August/September 2017 Challenge: Darkwood Harbour

[XCali]

Hehe, hi!

I tried to flesh out the docks a bit with market areas. And added rocks close to the watchtower, so thanks for the feedback.

Now, I did try a mysterious tree as my center point in the circle, so I hope it fits. Maybe after the challenge, I can reiterate on it. But, I'll see.

The beach is something I just tried for the sake of trying something. If the previous look was better, pleeeease tell me. It was just an experiment.

### Latest WIP ###
Darkwood Harbour_Market_byOmri.jpeg

[Mouse]

Its all looking very cool, XCali. I like the beach

Not sure about the colour of the tree, though.

Maybe a more natural colour? At least for the trunk - white, or brown like the other trees? You could try an orange or red for the leaves - red, perhaps, like the sails of the Irimaru? Have a play and see what works best

[XCali]

Its all looking very cool, XCali. I like the beach

Not sure about the colour of the tree, though.

Maybe a more natural colour? At least for the trunk - white, or brown like the other trees? You could try an orange or red for the leaves - red, perhaps, like the sails of the Irimaru? Have a play and see what works best

Yeah, I feel a lot more at ease now.

The tree, however, is a little complicated. I really get what you are saying, I've been wondering about it myself. The question is, at the moment, how to keep the mysterious look for it, but still make it fit on the map. A little head scratcher for me.
Though, the red like the sails is an intriguing idea.

[Mouse]

I fancy a white trunk like a silver birch tree, but with Irimaru red leaves

It MIGHT work. Difficult to tell without seeing it there on the map.

[XCali]

Take two!

Okay, I just changed the tree to red. And toned down the beach texture a fraction.

### Latest WIP ###
Darkwood Harbour_Red_Irimaru_byOmri.jpeg

(P.S. I have been wondering if I should label more stuff on the map. )

[Mouse]

Much better

Major point to think about:

If the important and relevant points of the map are already labelled, then adding more labels just for the sake of having more of them isn't really going to help.

EDIT: if you are going to add a whole load more labels, then you would do well to make them all a lot smaller than the existing ones - including the existing ones. Lables are not meant to be viewed from a mile away, so they only have to be large enough and clear enough to be read when you are looking at the map at 100% zoom - in other words once you click it to make it full size when you view the map here at the Guild.

[rdanhenry]

I like the tree either way, although the blue-green version is more mysterious, as it looks magical (or maybe covered in bioluminescent moss).

[XCali]

Much better

Major point to think about:

If the important and relevant points of the map are already labelled, then adding more labels just for the sake of having more of them isn't really going to help.

EDIT: if you are going to add a whole load more labels, then you would do well to make them all a lot smaller than the existing ones - including the existing ones. Lables are not meant to be viewed from a mile away, so they only have to be large enough and clear enough to be read when you are looking at the map at 100% zoom - in other words once you click it to make it full size when you view the map here at the Guild.

Definitely a good point. So, I ended just adding two more labels one big and one small.

I like the tree either way, although the blue-green version is more mysterious, as it looks magical (or maybe covered in bioluminescent moss).

Hehe, yeah that looked so for me too. Though, for the coloring for this map, I will have to play with the color until the right one pops out. And that is for another time in a WIP thread. So, red it is for now.

[XCali]

Oh Hi!

I added two labels and little extra shading.
This is probably my last WIP before tonight's deadline, that is unless someone points out a glaring mistake and I have to change it.

Thank you soooo much everyone, for all the feedback for this map. It helped loads!

### Latest WIP ###
Darkwood_Emberbloom_byOmri.jpeg

[ChickPea]

It's looking good, XCali!

There's one tiny little thing that bugs me (and this is a little petty). In your 'Notice of Grave Import' you've put paragraph spaces between each block of text... except the first two. It keeps drawing my eye. Are these separate paragraphs, in which case there should be a space between them to keep consistency? Otherwise, shouldn't they be placed together in one block of text? Maybe there's a reason I'm missing, but I keep looking at the inconsistent spacing and it niggles!

That's all I've got to nitpick about. It's looking fab otherwise. You did a great job with this.