Leend - first try

[Jalyha]

Um pretty sure you just have to erase them manually...you do have them on a seperate layer, right?

[Lyrillies]

actually I didn't - but I figured out how it works! the rivers are basically a subtraction from the very basic land-shape layer, so I just have to edit that layer again and it works. No harm done, since that layer is not visible anyway, it only functions as the general area to which all other layers are restricted.
I guess those are the dangers of blindly following a tutorial without understanding what exactly is happening there...

I edited the rivers a little bit again, so that even the top one looks more natural and also adjusted the colors.
Anyhow, the most important question for me is now: How big does that land look to you? Does it seem big enough to be a continent?

[Jalyha]

Honestly? No...

It looks beautiful, but it looks like an island. Maybe a large island, but still an island.

Obviously it would depend on your scale... if you made a single inch or pixel represent a vast space.. but then the mountains would look off, and...idk. I suppose there's a way to make it look like a continent, but to *me* it looks like an island right now.

[Lyrillies]

Zach, if it's free that might just be the reason why there's no mac version… But your project sounds extremely interesting! is that a generator for random terrain or would that include a function where you can set a certain general shape for the terrain which is then converted into fractals?

Jalyha: thanks! Well then I'll just have to work more! I already found one more element that makes it look small, I think - the detail in the water. The lower water areas look as if they surround an island. If I adjust the detail and the scope of the lower areas that should help a bit. Doesn't help with the general impression of course. But your comment about the pixels made me think - what if I change the image size? Do you think a higher resolution could impact the impression of looking at an island?

[Zach]

Zach, if it's free that might just be the reason why there's no mac version… But your project sounds extremely interesting! is that a generator for random terrain or would that include a function where you can set a certain general shape for the terrain which is then converted into fractals?

The images it produces are simple heightmaps that look very much like...well, ARE...fractal noise. I won't go into detail with the algorithm, but it basically interpolates between points a bunch of times with some controlled randomness. You can read more about it here, but I get better results from my program than the Wikipedia images show (sample below). To get a coastline, take the sample image and do a basic threshold operation on it. I also have programs that create an island surrounded by water and add an ocean to an existing heightmap.
I kind of want to post the code on this site, but it is not in any way a finished product. You would have to be able to compile and run it on your system.
As for the rivers...actually, after my earlier post, I created a new program that hopefully will be the groundwork of later river functionality. It can trace multiple rivers across the terrain the way real rivers would go. It's still a long way from being integrated into the main program, though.
You can't set a general shape for the terrain and then have it fractalized (though that would be a useful extension to add), you just take the initial shape and add oceans, lakes, whatever. My Edelu map's coastline was generated like that; then I just added in landforms according to my liking.

[Jalyha]

Oh, I wish I could help with that... the whole image size/resolution thing still totally baffles me

I'm not very bright with that sort of thing... I'm 150% visual

I think the detail in the water might be part of it... If it were a continent, where the water hits the land... the whiter parts at the shorelines, it would seem narrower by comparison.

Mostly, though, I think it's something with the mountains

[Lyrillies]

hmm okay, I know I'm uploading new versions like crazy here and I'm sorry for that - I just hate going to bed feeling like I didn't accomplish anything

So I changed quite a bit here, obviously, mainly the water - and the mountains again. I think those need at least to be a bit darker, but at least the water looks better now, right? This is really difficult…

And thanks for all your help, Jalyha, I'm very grateful for that!

[Jalyha]

I think so And it looks a little bigger, I think?!

I'm really not the best one to help, lol. I'm just getting used to looking at things from a bird's eye point of view.

[Ilanthar]

In my opion, one of the main reason that makes your continent looking like an island is its form. You have a "teardrop" form globally, and it's a classic form of those islands made of sand/crumbly rock shaped by the current of a river. A quick sketch for exemple :



I would change (just a little) this by breaking a little bit the form. But I think you've already began with your last one. Like the general idea and the colors btw.

[Lyrillies]

oh that makes a lot of sense, thanks for that information Ilanthar! I never knew that this shape was typical for small islands, so I would've never thought of it as a potential problem…
Hmm unfortunately I've grown rather fond of it during the past ten years of working on this world. So either I'll add a few islands in the south or need to find a way to make it work despite its shape. Islands probably wouldn't hurt, that's just more space to invent interesting things

Maybe I also need to rethink the vegetation on the continent. Originally it was planned to be (almost) completely covered by desert. I already changed that in favor of having some green areas cause I think that also helps in making it look bigger. Now if there was even more variation it would probably help with my problem, but then how do I explain that with the backstory?
I guess I'll have to think about that. Probably need to figure out first just how exactly climate, climate zones and wind work in my world...