Stern's Bridge

[Kingbreaker]

Feedback is welcome, , though I am aware of many errors (I consider small) already (the buildings aren't square, walls and other lines are uneven, etc.).

Umm, this is not a bug, but a feature!! The purpose of a hand-drawn map is to give it a hand-drawn feel, not a computer-generated one. Anybody can draw vector rectangles, but not everybody can add flavor to a map.


I think your hand-drawn, monochrome-yet-aged maps are great - really antique feeling. Have some rep.

[Feralspirit]

Ok, just a bit closer. Plowed the fields, sowed the seeds of peace and love, yata, yata, yata.

@Deanatglobe sorry, nothing fancy for crops. Pretty much Select and Fill. Used guyanonymous' texture 39, found here http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...4&postcount=10 {thanks again, Guy}, mapped small tiles til I felt the scale was good, altered lightness and color to suit, voila!

Tower shadows for the outside two were a bit long, but not by much. I had reduced them falling on the buildings as if the buildings were 1 story, which they're not (they're 2 stories). The illusion that the shadow for the middle tower is short persists for me. Comments please.

For Torstan, sorry, I had actually meant to correct that, somehow it slipped by. An easy fix (now that I am more familiar with the weapons at my command).

Regarding the shingles, I'm not real happy with my results. Take a look, give me an opinion. Some buildings look better than others (perfectly oriented buildings look bad, IMO). Unless I get some kind of thunderbolt, genius idea, or the public outcry is to keep them, I think I'll let them go. Same for the chimneys, and I think the grunge as well (my efforts on those fronts were so bad I'm embarrassed to show them).

Finally, Kingbreaker. Thank you for your kind words, and the rep , but, truth be told, at the beginning of this calender year I could not produce a rectangle on the computer (in any kind of program). This map has become more of an exercise to learn how to do just that, and more (as much as I can). I think I'm coming along.

SB 4-5-09@75%.PNG

Remaining; I would still like to find a small fountain. The areas of cultivated dirt not planted are animal enclosures. A fence, at this scale, is nothing but a pixel, but maybe I can fake in a shadow... Finally finishes.

Please, more comments (esp those tower shadows and the shingles, as well as anything you think I may have forgotten or will improve my map).

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lol, that farmer in the north has been complaining about the shadows from the trees falling accross his fields... how he managed to get his crops to grow over the shadow is a mystery, but I'll take care of it.

[torstan]

That looks great. I have to say that if I were you I'd call it done.

[jaspertjie]

Beautiful!

[ravells]

Stunning work Feral. It almost looks like a 3d model.

[StillCypher]

Wow, this map has improved so much so fast it's amazing! It's full of all kinds of juicy goodness. I love the swamp, and the tree texture is purely cool. I like that all the houses don't look stamped on, and the fields ... are almost perfect except that they seem to be floating! And I have a question: The road passes by your fortress on the west, but the closest part of the bailey is green! Do the folks that come and go *jump* over to the dirt patch beyond? "Mind the launch pad, it always gets you when you're -- Too late. They never listen!"




::should probably get more sleep...::

[Kingbreaker]

Wow, this map has improved so much so fast it's amazing! It's full of all kinds of juicy goodness. I love the swamp, and the tree texture is purely cool. I like that all the houses don't look stamped on, and the fields ... are almost perfect except that they seem to be floating! And I have a question: The road passes by your fortress on the west, but the closest part of the bailey is green! Do the folks that come and go *jump* over to the dirt patch beyond? "Mind the launch pad, it always gets you when you're -- Too late. They never listen!"




::should probably get more sleep...::

Re: the fields. the is the most minor of nitpicks.

The fields look too flat or uniform to me. . . . unless we are talking perfectly pool-table level ground, the fields are going to have some slight contour as well. Perhaps you could throw some blended clouds over them?

[Gandwarf]

Well, actually I like the fields. A lot.
I don't think they are floating or too uniform. Sometimes I look at a map and I think I see stuff floating, but this map doesn't have this problem (for me).

[Feralspirit]

Thanks for hanging in there with me, guys, I'm nearly finished with it.

@StillCypher, I noticed the bailey thing just a few hours before you commented on it. Fixed that and a couple of other places, though there are probably a few more I should hit. Floating fields, I reduced the shadow opacity (on everything), take a look to see if that helped.

@Kingbreaker, the fields are subject to the same heightfield as everything else (except the structures) albeit with as much hue variation in the elements (grass, trees, swamp, and the crops) as I have, the heightfield is barely visible at this point. Compare the field in SE corner vs NE ones. Or do you mean you cannot detect height variations within one field? Maybe reduced resolution is doing this. Try looking close at the field right next to the swamp, or in the fields next to the road north out of town.

More; Added fences, as I anticipated, the shadows are the only way to find them. I hope that with this resolution they're still barely there. Added a fountain. Thanks to everyone who helped me with that. As I mentioned elsewhere, no details are visible. I couldn't find any that reduced adequately, but looked at enough sources I was able to produce something that worked.

Title, Compass, and Text, with glow. I had a difficult time placing them, and the key is longer still. Take a look, share your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Stern's Bridge 4-12-09@75%.PNG

Credit to Peter Rempel for the Rose, PR Compass Rose found at Dafont.com and thanks to phillipstephen for pointing me toward Forgotten Uncial font, found at same.

[StillCypher]

Woohoo! I think those fields are looking much better. As far as possible variation in the heightfield in the field, perhaps you could try a little dodging/burning at a low opacity to suggest height/depth?