Project Revamping
For any of you that have been wondering about my general absence as of late, please rest assured that it has nothing to do with family or work related emergencies. In fact, in those two areas of my life, things seem to be settling down for the most part. On the family front, my grandmother is doing fairly well, and there is a good chance that Hospice will be stepping back for a while as she seems to have stabilized medically for the time being. As for my father, he's doing as well as can be expected. He's still experiencing a bit of a respiratory problem, but it isn't a life threatening thing. In terms of work, we've finally got a good crew with everyone doing their jobs like they're supposed to. The only real problem on that front is a little flu bug that is making its rounds through the employees.
The thing that has been keeping me away is, in many ways, just the opposite of what some folks here in the forum experience when they talk about "losing the inspiration to map." For me, that is "too much inspiration to map." And I'll try to explain that a bit better.
I am, at heart, a multi-tasker. I've always been a multi-tasker, I think. I can't remember a time when I didn't have a dozen, or more, different bits of information banging around in my head, all relevant to whatever primary task I was doing at the moment. When I was in the Navy, this meant keeping track of all aspects of an electrical distribution center. As a boat/yacht builder, it meant keeping track of which components needed to be installed/connected and what order they needed to be installed/connected in. Believe me, it's not quite as easy as it sometimes sounds, particularly when working on multi-million dollar yachts. In my current job, it means tracking customers, employees, cash registers and operating cash. In terms of work, being a good multi-tasker is a good thing. In terms of writing and creating maps, however, it can be a curse.
The big problem for me is that I get too many ideas bouncing around in my head at the same time. And while I do my best to jot down brief notes in an effort to get those ideas on paper, it doesn't really help free my mind from them, and with all of those ideas bouncing around, it gets more and more difficult for me to focus my attention on one thing at a time. For instance, lets take a look at the ideas that were bouncing around in my head recently;
1. Haevenstadt Harbor
2. Eurosivarae
3. Well of the Golden Maiden
4. Pseudo-Isometric/Hand-drawn Effects in Terragen
5. In-depth study of Erosion Effects and their relationship to Contour Development
6. The Hearthstone Saga (including map, background information and adventure development)
What, invariably, happens is that I'll get to work on one project and, as I'm working, an idea or thought for one of the other projects will pop into my head. Now, as I said, I'll jot it down for further development at a later time, but that doesn't get the idea out of my head. It'll just sit there saying "pay attention to me," while I'm trying to work on something unrelated. I have two choices when this happens;
1. Ignore the idea and try to keep working on the first project
2. Shift to the project related to the idea
If I try to keep working on the first project, the idea just keeps pestering me, so to speak. If I shift to the related project, I'm right back at square one and, at some point, I get hit by another idea for one of the other projects.
So, I decided to take a break, and just let those ideas bounce around in my head until my sub-conscious either eliminated them for lack of potential or filed them away as having potential for later use. That is, in the long run, what usually happens. But not this time. Instead, my sub-conscious took all those little ideas for a variety of different projects and connected them into a single project of a much larger scope. Haevenstadt Harbor has become a significant area in the Eurosivarae World Project. The Well of the Golden Maiden has not only become part of the Hearthstone Saga, but holds some connection to Haevenstadt Harbor as well. The mythological/religious aspects of Haevenstadt Harbor, Eurosivarae, the Hearthstone Saga and the Well of the Golden Maiden have meshed together as a single mythology/religion and been joined by a mythology/religion I developed several years ago for an online role-playing group I was involved with.
In other words, instead of having several smaller projects to work on all at the same time, I have one large project to work on where all those little ideas that pop up have a place and purpose. Of course, with this becoming a larger project, I'm expecting it is going to take considerably longer to complete than the smaller projects might have, but the important thing here is the fact that I've got my focus back. When those little ideas pop up in my head, I'll be able to write them down, knowing full well that I'll be able to work on them without feeling like I'm abandoning something else. With all of that in mind, I've stepped back to the beginning in a manner of speaking.
The first thing I did was toss out almost all of the previous maps. I did keep a rough version of the Well of the Golden Maiden map for both its layout and general appearance (i.e. that pseudo-Isometric/Hand-drawn look). The second thing I did was arm myself with a couple of tutorials by Waldonrate and settle in for a lengthy bit of world searching in FTPro. As it stands right now, I've found the world I want to use as a foundation and started the rudimentary editing process of expanding and deleting land masses here and there to better define the continental shore-lines and shelves. Once satisfied with those two aspects, I'll take things into PSP and/or Wilbur to define the dominant mountain chains (all that study of erosion and how it effects contour development is gonna pay off here!) and locations of any major rivers. With those done, I should be able to refine the various creation myths attached to the world by its various cultures as well as the climate/biome zones.
I don't expect the progress on this to be accomplished at a record setting pace, but I do have a much clearer vision of where I want to go with this project and how I'm going to get there. As for the mapping aspect of this project, I'll most certainly be posting updates here in the forum. And for those that might be interested in such things, I'll try to include little bits and pieces of the other stuff (i.e. creation myths, cultural and historical aspects, mythological/religious aspects and so on) as they develop. Yes, it is a grand project, a very grand project, but one that I am fully focused on now, rather than having my attention split amongst several projects. It's going to take time, but, when I'm finished with it, it should be a wholly completed product rather than these half-finished projects I've been developing a "reputation" for.
GW
P.S. As a side note, here is the world I am starting with. As mentioned earlier, I'll be doing some basic editing to get the continental shore-lines and shelves where I want them before tackling the task of building up the dominant mountain chains and major rivers. Once I've settled on a name for the world, I'll also shift things over to the World/Regional Mapping sub-forum.
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