The Startfall Pits

[Shuckeru]

Unfortunately I missed the deadline for the Monthly Challenge lite but since I made some decent headway I ended up finishing the map for the sake a practice. It's the first time I've made a map of a non-continent scale, and honestly I had a great time doing it!

Would love to know what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I could do better next time.

The Starfall Pits are collection of seven craters found in the Nalevian Savannah. To the local population the craters are a most sacred place, and are believed to be arenas made by the gods of war. As such, it is the duty of all mortals to fill these pits with death and entertain the gods. The largest of the craters, The Pit of One-Thousand Trials is the main stage for combat, and has seen, it is said, over one-thousand deaths. The Pit of Impaling, The Pit of Drowning, and the Pit of Burning hold a similar reputation. As all craters are seen as sacred, even the smaller three craters are made into pits of death for the gods entertainment. These three pits house dog-fights, cock-fights, and insect fights.
The Starfall.png

Thanks!

[snodsy]

To bad you didn't finish, this is quite nice, although applaud you for continuing. I really like your drawing Its clean/clear and very well done, my only comment would I don't get the overall impression of a PIT. To me a pit is ominous and somewhat scary. Not sure if your after that effect though. If so, maybe more forest creeping up on the pits, stones and debris at the edges? Great job you have a really nice piece here.

[BlindBlake]

I agree with snodsy on the lack of impression of a real pit. Maybe you could use some kind of concentric circles from the ground to the bottom, keeping those cracks on the sides which are real nice. Or maybe try to play with a colour gradient all the way to the bottom.
I personally find the vegetation inside the Pit of One-Thousand Trials a little out-of-place, but it's probably correlated with the lack of depth.

Anyway, I really like the wooden path style, the vegetation scattered around the pits and the overall feel of the map.
It feels weird for me to give advices as I never posted anything, but I'm just trying to give you my impressions and being as constructive as possible.

Love the Poultry Pit, I think I'd prefer falling in that one

[arsheesh]

A lovely little map Shuckeru! It would have made a fine entry if finished. The drawing and colors are very good, though I agree with snodsy regarding the pits/craters. I think it would have helped had you created contours surrounding the outside of the craters as well to indicate upraised areas created by the impact. That little detail not-withstanding it is a fine map!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Shuckeru]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the great feedback! I'm currently away from my computer, but look forward to getting back and putting these suggestions into action. I'll post here when I get the chnace to update the map.