Wizard Tower Basement (WIP)

[saria]

Working on this tower basement battlemap for a module that I'm writing.

Wanted to see if anyone had any constructive critiques of the work - I'm also not sold on the color of the runes yet (I keep going back and forth between going a soft yellow to bolder colors to break things up).

Let me know what anyone thinks! It's always hard to judge one's own work.

Wizard Basement - ArcaneSymb-smaller.png

[Wired]

I actually like the slightly desaturated blue on those runes and circles. If you make things too bright they can easily become invasive and distraction. Maybe you could give just the runes a bit of light outer glow?

By the way, what program are you using?

[saria]

This has been done on Gimp - I've designed a lot of those assets myself by hand (the onions and potatoes were a pain but they look great I think) (Also it's half making me want a tablet - using my mouse... so unsteady!). I just picked up mapping a week ago and I'm now addicted! I've never really drawn, etc. before but discovering this has been awesome.

Any other thoughts on the piece? Just curious how this is received by others as I'm learning what looks good/what doesn't.

[arsheesh]

Looking good so far Saria. The runes look a bit blurry. I realize that this is probably intentional and that you intend to make them appear to be emitting light. However I think you can accomplish this while at the same time keeping them more well defined.

One simple method would be to keep a darker (non-blurred) rune top layer with the blur emanating from below. For example, here's my Mythic Maps logo from one of the products I'm selling over at DriveThroughRPG:

Mythic Maps Runes.jpg

Alternatively, if you want the entire rune to appear to be glowing, keep the top layer un-blurred and at full or near full opacity but change the color to match that of the blurred copies below. You can then make 2-3 copies below using different gaussian blur radius's to achieve a smooth transition of glowing light.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[saria]

Thanks so much for the reply! I took your advice and added a bit of a stroke around the runes, I still wanted to keep it a bit blurry but hopefully this has added more definition - take a look at the larger picture if you want to see the detailing!

I'm also a tiny bit further along on the map assets, designed the well myself and I'm pretty proud of that one though it was simple!

Wizard Basement fancy2.png

I'll keep uploading the WIP as I continue since it's my first map!

[arsheesh]

That looks better. This is coming along nicely.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Bogie]

I love Battle Maps! Keep them coming!

[saria]

Here is my latest update, added: runes, alchemy, a goblin encampment and a few lighting pieces. Let me know if you have any other suggestions!

I think apart from labeling/naming I am pretty much done unless anyone has any thoughts on something I should add/change.

Thanks again for anyone that takes the time to pass by

Wizard Basement - WIP5.png

[Shyvver]

Did you do all of this by yourself? The alchemistic table with all its content USING A MOUSE?! Very impressive!

[saria]

nope! that alchemist table is a free asset that I used and adapted you can find a lot of lovely assets folks have kindly made free for commercial and personal use on deviantart or dundjinni.

Many of the others are mine, the well, the tables, the shelves, the onion and potato baskets (which I happen to be very proud of for no particular reason other than it took me way too long). I think the well is my favorite.