October/November 2011 Lite Challenge Entry: The Last Stand

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Hi, this is actually my first post on these forums, but as this isn't the Member Introduction topic, I'll move along to the map.

My idea was for an apocalypse caused by some biological entity expanding, covering everything it touched and making it inhospitable, or some other expanding corruption of the land. I started work on it shortly after the thread was created, and worked on it on and off since then. For some reason, I decided to work on it until it reached a state at which it could be called 'complete' before posting it. It's got all the colors in but I'll probably still want to edit some aspects of it later.

Since I don't have much experience with making region or world maps, I decided to map a bridge between one of the last human settlements and the outside in a large cave. The idea is that if the survivors can demolish the bridge before the corruption makes it across, they should be in relative safety if the corruption cannot cross the river, or at least they would have more time.

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[jbgibson]

Nice work, and thank you for jumping right in with not just a map in the first post, but an entry! That's worth a smidgen of rep right there. Welcome to the Guild.

You've done a nice job with subtle shading, making the bridge jump up into 3-D. I'd suggest the river could do with some minor banks of whatever shading / hatching matches - it looks utterly flat in comparison to the bridge.

Would it be worth showing the humans have gotten started on the bridge's destruction?

[Redone]

Thanks for replying, I didn't notice that about the river until you brought it up. I worked on the river a bit, adding a few lines and trying to make it be more 3d, but I'm not sure if it worked. I also tried to strengthen the shading on the bridge near tall objects and added a couple of barrels.

While I'm adding objects I think I'll try to add some more light sources besides the campfire next. Some torches would make it feel more like it was in a cave.

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[tilt]

very nice... and cool that you jump straight into the challenges ... love the theme, have made a little map with the same theme (but a different style) a little while ago, a house being swallowed up by the blight [link].
I think a little more "ruckus" in the dark area would be a nice touch.

[Redone]

That's a good idea, and thanks for the link. Interesting to know I'm not the only one who got this idea.

I tried to add some texture to the corrupted area without altering the overall brightness or color, and the end result was this. It looks better than before, but I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with it.

I also added a couple of torches, but with these objects being added my layers and masks are starting to get really disorganized. If photoshop CS 5, 5.5 or 6 lets you put more than one pixel mask per layer without nesting it within a million groups, I will be considerably tempted to upgrade.

There's another version where the entire map is slightly darker except for the spots where there's light, but I'm not sure I want to use that until I add a few more light sources.

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[mearrin69]

I dig the style! Not understanding the topology: however. The hourglass shaped thing in the middle is higher than the rest of the terrain and the river runs underneath? What's the grey thing? I might be looking at it inside-out or something...I know you mentioned a cave. Cool idea though. I always like 'grey goo' scenarios, even though they're hopeless.
M

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Quickly scribbled out an approximation of the side view in case that helps.

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The hourglass thing is a bridge that leads across a moderately treacherous slope down into a river. On top of the bridge are two walls, with two towers each. One is made of stone and the other is wooden. (The stone wall's probably the 'grey thing' you were referring to.) The wooden wall was somewhat hastily erected after they realized the corruption was going through/over the stone wall. Presumably the fortress was originally built to defend against a zombie apocalypse, or something less likely to be able to go through a stone wall than this scenario.

Hope that clears that up for you. Possibly I need to intensify shading around the stone wall so that it's more clear that it's tall... or maybe add some other hints. The corruption combined with the new detail on it is making it somewhat hard to distinguish the stone wall's details.

[Redone]

Suddenly realized it ended on the 10th, not the 15th. *facepalm*

Wanted to get this up but if there's still time I'll try to update it once more.

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[Redone]

Added a door and a hint of light coming from the inside of the stone fortress.

I'd edit the previous post with the new one, but I'm not sure if that works for the thumbnails.

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[Redone]

Added and fixed a few more minor things, such as me forgetting to color the handles on the wooden gate.

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