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Thread: October 2009 Entry - Docklands

  1. #1
    Guild Journeyer gilgamec's Avatar
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    Post October 2009 Entry - Docklands

    Curses! After spending far too much time on last month's entry, you have to come up with another good theme! *sigh* I had to make this one something that I can bang out in a weekend. Fortunately, with a long weekend, I can get most of it done.

    It's another procedurally generated map; this time, a commercial harbour, with docks and soundings. In order to get it done quickly, I've reused the same workflow as I've used in previous Challenges: create a quick sketch of the coastline (smaller dots indicate shoals)
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    then add a little fractal noise to get a height (and depth) map. I can then modify the coast (add channels and seawalls) with another sketch
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    which changes the height map. The points for soundings are created by a Poisson process on the water area, then the depths just read off the height map. The contours are calculated from the original depth map; I tried using the soundings to recalculate them, but the result was only slightly better, and much harder to control.

    The map still needs a lot of notation (labels, lanes, buoy markers, cartouche, compass rose, etc.), but the land and sea are pretty much what I want.

    ### Latest WIP ###
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  2. #2

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    Low tide is going to make some people very unhappy, I see. I like it.


    Cheers,
    Roger

  3. #3
    Guild Journeyer gilgamec's Avatar
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    Wip

    I took advantage of a slow day to progress a little more. I'm not certain what to do with the labels; in some places the label background looks OK, but in others it's pretty hideous. I'm fairly happy with the rest of it, though.

    ### Latest WIP ###
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    Guild Artisan Juggernaut1981's Avatar
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    I kind of dislike the "partially transparent" background, especially for the text that crosses objects. I'd have been inclined to make them fully opaque backgrounds.
    "Sacrificing minions... is there any problem it cannot solve?" - Order of the Stick


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  5. #5
    Guild Journeyer gilgamec's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Juggernaut1981 View Post
    I kind of dislike the "partially transparent" background, especially for the text that crosses objects. I'd have been inclined to make them fully opaque backgrounds.
    This is a really good idea, but it falls down for the long thin warehouses that are in the middle of the docks; those are completely covered up by their labels (and look really silly to boot):
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    I'm loath to shrink the font any more, but it may be the only way.

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    Guild Journeyer gilgamec's Avatar
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    I've made the label backgrounds all opaque. I fixed the silly-looking bits by widening some of the docks, removing some warehouses, and generally being glad this isn't a map of an actual place!
    ### Latest WIP ###
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    Quote Originally Posted by ravells
    Really nice clean feel to the map. I think this is a first for depth soundings too.
    Thanks! I think (never having tried it myself) that depth soundings are one of those things that are extremely time-consuming to do manually but really easy to do procedurally. (In fact, the contour lines are much more difficult to do, computationally-wise.)

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    Community Leader Gandwarf's Avatar
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    Looks better and better...
    Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.

    Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...

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