Greetings

[Fabrice]

Hello everybody

My name is Fabrice, I have been playing various RPGs since my teens but had to cut down these last years due to an assignment in a place where computer games are the exclusive diet of the gaming population.

I stumbled upon the Guild a few weeks ago and was amazed and inspired by what you people can create... So here I am, equipped with the CC3 software (my drawing skills peaked at age 4 and have been steadily decreasing ever since, so I like the wealth of ready-made symbols...) and with a first try of a map, based on some mini-setting I day-dreamed a few weeks ago, and that I would like to submit to this noble assembly, so that I may understand what is wrong and how to set it right.

Already I can see that the text labels are not easy to read, that the sea appears beyond the map border for some arcane reason, that the estuaries look odd... Any suggestion of improvement would be welcome.

Another thing that eludes me is how to make the white background surrounding the scanned, hand-"calligraphed" text on the right-hand side of the map somewhat transparent. Anyone able to teach me this trick shall be rewarded with a royal amount of gratitude, as I was kind of hoping I could insert compositions in the maps...

I apologise for the long introduction and thank you all in advance for your valuable advice.

[Gandwarf]

Hi Fabrice,

Good to have another CC3 user aboard. I think your map looks great and I gave you some reputation for it. Where did you get the symbols you are using in this map, are they from one of the symbol sets?

Can't help you with your questions as I have been mostly using City Designer 3.

[Steel General]

Welcome Aboard Fabrice!

...and since you uploaded a map in your introductory post (and a nice one at that) I dub thee newly repped *bonk*

Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[Fabrice]

Thank you Gandwarf


The symbols are from the Symbol Set 1, the "Fantasy 1" collection if I am not mistaken.

The fonts used were found on the Da Font website, except for the scribling on the right which is a scan.

[Gandwarf]

Hmm, nice. I might have to purchase that symbol set.

[ravells]

Welcome to the guild, Fabrice! This is a great start re your map, the only comment I would make is that some of your rivers have very straight lines and angular bends (I think you might have used the straight line tool there rather than the curved line tool). You'll find that we talk about rivers a lot here, some people even have badges...

[RobA]

That is a really nice symbol set! I don't believe I have seen any maps here using it.

And regardless of what Ravs says, the rivers are fine, geologically speaking If a king wanted to spend his time having people straighten rivers, that is their royal prerogative!

-Rob A>

[ravells]

Big Badges like him ^

[Ascension]

Honestly, this is a great map. The only thing I might tweak is the text (which you have already pointed out); I can read it just fine but it looks overly italicized, maybe that's just the way it is. The "terra incognita" probably needs to be bigger or more prominent somehow to make it stand out as a title so I'd move it to that lower right corner and make it bigger. Again, these are very minor...that delta is great, the colors are nice, and the symbols are easily seen. Good job.

[Fabrice]

Thank you all for the comments.

Ascencion was right, the "italic" style was ticked for all the text labels, so I corrected them.

I was trying to give a "streamy" look to the rivers in the montain by hitting the "fractalise" function, but then the whole river was affected. I corrected this by using the "split" function on the river when it goes out of the montains, and using "fractalise" on the upstream segment only.

I tried to move and enlarge the scan... but I am still not happy with how it sticks out of the rest of the map. I would appreciate any suggestion about how to make it blend better.