April / May 2015 Lite Challenge: Map What You Want To.

[Bogie]

April / May 2015 Lite Challenge: Map What You Want To.

This months challenge is going to be less specific than usual. Map whatever the heck you want to! Anything, anyway, any style.

Thru the winter there were a few people who posted that they didn't enter because the topic didn't interest them. I have to admit there have been times I didn't enter because my interest level was low. Well, a big point of these challenges is to simulate getting a commission and making the map someone else wants by a specific deadline.

BUT, it this also about having fun! SO,,,Do what ever kind of map that makes you happy!!

The Challenge will end on or about the 14th of May, then after 3 days voting someone will get a Silver compass!

Don't forget to use the ###Latest WIP### Thingy so your maps will show up in the Thumbnail scraper.

Happy Mapping !

[industrygothica]

Hmm.. interesting. I don't know if I can decide on what to attempt, though. A world, a city, or a dungeon... I might be feeling a little dungeony today. Guess I'll sleep on it.


-IG

[ChickPea]

I'll definitely be participating.

I was actually writing out some ideas last night before I saw the challenge. I said a week or two back that I wanted to do a town with some rather, uh, fantastical buildings! I was writing a list of places that I'd like to include, but I think I'll need to cut back or there are going to be more public buildings than there are houses. My only slight concern is whether I can do it all in a month, but since I was going to make this my next project anyway, I might as well give it a go as part of the challenge and see how far I get.

I'm going to do a star fort, heavily influenced by this, though I'm doing a top-down perspective (and I'll attempt to get my shadows right first time this month!) I want to make a real fantasy-esque city with buildings that would probably work well in Disney's Aladdin. Dirt has no place in my fantasy city!

I hope a bunch of you will take part again. If you're a bit nervous about your skill level (as I was/am), please just give it a try anyway, because it's a huge amount of fun.

[Abu Lafia]

I'll definitely be participating.

I was actually writing out some ideas last night before I saw the challenge. I said a week or two back that I wanted to do a town with some rather, uh, fantastical buildings! I was writing a list of places that I'd like to include, but I think I'll need to cut back or there are going to be more public buildings than there are houses. My only slight concern is whether I can do it all in a month, but since I was going to make this my next project anyway, I might as well give it a go as part of the challenge and see how far I get.

I'm going to do a star fort, heavily influenced by this, though I'm doing a top-down perspective (and I'll attempt to get my shadows right first time this month!) I want to make a real fantasy-esque city with buildings that would probably work well in Disney's Aladdin. Dirt has no place in my fantasy city!

I hope a bunch of you will take part again. If you're a bit nervous about your skill level (as I was/am), please just give it a try anyway, because it's a huge amount of fun.

Great that the upcoming challenge gives the room for working on your idea ChickPea. Although i'm not sure yet if i'll participate, i'm really looking forward for this.
Regarding the map of Palmanova you linked, lately i thought about a seminar i had some years ago on "classic utopian literature" (Thomas Morus' Utopia ,Tommaso Campanella's La città del Sol, Francis Bacon's Nova Atlantis, Andreae's Christianopolis, etc.), where those novels were usually accompanied by lovely maps of those described cities/states. Palmanova (as, for example Freudenstadt in southern Germany) is a typical "planned" renaissance "ideal-" city, which i also took as a "real-world" example back then for a presentation. It's very inspiring stuff for city-mapping/worldbuilding in general and maybe i gonna make a suggestion for a future challenge to map a "utopian" city in a similar style.
Ok, enough threatjacking, sorry
Cheers,
AL

[Meshon]

Dirt has no place in my fantasy city!

Nooooo! More dirt! Make a mess!
I just love dirty, messy maps, with junk tossed in the corner and moss in the cracks. But mostly I'm kidding. My desire to see this map has not diminished since you first mentioned the idea. I'll be glad to see what you make!

Maybe you could just have a "Messy Quarter" in your town? Like where they sweep all the litter and gum that they scrape off the rest of the streets? I really like dirt.

cheers,
Meshon

Edit: Forgot to mention, I lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia for a year and spent a lot of time wandering around their fort. It's similar, though with not as many points as the one you posted. There are several reasons, based on the development of military technology, for this style of fort. It will make a great basis or set piece for your map. Looking forward to it.

[MstrWelf]

Of course feel free to do what inspires you ChickPea but I do remember a visit to Palmanova and when you are there right in the middle of this huge piazza it feels downright sterile or when you are lost in Germany's largest town square, but I guess that's what easily happens in a 'planned' city. I'd rather feel at home here or here.
But after all, each to it's own and I am anticipating your map. Good luck!

[ChickPea]

I hope you will join in again, Abu, because I'd enjoy seeing what you come up with. The fact that the challenge is so unrestricted means anything, big or small, will count. Hopefully this will encourage some people who might not have a lot of time to take part.

I like that idea for a Utopian city. You should definitely post it in the Challenge Suggestions thread, because it would be cool to see what others can create on that theme.

[Chashio]

No time to enter, but this ought to be a fun one to watch.

[ChickPea]

LOL, I don't quite share your enthusiasm for dirt, but it definitely makes for a more realistic map. I might do a slum quarter that could be dirty. Haven't quite worked it out yet. Hmmm ... maybe I could have a bordello ... hadn't thought about that. That would definitely go in the dirty part of town! Not quite sure how to illustrate a bordello from above. Maybe a bright red roof or something equally tacky.

On star forts, I only came across them very recently. In fact, when I first saw that map of Palmanova that I linked to, I didn't think it was a real place. I thought the map was an illustration out of a fantasy book. I was gobsmacked when I looked it up Google Maps. There are a few forts in the Netherlands too that look amazing. Truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes.

[Meshon]

In fact, when I first saw that map of Palmanova that I linked to, I didn't think it was a real place. I thought the map was an illustration out of a fantasy book.

Okay I obviously didn't look very carefully at this. It's not just a fort, it's a whole town! You know, for a couple hours when I thought I might enter the last challenge I started working on a map of a planned town for my entry, I'm glad you found an example of a late medieval/early renaissance example for me . Much obliged.

cheers,
Meshon