[WIP] Atlas Contest : Ingensteds Village, Seal Island, Alarius
Jeff B
Betatester 🖼️ 39 images Surveyor
Still a WIP. Need to add some more details and adjust the fonts but thought I would post to get some ideas of what may need to be changed / adjusted.
Ingensteds is a remote village on Seal island in Alarius. The area is covered in snow most of the year and the sea ice rarely recedes from the land. The people that live in the village like or even relish the isolation. The community works together to collect food and collect resources they need to survive.
Comments
It's beautiful. I really like how you were able to add some contrast to the frozen sea. Are you considering adding any snow-covered pine trees, or is it too cold for them?
One thing to consider: I'm not sure what angle the sun is coming from here, but you might want to consider drawing in some cliff shadows (not sure if Winter Trail has the cliff shadow drawing tool but I assume it does since Forest Trail has it). Maybe just a smidge? But maybe it's not needed if the cliffs are facing the sun.
I couldn't live in an environment that cold year-round, but human history shows us that people will get by in all sorts of harsh environments.
Thank You
I'll work on the shadows but I should also darken the global sunlight as there would be little to none this time of year. Maybe I need some fires set out for lighting.
Based on where the island is and the location of the village I think it's above the tree line (too far North) so I was not going to add any trees or bushes.
I do live in an area that cold but far enough south to have trees.
Ok started working on lighting for the map. Still have more stuff to do but here is the current version I'm working on.
Dark Version
Lighter Version
Added more texture to the snow and water. Added some slight shadows around the cliffs.
Cliff shadows still need some work I think and I need to add a few more building lights. Also thinking about making it a moon lite night.
Unless someone fines a glaring issue I missed, I think this will be the final rendition. Added larger image to gallery.
Adjusted the cliff shadows and added the moonlit night effect and added the smoke to the buildings. Also added the frame back in the design.
Working to remove the render lines from the moonlight that are in this version. Will post when I'm happy with the results.
If I remember correctly that's something that happens if you have the light 360. I have a vague memory that Joe Slayton (Joe, you can bash me over the head if I'm wrong) once suggeted that it was better to use several lights with an angle, for example 4 x 90 degree lights rotated to shine out to the four points of the compass.
I might be completely wrong, but maybe it's worth a try on a separate sheet?
Thanks Sue,
The light is actually at 90 degrees. I changed it to over head and that seems to have fixed it.
That's beautiful! Just for fun, I might try making nighttime versions of some of my village maps. When you talk about the "moonlit night effect," is that a specific setting or effect in the tools, or just the term you use for the changes you made to the Global Sun settings?
The global light sets the overall brightness of the map. So for this map I set it at 15% which is dark. This allows the lights from the fires and building to stand out but hampers seeing the over all design of the map. I decided I wanted it brighter but just changing the global setting did not give me the effect I wanted. I should not here that I created sheets for the campfires and the buildings. This does not make editing the lights easier but allows me to turn them on or off as a set. I also created a sheet called LIGHT Moon and place a single light there to get the effect. The first version was in the upper left but that gave me the ray lines in the image. I then decided to place the light towards the middle of the map acting as a full moon over head. This gave me the effect I was looking for. Also adding the moon light I'm able to change the overall color of the map just by changing the light color and intensity. This version uses a light blue (76) at 40%.
The map below I changed the moon light to different color just to show you how this effects the overall image. (Yellow 142 @ 40%)
Ok here is the background of the village. I decided that there was too much open space so I did a change to the map that I think works for it's history. I hope my snow covered ruins effect works for the map.
Ingensteds is a small village on Seal Island located north of the continent of Alarius. Located on the northern side of the island, Ingensteds spends most of it days in the dark and cold of winter. This inhospitable region is home to few and the village is built on the ruins of a long lost city. The inhabitants of the village are a close group that work together to survive. Hunting for food and resources groups will travel for days or weeks to bring back food and lumber to the village. There are some outsiders that take the long trek to the village to trade goods for the furs the villagers collect and use as a currency for trade. Outsiders that wish to join the village must go through a year long test to see if they can survive and work with the villagers before they are accepted into the community.
Daytime version
Night Version