Quest for the Zjed'Uhn Diamond

[ladiestorm]

And yet another update.. I've started the labeling, but I'm not sure about the colors I'm using... so this is a test to determine whether on not I need to change the colors.

### Latest WIP ###

[tilt]

The labels disappear a little against the dark colors..

[Greg]

It looking a lot more fleshed out now Ladiestorm!

The colours of the labels themselves are nice, but maybe try something like a solid white outline to boost them in those darker spots. Just play around and see what works, but I reckon a solid outline will help better than just a glow.

[Mouse]

What lovely colours they are

Not sure how to make them show up a bit more. Maybe a stronger, but relatively short range dark glow? The problem lies in the fact that the letters themselves are textured. If there is a way to take that texture off as well as strengthening a dark glow around them, they might work a lot better with just a modest increase in the glow. But that is only a guess

You could always go for the most noticeable white with black glow, but I understand that a lot of people find that a bit old hat. I still use it quite a lot, since whether its popular or not its still the most visible. Variations on that theme are creamish text with a dark or rich earthy coloured glow etc.

[ladiestorm]

Here's the latest update. The labeling continues, I have about 2/3 of the labeling done. I played around with the effects a bit to keep with the colors (sort of), but make them a bit easier to read. One thing I did was enlarge them a bit, especially on the Mountain ranges.

I'm trying a transparency technique on the labeling for the rivers, so that it doesn't get too busy. Right now, my dilemma is how much to label. I'm treating this as if it were a map to a book or story. The Seeker's route that I'm planning to map, won't hit everywhere on my map. Some of the places on my map aren't needed for this particular quest (story) but if the story were to continue, they would take part in the following quests(stories) So I decided to 'think ahead' and include them.

So the question here... is do I label everything? Or just what is needed for this particular quest? I'm leaning toward the latter, which means some of these labels may disappear. Any opinions?

### Latest WIP ###

[ladiestorm]

Newest Update:

Well, the completion of this map is in sight. I decided that I was only going to label the places that are relevant to this particular quest, so there has been a lot of undoing and redoing of text labels. I've added the Seeker's Route, and finished the roads. I've also possibly finished the labeling, depending on whether I can find a good scroll to work with. I've even jazzed up the border a bit, though it's not complete.

To Do List:
1. finish map border
2. finish any labeling
3. finishing touches

### Latest WIP ###


and as always, feel free to comment, critique, or run away as you see fit!

[Straf]

It's looking great ladiestorm although some of the labels are a bit odd on my eyes - the pink/burgundy ones. I do like your ocean texture. Did you make it?

[ladiestorm]

I'm using those colors to tie the frame in. In regards to the ocean, no I didn't make it, I'm not that talented! It's the standard ocean bitmap fill that comes with the Mike Schley style for cc3+. I just manipulated it a bit to get the texture I like, which is nothing more than uneven scaling.

[Straf]

I think making textures is just hitting random buttons to see what happens then saving anything that looks OK That's all I do anyway

[ladiestorm]

I don't know if I can do that in cc3+