Forest Region Map

[Lukc]

Go for it! Waiting to see what gets born!

[Preypacer]

So, quick update...

Since my last post I haven't had as much time to work on the map as I'd intended (stupid real life always interrupting).. However, I have had the chance to go back to the "basics" and get the map cleaned out so I can start off on the right foot.

I've decided to keep it with the same theme I established with the world map I posted here some time back, which is the more light, "parchment-y" look.

I spent the last few hours clearing out layers, recreating layers, redrawing layers, erasing, masking, etc. etc. etc. to get it to this point. Amazing how many little artifacts and errors snuck in when I was working on it the first time. Even now, at 1:50 AM I can see a few things I missed. My OCD side is telling me to fix them quick. My reasonable side is telling me to finish up this post and get to bed.

I'm gonna go with my reasonable side, I think.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the cliffs and the ledges, drawing them in a more 3D style, keeping them simple but detailed. I'll probably get the water back in there, too.

I don't want to get too detailed as, again, many, many maps are going to be needed and I really don't want to get bogged down with each map becoming a huge project in itself.

Anyhoo.. here goes!



As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated!

[Lukc]

I always get bogged down, so here's crossing my fingers you don't . Anyway, can't wait to see what you come up with now ...

[Preypacer]

Here's the latest update.

I've got water in, have cleaned up the lines more and added the "dashed line" effect around the borders of the map.

It's starting to come together now.

Next up is to get the cliffs inside the map filled in, making 'em look a bit more 3D. Then on to the trees and landmarks/points of interest.

I'm probably gonna start drawing the "iconic" version of the town, which is currently missing from the map, as well as the roads, which I'm still trying to work out a good style/look for (hard lines, soft lines, solid, dashed, etc).

Really starting to get used to how GIMP "thinks", so it's getting faster/easier to make changes, and working out how to accomplish different tricks and such I use all the time in PS in this program, which is certainly handy.

Anyhoo... here ya go..

Question.. Do y'all think the outlines for the main area are too dark, especially now with the shading there?

[Preypacer]

Okay one more update for today...

Re-did the borders for the map overall, made them thinner and more consistent. I couldn't help but feel they were too thick and inconsistent before; it felt "off" to me. So I fixed that.

Completely re-did the cliff layout, and got them pretty much "finished". I tried a few different approaches of detailing by hand, but couldn't get anything I was happy with. I also realized that trying to add that much detail by hand was going to take far longer than it warranted across many maps. Maybe I'll take that kind of detail on the world map, since that's a single map and warrants more detail overall. I ultimately went with an "omni-directional" shadow approach, basically, which way the shadows fall indicates the lower elevation, regardless of which way it's facing. I think it works nicely; clean and clear.

While setting up the new cliff layout, it occurred to me that there was some room to put a fun little area in the middle, which is going to become a sort of two-level grove, the higher area being at "ground level" and connected by fallen logs, etc. to create a sort of mini-maze. The lower level could have resulted from some kind of shifting of the land around it and will have tree roots mixed in, etc. making it rather claustrophobic and maze-like for the player. Should be a nice place for some nasties to lurk. The road coming from town will pass to the North, steering well clear of it.

I've also started put in some basic color-coding for the points of interest (including the maze-like area above). My overall goal is to have each zone in the game contain several different key locations/points-of-interest, so that as players are exploring or progressing through, there's always something new and interesting to see and it doesn't get boring or repetitive.

I'm actually naming and jotting down notes and details for each of these locations as I add them. Some were thought up already and are just waiting to be placed/labeled in the map itself.

Anyway! Here's the latest and greatest update...

Thanks!

[Preypacer]

Is it considered spamming to post multiple updates in my own thread even though nobody's replied to previous ones? I hope not >.>

Anyway... I decided to post one more update... Mostly to say "It's square!"

It was irking me that the map size was out of whack and the actual map area was off-center, etc. Much better now . I also added some more details back in, tweaked some colors, etc.

Tomorrow I start, for real, on the trees, etc.

I do have a question for those who'd be interested in answering. Do y'all think the coloration of some of the areas looks good? I don't mean the water, I mean the smaller areas I have shaded in, within the map itself? Or should I keep it all the same parchment color and perhaps use different icons to indicate what those areas are instead? Opinions?

Thanks!

[Lukc]

My comment got eaten!

Anyway, I really like how you've done the shadows on the canyon and the cliffs, are you going to add that for the highest elevation as well? I would also lightly shade the river banks and the edges of the flood plain.

It looks good, but I can't tell what a few things are, namely the dark brown patch in the far east, where the timber woolfs play poker and pool ...

[Preypacer]

My comment got eaten!

Anyway, I really like how you've done the shadows on the canyon and the cliffs, are you going to add that for the highest elevation as well? I would also lightly shade the river banks and the edges of the flood plain.

It looks good, but I can't tell what a few things are, namely the dark brown patch in the far east, where the timber woolfs play poker and pool ...

This website eats comments? That's a tad frightening.


For higher elevations, I'm guessing you mean the outside walls.. I'm still debating on what to do with those. I'm thinking of putting a slight shadow in there just to help separate them a bit, although if I do too much then it starts to go back to the issue I had with it before where it's "overpowering". It's one of those things I'll just keep revisiting 'til I'm completely happy with it.

For the rivers and water.. Same thing there... There actually is a border there, but again.. still playing with that 'til I get it "just right". Too dark and it stands out too much, too little and it disappears.. So, something else I'm revisiting as I go.

As for not being able to tell what a few things are.. That should all be cleared up once I start adding in icons and labels. As for the grey/brown thingy on the right side of the map, that's a placeholder bit for what will be a town, which still has to be done. I want to get the overall style "nailed down" with this map before moving on to the rest.

I guess this map is a bit out of place on this site, as - for a large part anyway - many of the maps seem to be done with a high degree of detail and/or seem to be specifically world, dungeon or city maps. This one falls kinda in-between. Perhaps that's why relatively few people have even commented on it, which kinda surprises me given the amount of activity I've usually seen around here in the past. Folks must be busy.

For my larger world map I intend to go more detailed (though in the same style), as that will be a single stand-alone map, will be a lot larger and will have a lot more variety in terms of environments, climates, etc. to illustrate. I think for that one, it'll be warranted to go more detailed.

However, for these individual zone/area maps, the goal is to keep them more to the simple and iconic side, which is partially why I decided to go with the shadowing for the cliffs instead of detailed cliffs. It would add a lot of detail to it and would look great, but it would also create a bit more "clutter" on what's supposed to be an otherwise more "clean" map, especially as I start adding labels, icons for trees, points-of-interest, ruins, etc. etc. It would also take a lot more time. I'm only drawing this one map for now, but in time, there's going to be upwards of at least 30-40 maps, maybe more, in total that have to be created. This one's already taken me over a week of overall time (not in one shot, of course). Could you imagine spending the total of ~30 weeks just on drawing maps? I'd rather not lol.

And of course, for the sake of consistency, whatever I establish style-wise on this map has to be carried on into later maps as well. So, I have to keep all that in mind when deciding on how detailed to get. That's why I'm nailing down a style now that will look nice and provide adequate detail/information, but also remain more on the "simple" side and be easy to recreate.

I know that's a rather long-winded explanation (I'm good at those, if you haven't noticed :-P), but hopefully that clears it up.

[Freodin]

I guess the process will get speeded up when you have settled for one style... and whatever you will ultimately chose, I'd say it will look quite fine. The new colour schema is well chosen - quite clear and pleasing to the eye.
Especially the new version of the "outsides" looks very well. The lighter colour makes them almost disappear, instead of blotting out all the rest as in the dark coloured version. Though I would like to see you go back to the shading you used in post #14. Shading the inside instead of the bordes strengthens that "fading" effect in my opinion, while the current version looks a little nervous.

[Preypacer]

I guess the process will get speeded up when you have settled for one style... and whatever you will ultimately chose, I'd say it will look quite fine. The new colour schema is well chosen - quite clear and pleasing to the eye.
Especially the new version of the "outsides" looks very well. The lighter colour makes them almost disappear, instead of blotting out all the rest as in the dark coloured version. Though I would like to see you go back to the shading you used in post #14. Shading the inside instead of the bordes strengthens that "fading" effect in my opinion, while the current version looks a little nervous.

Thanks for the remarks!

Yeah, I agree that the process will definitely speed up as I go, especially considering this whole deal has largely been me establishing a look/style that I like, as well as learning how to get GIMP to produce those results. Once I have that established, it'll just be a matter of applying that style to each map going forward. I expect I should have future ones done in a lot less time, except for the more detailed ones, of course.

Funny enough, I could have done all this way faster in PS since my brain is almost on autopilot in that program after using it for so long. But, I'm glad I'm doing it in GIMP instead and learning as I go; I've wanted to break my "dependence" on PS, and move completely toward GIMP for a while, and this project is helping that along quite nicely.

Anyway! Regarding the map...

When you say shading the inside, do you mean the dark/thicker borders around the map? I don't actually have any shadowing/shading around the borders in #14. It's just a thick, dark brown line which I actually didn't like.. It kept jumping out at me, overpowering everything else. That's why I went back and re-drew the whole thing in a thinner, cleaner line.

However, since I posted that last update and the last response to Lukc, I've gone back and worked on the outer borders a bit more, adding some subtle, but noticeable, shadowing to the inside. It has the effect of helping to separate those areas from the interior/explorable areas of the map, as well as sort of "lifting it" off the background, which helps to illustrate the idea that these are higher areas. I'll have to post an update when I get home later tonight. I also added more detail to the shorelines to help them stand out a bit more as water, while still being subtle.

I'm really treading carefully on adding such things, though. I don't want the background elements to get too busy or they start to detract from the overall "cleanliness" of it and will be fighting for attention with the icons and labels, etc when I start to add them. I was already dealing with that in the last version of it (the much darker one).

I'm glad you like the colors.. I've adjusted the saturation and opacity on those quite a bit to get them to where they're noticeable, but again, not "glaring" or distracting. I think the current setting works.

Anyway! I'll get a new update posted tonight, probably... I'll probably try and get some more details in there first, though, just so there's more to see updated than just some shadowing and water details.