Westmarch - A castle-style town
Westmarch lies towards the center of the middle continent of Bloodmyr (The World of Bloodmyr), near the Winding River and just south of the West Rocks.
Westmarch is a castle-style town ruled by Lord Krenshaw from his centric-estate property. Before Lord Krenshaw, there was no city walls or organized military; he organized the people to steepen and level the hill on which Westmarch rests, as well as building the surrounding city wall. As such, the town is well-organized and the current layout is relatively new and more efficiently drawn by the city planners.
The city sports its own military district which is home to the Vanguard Cavalry of Westmarch, as well as individual, separate districts for most of the functions of the town. The historic city center lies in the south of town, in the center of the Penny Commons. Leveling of the ground and steepening of the hill went northwards, causing a rather deep valley to be formed to the northeast of town where the ground was the lowest.
The town rapidly expanded, but it still has a decent amount of breathing room within the walls, allowing for expansions as time progresses within the defensible areas of the town.
Anyhow, this is my second map, slightly larger than the first, with several lessons learned already incorporated. Enjoy.
Looking good! Great to see some more city maps being posted
Some suggestions:
- Some different colored roofs (giving the impression some houses have slate roofs for example)
- Maybe some pastures or fields in the empty spaces near the walls.
- A large dirt patch to represent the market?
- Some walled off gardens.
- A cemetery.
- Some wells.
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
Yea very awesome, though I am a bit curious why the walls were built like that (walled towns and cities in real life tend to have walls that followed the line of current buildings at the time they were built).
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Neat stuff
My only nit pick is that the drop shadows on the buildings are awfully heavy, maybe lower the opacity on them a bit.
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Interesting style with the flat green within the walls. Have you seen Alfar's context free buildings? Might give you a bit more variation on the building shapes (looks like you're using layerstyles to create the buildings).
Also would suggest putting a radial gradient fill on the trees so they don't look flat on top.
I think Gand's suggestions are great, give it a bit more variety.
There are actually two buildings with stone roofs, the lord's estate and the state building itself. The reason that the rest are not is because these are relatively poor towns; it was difficult enough for them to raise the money for a true stone city wall. Even the nobles live in houses with straw and wooden roofs.Originally Posted by Gandwarf
Yes, perhaps. The fields are suppose to be outlying from the town along the river, but I may add some pastures inside the town.
I thought about it, but I wanted the roads to flow through the market. I went with the row style as opposed to a circular bazarre style because the government in this town would be restrictive in its city planning.
Edit: I may turn the square that the state building and a large part of the central market is sitting on into a paved plaza to make it look more open-air.
Probably not, as the town is considered poorer than most (lucky to have a city wall made of stone). Even though it would lend to a prettier map, it wouldn't really fit in the setting of the town. (The Temple District does have a few flower gardens, though)
Yes, I will probably add a small cemetary on the road north of town. It did cross my mind on the first run through.
Been thinking about how to do this exactly; the scale would be so small on a well that I may just add a label for where the wells are suppose to be.
As for why the wall looks like that, I totally agree that medieval towns were designed around the current construction to defend it. However, the city government here wanted to level out the terrain and build the wall big enough to cover future development for a long time. So, they stretched the wall out a little further, squared it off to save on construction problems and costs, and are going to let the town grow into the walls.
Last edited by kittrellbj; 07-27-2009 at 09:06 PM.
Let me stress first: it's your map, so you can do anything you want.
I was just curious: if the town is considered poorer than most, how could they afford a city wall that's even designed so that the city can grow?
City walls were *very* expensive and only wealthy towns built them and then only enclosing the core of the town.
It could be that the lords of the town are very wealthy of course or maybe there's a quarry nearby.
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
Yes, of course. I am by no means speaking in a defensive tone. I like to answer every question so as to clarify my intent. I do appreciate the comments, critiques, and help. I definitely don't want to seem illogical, though, so I post the explanation of why I did it that way so people can understand.
The lord of the town is extremely wealthy, yes. (As you can see, he even added a personal inner wall for his own property, lol) There is a quarry nearby, also (a place called the West Rocks to the north, filled with a wide variety of good stone).
But, I am not seeing anyone's comments as attacks or belittlement. I have seen forums that do that, and I know just from browsing around that these forums are not like that. Perhaps my replies were too blunt, I apologize if I was taken too roughly. I am by no means an artist, and at times I am far less than eloquent.
...and this is why I love this guild!
No, no. You didn't come over as too blunt or offensive! No need to apologise.Yes, of course. I am by no means speaking in a defensive tone. I like to answer every question so as to clarify my intent. I do appreciate the comments, critiques, and help. I definitely don't want to seem illogical, though, so I post the explanation of why I did it that way so people can understand.
But, I am not seeing anyone's comments as attacks or belittlement. I have seen forums that do that, and I know just from browsing around that these forums are not like that. Perhaps my replies were too blunt, I apologize if I was taken too roughly. I am by no means an artist, and at times I am far less than eloquent.
I like a good discussion, like we were having. It's good to have an explanation for the choices you made. I wanted to say that it's your map, to make sure it didn't look like I wanted to push you into changing things.
(you can do illogical things if you want to, it's your map).
I have had loads of discussions with people on this forum, but then concerning my own maps.
The lord being wealthy is a good reason!
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
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