World of Ervirath - Please Critique

[neelhtak_backwards]

After much debate I decided to add a WIP of my world map,hoping to possibly receive some feedback (although please be nice as this is my very first map I've ever created).

The world Ervirath is very large - currently the basis for about 13 almost complete/complete novels with roughly another 5 planned out. One reason for it being so large is that many of the civilizations haven't explored that much further than their neighboring countries (thus they have no understanding of events happening several countries away); several other reasons that I won't go into here...

I'm in the process of writing a complete tutorial of how I created my world, so I won't bother adding every single step in this thread. More just screen-shots where I am hoping for some feedback/suggestions, or just general encouragement to continue working.

The below screenshot was taken yesterday. It shows the entire world at its largest. As you can see there are no real continents - more so sections of inter-joining land. This is done on purpose. Note that there are MANY areas that I haven't even begun to add terrain to yet.

Screenshot2_3Nov11.jpg

The next screenshot shows the zoomed in view of the bottom left of my world. I have attached it so you can get an understanding of the amount of detail that I am going into; I have tried to include right down to very small clusters of trees and texture of grasslands/deserts.

So far this is about 50 hours continuous work. All textures, patterns, etc are either included in Photoshop or have been created by myself.

Screenshot3Nov11.jpg

I have been highly inspired by Pasis' tutorial on Rising Up Mountains in Photoshop and by Tear's Saderan's Tutorial.

[ravells]

Very impressive! I don't envy the size of the task ahead of you! It might be a good idea to think now about looking for ways to time save for doing the rest of the map, e.g. by saving custom brush presets and perhaps recording some actions and saving the colour palette you are using and having the textures in a handy place.

As to the map itself, the only minor crit is that something doesn't seem right between the land and the sea, but it's so minor that I might be imagining it. I think it may be a slight 'floating land' effect which sometimes happens but somehow the two don't integrate quite perfectly...if nobody else sees this then please dismiss my crit as the ramblings of a madman!

As to the rest, the textures are stunning and you've really done Pasis's techniques on the mountains proud.

Do you plan to include rivers in the map? Hey that might be the reason I think the coast looks a teeny bit off.

::Edit:: Ah I think I know what it is that's bothering me about the coast. The coastline itself is very sharp but the interior is quite 'brushy' and arty...almost like an oil painting. I *think* that's what it is, but it's so minor it's a tiny point.

[rdanhenry]

That doesn't look like a world map for a round planet. Is this a flat "earth"?

[neelhtak_backwards]

Thanks for the feedback Rdanhenry! Being my first map, I hadn't actually considered it. I was mostly focused at the time of developing areas related to my novels. I'll work on fixing this in the future.

[jbgibson]

Interesting land/water layout. I guess your Ferrymen's Guild and Canal Union will be very powerful, yes?

What rdanhenry is referring to is it looks a bit like an equirectangular projection, according to the details. I.e. no swelling into hugeness as you approach the poles, like a Mercator. Yet, the proportions would be off - an equirectangular shows one half a circumference north-south, and the whole circumference unwrapped, E-W, for an overall 1:2 proportion. Really, even for an equirectangular projection you'd expect to see some high-latitude distortion, since the geometric point of the pole is stretched to a line the whole length of the top. Other projections have similar tradeoffs - what you show would look a bit odd if wrapped around a sphere. With a more usual scattering of land it's easier to disguise the polar distortion - you just make the whole polar vicinity a solid icecap, or open ocean. Since you have this 'even distribution of small seas' thing going, that kind of trickery is tougher to pull off. Whereas a flat world or segment of the inside of a ringworld could 'more geometrically' have your pictured distribution.

Yup, you're doing some good work with those mountains. I like 'em. The landcover too. If you just need encouragement - keep it up; you've got a good look going.

[neelhtak_backwards]

What rdanhenry is referring to is it looks a bit like an equirectangular projection, according to the details. I.e. no swelling into hugeness as you approach the poles, like a Mercator. Yet, the proportions would be off - an equirectangular shows one half a circumference north-south, and the whole circumference unwrapped, E-W, for an overall 1:2 proportion. Really, even for an equirectangular projection you'd expect to see some high-latitude distortion, since the geometric point of the pole is stretched to a line the whole length of the top. Other projections have similar tradeoffs - what you show would look a bit odd if wrapped around a sphere. With a more usual scattering of land it's easier to disguise the polar distortion - you just make the whole polar vicinity a solid icecap, or open ocean. Since you have this 'even distribution of small seas' thing going, that kind of trickery is tougher to pull off. Whereas a flat world or segment of the inside of a ringworld could 'more geometrically' have your pictured distribution.

Thanks for the feedback Jbgibson. I hadn't actually considered such things; to be honest until it was mentioned I didn't even know about "projections". I might go with your tip of adding open oceans or icecaps to the poles to make it easier. I don't suppose you know of a tutorial/source that might be helpful in this regard?

[Lukc]

I love the detail work as well, the lands are really coming along. I suppose the seas are going to be done afterwards?

[Ascension]

The detail looks sweet but the overall landmass looks like you're just putting terrain on a clouds render. That's great for practicing and learning but for the final you might want a whole heckuva lot more water to make it look more realistic.

[neelhtak_backwards]

Thanks for the tip Ascension - I'll definitely work on fixing my oceans/landmass ratio up.

[neelhtak_backwards]

Here is another quick update of what I have done (prior to any feedback edits mentioned above): essentially added more forests, a marsh land, more town locations, farms, and started on some rivers. Note that details are more easily seen on full resolution version; attached file is compressed.
Screenshot_7Nov11.jpg

Was wondering what people thought would be most appropriate regarding city representation. I had originally planned just to use labelling (i.e. Rammok, Capital City, etc). However I noticed some areas are a bit "bare" - such as Capital City. Do you think that I should also include city structures in my map (at least for larger towns)?