WIP : Haerlech

[J.Edward]

Thanks whipstache.
This has been the longest I've worked on a single map, so every comment and encouragement is much appreciated.

[Ilanthar]

Incredible work. This is definitely the one I like the most among your amazing maps.

[J.Edward]

Thanks Ilanthar.
It obviously has a special place for me as it's the longest running map I've done yet.
There are things I wish I could change or improve but won't since it would take far too long to do now.
That said, I'm still proud of things I was able to achieve in this so far.

Here's the update. Almost done with the land, then on to some layout and labeling work.
That will still be a lot of work though.
But other than a few fields I think most of it is close to complete.

[Larb]

Is that a graveyard with mausoleums and stuff in the bottom right?

This is the sort of size and detail I want to do with Argot and while the result of your map is spectacular, it's also such a scary amount of work. =P

[J.Edward]

Yeah, there are 2 graveyards - the old site across the river that has been 'affected' by the star fall and it's strange attributes and the newer one at lower right.
I had wanted to do this from early on but wasn't sure how I was going to go about it.
I realized at this size/scale that small grave stones wouldn't be very visible. Then I thought, with the age and population of the city that there would lots of dead so they would have to use some other burial method.
So mausoleums and crypts. Some of those go underground. Some go way down to catacombs and other lower regions.
I thought maybe that there might be some connections to the sewers and some other secret underground levels.
I have some plans for further maps in and around Haerlech.

I totally understand that sentiment. It is daunting. I had to take it in chunks.
It can be very overwhelming when you think about it all ahead of you.
And it certainly takes a long time but it's worth it.
There were many times where I sort of wanted to just stop. And I did a few times too.
I didn't plan out all of this and I think it might have been easier and less time consuming if I had planned it better.

[J.Edward]

No map that I've done yet has given me more stress/problems than this map.
I so want to finish this thing, but every layout for the info just does not seem to work, or in a way that I like.
I am trying to work on that today but it isn't going very well. I guess I'll just have to try again.
I wanted to have the city separated into sections and get into naming some of the prominent buildings/locations..
but I didn't want to get the map so filled with info that it lost all detail. So I was trying some popout sections.
But they're not really working.

This is a testament to planning - or rather not planning.
A testament to why you should plan things out well before starting something like this, I guess.
None of this was well planned, sadly. I think that's why it has been so difficult.
Might have something later today or tomorrow.

[ChickPea]

Your one year anniversary is coming up in little over a week! So ... no pressure.

[J.Edward]

Your one year anniversary is coming up in little over a week! So ... no pressure.

Well crumbs... there is no way I can do that in time. Man, that sucks.
Maybe if I work some 18 hour days I can get it done in time

After checking back a bit...
Well, I missed it by 2 days. I originally started Haerlech on the 25th of Feb, 2015. Phew, now the pressures off.

Edit - ya know, that means that this map would never be able to be in a best of for a year, as it stretches over 2 year periods.

[ChickPea]

Well, I admire your dedication to this map, and the effort you've put in really does show. And +1 on planning your map in advance. This is an important point. I've fallen into the trap of winging it a few times, and it doesn't usually end well.

[Falconius]

This is truly fantastic, well worth the dedication put into it.