Guthult: God's Forest

[Diamond]

Which one of these do you guys thinks looks better, dark or light? If I go with the dark, the text will have an outer glow to improve visibility.

(And thanks to http://wingsofahero.deviantart.com/ for the texture.)

I'm kinda leaning towards the darker one, myself.

[flocko]

I vote dark. I really like how unfriendly it looks. For me it gives a sense that your land is really in the "dark ages". No pun intended.

Really nice job with the mountains btw. Also, you're rivers look creepy, like they're clawing at the land. It could be why I favor the darker colors. Keep it grim all the way through. Cool stuff.

[Hai-Etlik]

Definitely the lighter one if you are aiming for something that looks like a "real" map. Also, the even, perfectly aligned dark tone for the sea with the perfect light lines cut into it along the coast screams "done with a computer". Text that requires a halo to show up screams it on a megaphone while jumping up and down and carrying a huge sign. It's also just bad cartography to make it hard to read and then try to fix it with halos when you could just have made it easy to read to begin with.

I'd suggest changing that ocean tone so that it cuts off small headlands and islands, and misses bays, and change the lines along the coastline to black. Try to think in terms of the limitations of the medium you are trying to mimic.