Zed's Ford, Inn and Tavern

So here's my first actual project that I feel is complete enough to post for critique and feedback.

We start with a city located adjacent to a ford allowing travel across the river. The ford is rough and doesn't quite look as good as I would like but I think the over all effect is there.

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Second we have the small town's Inn. In the original map it is marked with a purple bounding box to indicate that in the original .fcw it's a link. This inn itself utilizes the point light effects as well as a directional wall shadow outside the inn. The first floor is a tavern with a small kitchen attached.

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Above the tavern is the inn proper. It has one common room and three private rooms. All the rooms share a privy which is located at the top of the stairs. Again this has been rendered with the point lights inside and directional shadows outside. I tried to follow the sunlight pattern and have the light shining into the south facing rooms a bit stronger than the north facing windows. The global sun option have the sun coming from the lower right area of the map and thus the north facing windows would be on the shadow side of the building.

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This is a rectangular jpg directly from CC3 with no post work from any outside source. I'm particularly proud of the effect I was able to accomplish on each chimney. It's hard to see in these shots but the water troughs and the wash basin in the kitchen have some nice gradient effects on them as well.

That being said... let me know what you guys think. I'm definitely open to constructive criticisms. Even if you don't have anything constructive to say, just letting me know what you don't like about the maps will help me to improve my skill and technique.

Thanks for taking the time to check them out.

Comments

  • That is awesome!
    Very nicely done, at least from my point of view. I am sure that one of the Master Mappers will have more useful comments.
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    Very nice. You certainly seem to have a mind for details.
  • bearclawbearclaw Traveler
    Having recently discovered the wonders of light effects myself, I must say I really like the light effects on the ground floor of your in. Very nice.
  • edited June 2009
    Yeah, good job and thanks for sharing.
    The ford in the city map is quite nice I think. Allthough the effect bleeds onto the shores a bit as well...
    My biggest nitpick with the city map is that the city looks a bit bland. You could add some more colors by adding stuff to some roofs (towers or chimneys), add market stalls or walled gardens, etc.

    The building maps are very nice, good use of light effects.
  • edited June 2009
    Thank you all for the comments so far.

    Monsen - Yes I do... I think it hinders my map creating more often than it helps though.
    Bearclaw - Thanks. I was actually inspired to post my Tavern after you posted your crypt due its fantastic lighting.
    Gandwarf - The effect bleed was intentional but after reading your comments I think I'll work to clean it up and define it a bit more. I agree with the city looking rather bland. The market is something I plan to add in the center of town. Even though the city is quite small, I might introduce some wards to it. Make a few more dense and a less dense. Thanks for your comments.

    In regard to the ford...

    I'm actually try to accomplish two different effects.
    1) I want the water to look shallow so the ford itself is readily apparent.
    2) I want the banks of the stream to look muddy due to the constant traffic entering and exiting the water.

    While this would be easy to accomplish in Photoshop (or any other image editor), I'm trying to limit all effects and manipulation to CC3 and it's respective add-ons.

    I'll keep posting updates as I try new things. Suggestions would be very welcomed.
  • bearclawbearclaw Traveler
    Suggestion, (though it would probably involve a lot in intricate detailing) you want to give the ford a muddy appearance, what you could do is extend the existing 'muddy' effect you've got in the water downstream a bit. Perhaps even have cleaner looking water on the upstream side and have it trailing downstream?
  • In theory that is very easy to accomplish. In practice it's not quite so easy. As I clean up the town a bit, I intend to change the ford to better show the depth of the water as it grows shallow and then deepens again as it crosses the ford. Gandwarf hit upon my biggest concern with the town in that it's too bland. So as I make the settlement a bit more colorful and organic I'll be working on the ford as well.

    One change that I need to make is the placement of the dike on the west and south boundaries of the town. I thought it was a good idea but then realized that it would serve to actually trap water in the town rather than keeping it out. So the dike is out for now.
  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Again, beautiful stuff, Keith. At this zoom level, I'd consider making the river a smooth polygon instead of fractalized ... just perhaps.
  • jaerdaphjaerdaph Traveler
    More great maps! The lighting effects work well - especially by the fireplaces. It really feels like you've arrived at a tavern after a long day's travel.
  • Ralf - I had to take a quick look at the map after your comment. You're absolutely right about the smooth vs fractal river. I'll definitely be including that change.

    Jaerdaph - Thanks. I can't quite get the Inn above to have the same level of warmth. The fireplace symbols have a yellow transparency included with them to give a nice glow but I haven't quite found how to replicate it upstairs.
  • I made a few small changes to the town map. I haven't redone the houses yet Gandwarf. I'll work on that next. I've been trying to get the elevations, the vegetation, and the ford clarified. I've taken out the dike, one row of houses and I've redone the roads a little. I think I have the ford where I want it now.



    image
  • The ford is indeed looking better.
  • edited June 2009
    So here's the map as it now looks. It's still a WIP.

    I've scaled back the size of the trees and increased the number. I'm still going to place more buildings in the northern section of the map but I think the town is much more organic now.



    image
  • Henrie61Henrie61 Traveler
    Youre right. Town looks better now.
    Also like the look of the fiels better. How did you achieve that effect?
  • Another update. I've added more buildings along the northern edge of town in the still forested area. I'm not sure I like them. Are they too big? Do I need to surround them with more trees make it seem a bit denser? Should I take them out and put another city ward in there instead?

    I've also added some chimney's and a little more color to the existing buildings and moved the storage silos into a new location.


    image


    Joachim - Thank you!
    Henrie - I'll post a descripton of my fields in a bit, I'm out of time right now.

    Thanks for the input everyone.
  • edited June 2009
    For Henrie - A description of the field technique I chose for this map.

    Draw your fields where you want them placed. I prefer to use Smooth Poly rather than Polygon for a more chaotic feel but depending on the level agricultural advancement of your map either will work. The edge effects will work better with Smooth Poly however.

    I have chosen the bitmap fills from CD3B
    Grass Bright 2
    Grass Dark 1,2,3
    Thatched Roof (it naturally makes a good grain field)

    When your fields are placed, make a new sheet "Fields Background" or any name you're comfortable with and then move it UP and place it above your Fields sheet in the hierarchy.

    Choose CD3B Earth Brown 3 as a fill style and then create another Smooth Poly around the outside of your existing fields. Try not to be too precise as you want it to be a little messy around the edges varying between 3 and 7 feet. Don't worry about the exact numbers. I only put them here as a reference.


    Sheet Effects

    Fields Background
    Glow
    Outside
    Color 35
    Strength 0
    Blur 20
    Glow
    Inside
    Color 40
    Strength 0
    Blur 40


    Fields
    Glow
    Inside
    Color 41
    Strength 1
    Blur 20

    Glow
    Outside
    Color 132
    Strength 0
    Blur 15



    As an option, you can also add a Transparency to the Fields sheet to allow more of the Earth color to come through. I use transparency effects a lot in my maps but I didn't use them on the fields here.

    There you have it. That's how I created the fields for this map.
  • One step closer to being finished. Just the north section of the map to finish up. Not sure if I'll place buildings up there or just fill it with trees. And I'm going to rework the trees along the southern edge of the map as well.


    image
  • Thanks for the fields settings. Those effects are indeed very realistic.
  • I like the maps very much, but from a town planning point of view, I wonder why those buildings are out in the woods. I'd like there to be an explanation for it even if I don't know it. Farmers? Lepers? Foreigners? Priesthood?

    Also, I wonder where the privy drains to. I tend to use outhouses and earth closets, because sewerage is disgusting, and people like to have it outside, especially if they have no flushing mechanisms.

    Other than that? I think they are really cool.
  • edited June 2009
    The outlying buildings would probably be farms or buildings that are unwanted too close to the town center (hospitals, tanneries, etc).

    I have no idea what the technology level of this world is, but if it's medieval, privy waste would probably be disposed of in the streets or river. It could also be gathered (maybe to be used on the farms or in tanneries).
  • Sewage? What do you think makes up the ford? No, I'm just kidding. The Inn that accompanies this town has a bucket on the north side that catches waste from the indoor privy and then is carried away. Extending that concept to the rest of the city would mean that sewage and waste carts are conscripted to carry waste away to be disposed of. To be honest though, I hadn't given much thought to sewage on a city wide basis, only on an individual building basis. That's exactly why I posted these up though, for feedback that will eventually make my cartography better. I may just leave this map "as is" and incorporate this suggestion into a new map since this is only the first in the series that I'm working on.

    As for the outlying buildings... they were designed to look good rather than function well. So here's my quick imaginings on placement...

    There are actually three sections that are "out in the woods" so I'll touch on each of them. The section to the NW of town is a new build by a few of the more wealthy inhabitants hoping to create another less crowded section of town.

    The section to the SW of the ford is another section of new growth. It's not quite a shanty town but it borders on it. Poor quality of contruction, little planning. Buildings are at odd angles and the 'roads' are only starting to take shape.

    The section to the N of town is what I call old city money. Residents with enough money, power, influence to prevent others from building too close to them and have prevented growth of the city northward. Though it's hard to tell from the map, this section is also high in elevation than the town proper. The houses and claimed land in this section are what caused the haphazard growth on the opposite banks of the river. Rather than spend their money on lavish homes with private gardens on the bank of the river (as did the six estate owners that are on the bank) these people have chosen to remain in their family homes and simply purchase the land around them by land deed and use courtesy rather than physical lines of demarcation to maintain their property lines.

    "Off Map"

    What is not seen in this map is the additional argricultural land that exists. A few tens of acres to the north and a few hundred acres to the east are dedicated farm and ranch land.

    In the future my maps will probably not come with instructions or a detailed write up, so I'll need to work on making sure they are self contained and answer the observers questions without commentary.

    Thanks for the feedback!
  • Henrie61Henrie61 Traveler
    Thanks for the details on the field settings.
    Really like the look of them.

    In my opinion the map is looking good.

    Maybe the scaling of the houses needs a bit more attention.
    The houses in the centre are rather big compared to the rest.
    But thats a problem I also have myself.
    Its hard to keep everything the right size.
  • Posted By: Henrie61The houses in the centre are rather big compared to the rest.
    It's quite usual.
    Center houses belong to richer people and/or houses more familly.
    Houses outside the walls were build with less order/organisation and were sometimes nothing more then a peasant's hut.
  • 11 months later
  • Hi,

    I'm pretty new to CD3 and am making a small, test village. It has a ford and I was wondering how you made your ford? Any tips?

    Thanks,

    Kyle
  • Sheet sequence.

    land
    river

    Use a lighter blue for the ford area.
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