Capital City of Trefort

[Piscivorous]

I've gotten back to working on one of my cities this week after having it shelved for quite some time. Oddly enough, I still remember the techniques I had used on both this map and another (that, as it would be, is also unfinished). I'm uncertain how long this will take, but, for the time being, I'm in no hurry.

Here is my work, so far, on the capital city of Trefort from the Kingdom of the same name. Please feel free to evaluate, critique and throw out any questions or suggestions. I am liking it so far. So far, most of the work has been done in Photoshop with some items imported from my files of pngs.

Trefort.png

[Lars]

Looks good to me!

A few thoughts struck me when looking over your map--and take them as you will, I am in no way a 'good' mapmaker when compared to a lot of the people on this forum.

- It's clearly a harbor town, so I would add quays with jetties and piers by the water. Now you only have grass and sand next to the water.

- I only see one proper square in the town. Maybe add a few more?

- Aside from the castle and a few parks, there are only 'regular' city blocks in the town. Maybe add a few buildings that stand out, like a large temple/cathedral, some sort of arena, a giant statue, or the like?

- Some sort of fortifications could be added to the gates.

- The roads leading out from town look a little too windy to me; people are lazy and prefer to walk the shortest route, so unless there is something that bars the way, like terrain features or cultivated fields, the roads would look a bit more natural if they were straighter.

- Maybe some more shading could be added to the rocky bits? They look a bit flat to me, but are obviously supposed to be big and steep enough to make fortifications unnecessary.

- Are you planning on adding more buildings inside the castle walls? As it is now, with two separate towers very close to one part of the wall and the rest of the area just empty, it looks a bit odd.

I hope at least something of the above helps you.

[Piscivorous]

Looks good to me!

A few thoughts struck me when looking over your map--and take them as you will, I am in no way a 'good' mapmaker when compared to a lot of the people on this forum.

- It's clearly a harbor town, so I would add quays with jetties and piers by the water. Now you only have grass and sand next to the water.

- I only see one proper square in the town. Maybe add a few more?

- Aside from the castle and a few parks, there are only 'regular' city blocks in the town. Maybe add a few buildings that stand out, like a large temple/cathedral, some sort of arena, a giant statue, or the like?

- Some sort of fortifications could be added to the gates.

- The roads leading out from town look a little too windy to me; people are lazy and prefer to walk the shortest route, so unless there is something that bars the way, like terrain features or cultivated fields, the roads would look a bit more natural if they were straighter.

- Maybe some more shading could be added to the rocky bits? They look a bit flat to me, but are obviously supposed to be big and steep enough to make fortifications unnecessary.

- Are you planning on adding more buildings inside the castle walls? As it is now, with two separate towers very close to one part of the wall and the rest of the area just empty, it looks a bit odd.

I hope at least something of the above helps you.

Thanks for the insight! I probably should have stressed that this is only the early stages of the design. I'll be filling in the city proper, then likely taking pieces away to accommodate all the ideas I have for it. Considering I just randomly generated the inhabitants through an Excel program I designed, I likely will need to add buildings to accommodate them. I also will need farms, a few small towns outside the city. A few vineyards will also probably be prudent since the city and nation is known for its wines.

[w.gofry]

I'm a big fan of the layout of your neighborhoods!! The one thing I might suggest is, in the final product, blending the roofs into a more similar color layout. People build with what materials they have available for them. So the highest nobility may have a luxury material and different color, but the common folk will likely have it the same.

Overall, looks great!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Piscivorous]

I'm a big fan of the layout of your neighborhoods!! The one thing I might suggest is, in the final product, blending the roofs into a more similar color layout. People build with what materials they have available for them. So the highest nobility may have a luxury material and different color, but the common folk will likely have it the same.

Overall, looks great!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I'm unsure how I want the finished roofs to look. However, they are currently colored differently simply to act as a visual aid for me to differentiate districts. The dark gray might remain, simply because they represent where the various military and constabulary districts are.

I worked on it a bit more over the past couple of days.

Trefort1.png

[Piscivorous]

Making slow progress as I contemplate what I want in way of special buildings within the walls and how I wish to go about filling the outskirts. I'm thinking of farms and orchards as well as a few small "suburbs". I also have another town/city map that I am working on. This is OK. Although it will make completion of both maps slower, it will aid me in not burning out on a single map. Anyhow, I filled in the top portion within the walls, while adding a market square just inside the north gate. Thought in my head is that this is where the people living at the north end of the lake do most of their trading.

Trefort2.png

[Piscivorous]

After a staycation where the wife and I did some Spring cleaning, emptied our storage unit and other things, I got back to my map. I haven't decided on a finalized color for the majority of the city, but I have started to put in the farmland, orchards and vineyards outside of the city walls. A few smaller roads, hamlets and villages as well as a couple of estates. Although it is slow going, I am making progress. Here's my work so far:

Trefort3.png