My first map

[Malach]

Hi! I'm Malach, and I'm new around these parts.

As an introduction to my current (and first mapmaking) project, I've had this idea for a CRPG bouncing around my skull for the past couple of years. Don't want to go into too many details, however, but suffice to say, I hope I can complete it in the next couple of years.

As an aid to the story development, I decided this weekend to start working on a map of the region of the world where the events of the game take place. I don't have much detail on the map yet, just the basic coastal outline. I used a tip that I saw, where I found a coastline that I liked on Google Maps, and inverted in both horizontally and vertically

[- Max -]

Welcome to the guild malach The tip you used is probably useful sometimes though here, the part of Greece and Turkey you used is still easily recognizable, even inverted.

[Malach]

Thanks Max....I figured it would be, I do have plans of further modifying the coastline, maybe added in some additional islands and such, but I just wanted to get something started so I can put some other techniques into practice.

[Llannagh]

Welcome to the guild, Malach!

As far as I agree that the Aegaen Sea and Turkey with Istanbul is an intruiging coastline, I would not advise to use it in a CRPG. It's too recognizable. My first thought when I looked at the map before I even read your post was "Hey, that looks like Greece and Turkey upside down!". Hit me on the head if I'm wrong, though.

Again, I see the appeal to use this. But even if you just want practice, I'd still recommend drawing your own coastlines. If you've got a backstory for this that ties in the real geography, though, go ahead! That could get interesting.

If you'd draw your own coastline, you could also achieve a sharper (for lack of a better word) outline, since the small islands aall look like green dots. I guess that happened when you copied the original imag and rescaled it.

Sorry for being such a harsh critic, hope I didn't spoil it for you!

[Malach]

Any criticism is accepted, Llannagh (nice Celtic name by the way)

I agree, this should be more for practice than anything else.....I'm using this as a tool to get back into creative mode, as 10 years in the US Army has pretty much killed off any creative flow that I've had. Now that I'm on my way out, I'm trying to get that creative ability kick-started.

[Malach]

Made some modifications, swapped the land and ocean (kinda makes you feel like a god, doesn't it? )

[Drowned Fairy]

Since I'm still new on the map-making scene, all I could say is its beautiful.
If they didn't say that it looks like Greece and Turkey I wouldn't have ever noticed (I didn't really focused too much on the Mediterranean whenever I look at a map, plus I didn't look at your map in inverted colors, so there's that xD)

Either way, I hope I'd get to see your self-made coastline in the near future.
And if you don't mind my asking, what program do you use?

[Malach]

I'm using Photoshop CS5 x64.

Speaking of my own coastline...that's what I've been working on....trying to get all the little fiddly bits around the edges.

[Drowned Fairy]

This is just my personal taste, so in not any way is my advice going to be the same to others...probably.

Here goes:
Did you had in mind of making your coastline squarish?
Since it looks a bit unrealistic per se.
But the islands are awesome, though
I couldn't make islands like that for $100 xD

Why not add more details, like roads, rivers, mountains and the sort?
Makes the map more beautiful to look at.

Good job and keep up the good work.

[Malach]

Because of some minor stupidity on my part, I didn't save the file I was working on, and then my computer automatically rebooted to install some updates.....

So, I've started over again, and this time, I'm really happy with what I've got so far. Lots of nice complexity on the coasts, lots of little islands, and I'm already starting to get some ideas on where to place my mountain ranges.

I do plan on developing the map further, but I only get an hour or two a day to work on it until the weekends.