First Map - Comments welcome

darkveil · September 2009

Hello All

This is my first post here having just bought CC3 and I thought I would post up my first attempt.

It was a really steep learning curve and I think I have learned how to do things better second time round, but I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you have on this my first map.

Thanks

sdavies2720 · September 2009

Nice, I like the style, and especially the transitions of terrain. It looks like you put some green hills on the edge of the desert, and maybe a few stray trees on the other. Is that right? I love it when one terrain gradually gives way to another.

The rivers running into the central sea that are essentially next to the outflow at the north look unusual, but not impossible given the mountain range. But clearly there is something unnatural going on in there as evidenced by the spiral islands.

I think you should do something to make the labels pop a little. Perhaps a slight glow to lighten the area behind them. Very, very nice map

Steve

Erior · September 2009

I like the global look of the map too and, like said in the above comment, the terrain transitions are really nice.
Some improvement could be made to the mountain ranges. For example, in the North there are some superpositions problem with the biggest symbols. Moreover, I would rework a little the arched range in the far east. It looks way too regular and "thin".
For cities/villages... perhaps it will be good if they had names too, or use two different symbols (dot/square for nameless villages and symbol for larger cities who get a name). For this last point you will easily find a better solution than mine ;-), but I just wanted to point out that village or city symbol without a name looks "strange".

Anyway, nice map!!

darkveil · September 2009

Thanks for comments

The labels I did in Gimp, but will try them in inkscape to make them stand out more

The mountains I found really difficult and I ended up using the automatic tool in symbols menu - not too sure how to do this any better, after doing the automatic symbols, trying to fiddle them into a different order manually was difficult.

The problem I found with the city symbols was the sheer size of them so good point about just using a dot rather than an icon. Can't for the life of me remember why I didn't name the cities :-)

The Eastern range *does* look regular doesn't it - Thanks! I knew I didn't like it, but couldn't see what it was that was wrong - I will definitely change that!

Thankyou all for the comments

sdavies2720 · September 2009

Posted By: darkveilThe mountains I found really difficult and I ended up using the automatic tool in symbols menu - not too sure how to do this any better, after doing the automatic symbols, trying to fiddle them into a different order manually was difficult.

Try SYMSORT on the commad line, then select a range of mountains. It should reorder everything correctly.

Sometimes you hit a situation where A needs to be in front of B, which needs to be in front of C, which needs to be in front of A. In that case you either i) live with it, ii) draw in a little redundent piece to cover the collation problem, or iii) explode one of the symbols and arrange it manually.

Steve

Ralf · September 2009

Very nice work! I'd add a little more detail to the sea, like contour lines denoting deeper areas and such. Also, I think some more labels (cities, mountains ranges, etc.) would look really good.