House of Balaur

Sorry LoopySue I never got around to doing a proper build thread. I set a deadline of this weekend for myself and life and technical difficulties kept coming up so I had to put all my free time into doing actual work on the map and not making a build thread, but I thought I should at least show the end result.

Comments

  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    No need to apologise! My goodness - no need at all.

    These are beautiful maps. I really like the way you've used the varicolour trees :)
  • These are beautiful. I really love how you did the formal gardens and the lighting in the underground maps is perfect. Thanks for sharing.
  • RelytRelyt Traveler
    Thank you! I put way too much time and work into this!

    The lighting was done post render in Photoshop because apparently when you hit a certain amount of entities on the map the dynamic lighting ceases to work. I could have probably gotten dynamic lighting to work on the underground portion, but I wanted it to match the night versions of the house/grounds.

    The benefit of using Photoshop is that you have more control of the overal lighting and coloring and don’t have to worry about getting caught in render passes, but the benefit of CC is that it handles all shadows dynamically and can really make things pop with minimal effort.

    I was originally doing the standard color for the trees, but my theme was a haunted manor and it was too bright and chearful, so I went with the dry version of the grass and found the two colors that played well together for the overall aesthetic for the trees.
  • Lovely! This might be my favorite DD map yet!
  • RelytRelyt Traveler
    Thank you, it was quite the undertaking.
  • 28 days later
  • Great mapping!
    Is't possible to get the fcw. files to learn from you?
  • Absolutely gorgeous, Relyt!

    I know you said you were busy, but when you have time, I'd love to hear your thought process for when you were planning this out!
  • Fantastic.
    As usual, I ask as to whether there is any chance of putting this in the Atlas (I can find a spot if you need)?
  • RelytRelyt Traveler
    I’m not the best at doing build threads or going through my process.

    But this was started off as my patrons voted for a haunted manor. I am not an architect so I went looking for some old floor plans. I found Lynwood Hall an old run down mansion, I liked it because it branches off immediately to multiple paths and it had a courtyard to start the grounds. I knew I wanted a dungeon aspect to it as well, to have multiple points of access, and to be self sustaining so I made the sewers to proved water and a way to remove the household waste and interconnected it with some catacombs for more of that dungeon vibe.

    I had recently been doing research into the theory crafting aspect of mega dungeons, so I also applied those concepts here. A large area that can be revisited for different goals and quests, Not everything is meant to be swept through in one go, but rather you go in do your quest while uncovering different areas and aspects that will help in future quests.

    I may be able to get some fcw files up later but they are a mess and stretched across 6 or 7 files and have some custom symbols and fills that will show up as red Xs.

    Unfortunately I cannot put this in the atlas as it has some symbols I modified (mostly the stairs) and custom fills, such as the red carpeting and the different colored tile.
  • edited April 2019
    Posted By: RelytI’m not the best at doing build threads or going through my process.

    But this was started off as my patrons voted for a haunted manor. I am not an architect so I went looking for some old floor plans. I found Lynwood Hall an old run down mansion, I liked it because it branches off immediately to multiple paths and it had a courtyard to start the grounds. I knew I wanted a dungeon aspect to it as well, to have multiple points of access, and to be self sustaining so I made the sewers to proved water and a way to remove the household waste and interconnected it with some catacombs for more of that dungeon vibe.

    I had recently been doing research into the theory crafting aspect of mega dungeons, so I also applied those concepts here. A large area that can be revisited for different goals and quests, Not everything is meant to be swept through in one go, but rather you go in do your quest while uncovering different areas and aspects that will help in future quests.
    ...
    Outstanding, thank you for sharing! I'm no architect either, so peeking under the hood at how the maps are started helps me more than a description of which texture was used where. Never sell short your own experience! ;-)

    Geoff
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