[Region 1][Map 27][Town 01]Argria

[Ascension]

That candy color really fits the the olive drab brown, I would keep it as is.

[mearrin69]

Candy color it is, then. I did some erasing across the entire thing this morning to get rid of some of the sandstone/adobe/whatever buildings and expose some more tiled roofs (and I added another basic tile roof style). No shading on them yet and I'll be adding more roof variety over time, but I just wanted to get a feel for what the city's going to look like with a mix of roof styles. Not too bad, I think. With some color variations spread across the city I think it'll look pretty good. Any thoughts, suggestions? Maybe ideas for a unique style of two for some key buildings?

I'll keep rolling with city-wide broad changes and keep detailing the southeast section I've already started; putting in some little features like plants, fountains, awnings, etc. Don't want to get bogged down in details but I do want to see what works on a small scale before I start trying to do anything across the city.

Some notes: 1) the black objects to the west are various styles of tents and yurts. Haven't done anything with those yet, not even shadows. 2) The purple thing is the "hippodrome" and will have its own style, though I'm not yet sure what that'll be. 3) Same thing goes for the grey fortress and towers in the center. They're going to be tall and cast a shadow across neighboring buildings. 4) There's a hill in the middle of the city so I've got to play around with how to make that pop. Ideally, shadows falling onto the south side of the hill would be a bit shorter and sharper while shadows falling down the north side would be longer and get blurry quickly. Not sure I'm up for that level of versimilitude, however.

C&C welcomed. Thanks!
M

[industrygothica]

Absolutely stunning. Now you have to map the rest of the area.

[RobA]

That candy color really fits the the olive drab brown, I would keep it as is.

Though Ascension is a bit colour happy... just look at the sig...

-Rob A>

[mearrin69]

@RobA: Heh, well, I'll cut him some slack on his sig since his maps are so good. Actually, I did tone them down just a bit - and now they're spread throughout the whole city.
@industrygothica: I'll be lucky to finish just *this* part of the area at this rate. I would like to get around to that fort I talked about (Bastion) and maybe the Stoneshaper's Guild fortress - a dungeon map, I reckon.

Anyway, here's the latest. Much more color and shading variation. Think I'm done with that part. Next time I get an hour to work on it I'll start converting the flat roofs to slanted - as is done in the more detailed area in the small section southeast of the fort. I was turning my shading layer on and off...amazing what a difference those few shaded roofs make. I think the map will really pop when that is spread around to the rest of it.

I'm still pondering how to handle the tents/yurts, hippodrome, and fort. Will probably wait on those until I at least get the rest of the city finished on the macro scale, but before I start putting in plants, courtyards, and all of that crazy detail.
M

[mearrin69]

Here's a *very* rough pass at the fortress and tower. Not so great but it's a start. I think I want those roofs on each of the towers. Have to work on that a bit. Also, the shadows are botched. Suggestions for improving any of this?
M

[Al. I. Cuza]

If this is a desert town, then there shouldn't be any grey buildings. Red maybe, if there is clay in the area, but grey?

[mearrin69]

Good point. I had wondered about that...but I'm no geologist. I had imagined the original fort having been constructed by the "Stoneshaper's Guild" but I guess they'd need granite to work with to get granite buildings. I'm working with D&D magic as a background here but forget how wall of stone works...whether it creates stone or merely uses what's available.

Okay, any more stone speakers here? What's the consensus here? Should I ditch the grey and go with more deserty colors?
M

[Steel General]

Well they could have transported the granite from somewhere...

You might consider dropping the gray or shifting it to a dirty yellow/sand color or a more reddish hue as A.I.C. suggested.

[mearrin69]

I'll try to give the colors at least a tap in the right direction. In the meantime here's a quick (again, *rough*) take on the hippodrome. I'm going to need some lessons on constructing these complex shadows. Mine are mediocre at best.
M