City of Cerdain - Critique wanted.

[Darryl Holmes]

Hello! A quick introduction: I'm working on a small text-based Fantasy RPG for Android. The game is called Siege of Cerdain, and is entirely based inside the city while it is besieged by Undead. Instead of just text and options, I wanted to make it more in line with how Pen & Paper RPG's work, which generally involve battle maps and more visual reference materials. So I've basically been lurking on here for the last month or so, admiring your communities hard work and reading your material. This place is an absolute treasure trove of information! So I was wondering if you guys and girls wouldn't mind helping me out some more, by giving me a bit of critique on my first map.

For people new to the thread: There's a new, updated version of the map further down!

SiegeofCerdain_map.png
[Click Here for Full Sized Version 3200x3200]

• The main thing I've found wrong with my map so far is that it's incredibly small for a city (probably more town sized). There is a genuine reason for this though, mainly to save me work on the programming side of things.
• Another thing I'm not happy with is that the rocky areas look more plastic than rock. I've not been able to figure out how to fix that... I've found some great tutorials on here, but unfortunately, I'm artistically challenged.
• Also, there's no lettering at this point, since this is the version used in-game (this version is before the siege starts). I will be adding lettering when I'm happy with the actual map.
• And I think the Tree's look terrible, but can't figure out a way of doing them better.

I'm looking for any critique about the map and geological layout (you can be as harsh as you want, I won't take it personally). I really want to make this look as good as possible, so anything that I've done wrong that you can point out or any hints or tips you can throw my way to improve it will be greatly appreciated.



Short About the City of Cerdain:
The city is a rural East-Midlands community, which has built up over the years around the Ealdorman Landgrave's Manor. (The Red building, walled off in the centre). It's a fairly new community, only beginning construction in the last 100 years, who had (luckily for them) only just finished construction of their walls around two years ago.
Their Midlands location, as well as treacherous waters, makes seafaring trade impossible; leading to the city becoming mostly self-sustainable, as well as walling off their rivers.