Working on a city map

[xalendi]

It's taken me hours so far...



Eventually that wall will enclose the entire thing, then I can put the roads and landmarks in place.

Any critiques?

[arsheesh]

First of, welcome to the guild xalendi!

As to the WIP, your line work looks great but I would recommend varying the width of the river a bit more. Off to a great start though!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[xalendi]

Thanks for the feedback! I've endeavoured to alter the river a bit, while still keeping it looking "natural" ish.

Here's the latest update:


you can click it to zoom in. It's pretty large, I guess.

[Chick]

A nice start, it will be fun to see how you develop this

[xalendi]

What I can't work out is the scale. The scale I had worked out - based on the size of the ramps - makes it only 1100 metres from the tip of that northenmost gate to the tip of the southern, island gate. That's less than a mile. Seems a little small. However, if I make the ramps longer, then the walls get higher, and they're already 60' high, not counting crenellations.

[Chick]

A mile is a huge size to be enclosed inside a wall.

[Wingshaw]

The City of London, one of the largest cities in the early modern period, was sometimes called The Square Mile. you can probably work out why.

This map is looking fantastic, so far, and I think your scale is a good one. Keep at it.

THW

[J.Edward]

This looks like it will be a good one.
I will add that it helps to start with a good idea of scale before drawing.
The crenellated walls would already be 'incredibly' thick. If you scale it more the walls will be 'insanely' thick.
Still, this is one to watch.

[Gamerprinter]

Usually when I design city maps, first I create the geography - the river you have, though a little unnatural looking (too smooth of lines for river edges), is a good place to start. I usually don't do the city walls, as you've already starting placing until near the last. What I'd do next is to draw out the street plan, a couple wider major avenues with the majority of streets being smaller (less width). I would place the major city structures like the ruler's fortress/castle/palace, then bridges (if any), then major temples and the other largest structures, whatever they may be. Then I'd create all the smaller, primary structures of the city - shops, and homes. Depending on the size of your city, there might be a single large cemetery/necropolis, or perhaps you should include a small cemetery for every hundred buildings, or so. Once all the market squares, cemeteries, parks and buildings are placed, only then would I consider where to place the outer walls and gates.

Think of building a town naturally. You wouldn't build the city walls first, you'd place roads and buildings first. Whether constructing a real city or just mapping one, you should develop them the same. If you do it unnaturally, you're going to run into issues, like not having enough space between the walls and the interior buildings (there needs to be a open space next to the walls for defensive reasons), or other discrepancies, because you've painted yourself into a corner. Don't do that.

Get rid of the wall, and start making the road system, that's what you need to do next.

Doing it step-by-step:

1. Create the geography with a major source and main route of transportation - create whole river valleys and any hills or other major terrain features.

2. Draw in your 2 main roads, one parallel to the river bank on side of the river. Then create a second major road that ends in a junction on that first road - this will be location for the center of the community, or at least its origins when it was probably only a village. Consider the village location as center downtown. Build the rest of your city, naturally around it, so as the community grows, the city boundries grow.

3. Place your major fortress/castle somewhere not far from the road junction - use the most defensible terrain possible to locate your main ruler's castle. Once placed I'd place the single major temple/church/cathedral - both somewhere on the main roads.

4. Using the location of the fortress, temple and perhaps a sited place for your market square for reference, create all secondary streets connecting to the main roads, insuring you leave enough room between the roads to fill up with the buildings.

5. Start placing the bulk of your shops and homes. If you are dividing the city into quarters or social classes, consider placing larger buildings with more open space in your richer districts, while merchant districts would be more closely spaced. Finally if you have some peasant class/ghetto areas, you'll be placing smaller hovel sized structures very tightly packed.

6. With all your buildings placed, only now do you know the full extent, and where you should place the city walls. Like I said above this should be your last step. The only steps that follow for me is labeling the map.

[xalendi]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm glad the scale is ok after all. This city was supposed to be huge, home to hundreds of thousands, though now it's mostly abandoned, home to about 25k at most.

Part of the backstory is that the walls are insanely thick and tall - they're built with megalithic construction, hence the 60' height. The walls themselves also have houses built into the inner sides, with staircases in each of the buttresses.

I already mapped out the major streets and landmarks on paper, and have a rough sketch that I'm working from layered under the digital version I'm working on. I'm just working inward with the walls because it was easier. Thanks for the advice!