Map 34 - The Eastern Reaches of Khaluk

[Redrobes]

Been running it up for a while and found a way to get rid of some of the lakes but it leaves these ridges in the landscape. I may try to fix that up but I doubt it. The lighting on this render is poor and I probably will fix that so theres likely to be some more work with labels etc but for now it will have to do.

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[Redrobes]

Very impressive work on the 3D! The way you did the waters and coasts are excellent as well.

These are really nice, I like the way plan view's transition from forest to mountain, really nice feel.

Thanks, both of water, coast, and mountain colour is done by the shader. What happens is that the terrain simulator exports a number of images as parameters. These are the height the water but also the temperature, the gradient, sediment, flow - a whole bunch of stuff. Then I run that through a programmable shader and that says things like, if its just above the sea level then shade it with sand, a bit higher and it has vegetation then put down trees, below the water line we have sea. There are about 50 of those rules and textures so we have sea weed, wet sand, dry sand, sand dunes, right up to moorland, rock, snow and some other odd ones. So I can change the whole look of the map by changing the shader rules and textures but I dont have to draw the colour in by hand at all. So like I said at the top, doing 3D is more work up front but a whole lot less now that I have it.

You may have seen http://codeflow.org/entries/2011/nov...g-and-erosion/ - written in WebGL and runs in your browser. It made me both sad and happy to see it back when.

The simplest way to release something like that to open source is to put a specific "this software is abandoned; do not contact me about it" notification on the download (and/or point the notification system at an abandoned/ignored e-mail address). I used to get pestered about source code for Wilbur a couple of times a day. That almost entirely stopped when I put the "source not available" notification on the page.

I think I had seen that link but its been ages since I ran it. Running it is not too impressive but I think the code and the fact its done in GL shaders is pretty cool. His explaination of how he is doing it nearly matches up with my way. Were both adding rain and then trying to level out the water and the amount of water transferred across pixels forces different amounts of erosion and the amount of eroded material is taken up as sediment which is then dropped out depening on flow rates. I am also tracking temperature and vegetation and a couple of other things but thats essentially how mine works.

I guess it could be released but its not something I have any plans for. If I can ever get this working on the GPU and can find a set of pareters that make for nice terrains given a guided input then I would probably release it as a black box and put a GUI on it to make these terrains. No plans to do that job tho as it would be hard work.

I am really looking forward seeing the maps coming together.

Oh yeah me too. I do have a particular liking and enthusiasm of these community projects. My mapping app was designed to bring a lot of maps of differing resolutions and styles together so since I have it I have historically done the CWBP overall maps. I think ill probably do this guild world as well. Its nice to zoom into the individual maps at full res and then maybe people will also map some of the cities within them too. If you have not seen my infamous "horses ass" vid on you tube then check out... (Edit: I got that wrong you need to look here instead). That was my old section within the first CWBP we all did. Also I rather like the beach on that Galtini Island - thats what it would look like with the shader if run up close enough.

[Redrobes]

I have been running it some more and working out how to thin down those rivers and make it look a lot nicer. Also fixed up the lighting a bit more.

I am pretty happy with this now so ill go on to look at putting some towns and names on it next.

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[Redrobes]

I have put some towns and tracks on the map now. I can see that I am a bit out with my mask on the left side so I need to move that track.

The region of Khaluk is mainly made up of small villages with some bigger forts around the borders. There are some additional forts on the peaks with the fire lanterns in them as an alarm to warn across the land of problems. Most of them have a small garrison. The majority of the people live on the coastal regions especially in the many inlets and natural harbours.
The slightly paranoid high Khal lives in the capital which is situated high up in the mountains and all his goods and services come via the track from the nearest port.

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[jbgibson]

Elsewhere you claim you need a national emblem with a crude crayon on a shield. Naaaaah. That would be unfitting. Something like this befits the grandeur of the land or the mapper (take your pick :-) ):

RedrobesEmblem.png

It has the anti-undead Standard Khaluky Helmet and a shield (as one does). The shield is the type with a bump in the middle, because you work like a boss. The shield is patterned in patchwork, because you work at piecing our stuff together. And of course - a red robe.

Hacked together from Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay open/ reusable license images. Couldn't think of an appropriate fromage tie-in, but the whole thing is a bit cheesy, so there you go.

[Bogie]

Looking very good, I really like the textures and the mountains.

[Redrobes]

Elsewhere you claim you need a national emblem...

Hah I love it ! Thanks very much JB !

Wow that really is superb !!!

And thanks Bogie too for your comment.

[tilt]

Looking good - I only wonder if the big rivers should be .. bluer?

[Redrobes]

Well yes probably I have kinda not put much effort into my map and have been a bit tied up with work and the composite map. The bit I really don't like about my map is the mountains are too rounded and way too large for the scale of land being done. And those rivers would be many 10's if not 100's of miles across in places. Its a bit unreal for what was supposed to be a realistic terrain map.

If you look on any satmap the rivers are not all that blue. But maybe mine should be more than they are.
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.5454261,-89.4996617,13z
Click on the satellite view.

[tilt]

valid point - but a blueish or greenish tint would do wonders ... and I know we're all grateful for the work on the composite map