Introduction and first maps

[landorl]

Hello,

My name is Steve Landers, and I have been mapping for some time. Early on, I did a lot of hand drawn maps, then when CC2 came along, I converted them to that, and now I am using CC3 as well as Photoshop. I am not well versed in Photoshop, and there is quite a learning curve there, so I am right now using the Terraficta add on, but I have also done some hand drawn maps that I edited and colored in Photoshop.

Here is my game world, that I am working on in CC3, and one of my regional maps from that in Terraficta. I am still working on both, and probably always will be!

[thebax2k]

Wow! I'll leave it to the pros here for specific comments on how to improve your map (paging Publius...), but I like what I see so far. Your regional map reminds me of the pseudo satellite looking maps they use for regions in the German RPG, the Dark Eye--very sharp looking.

[pyrandon]

Very nice work--especially the Terraficta regional. The world map--to my tastes --is far to "computer-ish", meaning it looks like a computer generated jpg vs. an authentic map, but (if you choose) this could easily be tweaked in Photoshop with some blurring, color (esp. hue & saturation) play, and other such things.

Great posts! I look forward to seeing where you go from here!

[RPMiller]

Welcome to the community landorl! Great maps you have there! I agree about the regional map. Terraficta is a great tool, and it just so happens that its creator is a member here.

I really like how the cities look on the regional map and there seems to be some decent thought to the placement of the geography. I am curious about the mountain ranges on the global map though. They don't really give a strong impression of plate tectonics, but rather an assumption that everything is moving toward the center of each continent from all directions, but that isn't entirely accurate either.

I would be interested in more information regarding how the continents were shaped. Also, do you have other geographical information such as climate and rainfall for your world?

[ravells]

Wow...great stuff! Is there any chance you could post a bigger picture of the world map? It's hard to make out the detail. I haven't used Terraficta before but if what you have posted is a straight generation from it without any post work, it looks glorious. If you have done postwork (apart from the labels etc) I'd love to know what you did!

Welcome!

Ravs

[landorl]

I have to admit that plate tectonics is rather weak in the world map. I had originally designed the northeastern section of the central continent for a story that I was writing, and slowly built more of the world around it.

The world is a fantasy setting, and is a combination of natural ebb and flow of things, as well as some unnatural cataclysmic changes that happened a few thousand years ago. (Think of Middle Earth at the end of the First Age)

I am still working on climate and temperatures. For the most part, the world is similar in size and scale to our own world (work with what you know!). I still have a long way to go on general world creation, but I have an idea as to where I am heading. I may do a little redesigning as I look to make it a little more accurate with the adding of plates and faultlines.

[RPMiller]

There have been some great links and posts regarding world creation in these forums so do some searches and I'm sure you'll find a few things that will really help and inspire you.

[landorl]

I have mostly used the Terraficta tool as is. The only thing that I did extra was to use the brush tool to spray different shades of green and brown for the background(ground surface). I also expanded the default size of their templates to fit the drawing that I was using.

Terraficta is a great add on for Photoshop, it has all of the layers predefined with the effects that they need to get the look that you are looking for.

[landorl]

This is a new map showing the general lines of the major faults in the world. the red lines mark the faults. I have put an arrow showing the general drift of the plates. In general everything is drifting away from a central range of mountains that mark the spine of the world. I have placed in a blue line where the deepest ocean trenches would be, and in a brown line (which is hard to see) where some undersea mountain ridges would be.

I am not sure that the trenches are in the right location though. I don't know exactly which side of the fault that a trench would form on.