***December 2012 Mapping Challenge Entry: My Warped Backyard***

[The Marked Hat]

This map is heavily, heavily based on the backyard of my house. It has tons of leaves, lots of trees, and several large rocks.

These pictures were all taken by a cellphone. I hope you enjoy. A guide, though. The trees is "The Forest of Wind". The large fence - "The Great Fence." The fallen tree trunk - "Mole's Hollow." The square with shading around the edges - "The Cement Block." And the unusual rock with odd shading (I don't know how to shade rocks) - "Old Bag's Rock." The circle of mushrooms, taking inspiration from a fairy tale I read a long time ago - "Fairy's Circle." The leaves - "Leafy Fields."

A lot of this is just my backyard over-dramatized. So, that's why I call it my Warped Backyard.

### Latest WIP ###

[Jaxilon]

You could write a children's story from all this. Also, Congrats on your first entering of a challenge, that's worth some rep right there.

You do need to add the ### Latest XXX ### (replacing the XXX with WIP) so the thumbnail scraper knows to add your entry. You will want to put that over your single overall image. I could do it for you but you'll have to learn how to do it anyway.

Here is a link to last month's winner so you can see what I'm saying. Notice how the ### stuff is at the bottom of text just before the image thumb.

Now, we just need to drum up some compitition to get this thing rollin.

[The Marked Hat]

You could write a children's story from all this. A children's story from my map? Can't say I've thought of that! Also, Congrats on your first entering of a challenge, that's worth some rep right there.

You do need to add the ### Latest XXX ### (replacing the XXX with another ###) so the thumbnail scraper knows to add your entry. You will want to put that over your single overall image. I could do it for you but you'll have to learn how to do it anyway. Took me nearly seven tries to get it right! But I at last managed it (I think.)

Here is a link to last month's winner so you can see what I'm saying. Notice how the ### stuff is at the bottom of text just before the image thumb.

Now, we just need to drum up some compitition to get this thing rollin. I'd like that. Though, if no one else enters, you realize that will make me winner by default?

All things in bold is my response.

[Gamerprinter]

All things in bold is my response.

The point of a Map Challenge is not winning or losing, rather participating in a map exercise with a limited amount of time to create it, and using your imagination to best capture the theme of the challenge. At the end your peers get to pick their choice among the various participants. Even though I've won four map challenges - the first win on my second attempt, I've participated in nearly 20, which means I've lost most of them. Winning was never the point of any challenge - it was just to see what I was capable within the limits the challenge.

Could I make a map that meets all criteria and one I could be satisfied with? In most cases, for me, the answer was "yes", which means I succeeded in the task, whether I actually won or lost. Whether the larger voting community agrees with my assessment of a successful map is almost meaningless - just participating and being able to get a qualified entry in time, is enough.

[The Marked Hat]

The point of a Map Challenge is not winning or losing, rather participating in a map exercise with a limited amount of time to create it, and using your imagination to best capture the theme of the challenge. At the end your peers get to pick their choice among the various participants. Even though I've won four map challenges - the first win on my second attempt, I've participated in nearly 20, which means I've lost most of them. Winning was never the point of any challenge - it was just to see what I was capable within the limits the challenge.

Could I make a map that meets all criteria and one I could be satisfied with? In most cases, for me, the answer was "yes", which means I succeeded in the task, whether I actually won or lost. Whether the larger voting community agrees with my assessment of a successful map is almost meaningless - just participating and being able to get a qualified entry in time, is enough.

Well of course I know that, I've read the rules. I'm merely excited; is that such a crime? Yes, I'd love to win, but that doesn't mean I'll be sour over losing.

[Jaxilon]

LOL, GP is right about how tough it is. I think most of us know it's more about sharing in the community and honing your skills. Nothing does that like running with the big dogs. I hadn't realized how many times GP had entered, I think you tend to forget about that when you see all those Gold Medals.

I still get excitted by participating in the challenges. To me that's good because it keeps you jumping back into the ring until you are creating what you want to create.

I really should go back and redo one of my old maps just to have the side by side comparison to show how much I've improved from doing these.

I'm going to post some lesson's I've learned from Challenges but I'll do it in the main thread so as not to derail your WIP thread here.

[The Marked Hat]

WIP? This map is complete.

Hope some competition appears soon, it's a bit boring being the only entrant. :Sigh: Yep, I'd definitely like someone else to enter the December 2012 Challenge.

[jbgibson]

Story? Sure - some renditions of the Hundred Acre Wood have about this amount of detail.

Heh - I've driven past several fairy circles in the last few months that I'd thought I should snap reference pix of, as aids to mapping one :-). Thanks for jumping in and getting a slow month out of the starting blocks!