Canal City Mercantile District

[joshij]

Hi all, since I found this community I've been working towards a WIP I'm satisfied with enough to post...

But I'm stuck.

I'm designing a city founded on the remains of an extinct subterranean city unearthed by wind erosion and flooded by an underground river, causing a (now I realize suspiciously convenient) rectangular grid of canals. Starting from a close-up level, I produced the following sketch of a section of the mercantile district:

Canal City Mercantile District sketch.jpeg

I imagine transportation throughout this district by foot is done chiefly over rooftops; in fact, huge swathes of roofs are covered by planks so that large-scale trade can be conducted between locals and foot-traffic. Also present here are taverns, hostels and storehouses connected by skyways when privacy/security from pedestrians is required.

Below, ferries taxi people larger distances more quickly; therefore, most buildings have a bottom door and a top door (rather than a front and back door)

I've been working on porting my sketch into a functional, attractive map in Gimp: here's what I have so far:

Canal City Mercantile District rough.jpeg

I'd love to hear everyone's comments on the progress, as well as any/all criticism I can use to improve the work, especially regarding:

The water/ground level
The wood texture (so difficult!)
How to make the stories of the building appear more connected
General aesthetic appeal

Enjoy, and, on a different note, greetings to everyone here!

[Ascension]

First off, interesting idea...hope they're deaf cuz that much traffic on my roof would drive me nuts with all the noise and vibration Second, put in some stairs so that you can "connect" them. Third, without using a good pattern overlay of wood and manipulating the heck out of it and chopping it up into smaller sections...this looks fine. In fact you could use those walkways to act like stairs with an addition of a gradient overlay to suggest height (black is low, white is higher).

[Steel General]

First off... Welcome Aboard!

I dub thee newly repped for putting up a map in your first post *bonk*

For all intents and purposes I echo everything Ascension has already mentioned. You may want to check the Dundjinni user forums for stair overlays. I know they have some and it may make things a little easier.