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The buildings in this map are beautiful!
Looking really great MM! Are you planning to texture the ground any more or leave it looking more 'schematic'?
The buildings in this map are beautiful!
I'm planning to texture the ground, but I'll probably keep it fairly subtle. Most of my maps start off sort of like schematic drawings that evolve in photoshop, and I usually try to stay away from using photo realistic textures for most of my maps, but some of that hesitancy is due to inexperience with applying them.
I wouldn't necessarily advocate for photorealistic. It can look very impressive but for me it doesn't always mesh with the idea of a fantasy map: the "photo" detracts from the map and the "realistic" detracts from the fantasy. That is 100% personal opinion.Originally Posted by MysticMagellan
That said, I think some textures and bevels on the ground layer would do a lot to take this from a good map to an amazing one. To my eyes, the very detailed buildings clash with the very simple ground layer, and I would rather see them both at the same level of detail.
If I were you, I'd push myself to do some work that I'm not comfortable with to get some experience. That's the most valuable thing I've got out of my few challenges, in any case.
Last edited by msa; 08-18-2009 at 10:38 AM.
This is a good point. There's really no reason to leave the ground so stark, other than maybe time constraints. I think it should be a priority though.
Also, of all the styles in the competition, MysticMagellan's and my own are the most similar. I'm really looking forward to seeing how our two maps turn out compared to one another.
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Another update. Finished the Downtown District and the Samurai District, plus added a few walls to separate certain structures. Next I'll fill out the Residential and Rural areas outside the walls, and after that I'll get down to the terrain, which I didn't intend to leave looking as is. I tend to make a layout then design in sections, and often the final result is far from the look of the layout. My last entry for the Home Away from Home challenge (a Druid's Tree) is an example, though I think I went a little too far with it.
### Latest WIP ###
This looks great, man. I love your daimyo compound.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
This is utterly gorgeous. I love the little gate-houses that you have on some of the buildings. I hope you don't texture it too much, I really like the style as it is. Maybe some noise for the ground if that. There's just so much interest on the buildings and the city layout looks realistic too.
Fab work.
Thanks for the encouragement. I am planning on a bit of landscape texturing as well as a subtle cobblestone effect for the main roads and a muddy look for the rural paths. I'm still toying with ideas for the farmlands, and I think I'll create some rough stone walls around some of them, specifically the rice paddies, and convert a few of the others into planted rows or groves. But first I've got to finish all the structure placement, which should be quick now that I can drop them a little more randomly beyond the walls of the inner city.
Another update. Too exhausted to say much about it. Going to play around with the fields and ground, maybe add a couple ponds to individual homes, then create a legend.
On a side note, I can't remember if I said so, but these posts are at half resolution. I'll post the final at full.
### Latest WIP ###
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