I like it Koor but IMHO its a little Blah. If you don't agree with me please take this with a grain of salt. It's just an opinion.
I love the shallow water hinted at below the sea around the islands.
I think the regularity of the deep water hurts the impression. You might try some noise layers on the water. You might invent\acquire some ships or mermaids or wrecks to spruce it up a bit. Failing that a Compass Rose would be really nice and maybe a scale. In the png I see a regular faint diagonal lines - the look a little like an afterthought.
You have a lot of empty ocean and without the bordering squares it seems a little weird to the viewer that your focus is where it is. Ya gotta figure thats a challenge with this square - in a way you have the best design for the rest of the map. When the squares are stitched together the rest benefits from your open ocean. When you just look at your own square by itself its a little different.
SIgurd
Last edited by Sigurd; 04-20-2009 at 04:24 AM.
Dollhouse Syndrome = The temptation to turn a map into a picture, obscuring the goal of the image with the appeal of cute, or simply available, parts. Maps have clarity through simplification.
--- Sigurd
I think that's what's so hard about giving this map some feedback, really. There's just so little of it to work with, I wouldn't know where to begin. It really does seem like a difficult tile to work with.
Of course, I guess you could leave it like it is, and then use the open water to create a zoomed in version of one of your islands or something, like you're looking through a lens of some sort. I don't know... just a thought.
I will definitely be keeping an eye on this one though, as I'd like to see where you take it. And you can count on input from me when I feel like I might have something to offer.
-IG
Well, tell me about it. It's like short stories by Brecht, the less there is, the more pain. If I had figured that sooner, I might've picked another map. Might've yielded more results.
At any rate: I like where this is going. Though I agree that the water doesn't match the style of the remaining map. I would try the zoomed in version for the blank spaces - actually... ...hm, if I finish my handdrawn version, I guess I'll incorporate just that.
Still, Go ahead, Koor!
Two in harmony surpass one in perfection
The inset map might be the most elegant solution.
Make the sea texture more interesting. No matter what you do I'd look for a solution to represent the whole square in just its physical properties. Not only would that give you freedom for the placements of the insets but it would also represent overcoming a chief challenge of this square.
This site has some water textures for download: http://www.vterrain.org/Water/textures.html
You might fairly choose to stop there. If you want to pretty up the square a bit add 2 or even 3 inset maps.
When you give it back to the map building project offer a version with and without the insets. Then offer the insets as separate maps. I think thats the high road.
Sigurd
That way you can stick to the overall style of the squares (nobody has really invented large changes to the physical layer) and produce the best looking square for yourself.
Sigurd
Dollhouse Syndrome = The temptation to turn a map into a picture, obscuring the goal of the image with the appeal of cute, or simply available, parts. Maps have clarity through simplification.
--- Sigurd