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Thread: Realm of Shalhaidor and the Isle of Delsia

  1. #1
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    Default Realm of Shalhaidor and the Isle of Delsia

    I have had the basic drawing for this map forever. I have always known that I wanted to make something out of it, but figured it would be too hard. Then I stumbled onto this website, after a few hours of wandering about the many wonderful maps I got to work.

    The Realm of Shalhaidor is made up of three main continents: Aschaina, Kiena, and Arcovia. In ancient times the lands were inhabited by many species and races. However, with all the vast differences between the beings, misunderstandings and disputes soon broke out. The immortal beings from Aschaina were particularly dedicated to either enslaving or eradicating other species. Eventually, after many generations of battling, peace has been attained. There is still a great deal of prejudiced between the remaining species, as atrocities on all sides cannot be forgotten, but the realm is slowly healing from the ravages of war.



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    Eventually I plan to make a complete version that actually looks good. I've finished one part already.

    The Isle of Delsia was discovered relatively recently when a trade fleet was blown off course by a storm. This cool and somewhat dry land was claimed by the country of Falkonia (part of Aschaina) and is known for it's export of fine gems, barley, and a particularly bitter ale.

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    I would love any sort of feedback. Particularly I would like advice on how to add more names without having to overlap, but having them large enough to be readable. Also, since I forgot the whole legend thing: towns ending in "Nies" are ports, towns ending in "Vik" deal mainly with lumber, towns starting with "Dj" are mining towns, Delsia is the only fortified town, and all the others are just basic towns that depend on their own agriculture.

  2. #2
    Guild Expert Guild Supporter Lingon's Avatar
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    I like that a lot! Welcome to the forums, and have some rep for showing this really nice map right away! I especially like the colors of the vegetation, they look very real

    I think you're pretty much at the maximal amount of labels for this map. Any more, and you'd have to make it bigger. Though there is one thing you could do that would remove some imaginary crowdedness of text and free up some space without actually freeing up any space (), and that is to use fewer colors and fonts and tone down the glow effect. Try to limit yourself to three colors maximum – one for constructed things, one for natural things, and one for oceans and lakes and rivers – and one or two fonts. The colors should also be pretty similar to each other. This'll make them less "loud" and give room for a few more names.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lingon View Post
    I like that a lot! Welcome to the forums, and have some rep for showing this really nice map right away! I especially like the colors of the vegetation, they look very real

    I think you're pretty much at the maximal amount of labels for this map. Any more, and you'd have to make it bigger. Though there is one thing you could do that would remove some imaginary crowdedness of text and free up some space without actually freeing up any space (), and that is to use fewer colors and fonts and tone down the glow effect. Try to limit yourself to three colors maximum – one for constructed things, one for natural things, and one for oceans and lakes and rivers – and one or two fonts. The colors should also be pretty similar to each other. This'll make them less "loud" and give room for a few more names.

    Thank you for the response and feedback Lingon. I actually made the map of Delsia using some of the wonderful tutorials on this site (one made by “RobA," though I used "Arsheesh's" tutorial for forests since I thought it fit my map better), I'm really pleased with the result and plan to tweak all my future maps until I have my own style.


    I'm going to try to tone down the words, they probably don't need color. Hopefully that will allow me to add names to a few of the rivers and the bigger bodies of water. Thanks again for the advice.

  4. #4
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    UPDATE! *Finally*

    It was pointed out to me that my original map is very squished and claustrophobic, so I edited some things and am quite pleased with the result.

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    This new map, created from the impression that remained of the old, makes it much easier to determine patterns of weather and climate (since I actually bothered creating an equator this time). It also allows the cultures to have some distance from each other now that there are actually oceans between the continents and not tiny straits.

    In addition to the world map, I have also started making ones that are less realistic but show more information about the kingdoms that inhabit the land.

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    Since I forgot a legend (again): Burnt red indicates the kingdom of Falconia, blue is the kingdom of Arcova, and green is Taemierran (not a kingdom, seeing as the Taemar people have no king). The single diamonds are small towns that sustain themselves on the local resources. Four diamonds represents a city of commerce that is often protected by local militias. The last symbol represents fortified cities surrounding a castle.

    I would very much like feedback on either of these maps. In particular: On the map of Aschaina, can anyone recommend a method for making forests that will fit with the method/style of the rest of the map? I like the effect of the palm trees, but can't figure out how to do that sort of thing for the deciduous and evergreen trees that grow in the north. Also on that map, what is a good way to indicate disputed borders? (Arcova and Falconia argue a lot over the northern river area, also, fleets from Arcova often land on the Taemierran coast and take over).

  5. #5
    Guild Expert jbgibson's Avatar
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    Nice job in squishing the layout. I like the execution too. Not a complaint but a comment: would it work better with less saturated colors?

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    Quote Originally Posted by jbgibson View Post
    Not a complaint but a comment: would it work better with less saturated colors?
    Dunno XD, let's see.

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ID:	67503 Saturation lowered by 50. I do like the map without so much color overwhelming the eyes. The only thing I am worried about is that lowering the saturation will make it difficult to discern the difference between the different types of forests (there are tropical, deciduous, and evergreen in different places on the map).

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    Thanks for the feedback jbgibson.

  7. #7
    Guild Journeyer Facebook Connected Pryme8's Avatar
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    I like the lowed saturation and raised lightness one at the bottom, Id like to see what happens when you put a colored texture over the whole thing and wash out some of the color with a it as a overlay of luminance. Maybe like a light tan cloth overlay?

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