Feb/Mar '21 Lite Challenge: Infested Cave

[Andarr]

This looks really great Kisachik, I like the colors you picked. I hope you will manage to finish! about the stone layering, just what is closer to us is lighter, and what is further is darker and dont be afraid to do even more light on the edges. I dont have any specific method, usually just fiddle with tones until i like it.

[XCali]

Oh this is turning out to be all kinds of fun. I enjoy the way you are going with the lineart as well. I would maybe suggest making the color where it is the rock face a different shade of brown, it might sell the effect of the cave walls even more.

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

Thanks guys!

This is useful feedback.

I tried an easier way of drawing the walls, but Bogie's right, the look I had before was better. So right now my line work is trash and I'm redoing it. But look, I added some glowing mushrooms, and the stream. I'll have to make them look more glowing and more... watery at some point.

I'll make the inner walls darker after the rocky outline is completed, so it will probably be a couple of hours. Drawing all these walls requires a lot of willpower, so I'm switching between walls and other details in order to not go crazy.

### Latest WIP ###

Dangerous Wildlife Cave 3.jpg

You can see my uglier other outline experiment on this one still, I haven't erased it yet. It might have worked on another map, but I think the effect would be better with taller looking walls, so it'd require thinner lines or different cavern structure, so yeah, maybe another time.

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

Hello friends!

Here's an update. I added the corrosive pools. I'm not sure about the colour. Last year I got very sick one time, though my stomach was empty, and so that's how I learned stomach acid is greenish colour. So there, pools of corrosive liquid, brought to you by an inspiration from a bad experience. Let me know if you think another colour might work better. I'm going to desaturate the brown of the rock walls in the finished version, I think.

I also added some furniture in the little nook at the bottom, and a small footbridge.

I'll be putting a simple border, and I wonder if these kinds of maps work better without fancy titles, cause then you can adapt them to a different scenario... Let me know if you think the map needs anything else, especially if you play these sorts of maps, I'd appreciate the feedback.

### Latest WIP ###

Dangerous Wildlife Cave 4.jpg

[Bogie]

Looks good, yes to a simple border, and perhaps a scale. Fancy titles are optional but shouldn't interfere with the playable part of the map.

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

Thanks Bogie!

I was just about to upload this, then saw the scale suggestion. So there it is in the corner.

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I finished the glowing mushrooms chamber. Who knows what mysterious properties these mushrooms have? Did they play a role in the story as a magical reagent used in the wizard's shady scheme?

The entrance is now full of webs. The spiders have been busy making themselves comfortable in this part of the cave and it will be tricky to move around in this mess. Can you figure out how to get through this part without tripping? Maybe there is a way to remove the webs?

A small bridge is placed over where the big pool of water is located. Is it safe to step on? Or did the presence of the oozes rot the wood?

The herbalist's nook contains some of his belongings. Can you find any useful items here to help you with the quest?

Watch out for the corrosive pools in the next chamber. They grew large over time and may be difficult to cross. Where did they come from? Is this another side effect of the herbalist's failed spell? Can you come up with a way to get to the next area?

At the end of this chamber you find a barricade with spikes, and there's not that much elbow room to dismantle this trap. Can you manage to do it without it collapsing into the corrosive pool right in front and getting splashed with that dangerous liquid?

Once you make it past that, there's just one more barricade that hides all the mess left behind by the herbalist, and the half-mad wizard trapped with what's left of his equipment.

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### Latest WIP ###

Dangerous Wildlife Cave s.png

Thank you everybody who commented, for your feedback. I'm uploading the high resolution image, because this is probably the final version. Although I'll take another look before the challenge closes, to check if anyone has some extra advice.

I'm happy I managed to finish this, despite something bad happening to me yesterday. And then daylight savings stole an hour in the middle of the night. Where's the doomsday emoji when you need one?