[WIP] Community Atlas Competition: the fire of Lielt'ma
Hi, everyone, and happy new mapping year.
Well, this is going to be my first ever competition entry, and I've been thinking about the concept for the past few days. My current plan is a hidden sanctuary to Lielt'ma, a forgotten deity of the glaciers, whose frozen body made the continent of Ezrute and could only be melted by the fire of the love of her faithful for her. To prove their love, they had to 1) go on a pilgrimage to the top of a high glacier / mountain; 2) step down inside the mountain through the bottom of a stepwell structure on the surface; 3) climb down a pyramid trunk tower that had been carved into a massive hollow ice column; 4) purify their bodies with a freezing bath in the consecrated chamber at the foot of the tower; 5) brave the usual tests, and 6) enter the Heart of Lielt'ma, a shrine to the goddess built in an underground dome with rivers of lava and the Heartbeat, a pit of everburning fire where the pilgrims had to throw themselves into. So, pretty much the usual "Throw stuff into the fire" stuff. The location is nor particularly relevant yet, though the snowy massif between Frostfang Peak and Kristol Springs in Ezrute looks nice.
And if I can get a 10% of all that done I'll be satisfied.
I'm using Perspectives, mostly the Herwin Wielink symbol set and bitmaps right now, and my first thing to do has been trying to create a "frozen/snow" variation of the bitmaps for the surface, the tower and the icy surfaces. The whole concept is huge in size, so I created a small fcw to play with the bitmaps (see below). By tinkering with the Floor and Wall sheets, adding a 60-80% lightness and using wide white instead of short black for the glows, I've found a few glowy yet promising candidates starting from the Cobbles_, Dirt_ and Flagstones_grey bitmaps. I modified the standard background with the grey RGB Matrix Process default setting to give it a nice winter look.
The lava bitmaps in the set are going to be very useful for the bottom of the structure, I hope. the symbols, not being easy to customize, are going to be a pain. I've tried translucent white sheets to make them look "frosty", but nothing worth showing yet.
I'll keep you updated. ?
Comments
Happy New Year! :)
Looking good already.
Nice start there. Looking forward to how this progresses.
Okay, It's been a while. I've finally found the time between experiments at the lab to work on my map for the challenge (it's been a hectic few days playing with the sheet effects), and have something to show for it. I had to adjust my initial idea for the map less than I expected, mostly because the Perspectives and the Isometric Dungeon symbol sets have been really useful. I've combined several sets and annuals, including this month's Seals and Banners, and this is the current version.
The frustum and the Way of the Heroes look way better close up.
I'm still trying to find the right combination of Glow, Hue and Saturation to get the same icy texture at full size.
We still have a few days until Sunday, so I'd appreciate anything you have to say about it now that I can still make modifications. I hope you like it.