For all the shy ones out there!

Hi everybody!

I just wanted to start a discussion where all the ones out there who might be too shy or too afraid to post their work a chance to see what a true tyro can do to mess up a map. If I can do this, anyone can. Plus I challenge all those pros out there to put some maps they're not necessarily as proud of as they might be to see what everyone says. I'll start. This one is a mish mash of styles, and it has a lot of problems with it; and I invite all the criticism that can be mustered over it. I will include the .fcw file so people can do whatever they want to it (all I ask is that you explain is how you did it.)

With all thanks,

Nacon4

Comments

  • I am aware of some the problems. Like my problems with "The Death Hills" and the trashing of my desert in "The Wastes".

    N4
  • This is the map in it's original colors and without text inner glow.

    N4
  • I am sorry about the pixelation.

    N4
  • edited March 2017
    if its functional for what you need it to do, there's nothing wrong with it - everything else is a matter of taste

    a couple things I like: the wording in the original is easy to read
    the mountains in the sea is a nice original way of doing islands
  • Bottom line is, if it gets the point across... :D

    I haven't yet started an outdoor map - still working on my dungeon maps and needed symbols so sidetracked into that realm too... :D
  • @Royal Wolf, Yeah I made the original mistake of putting in "The Feywilds" in bluish-grey colored font, so everyone (including me) has a problem reading that in the original. Thank you for the islands!

    @JMunsonII, Well, I was planning on saying that the map was made by a Duke who'd gone across the island and who'd made the map, at or about the time when he went mad.

    N4
  • I would suggest png over jpg.
  • Sorry about this, but everything seems too squarish and geometric to me. Mind you, I have made the same errors in the past.
  • @Quenten,

    No, comments like that make me grow! Yeah, it looks boxy to me too.

    N4
  • edited March 2017
    May i suggest deleting the Feywild and drawing it again with the Deciduous Forest drawing tool rather than the square forest symbols? It is the very top option in the forest fills. I usually then delete the fill behind it as i find it distracting....see what i've done in the attached .fcw I also added a background behind the mountains with and edge fade inner. I also moved your sea contour onto its own sheet and added an edge fade inner to that as well. But i completely agree with Quenten....the landmass is too boxy, and if you aren't familiar with editing the landmass yet, then i suggest changing the forest, at the very least. Be sure to check out the Tome of Mapping. Really, it is the best way to really get a grasp of what you can do with the program. We've ALL started at the beginning and with time spent learning the program, your maps will be just as good as those "pros" you speak of :) Happy Mapping!!!
  • edited March 2017
    @Lorelei, Thank you. I do have the ToM, and this mess is due to the fact that I've forgotten my lessons. But I aim to keep workin' on it and see if I can make it better. I'm working on the notes for it. And even if the map is inaccurate, I can ascribe that to madness of it's creator (which is not far from the truth)

    My thinking is that this place was originally colonized from another land and was a penal colony. The Feywild used to be much bigger and it was the humans that decimated it. The Orc's that somehow got a foothold on the island later; and the Elves and Orcs started fighting (ending in the great battle south of the cursed pyramid) and those Orc's lost. It turned into such a rout that all the eastern Orcs were exterminated and the evil wizards/witches were chased north of the Hope Monastery to a mountain that was blasted to bits (and turned into the cursed chasm that the brothers and monks of the Hope Monastery cast protection and binding spells today for).

    Well, as you can see. Even if my work is subpar; I still want to make it work, somehow.

    N4
  • @Lorelei, this was the Tariga map I did for ToM.

    N4
  • edited March 2017
    I didn't quite know what to do about the mountains. But I've enlarged the Feywild; and given it trees attacking it from the south (something else to make the Elves and Druids ticked about). I got rid of the hokey angel symbol and filled that area with grassland. I gave up on inner glows and fades when they kept shooting my desert to hell. It's part of the area of the Devastation of the Eastern Orcs. I have plans for that Oasis... :D

    N4

    (Edit: I also put some more mountains into the Deadly Hills to give it a more mountainous feel.)
  • I got to where I didn't like the boxy tree symbols. So I switched to the small grove of trees symbols and built my forests using those.
  • Nacon4 commented:I gave up on inner glows and fades when they kept shooting my desert to hell.
    Ooh, you shouldn't do that! Glows and fades can be your friends, concealing all kinds of messes you didn't intend to make (from personal experience...). Just make your desert area larger, so it shrinks to the right size when the effects kick in. Don't worry about how it looks with the effects off.

    Boxy? I wouldn't worry about that. If the map is meant to be one made by someone living in the fantasy world, that's just how they believed it was. Mistakes are what adventuring parties are there to investigate, after all!
  • the more you use the program the better you will get as well. every map I do, I probly have 2 or 3 false starts each map I make, where I kinda decide to redo everything before I get too far. I eventually get to a style or general theme that I like before I settle down and really get into the details
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