WIP: new commission

[Gamerprinter]

I've got a new commission, aside from basic topography, I have little information as of right now. I don't even know what this continent is called. And I don't know the scale, just that its probably 500 to 1000 miles east west on that southern region from the desert east to Orcland forests west.

As required by commission - the upper half of the continent is dominated by a primordial jungle apparently transformed by primordial forces 500 years ago from a region of subarctic ice (?!) You'll even notice the unnatural separation of the jungle north from the civilized regions and the south eastern desert, its intended. In fact the northern edge is a straight line.

The desert itself has an unnatural feature in that its creeping westward in a fairly perfect arch from north to south - that's intended as well.

The southwestern forested region is called Orclands and inhabited by six tribes of orcs. Watch towers along its eastern border once maintained by men of the west to watch the orcs have been taken over by the orcs to watch the east. Some new towers have been erected to the north to watch the primordial jungle border.

The "national border" are the dashed white lines in the green area between the Orclands and the Eastern Desert. The regions north and south once comprised 15 independant kingdoms that have been absorbed into powerful kingdom and empire.

The perfectly round boundry at the center of this region comprises a pentagram shaped evil city-state. The circular outer wall is pierced by 5 gates, main roads within form the upsidedown star shape of the pentagram. The primary city is at the center of the star, 5 triangular sub cities lie within the points of the stars. Parkland forest, fields and cropland lie between the points.

The western portions with the grey area northwest of the circular city-state, will be heavily urbanized with medieval factories, almost all forested regions have been cut down.

That's about all I know about this place so far.

Any suggestions on how I should emulate an urban area at the apparent scale?

GP

[Badger]

I would just go with some beveled shapes... (5 pointed star maybe? ) and see where that may bring you ..... its going to be hard to give any real detail, but its also at that level where you should be able to see some detail... those are the rath;er difficult ones...

[Steel General]

You may want to check Spiral Graphics, they have some urban textures that may or may not work for you.

[mmmmmpig]

I always look at sat imagery to see what cities and towns look like at different scales.

[jfrazierjr]

You may want to check Spiral Graphics, they have some urban textures that may or may not work for you.

I second this! Genetica can generate seamless textures from hundreds of examples (including some variable versions of the same general texture) and output in various different resolutions for saving to you final texture. VERY nice tool for no money.

[Badger]

I third that .... JoJo made me download it last night... and I must say I'm fairly impressed with it as far as free programs go. Great way to get textures for nothing but the time it takes to make them.. and that isn't all that long at all

[Gamerprinter]

Ok, I downloaded both Genetica Viewer and the Beta version of Genetica Studio, so we'll see what I can come with. On first inspection of the included urban terrain, however, it doesn't intrigue me. (The agrarian terrains look great, so I don't mean to knock this app's capability.) Of course even at the discount price, Genetica Studio is priced out of my immediate price range.

I also plan to study some 14th through 18th century European urban maps to get a good plan and idea on medieval factories - mostly water mills. This region has to have that urban manufacturing district feel, but still maintaining a distinctly medieval feel.

We'll see.

GP

[Gamerprinter]

Next WIP. I chose to create a work-around in Xara Xtreme. I may yet play with Genetica, but maybe moreso on the next project.

Understanding the villages would not be discernable at the apparent scale, so the ideas of buildings being seen at this scale is impossible. However, only as a means to help similate a NY sized city maps, I created tight groups of buildings as if in much closer.

What do you think - knowing these cities are basically symbols of where the city is, not how it looks from space.

Next WIP map...

GP

[mmmmmpig]

given the direction that you have recieved, this is looking pretty tight. I think you may want to tone down the textures a bit for the forest areas and the mountainy places. That is about all I can offer

[Gamerprinter]

I think my cities to the west need to shrink some, buildings should be more like those in Vistralund. Then I'll be satisfied with the scale shown.

I may yet soften the forests and mountains, but overly much.

GP