*** October/November 2013 Lite Challenge VOTING: The Waste Land***

[Diamond]

Your challenge this month was to create a map with a desert theme. Whether that was a traditional desert, an icy waste, or something entirely different was up to you. Some pretty cool entries this month; good job, folks! Here are your entries:

CHALLENGE THUMBNAILS

Please vote for as many entries as you like - multiple choice voting is allowed. Voting will last for four days.

Please don't forget to rep those you feel worthy of it, and tip your waitresses.

[fabio p]

I voted for

The Fraternal Twins by Neyjour
Donner 's World by timallen

For what it's worth , here are my overall thoughts, with order of rating of the maps:

1. The Fraternal Twins by Neyjour : I'm not a sucker for maps of small places, but the work done with the textures , the two types of soil and the representation of the places, the spine of that beast (a drogan? Or should it be a dragon?) , all this things have captured my attention very positively. A really pleasant job.

2. Donner 's World by timallen : I have a soft spot for science fiction and board games and the idea of the map of an alien world just appeals me. I liked how snow, tunnels and the artifact have been rendered. Maybe I would have liked some more embellishment, anyway, I liked it.

3. A Silver to Head by Psylence : One day I hope to have the same ability in drawing and painting. Psylence, you did a great job! However, I still think your map its more a painting than a map, so I didn’t vote for you; but it’s evident that most people don’t agree with me, given how much votes you’re gaining. Congrats! .

4. The Frozen Wastes by schattentanz : a good start, in my opinion, but unfortunately it has not been completed. What a pity!

5. The Creeping Waste by DoubleDutch : also this is a good start , but it seems incomplete.

It’s been a pleasure competing here, I’m looking forward the next lite challenge!

[EricPoehlsen]

I really liked 'A Silver a Head' and 'Donner's World' - and voted them.

[Thurlor]

I voted for two this time round.

1) A Silver a Head - Despite this style being more of a picture as opposed to a map (IMO at least).
2) Sand and Crystals - I love me some sci-fi and this is reminiscent of Dune.

[Neyjour]

These were the two I voted for.

1) A Silver a Head by Psylence - This was, by far, my favourite one of the bunch! Beautifully drawn/painted, and I absolutely love the unique perspective...how it bridges the gap between an illustration and a map.

2) Sand and Crystals by fabio p - I really love the overall colours and presentation of this one. Very nicely done and eye-catching!

[Psylence]

I voted for three. I had a really hard time deciding because there was something I really liked about each one. I feel a bit silly voting for three, but I couldn't bring myself to decide between them.

The Fraternal Twins: Neyjour, I loved this sucker from the start and it only improved with time! Much like a fine cheese... right? No? Okay. Let's try this again. Your textures are damn nice - I love how perfectly you captured dried and cracked. Then there's the fact that you have an interesting concept, clear labels, well marked roads for travel. Just love it. I think I would've liked the roads on the left more textured, ease that transition in textures a little more and an explanation for the drastic changed, etc(but that's me being nit-picky, and god knows I'm still kicking myself about things I missed/could've done/etc) but I really quite like the look.

Sand & Crystals: You know, I never thought about a circular border for a map like that. I like it. Then you have all your markers(love each of them, nice design) though the spaceports seem out of place in comparison to the rest. I've never played the Dune board game, I didn't even know they had one, but I do get that sort of vibe(Sci-Fi & Dune-esque). I think my only real critique otherwise would be, it looks almost too uniform? The dunes seem like a repeating texture and while that's not entirely untrue in life, it seems like a a very, very large area with little alteration in the pattern of dunes.

Donner's World: Ohhh you sly devil, you! You combined two awesome things into one. A card game and cartography. I'd be interested in hearing about the game you develop around this concept. I have to say, I really like the idea. I think it's a unique approach and it has a sci-fi feel to it(Can it be Hoth? I want it to be Hoth. ). I think the part that I love about it the most, is that it feels almost like a monitor on the wall. Your application of icicles gives the map's negative space(Border? Silvery-bits? Whatever you want to call it.) depth. That alone sets the stage for the rest of how you view the map, giving it a very "computer screen" look to the map as a whole. I also like how you did the snowy mountains/drifts because they pop as they should, but not overly so, and combined with the soft borders give them an appearance I would expect to see were I looking at a snowy wasteland.

[fabio p]

@ Thurlor: Thank you; and as I wrote, all "Dune" references are done on purpose.

@ Neyjour: Thank you. As for the colours, I was a little worried since there are so many of them (especially for factions shields and troops). I’m pleased you liked it!

@ Psylence: Thank you. The circular border is not as original as idea, at least if you have played the dune boardgame (that I strongly recommend, by the way, if you're into boardgames: it's an ameritrash bloodfest so full of tensions battles, politics, alliances and betrayal, you'll end up feeling as evil and perverted as Vladimir Harkonnen.
As for the dunes, you're right, it's the same repeating pattern, but I wasn't looking for diversity there, or at least I didn't think a little bit of diversity could be an improvement of the map. Next time tell me before I finish !
And as for the spaceports, well I badly wanted them and I thought they should be isometrical like the settlements.

[Psylence]

Ya got me there! I should've caught the dunes before, but unfortunately I didn't. As for the spaceports, if you can believe this I just now realized that the settlements were Isometric as well! I've looked at that map probably a good five-six times and just now saw that those suckers are isometric domed cities. The spaceport design makes more sense, to be sure, with that thought in mind. I think that's the catch for me, the spaceports seem to vividly stand out.
As far as the board game, I'll have to give it a look to be sure. Looking at a few quick sites I found online, I have to say that I like your map better than theirs! They really didn't have a very good color scheme or design, it seems so flat. I think I'd rather take your map if I ever give it a shot.

[schattentanz]

4. The Frozen Wastes by schattentanz : a good start, in my opinion, but unfortunately it has not been completed. What a pity!

Yeah .. thanks for the Feedback (Thanks to the guys replying directly in the thread, too )

Unfortunately, my hard disk crashed a couple of days ago. The map was part of the stuff I have been unable to rescue properly

Nice contest with some outstanding results, though

*thumbs up*



Kind regards,
Kai