More cities (City Designer 3)

[Gandwarf]

Still experimenting with the hills. I might have to soften them some more in this map. The problem is that if I soften them more they tend to dissappear when you zoom in (zoomed out it looks better though).

So this is Noordhaven, a somewhat isolated town in the north of the Valley. There's many hills nearby and the land isn't really suitable for massive farming. But there's lots of grass and so the inhabitants are keeping livestock. Like cows, horses, sheep, etc. The sheep are kept in flocks and are allowed to graze on the hills. The other animals are kept penned in mostly. Fields are protected by low stone walls to protect the crops.

On the top of the hill is a paved square, surrounded by a low wall. Most of the richer townsfolk live there and there's also a large inn. The two large buildings are actually large stone barns. In times of trouble most of the livestock can be accomodated there. As the smell can be quite horrible over there houses are mostly built away from those barns.

Noordhaven has been mostly left alone by the wizards. Because it steered clear of the bulk of conflicts it is now quite prosperous. Nowadays, the town is officially part of the Alliance, but it is mostly left alone again. There's no Alliance garrison here and the mayor is an elected local.

The town is protected by a small militia. Professional soldiers were never hired to make sure noone saw Noordhaven as a threat.

And remember, a map a day keeps the doctor away...

[Steel General]

I think the hills look OK, you definitely appear to be getting the hang of doing them.

Maybe its just me, but I still think what these maps need is some kind of texture for the grass, etc. it just appears "flat" (for lack of a better word). Not sure what you can do in CC3 as far as that goes. Or hell, just ignore my ramblings and leave it the way it is.

It all depends on the look you're trying for.

With or without the texturing these are still nicely done.

[Gandwarf]

CC3 can do textures. Actually, I am already using a standard texture for the background

But I don't think I am gonna change the background. I don't want my maps looking too realistic (like photo-realistic)

[landorl]

Personally, I kind of like the grass the way it is. I tend to not like the photo-realistic look either. I think that this look has a nice, artistic feel to it.

[Ascension]

That yellowish one looks really good. The deal with the hills fading out when zoomed in is that you're probably reducing the opacity on the whole layer or blurring it out too far. What you're looking for is a smooth transition from flat to slope so you're initial thought was on target there but use an airbrush tip set to a low opacity and use a more painterly "brush stroke" to build up the dark color so that it won't fade out. One of Pyrandon's tutorials explains it much better than I am.

[jfrazierjr]

That yellowish one looks really good. The deal with the hills fading out when zoomed in is that you're probably reducing the opacity on the whole layer or blurring it out too far. What you're looking for is a smooth transition from flat to slope so you're initial thought was on target there but use an airbrush tip set to a low opacity and use a more painterly "brush stroke" to build up the dark color so that it won't fade out. One of Pyrandon's tutorials explains it much better than I am.

Note sure if CC has brushes like that. One thing I have done a bit in the past with Fractal Mapper is to create several slightly bigger layers with the lower ones being bigger than the ones above AND make the lower ones a bit more blurred and more translucent. This gives somewhat of a fade effect in a program that does not have direct brush effects such as Fractal Mapper without looking "too" bad. Granted, it is by no means the best, but it might be something CC3 can do fairly easily.

[Ascension]

Good idea, done that myself a time or two, forgot that CC3 might not have a brush (doh).

[Gandwarf]

Thanks for the comments and tips guys. I am certainly not done with experimenting with hills

Anyway, I started another large city, because I am a sadomasochistic. Not Concetron or Sirilion large, but still large. WIP of Westdiep (Westdeep) below. I will give a city description when the map is done.

I have cut and pasted this map together, at some places the pieces don't match. I will fix that in the next version.

Still, I think this map is going to rock. This is the first map I am working on that I am truly happy with. (Sure, there is always room for improvement).

[Gandwarf]

Second WIP, 60% finished now I think. It's always difficult to finish these larger maps, as the placing of farmland and houses can get a bit tedious.
Still happy with the way this map is turning out, although I made some mistakes. But hey, that means I am still learning

[Gandwarf]

Next WIP, probably last one before this map is finished. It's now 80% complete I think. I bulldozed some houses to make room for some more "special" buildings and squares.