My first map - Arnhaal
I know, it's pretty bad, I need suggestions, tips, what have you. I was trying to do a whole continent.
I wouldn't mind tips on placing settlements and stuff, cause right now its congested. Trying to figure out rivers is annoying, they look so unnatural when I try them out.
I haven't labeled anything yet, obviously.
I wouldn't mind tips on placing settlements and stuff, cause right now its congested. Trying to figure out rivers is annoying, they look so unnatural when I try them out.
I haven't labeled anything yet, obviously.
Comments
I'm not an RPG gamer, I'm an artist - but from what I do know about gaming from both my own study - and the input and feedback from other gamers that I've been aqaunted with, which is a little more than the unfamiliar layman - I can tell you that there are maps that are extremely detailed and "artsy fartsy", but that are difficult to follow or awkward to use for game play because they might be far too "over the top" and elaborate. Then there are maps that are very basic and simple - yet very pleasing to the eye - that really make for some fun and involved / engaging game play. Your map strikes me as the latter. I like it!
I'm personally not quite satisfied with it... trying to figure out ways to improve.
Here's some tips:
Settlements are located usually either near bodies of water, agricultural land, or mines / minable resources.
Capitols are usually the first settlements established within a region that will eventually become an independant nation state or territory.
Fortresses and military encampments are located both near Capitols, ports, and wealthy settlements where there are trade route hubs - and along borders.
Well paved roads - or wide highways - connect large cities, towns, ports, and fortresses, and rougher, more narrow roads and paths connect smaller towns, hamlets, villages, and poorer settlements.
Bridges crossing borders are gaurded, typically by gaurd huts or towers - and roads crossing borders are usually gaurded by forts / fortresses / encampments - even where neighboring nation states are friendly towards each other or allied. Sometimes great walls are built stretching either partially - or entirely along borders. Trenches can also be employed to do the same thing.
Roads usually follow the less rugged routes - i.e. "the path of least resistance" terrain wise - unless the only way to get somewhere specific is over difficult or rough terrain (like having to cross a mountain range - or follow a path or rough road through a dense forest, boggy swamp, badlands, or desert).
Ports are vital for fishing and trade - and are usually well to do if they serve as both trade routes and fishing centers. In that case - they might be major cities or even a Capitol = which would be logical.
Actually - looking at your map - it looks like you've already pretty much covered it.
I am starting overish though, detailing regions seperetely and then combining them to avoid "crunched settlement syndrome"
1. If your scale is 10000 x 8000, I'd start by making all the human made land marks a little bit smaller. Especially the ones that are a single building or tower. I can't remember how you do it off hand, as I'm not in front of the computer, but it's either shift or control and move the mouse (it'll be down in the lower left telling which is which). The settlements seem to be overtaking the land. If you want a settlement to seem large, you want more smaller symbols grouped together instead of one large one.
2. I suggest adding some rivers, since settlements often intially pop up around rivers, this will give a good feel for the land. On a map of this scale your only going to catch the very major rivers... Ones like the Mississippi, or the Nile.
3. It looks to me like the major weather systems for this continent move from East to West. I'm not sure if that's what you were thinking, but just something to keep in mind.
4. Another thing to consider is, why your mountains are where they are. One possibility is that this continent is made of two tetonic plates that are pushing into each other. Another possiblity is that the entire continet is one plate, and it's pushing into a plate to the east, while shifting a bit north.
5. You might want to add some foothills on one or both sides of the mountains. On the east side of the mountains they'd be fairly green and lush hills. You could do this either with symbols or with a contour line under the mountains.
6. After all that to make the map "pretty" you can turn on all sorts of effects in CC3, but for a map this large I wouldn't do that until your basically satisfied with it.
Overall though it's a very good start. Hope my comments are helpful.
What I'm doing now is doing, I believe a 3000 x 2400 region each, so, like right now I've got three maps. So far, all on the east side of the continent I intend to make (hinted at in my first try.)
I'm not sure how many of these regions I'll need, but I'm not sure what the overall world map scale should be.
For numbers 3 and 4 could you possibly elaborate?
I definitely don't know much about weather systems or teutonic plates, though I can say, in the history of this world, it was originally one giant continent, but there were some bad things that split them apart - with this continent being the piece that was in the center, as cliche as that may sound.
I'm not an expert by any means.
As far as weather goes, you might also want to consider where your equator is, how much tilt the world has, and how that might affect the large trade winds. Unfortunatly we only have earth as a reference, and it's your world so you can do anything you want. But the more believable the better!
4. The plate tectonics are going to give an idea of where and how the mountains form, the subject is way to complex to give an easy answer, but you can get a general idea here again by looking at the earth's plates. Wikipedia has a pretty good diagram.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plates_tect2_en.svg
It's possible for your one big continent to have been many plates, or it could have been maybe one big plate, and some great magical catrosphe split it apart? Generally with mountain chains though... the biggest ones are the newest ones resulting from plates crashing together, not always right at the fault lines, but usually.
I think you'll find 3000 x 2400 much easier to work with than 10000 x 8000. At 3000 x 2400 you can add many more rivers also. Before serious irrigation projects make an appearence much of your civilization layouts are going to be governed by rivers, so it's a good idea to place those before placing anything else. I personally go Mountains -> Rivers -> Forest -> all the other land features -> settlements. Though I think some other people leave forests until the end... since settlements can cause those to get cleared out somewhat.