WIP: [no name] world project

[urxed]

I have been working on this project a little bit more and I've found I like the major shapes of these continents:



As I'm progressing through this work I realize that I'd like to make some changes to it, simplify some parts and add detail to others. But all in all this will lay the ground for future work. I'll finish this one with some more nature and some rivers, but it won't be the final layout - I just like working on it, and it gives me some more experience. As I've said it's based on the Saderan-tutorial by Tear, very helpful.

[urxed]

Ok. So this project will probably take forever - but a good thing is I actually just started GMing in it, so now I have a good reason to start fixing stuff.

The latest update:



The areas with no rivers are desert areas with no major "river activity". Yeah whatever, I'm not good at this. Ha.

[ManOfSteel]

Oh...very nice rivers. You seem to have actually grasped the concept that water flows downhill from mountainous areas! Some people have a hard time with that. The mountains seem to avoid the interior of the continents in favor of the coastal regions. Is there a reason for that? Are you thinking of mapping the tectonic plates? Or will the placement of mountain ranges not be a factor in the story? In other words, did you just put them there because that's where you felt like it? I'm probably going to get demoted for saying this but I sometimes think that people overanalyze their maps and that if you feel that that's where the mountains should be, so be it.
One last thing that caught my eye concerns the lack of rivers in some of the desert areas even though there is a substantial mountain range nearby. Those desertside mountains have to drain somewhere. And if you stop and think about it, there are deserts that are still quite desert-like yet they have a major river running through them. For instance, the Colorado and the Nile. Desert rivers can be very dramatic and can add lots of story possibilities.

[urxed]

Oh...very nice rivers. You seem to have actually grasped the concept that water flows downhill from mountainous areas! Some people have a hard time with that. The mountains seem to avoid the interior of the continents in favor of the coastal regions. Is there a reason for that? Are you thinking of mapping the tectonic plates? Or will the placement of mountain ranges not be a factor in the story? In other words, did you just put them there because that's where you felt like it? I'm probably going to get demoted for saying this but I sometimes think that people overanalyze their maps and that if you feel that that's where the mountains should be, so be it.
One last thing that caught my eye concerns the lack of rivers in some of the desert areas even though there is a substantial mountain range nearby. Those desertside mountains have to drain somewhere. And if you stop and think about it, there are deserts that are still quite desert-like yet they have a major river running through them. For instance, the Colorado and the Nile. Desert rivers can be very dramatic and can add lots of story possibilities.

I created this to half randomize elevation and river location on the continents. But! I have been looking at elevation maps of earth, and I have been playing around with a ver (VERY) simple tectonic layout - the coastal high elevation areas are a product of that work:
looking at south america + looking at australia + tectonic noobery + randomness = elevation map deluxe.

As for the desert/river-problem, the nile originates from an area that is tropical. I probably will create some rivers in the desert areas but they'll be few. The story-possibilities are part of the reason why I'll add them too.

Thanks for the response anyhow!

[urxed]

Oh, well... now I know what name this world should have; world in progress. Ha!

I never get satisfied with anything, so I had a new try with that random world generator and sat fiddling with it til' I got this:



Probably just one of many version of this never ending "project". Seriously though, feel's kinda right with this blob of land.

[EDIT]
Ah, erhm... the original picture is 12k x 12k pixels. And it's a whole world - this one is made from a mercator projection off of the world generator picture:



Next up is some kind of height version of the map, rivers, climate - stuff like that. (I hope, or I'll just create some new landshape to "work" on).

[urxed]

This thread will probably evolve to a major WIP all the different worlds of Urxed that never gets finished:



I assure you it is not finished! And I will most likely come up with many other worlds.

The "fresh" psychedelic background has nothing to do with anything, I got ****ed with PS as I couldn't seem to crop the picture in the right way. So I added that fine piece of art instead.

[- Max -]

I'm kind of confused about this thread Is the last one a new world map project?

[urxed]

There's no need for confusion - Max -! You're 100% right about that.

Or well, I can't seem to settle for one specific basic world layout. As I am trying to find one that I like I'm also practicing different techniques in PS (and wilbur for the latest project). The thematic setting never changes, it is still "the same" world and me and my friends are playing in it.

I don't want to start a new thread for every basic world layout and never finish it, so instead I post them here as a reminder to myself and maybe I'll be able to see some progress or whatever...

Now I have a sem-quick way of creating a basic world landmass using donjon fractal world generator, g projector, photoshop and wilbur. Pretty much in that order.
The only real work is in choosing in donjon, and building a height map in PS. The rest is pretty much done automatically - and I like that, but because of the random generation and the not-so-much-work, I don't really have the emotional attachment to the landmass/map/world that I could've had if I had come up with it by myself.

So, I pick a new specimen a little bit to often and try to compare them to see if I like one or the other more. As of lately I have also been reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and I feel influenced by it. You should really check it out - it explains the reasons why the different societies in Eurasia has become world leading when it comes to power and technology (and alot of it has to do with the size and alignment of the landmass). Read it! Now I'm going to create another world landmass hahaha.

[- Max -]

ok so it's rather a worlds maps projects

[urxed]

Precisely! I'd change the thread name if I could, to warn anyone who think this is some kind of one world progression-thread... heh. Many worlds to come.