Very nice idea! I like the heightmap, it's very realistic. I hope you can make the rivers fit that style, it would be great!
As for the names: I like the idea of not using English names, makes your map something special. Are you Austrian yourself?
For the past couple of weeks I've been working on a big project for a nation called Saxe-Blünder Augsburg, which is one of the larger nations in a region full of Germanic states. Saxe-Blünder is a fairly huge country (we've got a funky scale so it's like the size of South Africa) and as such I've made a huge map (5000x4970) because unfortunately it's also a very irregularly shaped nation and needs a lot of room on the sides. The culture is a hodge-podge of southern German cultures, with Austro-Bavarian being the official language, so I've been using Austro-Bavarian naming conventions.
The style I've been working in is based off of National Geographic. I shamelessly admit to having lifted the colours and style of the borders, the colours for the oceans and rivers, as well as the text style, from them, but I've replaced the text with stuff that is widely available, and I used Wilbur (which is an incredible program) for a heightmap.
The obvious problem I face is that this map is too big to show here, so I've reduced it's size significantly and unfortunately it has lost a lot of detail. But for the time being, here's a rough idea of what I've got, albeit without the tributary rivers, state borders, and sub-state borders I'm working on now.
I would appreciate constructive C&C, and I realize that Wilbur unfortunately made some weird looking drainage areas. When I'm done with rivers, I'll post them up.
Very nice idea! I like the heightmap, it's very realistic. I hope you can make the rivers fit that style, it would be great!
As for the names: I like the idea of not using English names, makes your map something special. Are you Austrian yourself?
Now that the warm fuzzy part is over we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?
Wow, that colour scheme is really beautiful! Lovely work!
Very good start. Looking forward to the next update.
Chock full of coolness so far!
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
@ Aelyn:
No, I'm an American. -.-
But there is a very good amount of documentation on German placenames, symbolism, and the like. I'm also very interested in German history and culture, so that helps.
Can't wait to see where this map goes. Looking great so far.
"Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."
My Albums - My Portfolio
Being American is no reason to look like -.- as far as I know It's interesting people actually like German history, I guess if you've been smothered with it during highschool you become very indifferent. *shrugs* Anyway I noticed something you might want to correct: a "ß" is turned into "SS" if written in capital letters. So you should write "BASSENFELD". I don't like that convention either, but imagine- Swiss people don't have a "ß" at all, now that always looks weird to me!
Now that the warm fuzzy part is over we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?