[dominions 3] hexagon map reworked to look more medieval

[linlin]

Hi there!
I found this forum a few times ago, and it has really impressed me..
i begin to make maps for a medieval wargame/strategy game called "dominions 3"
all the maps in the game are TGA files, so you can easily change them, or create new ones with the inclued editor..

for my first try, i took a really strategically interesting map, but oldschool/hexagon fashioned, and try to make it to look more like a medieval cartography..

so i put the original map in a layer in photoshop and begin to work on it..

i join the original (hexy one) and my "redone" version

you can notice that i used some of the ressources i found here

i still need to find or draw something to replace the "brown block" bridges.., and i'm not so happy with the farms and castle in the center, i dont think it integrates very well with the rest.. and maybe work a little more with the rivers drawing..

i would be happy to have any comment/suggestion/remarks !

[Ascension]

This is actually pretty cool and very simple. One mountain brush, one hill brush, and one tree brush can go a long way even if repetitive. It looks aged well enough and stylistically it works very well. Nice job.

[linlin]

Thank you Ascencion!
By the way, i looked at your work, and it's really impressive.. it will surely inspire me for the next one..
I will maybe take the same map and change style to go with a more "realistic" feeling

and thats the way it looks ingame for now:

[linlin]

I worked again on this map, but this time to try o more "realistic" style on it..
i was inspired a lot by some of the very good tutorials i found here

[jwbjerk]

I worked again on this map, but this time to try o more "realistic" style on it..
i was inspired a lot by some of the very good tutorials i found here

It looks very nice.

This is a physical board game right?
If people are going to play on this without squinting or making stupid mistakes, i think you'll need to make the boundary lines more visible. It's kinda difficult to see how all the spaces fit together-- though since i don't know the rules, i don't know how important that might be.

I don't know if the province? names are important, but if so, they too should probably be enlarged and emphasized.

The roads and and bridges should be made to stand out a more if they are important to gameplay.

You have cities marked in several ways, small stars in circles, and larger blue and red filled circles. Stars generally indicate more important locations, but you've also made them small and numerous which generally indicates less importance. Unless there's a reason for this, it would be better to go with standard usage, and use the stars for the rarer-more important things.


These are all graphic-design issues. From a purely artistic standpoint, it is very nice, but it's not yet as useable as it could be.

[linlin]

thank you for your feedback!

in fact it's not a physical boardgame, it's a computer fantasy wargame developped by a small independant company. but it includes a map editor and you can put your own TGA files into the engine, so you can make your own boards to play..

for the provinces names, its not really a problem becaue you zoom out and in a lot with the mouse wheel.. For the borders, i think you are right after a few playtests, it can be more readable if you can have a clear view of them even in zoom out..

for the markers, you're right too, maybe i will try to include a "legend" so people know what is what.. the stars ones represent magical sites, where your wizards/alchimist/... have more chance to find gems for magical study

i will try to work around these problems, thank you for your point of view!

[Ascension]

That looks pretty nice. You might want to add an inner glow of brown to the mountains so that they are not all white but otherwise I like it. Good job.