Cin City
A commissioned map for a novel, done for author Moe Lane http://moelane.com/. The novel is running currently on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...dreams-a-novel. You can also support the author on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/MoeLane.
Nice shape and clean look, I'm fond of monochrome maps as seen in books. But the land and sea are both white so it's hard to initially tell which is which (saying it's a Gulf is the only clue). And I'm not keen on your choice of patterns, it's not obvious that a dotted pattern is farmland and the hatching is urban unless you read the key. It's good to give the viewer visual clues so all these things are comprehensible at first glance without having to read.
I regret having to say this, Sap, but I find this map unreadable, for multiple reasons. I agree with Robulous, what is land and what is water is unclear, and the patterns don't quite convey what they're meant to represent. The delineation between urban and rural is awkward. Also, I gather the universe is alt-history of sorts, but why is the coast facing eastward if this is California? Is 'Mount Jeannie' located somewhere out in the ocean? And I can't tell if this is a version of Los Angeles, but if so, why is it 'Cin City'? Las Vegas is traditionally the 'Sin City' of America. Also, the label 'Hawaii' confused me, because I initially thought the circular shapes near there looked like the outline of the Hawaiian archipelago, but I take it the shapes are supposed to represent elevation, like hills or mountains?
Yeah, all in all, a somewhat confusing map. Sorry.
The Gulf of California makes no contact with the USA's state of California. It lies entirely between the Baja California peninsula and the main body of Mexico. If Cin City is on the eastern coast of Baja California, this corresponds to real geography. Mount Jeannie would presumably be in this world's equivalent of Sonora or Sineloa, quite possibly a peak in the Sierra Madre Occidental, though possibly another city and not an actual mountain. The Baja California region is pretty rich in mountains, so maybe this is based on a specific real area? In any case, it does not have a label of "Hawaii", but "Harvaii". I would say that this misreading is due to the use of a font that seems unduly fancy for an otherwise simple map. Other than that font choice, I have no problems with this map and do not find it at all confusing, though it wouldn't hurt to make some differentiation between land and sea.Originally Posted by Daelin
As rdanhenry pointed out, Cin City is on Baja California.
It's indeed Hawaii, the font has a somewhat unusual letter w.
Regarding the patterns - I have added the legend, because the patterns themselve are neutral in there meaning.
Then that is really a horrible font for readability. A "w" should not look like "rv".
Thank you all for the feeback! I will contact the author and tell him about the issues. Maybe he goes for an update.
Authors have zero taste or competence with maps in my experience, look at the crap that gets published in your average fantasy book. It's only us guildsters who are picky about it!Getting paid, staying solvent and staying sane is all that's important right now x
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