Thread: New Haven

Great Start!

Can I suggest that you also download 'Gimp' (which is also free and a raster image editor like photoshop). The Gimp will do many of the things that Inkscape cannot (texture creation, overlay blends etc). Also, What you might want to do then is to look at RobA's tutorial on making not so random coastlines in gimp (linked). This will allow to make a coastline which looks authentic but which will still follow the general direction that you want it to.

You can then load the resulting image into inkscape and run a 'convert to vector' on it (don't know what it's called in inkscape). This will give you a more 'real' looking coastline with lots of wiggly bits, small islands etc. Of course you can do this by hand in inkscape (much easier if you have a tablet and pen) but if you do not have a tablet and pen, then I suggest Rob's method since trying to draw a good coastline with a mouse is pretty time consuming!

Ravs.

There is also a fractalize option in Inkscape that will subdevide and jitter the nodes to make a line look more natural. It will not, hower, create any islands

-Rob A>

I have already tweaked the coast a little bit, making it less smooth, and I will most likely continue to tweak it as I add more to the map. The city will take up most of the land as well as the coastline when it is finished. I figure the location for the city would have been chosen carefully. Since fishing and trade were major aspects of the city when it was founded, the people would most likely have chosen a coastal area with few navigational hazards such as jagged coastlines and small islands. Small islands would most likely mean shallower water, increasing the chances of large trading vessels running aground on sand bars and coral reefs. I will be posting an updated version of the map later tonight.

OK, here's a slight update to my map. I added the 4 islands to the mouth of the river, tweaked the coastline a little, made a basic city wall, the two harbors, and added a little lake where the river enters the city. Now that I look at it, the wall looks sorta like a short fat bird. Hmmm.

Here is another small update to my map. I extended the walls to cover more of the map. It didn't feel large enough. It still feels a bit smaller than I want, but as I add details, I'm sure that will change. I also added a bunch of guard towers to the walls and added gates where I intend the roads to be. In addition, I added the stone and wooden bridges to the islands, and tweaked the coastline a little more.

Here's a slightly larger update to my map. This one is noticeably different. I was basically happy with the coastline and city wall, so I started playing with the water and land textures a bit. The water texture I made with GIMP using RobA's tutorials as a guide. I'm not entirely happy with it, but it is definitely better than the basic blues I had before. For the land, I simply made a copy of the coastline, moved all of the copy's nodes inward, changed the colors, and then blurred both coastlines to create a beach effect. Obviously, I have not done this to the islands yet, though I did blur their shores a bit. Let me know what you think.

Have you seen this thread on a canal city I started using Inkscape?

I can zip up what I have and attach it if you want to see how I approached things...

-Rob A>

Thanks. I checked out the thread, and it's given me some ideas (especially for how I'll handle the harbors). You don't have to zip it up though. I prefer the trial and error approach. Though I definitely appreciate advice and suggestions. Your tutorials have helped me out immensely.

Here's my latest update. I added another layer of color to the coastline so that the shores of the river wouldn't look so "beachy". Also did some work on the terrain colors of the islands. I am not putting too much detail to the terrain just yet since the buildings will cover most of it up eventually. Also added roads to the islands and added a little forest made of Dridon's trees to the uppermost island. I'll probably tweak the forest some once I start adding buildings. In addition, I made the stone bridges and their guard towers larger so they'd be more noticeable.

The interior glow on the land looks quite nice. You may want to consider doing something similar in the sea to indicate shallower water, keeping in mind that those are deep-water harbours, of course.

I'm liking the seawalls, too; very nice touch. I am thinking there ought to be a lighthouse in or near this city.