[Unpaid] World Design Project

[Kalex the Omen]

I have begun what will probably be over a year long process of designing a world for my local gaming group. I intend to develop the world in great detail starting big, and then focusing in on a region followed by individual realms.

My thought about how to do this from a mapping perspective is to use ProFantasy software to begin with a world in Fractal Terrains Pro and move down to Campaign Cartographer 3 for the region and realm maps, and City Designer 3 for villages, towns and cities. I will probably use Dundjinni for dungeon maps when I get to that stage.

I have very little experience using the ProFantasy software though I own all of the programs. I began with a tutorial on FT Pro, but am having trouble finding a world that would work. I have a region map sketched out on graph paper (which I will post when I get home) that I would like to find an analogous location for in the world I generate. I am not trying to shoehorn the region into the world, but more trying to find a similar location in the world then rearranging the region to fit.

Anyway, I thought that maybe someone here with experience with the ProFantasy suite would be interested in helping with this project. For now the work would be unpaid, but if the end result of my work is at a level of quality that satisfies me, I would consider self-publishing. At that time I would consider negotiating a fair price to use the maps with full credit to the cartographer. Since I own the software to be used, I would want to exchange the files used rather than just exchanging jpegs or whatever.

Commission:
Unpaid for now. Possible payment at a future date if publishing becomes an option.

Style:
I have not settled on a style yet. Obviously the world map will be somewhat photo-realistic as designed in FT Pro. The region, realm, and city maps will be done in CC3 and CD3. An existing style will be chosen.

Description of Map:
I will attach a map of the initial region of development called the 12 Kingdoms. This area will consist of 12 city-states in the west bordering a sea, separated from an empire to the east by a north-south mountain range.
The world should have two or three large continents and several islands and/or island chains. The region described above should fit somewhere on one of the large continents.
The scale of the maps will vary depending on the focus of the map.

Quality & Size:
Professional
Required for print and web
Dimensions of maps will vary depending on the focus of the map.
Raster/Vector – Not sure. Willing to discuss with cartographer.

Copyright:
I will have the right to use the image for commercial purposes, the artist will have the right to exhibit the image as part of his portfolio but not to exploit it for commercial gain. If the project reaches this stage a lawyer will draw up a contract to be signed by both parties.

Well that about does it for now. I'll post the sketch I have when I get home (around 4pm EST).

Regards,

Kalex the Omen

[Update]
I may have found my world in FT Pro. FTW file attached.

This section would be the 12 Kingdoms Region...

[Kalex the Omen]

Wow! I am truly underwhelmed by the responses here.

Here is the rather slow progress I have made so far. I'm not sure if I want to go with the elevation maps for the region maps, or change to a more artistic style.

Maybe I can get an answer to this question. Are there any really excellent tutorials for CC3 in the tutorials section?

Regards,

Kalex the Omen

[Jkaen]

Its quite a specific request for a large amount of work you have made using a specific piece of software, hence you have narrowed down your audience to a large degree.

With this sort of scope, I would encourage you to learn the software yourself.

Having a quick browse this tutorial jumped out at me as being CC3

[Kalex the Omen]

Its quite a specific request for a large amount of work you have made using a specific piece of software, hence you have narrowed down your audience to a large degree.

With this sort of scope, I would encourage you to learn the software yourself.

Having a quick browse this tutorial jumped out at me as being CC3

And what would have been wrong with posting your evaluation two weeks ago, I wonder?

The work is really for a region map at this point. Approximately 250 x 200 miles, with the possibility of some tighter focus maps of specific cities, and "dungeon" locations. What I'm really looking for is the right set up of the original region map with layers and sheets. My understanding of CC3 is that I could then zoom in (and icons should scale accordingly), and then I can populate the zoomed area myself without outside help. Of course someone with the right expertise could chime in and let me know if this is even possible with CC3. I don't really know enough about the program and the information available on the internet and from ProFantasy is somewhat lacking from what I have been able to find. It seems like a great suite of products, but I don't have years of playing hit-or-miss with the program to get good without help. If I was 16 again I'd do it the hard way.

I saw that tutorial too, but the links are dead which is why I asked if anyone knew of any others.

Here is a zoom in of the region I'd like to start with.

Regards,

Kalex the Omen

[Jkaen]

And what would have been wrong with posting your evaluation two weeks ago, I wonder?

Because I don't read and respond to every thread the moment its posted, and to be honest if I get abuse for helping you out now, then I wouldn't be surprised if you find further help hard to come by.

[Kalex the Omen]

Because I don't read and respond to every thread the moment its posted, and to be honest if I get abuse for helping you out now, then I wouldn't be surprised if you find further help hard to come by.

Sorry, I wasn't commenting specifically of you, but the 120+ views over the last two weeks. I came here because I heard CG was a helpful community, but 130 views and nobody says, "Hey you might want to scale down your scope a little" isn't that helpful.

I understand the project is ambitious. The work I have ahead of me as a writer is daunting and likely to take more than a year for just the starting region and initial campaign path. What I really need is someone with a passion for doing this kind of thing and would be doing it anyway whether it was in conjunction with me or not, or someone who can get me started and who can be available for the many questions I am likely to have, or who can take some unfinished work and "pretty it up" so it looks more professional.

I have considered paying a cartographer I know from another forum, but given the economy that just isn't in the cards at the moment, so this is my best bet and hopefully will provide some monetary rewards in the future though I cannot promise anything. If the lawyer fees were reasonable I would consider signing a contract at the inception of the project to provide payment should the project ever be used commercially.

That about says it all. Sorry if I offended anyone.

Regards,

Kalex the Omen

[jfrazierjr]

Sorry, I wasn't commenting specifically of you, but the 120+ views over the last two weeks. I came here because I heard CG was a helpful community, but 130 views and nobody says, "Hey you might want to scale down your scope a little" isn't that helpful.

Many people, myself included view almost all the posts, but only reply if they have something useful to provide. Many of the regulars here are more familiar with Photoshop or GIMP as their primary mapping applications and while there are more than a few who use CC on the boards, I have seen few people who are both regular posters (ie, several posts a week or more) and very proficient with CC.

As mentioned, there are several limiting factors which would also minimize your response rate such as the specific software package, unpaid work, and large scale. In general, from what I have seen, most of the pro bono work done as been on for smaller scale stuff and generally allowed the artist to choose his/her medium (software of choice).

Given that, I have offered some pro bono work before, however, they were fairly small scale jobs and would have been done in GIMP and would have required a very loose time requirment(ie, taken a long time). Even then, I always encoraged the poster to learn GIMP and let us help them make the map they need for themselves. I will say that this will more then likely be the case here also.

From what I have heard, there is a tutorial which is provided as part of the CC bundle which is excellent in explaining the concepts and that the issue most of the experienced people have encountered is that many new people do NOT follow the tutorial and thus the reason for their(the new people's) confusion. The creator of Fractal Terrain and representatives from Profantasy both have accounts here and check in every few weeks at the least, so if you have any specific questions on the software, post in a new thread (in the Software Forum) and they or someone else will attempt to answer within several days(don't fret if it is a week or so). One of the community leaders, NeonKnight, uses the Profantasy products, but I do not believe he does commissions due to time constraints(I could be wrong though), but he is he more than willing to help answer questions about the software as his time permits by responding to threads. Also, run a search for threads about CC3 and also check the tutorial section for any CC tutorials.

[Redrobes]

I dont do CC3 stuff but there is a link in my sig to the index page listing all threads about CC3 so run through some of those.

[Kalex the Omen]

Thanks. I'll take a look.

Regards,

Kalex the Omen