The Mountain Realms

[Al. I. Cuza]

Your main river seems to straight, Tilt. I'd throw in some curves and bends to follow the terrain, other than that, this is looking fine!

GP

I subscribe to that. The rivers look unnaturally straight.

[Diamond]

This version looks much better; the mountains seem to 'flow' more naturally now. As far as the desert - there's nothing wrong with not having an imposing barrier separating it from the rest of the map; in fact to me it looks better this way. I know its hard to do with that tutorial, but maybe add in some kind of transitioning terrain between the deserts and the plains/grasslands? Some kind of drier steppe-like terrain? Also, vary the shape of the desert a bit from an oval - it'll look more life-like.

You could still have mountains separating the desert from the rest of the map; deserts do often form in the rainshadow of tall mountains. If you avoid that almost-perfect oval shape when you place the 'barrier mountains', that could look cool too.

[tilt]

thanks for all those good pointers... I'll get to work on it just after the parchment for my lite challenge..

[tilt]

I know its hard to do with that tutorial, but maybe add in some kind of transitioning terrain between the deserts and the plains/grasslands? Some kind of drier steppe-like terrain?

Oh, I've let go of the tutorial now, but it definitly got me started right - it had just the look I like ... so now, Im improvising, and it more the geographical than the technical issues that have me thinking. For instance - should my general ground be greener as there is a lot of grassland - and finding a nuance for stepp-like terrain would be easier if there was a greater span between the desert and the grasslands. I've only worked with pen on paper before this map - so I'm easing my way into colors *lol*
For now - I'll twist the rivers thank you all for your comments

[tilt]

newest version - now with twisting rivers

[Diamond]

Yes, I like those rivers much better now!

As for the grassland color - personally, yeah, I tend to go for greener colors, although I guess it would depend a lot on latitude and temperature and the actual plant life found there. If it's a 'true' grassland or steppe, like central Asia or the US's Great Plains, then a tannish color seems more apt. But if it's more like a semi-wooded grassland, then more green.

[Kaiser MacCleg]

Yeah, I'm in agreement with Diamond. You could always use different shades of green for different areas of the map, too, just to give it a bit more variation. It's looking great, though!

[Al. I. Cuza]

The green should definitely be deeper.

[tilt]

Green, green grass of home... So, I've
• changed the hue of the grasslands
• added some steppe territory
• changed the shape of the desert
• added some greeenery to the oasis (will change it later on to a more palmy look)
• cleaned up the plain of the hand (middle north)

Am thinking about
• adding more forest
• adding fields close to cities (sometime after I've placed the cities)
• finding fitting symbols for cities
• adding more varians to the grasslands
• adding roads
• adding texture/hills to the desert
• adding symbols for mines
• adding symbols for ruins etc
• political borders
• names
• compas and scale
• taking a nap *lol*

I hope you enjoy - please come with suggestions

[Al. I. Cuza]

This looks way better. Good job!

Maybe change the color of the rivers a little? And perhaps make them a little less visible.