniture?

    I'm trying to figure out a good way of drawing the ruins of a city. I have a good looking heightmap but it's very barren and I'd like to make it more interesting.

  2. #2
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    I guess it depends on what scale you are looking for.
    “Maps encourage boldness. They're like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible.”
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    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    Broken columns are almost a must have for ruins - it helps to convey the feeling that this was once a beautiful place. The other thing that I do is make a house-like square but the walls are all broken here n there leaving one or two corners mostly intact. If you're talking about doing that in a 3d render, well, I guess, draw a house then break it up.
    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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    I suppose to give a better idea of what I'm trying to do, here's what I have at the moment:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    I'm still confused on the scale. Is that a lake in there? How big is this map on a side? My first impression of this map is that this is a satellite type image, and a such the ruins would just be a large gray blob, showing urban sprawl, much like an intact city would be.

    If on the other hand, this is supposed to be much smaller scale then there are other options.
    “Maps encourage boldness. They're like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible.”
    -Mark Jenkins

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    The map covers an area roughly the size of Greater London or a similar megacity.

    And yes, there's a small lake.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tarinaky View Post
    The map covers an area roughly the size of Greater London or a similar megacity.

    And yes, there's a small lake.
    Then at this scale and style, the city would simply be a blob of varying tones of gray following the contours of the terrain. You couldn't tell it was ruined form this scale. That is unless you have one of two conditions.

    1.) The ruins are old. Thus in this case you would add some green back into the gray as the vegetation tries to take back the city.
    2.) There was large scale damage to the city. (Such as from nuclear bombardment, for example.) In that case you can draw craters in the city and surround them with slightly varying tones of gray to indicate damage radiating out from the crater.

    Alternatively you can just start adding labels and icons to the map to indicate the conditions. Such as "There be radioactive dragons here." or "Beware of juiced up hooker Nazis."
    “Maps encourage boldness. They're like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible.”
    -Mark Jenkins

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    Quote Originally Posted by wormspeaker View Post
    Alternatively you can just start adding labels and icons to the map to indicate the conditions. Such as "There be radioactive dragons here." or "Beware of juiced up hooker Nazis."
    Clowns. Evil, mutant, radiactive, killerclowns on bad ass motorbikes.

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    Community Leader mearrin69's Avatar
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    Here's the best I've got on it. Basically it's a grungy blob with an urban texture pasted on with roads overlaid. I thing there's a bevel with overlaid texture to give the impression of some height.

    http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...chmentid=31533

    Hope that helps.
    M

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