This is my first go (after several tutorials) at a city map. I learned a lot and am now trying to muster the courage/will to tackle a larger, more diverse city.
I definitely struggled to do the area surrounding the city. All of the tutorials that I went through just used squares with edge fade inner applied to represent fields, but to my eyes they didn't match the "realistic" style of the city map. So after trying several things, this looked the best so far but I will continue to play with it. I am not sure what other people do.
If you go to the FS box, and click on Bitmaps, and bring up the fill you used, then go to scale and reduce it by at least a factor of 5, and see what transpires. You can fiddle with the scale till you get what you want, both zoomed out and zoomed in. Hope you understand my instructions, tell me if I need to be clearer. But the city is awesome.
I'm experiencing some kind of optical illusion thing with the fields, such that they look upside-down, like they are on the underside of a plane facing downwards. I think it might be because they are ISO fields? Probably also because I seem to see strange things in all kinds of pictures - maps included
I'm experiencing some kind of optical illusion thing with the fields, such that they look upside-down, like they are on the underside of a plane facing downwards. I think it might be because they are ISO fields? Probably also because I seem to see strange things in all kinds of pictures - maps included
Talk about the power of suggestion -- now that you've mentioned it, the whole topography looks upside-down to me.
This is extraordinary for a first go! I hate doing cities and mine are just horrible! Do agree about the size of the fields, however. And yes, something perspective-wise looks off so that there is an upside down look to the surroundings. Maybe it's just the scale of the city vs the scale of the fields? Very nice, though.
I agree with everyone else. Beautiful city. Sue has it right though. What is off is that the city is a top down view and the surroundings of the city are a sort of isometric perspective. Herwin Weilinks overland style is a type of perspective like that, so it doesn't really fit well with a top down view of a city.
But I think the city proper is very well done. I too like the merchant's quarter at the beginning of the city. And I also like the court where it looks like they do outdoor plays. My one question, is there a graveyard somewhere or do the people put their dead in catacombs beneath the city?
I totally see it now too (thanks for that...) I ended up "settling" on those for the fields after trying several different things. I will definitely be re-visiting them after I figure out what to do and also finish the city I am currently working on (#2). If anyone has any ideas on how to make some fields that would match the city, feel free to chime in :-) As far as the graveyard - I just didn't think of it. I do have a pretty extensive back story about the city, but I neglected to work that out.
A an absolute success on your first go at a city map. It's beautiful.
I see administrative districts, cultural areas, religious centres and palatial gardens. There are temples and parks, impressive architecture, and grand design. Evidence of an organised, prosperous, and intellectual centre.
I think Meldenia lies on the southern borders of some greater nation. Trade must flow from cities to the north, with caravans arriving daily to bring new produce to the market just inside the northern gate. There's no clear thoroughfare to the market from the southern gate, so there's not a lot of traffic coming from the south, and the strong walls would indicate some need for defence. However, the threat must be distant as there's no heavy military presence, but dangerous enough that the settlement hasn't expanded beyond the walls.
There are stories to be told here.
Thank you for inspiring my imagination with your map.
Robotrock - not all is lost. You don't have to swap out the ISO textures for top down ones. I usually find that if you increase the height scale of the texture by about 1.5 it suddenly looks a whole lot better. Its a very crude way of converting ISO fills to top down ones, and it doesn't always look right, but it generally improves the situation with the optical illusion thing.
Posted By: LoopysueRobotrock - not all is lost. You don't have to swap out the ISO textures for top down ones. I usually find that if you increase the height scale of the texture by about 1.5 it suddenly looks a whole lot better. Its a very crude way of converting ISO fills to top down ones, and it doesn't always look right, but it generally improves the situation with the optical illusion thing.
Barliman - sorry about that! LOL!
Thanks for the tip. I will give that a go and see if it helps :-)
Comments
I'm experiencing some kind of optical illusion thing with the fields, such that they look upside-down, like they are on the underside of a plane facing downwards. I think it might be because they are ISO fields? Probably also because I seem to see strange things in all kinds of pictures - maps included
I need to stay away from hypnotists...
But I think the city proper is very well done. I too like the merchant's quarter at the beginning of the city. And I also like the court where it looks like they do outdoor plays. My one question, is there a graveyard somewhere or do the people put their dead in catacombs beneath the city?
I ended up "settling" on those for the fields after trying several different things. I will definitely be re-visiting them after I figure out what to do and also finish the city I am currently working on (#2). If anyone has any ideas on how to make some fields that would match the city, feel free to chime in :-)
As far as the graveyard - I just didn't think of it. I do have a pretty extensive back story about the city, but I neglected to work that out.
I see administrative districts, cultural areas, religious centres and palatial gardens. There are temples and parks, impressive architecture, and grand design. Evidence of an organised, prosperous, and intellectual centre.
I think Meldenia lies on the southern borders of some greater nation. Trade must flow from cities to the north, with caravans arriving daily to bring new produce to the market just inside the northern gate. There's no clear thoroughfare to the market from the southern gate, so there's not a lot of traffic coming from the south, and the strong walls would indicate some need for defence. However, the threat must be distant as there's no heavy military presence, but dangerous enough that the settlement hasn't expanded beyond the walls.
There are stories to be told here.
Thank you for inspiring my imagination with your map.
DMG
Barliman - sorry about that! LOL!