Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 13

Thread: WIP Criticisms welcome!!

  1. #1

    Help WIP Criticisms welcome!!

    Hey everyone.

    So I'm making a D&D world from scratch, and I'm really in the very beginnings of mapping the world, just trying to get the basic geology down and correct before I flesh out cities/people etc. Below is the bare bones of a continent roughly the size of south america. As this is my first ever map, I expect I have already made some mistakes and don't even know it, so I am asking for some honest brutal criticism, I promise I won't take it badly!!

    For reference, the dark green at the top is jungle, the light green is general grassland/hills etc, the muddy green at the bottom is swampland, the brown blip at the top is a salt lake and the grey patch is a highlands type area. Probably goes without saying the temperature is damn hot up north, and gets colder as you go south.
    I have also put up the original sketch, it's not a great photo (I dont have a scanner), hence the horribly coloured version for clarity

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	20140212_205405.png 
Views:	49 
Size:	2.35 MB 
ID:	61332Click image for larger version. 

Name:	map.jpg 
Views:	64 
Size:	1.65 MB 
ID:	61334
    Last edited by RothgirFellhall; 02-12-2014 at 06:39 PM.

  2. #2

    Default

    My main criticism is that it is basically a rectangle. If you were to triple the size of the canvas so it was surrounded by "ocean" it would look roughly rectangular and not very natural. (Westeros suffers from this too, but then it does fit on two pages of a regular softback book). It happens because I think many people have a subconscious need to "fill" the canvas/all the available space on the page.

    I think it would benefit hugely from a more overall natural looking shape.

  3. #3
    Guild Artisan madcowchef's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Pacific Northwest USA
    Posts
    682

    Default

    I second Larb. The land features themselves also seem regular and disconnected. Mountains usually mark plate boundaries so run in rough lines more so than occurring in discreet sections. Depending on what program you are using there are a number of great tutorials here that will get you from a basic landforms like you have to something with plenty of natural irregularities (I spent some time stuck to these like a leech).

  4. #4
    Guild Expert Jalyha's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Out of my Mind!
    Posts
    1,067
    Blog Entries
    6

    Default

    Okay, I'm going to pick because you said here, and in your intro, that you wanted to be picked at... so...

    Well, yes, the shape, but since you said this is a very rough draft I wasn't really looking at that (it can be fixed easily).

    Your geology/climates don't seem to make much sense though.

    If the top of your continent (the size of S. America, you said?) is right on the equator, you might find tropical/jungle type climates to the north and much colder, near artic temps to the south, but it would be a pretty gradual decline... not a problem if it's a small map, it would look like jungle/moderate/arctic, but on a continent that size the other biomes would cover more area, I think?



    and if it's that big, then those lakes (if to scale) would be like mid-large seas, not lakes....

    And the mountains are an issue. All the mountains :/

    I also can't fathom how swamplands would form in that much colder southern clime... I'd expect to see them, instead, somewhere in the top half of your map, at least.

    And in the warmer swamp/grasslands, suddenly there's a frozen island which doesn't make sense to me...

    The islands (A) at the top don't look natural.... I'd expect them to extend out rather than cluster along shore like a reef... and probably nearer to a line of mountains, but maybe not

    Uh... think that's enough of me talking for a start...

    Also, since I have virtually no idea what I'm doing with my own consarned map, you should consult others before listening to anything I've said
    Have you "liked" a post today?

  5. #5

    Default

    Ok thanks, awesome feedback, while I accept that as a newbie I'm not going to be able to create something 'perfect' I still want to push myself to do the absolute best I can!! To that end, heres the redraft:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	m02.png 
Views:	46 
Size:	2.90 MB 
ID:	61438 Bear in mind the islands to north are volcanic islands.
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	m02-1.png 
Views:	44 
Size:	2.72 MB 
ID:	61440Heres the draft of the tectonic plates for reference

    I also admit I suck on the pc, I'm using a mouse which doesn't help, I plan on painting the maps by hand once the plans are set, I promise to scan/take a photo of them to show you all once it's eventually complete.
    As far as the biomes not being gradual enough, I do plan on drawing out each region separately and can give more detail there, so will flesh that out later, just want to know if you guys think that the basic formation makes sense?

  6. #6
    Guild Expert Jalyha's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Out of my Mind!
    Posts
    1,067
    Blog Entries
    6

    Default

    Ahhh the islands make more sense now. And mountains.

    I do see how you changed the shape, very good, but still a little bit.. idk.. boxy. Much less so, though. Maybe I'll do a gimp-picture-in-paint-sketch to show what I mean... (I like those, the irony amuses me)

    That plate in the middle seems really weird to me. :/ I've never seen a smooshed plate like that?
    Have you "liked" a post today?

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jalyha View Post
    That plate in the middle seems really weird to me. :/ I've never seen a smooshed plate like that?
    Yeah I know what you mean about the smooshed plate! My thought process with that is that for plot purposes of the world, I need to have the mountains separating the circle bit in the middle from the other half. From my limited knowledge I thought a smooshed plate was possible (albeit unlikely). Also it's not very clear on the image, but the bottom-most plate boundary is meant to be going over the other one, to form a kind of slightly mountainous cliff face, if that makes sense?

  8. #8
    Guild Expert Jalyha's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Out of my Mind!
    Posts
    1,067
    Blog Entries
    6

    Default

    hmmm...
    I'm really bad at explaining things >.<

    Maybe a pictorial story?

    Attachment 61442

    Attachment 61445

    Attachment 61447

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	boxy.jpg 
Views:	61 
Size:	1.14 MB 
ID:	61449

    And a hero comes along...

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	boxy.jpg 
Views:	43 
Size:	1.25 MB 
ID:	61452


    Of course, I haven't checked any of this for accuracy.. just playing with the voices in my head (and we're messy children, so...) but yeah...


    (Yes, this is my mental process, for real )


    Edit: idk why the links are weird...
    Have you "liked" a post today?

  9. #9
    Guild Artisan madcowchef's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Pacific Northwest USA
    Posts
    682

    Default

    I like the outline much better now, the shape reminds me of a mystic symbol.

  10. #10

    Default

    OMG Jalyha you are my new god!!! I've been thinking of this for WEEKS and you've just blown me out of the water I love it you are a gentleman and a scholar sir!!
    So many thanks you have no idea

    Now for the rest of the world and um... well everything else lmao

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •