Village of Swynshore
Hey there everyone, first post, first map. I'm up for any criticism.
SwynShore Day.jpg
Swynshore Night.jpg
Here's a link to a powerpoint I made where you can enter the buildings/areas shown. You'll have to download it to get the hyperlinks to work. (You can click on the buildings/names and it'll take you to them)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1sfyyk8h4m...Swynshore.pptx
Special thanks to Bogie for his mapping elements.
A well-lit place. What is out in the dark that a village this small spends so much effort on lighting?
Placement of "village center" (well) and "Village hall" makes totally no sense. Why the probably most important building of whole village is somewhere near only entrance and is not even facing either the gates, the main road, the main square or anything other important like that?
It just doesn't make sense to me, the main buildings (aka the biggest or pretiest) of any settlement are usually in the center, somewhere where you may find densest buildings/population.
Also why is the guard shack somewhere in "safest" corner? o.O Or is that forest some kind of problem?
Very true. It is quite a lit place and the guard shack is totally in a unrealistic place. As for the village hall/town center, well I had started the map to end at the tavern/prison, but I felt like I needed to expand a bit, so I did so. It felt weird having a bunch of homes off to the side with no real scenery so that's why I added them.
Hmm. Looks like I have some work to do.
Gardens! That's one of the things that was niggling at me, looking at this map. All those cottages should have gardens around them, pig pens, chicken coops, that sort of thing. People have to eat, and as I've said before here, once you maintain a wall or stockade, safe real estate inside that barrier is valuable stuff.Originally Posted by Key
I'd just remove the "Village Centre" label from that small open area with the well, really. The well is important, to be sure, but the real centre of this place is going to be that area nearer the gate, town hall and other well.
Perhaps just have two or so night lanterns - one near the gate, the other by the well or village hall, etc. By the important landmarks. That wouldn't be too unrealistic.
I also agree with the thing regarding small animal pens for livestock like chickens, and for small vegetable gardens. I don't see any crop fields but it could be a fishing village (there you go - the night lanterns could be lit using fish oil so you might have an oil maker in the village!). The pens/gardens would supplement that along with foraging and game hunting in the forest.
One other thing (and I see it on a lot of village maps actually). Foot traffic would wear a trail to people's front doors. I know it's sometimes an aesthetic choice but people often place the buildings in a manner that is divorced from the dirt track/road running through the village.
That is worth noticing too - people usually tend to make shortcuts if they are possible and as it is now its strange how people are not walking trough someone else land..
Also whats up with those roads that ends up in the water?
P.S. Towers or something like that (like stronger base) would be quite logical in the places where wall has to stop (water and gates), you know, just to stop wall crumbling.
Hmm. Things I never really thought about when designing a map. I wasn't trying to be lazy, just didn't think of everything.Thanks for your suggestions.
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