WIP- unnamed fantasy world

[Akubra]

Great maps ascanius!

I agree with groovey concerning the visual aspect. What I try to do is look at existing island arcs / archipelagoes on Earth (e.g. Indonesia, Vanuatu, Aleutian Islands) and mimic the placement of the islands. Looking at the contour lines on a topographic map of a small mountain or hill range can also help in figuring out the islands' possible locations.

If the island group feels too "packed" you can also delete a few randomly chosen islands, or spread them out a little.

Cheers - Akubra

[Pixie]

Yeah, I'm with you fellows on this one. Way too many islands, ascanius. Use google maps satellite view to get a better view of island-arcs. Also, the islands formed by subduction almost always line up neatly and most of the times, the trenches are so deep that only a few volcanoes manage to reach above-sea level. These very small islands will barely show in a map like this one (look for the Marianas trench or Tonga trench to see good examples of this).