City Of Riverhewn WIP First map in GIMP

[jtougas]

From The Riverhewn Gazette: The newly formed Bureau Of Bevel Management announced today that it had restored the "uprightness" of the city of Riverhewn. Citizens were overjoyed at the sight of their houses and other buildings returning to a more "traditional" form. In related news, the Street sweepers Guild has gone back to work ending their strike after finding the streets of Riverhewn were transformed into a easy to understand grid. Guildmaster Halin D. Ung was quoted as saying" Right that's more like it now ye can sweep a street knowing it'll still be there tomorrow..at least ye can hope...."

There be Bevel here...Now I think we are getting somewhere. I finally figured out how to achieve the bevel and I'm a convert to that black art.

Recent Additions:
1.Bevel!!
2. I added a layer of color variation to the roofs (thanks mearrin for that awesome texture!!)
3. I once again resized the outlying villages I think there pretty close now.
4. I added some new ground texture which came from the Genetica Viewer and a little messing around by me.
5. Started to label the major streets

All in all it's coming along pretty good I think. The only thing that kind of bugs me is that it looks a little too orderly for my tastes (I like a city with streets that wind this way and that with plenty of blind alleys for a thief to hide in.. )

As always feedback is requested and appreciated...Thanks!!!

[mearrin69]

Getting there indeed. I can give you a tileable version of that texture to use...the one from my example map had, of course, seem various lighting effects applied to it so this would be cleaner. I think the houses in town look pretty great. Maybe play with the lighting a bit? I usually lower the opacity of the highlight and change the shadow until I like it (sometimes darker, sometimes lighter). The buildings are a bit washed out looking. Also, there's some fuzziness going on in a couple of places (northeast of the castle is one I think). On scale, honestly, I think you might have gone too small with the buildings in the towns outside of the city. LOL. Sorry.
M

[jtougas]

I'll gladly take a tileable version of that texture. As far as scale goes I think your right time to grow those outlying buildings again. I'm still not 100% certain that I like the overall layout but I'm going to look at it some more and maybe it will come to me. I'll try your suggestion about lighting too. Thanks!!

[jtougas]

*Sorry Guys No Funny today The Riverhewn Gazette has suddenly turned into a spice shop....*


Riverhewn Phase VI...

Well after looking at this map for an hour or so this morning I realized that I just didn't like it. It had no "soul" it was just a collection of little buildings on nice orderly streets, fine for realism I suppose but not so much for my tastes. I like a city with surprises and a lot of back alleys and secrets. I also realized that I was mapping a city that I knew and I mean knew I've spent years and years in Riverhewn I feel like if it suddenly materialized somewhere I could go there find my favorite tavern the "Grumpy Goblin" and have a drink with Rog Henshen the old tavernkeep. In my "obsession" to make a great map I forgot what I was making a map OF. Riverhewn isn't just a city it's a collection of stories, characters, and adventures with just as many twists and turns as it's alleys. When I was hand drawing the original I was writing and playing all the time it was easy to think about a certain story or a certain character and picture the location. I think that's where I went wrong this time. I hadn't EVEN looked at the original map. I was mapping a city not a "feeling". SO out came the two giant poster boards out came the tacks and up she went. I must have looked at it for 3 hours remembering this adventure or this encounter or that character. My little girl (who had never seen the map) was fascinated. She would still be asking me questions if her and Grandma hadn't left to go to Maine for a few days, and I would have gladly answered them. I realized then that I wasn't so much making a map as I was "solidifying" a idea, or a story. This new map might not be as orderly and it sure won't be technically brilliant BUT it will be my idea of how Riverhewn feels and I guess that's what I wanted to do all along.....

So onto the map:

Now I didn't change much on the outside of the city except scale things up a bit. Here's a list of things that happened in the city itself:

1.Obviously all the neat little rows of buildings are gone. This is more like the "Real" Riverhewn
2.Added the "Old City" and it's wall (explanations for all of this are coming up)
3.Added the "Garden Of Kings"
4. Added Markets
I haven't added any "dimensionality" to it yet I just wanted to look at the layout and make sure it felt right first..

All in all I think this version represents the "actual" Riverhewn a little bit better I've gone up in scale so I can show some of the details that make the city what it is.

The Old City
The city of Riverhewn was founded almost 400 years ago. At that time it didn't have a name it was merely a debarking point for servants and representatives of Overking of Aerdi who used what would become Shendenflar as a vast hunting preserve. Riverhewn in it's earliest days consisted of a few buildings and a great manor house that served a a hunting lodge and residence for the Overking and his staff when they visited Shendenflar. Over the years as the region became more and more independent and the Overking's visits became less and less frequent, Riverhewn became a city in it's own right. Merchants and others who were fleeing the constant wars the Overking delighted in waging came to Shendenflar. Trade with neighboring Perrenland across Lake Quag helped the fledgling city become prosperous. Now 400 years later and the area of the city known as "The Old City" with it's wall still stands as a reminder of those earliest days. Some of Shendenflar's "first" families" still reside in the "Old City" and it is a place of stately wealth and ruthless social warfare..."

The Garden Of Kings

In the strip of parkland that rings Riverhewn lies the "Garden Of Kings" a large cemetery that is the final resting place of Shendenflar's rulers and their families. This is a noble place where the guards that monitor it are honored by their assignment . In the center of the garden is the memorial to all the men who have served Shendenflar as it's King. An entrance at the base of the memorial leads down to the mausoleum complex of the individual Kings. This entrance is heavily guarded and only the royal family may enter here anyone caught will be dealt with most severely...

[mearrin69]

NOW we're talking. This is how I made Haibianr. I wasn't making a city map, I was putting the stories I had written in my head (and wanted to write into adventures) onto paper in map form. I think that's the reason I'm personally so happy with it...and it might be why other people seemed to like it as well.

Don't worry about dimensionality or color or anything. Just get those buildings and streets in the right place and then worry about it. While you're at it, and I know you're tired of me chiming in on this stuff, I'd use exactly the same technique to create the little towns and your little farmhouses and such. Make all of that stuff on the same layer and worry about making it look like buildings later. I think you'll find, in the end, that this will make everything feel much more "tied together" when you DO add dimensionality and color and whatever else.

I really think the buildings are your main issue. The landscape looks really good already.
M

[jtougas]

NOW we're talking. This is how I made Haibianr. I wasn't making a city map, I was putting the stories I had written in my head (and wanted to write into adventures) onto paper in map form. I think that's the reason I'm personally so happy with it...and it might be why other people seemed to like it as well.

Don't worry about dimensionality or color or anything. Just get those buildings and streets in the right place and then worry about it. While you're at it, and I know you're tired of me chiming in on this stuff, I'd use exactly the same technique to create the little towns and your little farmhouses and such. Make all of that stuff on the same layer and worry about making it look like buildings later. I think you'll find, in the end, that this will make everything feel much more "tied together" when you DO add dimensionality and color and whatever else.

I really think the buildings are your main issue. The landscape looks really good already.
M

That is a very good idea..and what gave you the idea I was sick of you chiming in....

[mearrin69]

Heh. Well, *I* would be sick of me chiming in.

When I made Haibianr I drew each of those friggin' little squares and rectangles and squiggles by hand. As I was doing it I was thinking to myself things like, "That's a barracks and these would be little shops here and these, these will be warehouses..." Sometimes I'd sketch in something unique and come up with a story for it. I didn't have the whole thing planned out by a long-shot, but taking that kind of care with it made me think about what I was doing and where I was putting things. Now, I certainly don't recommend every map to be made with that sort of insane OCDness but a little of it can help.
M

[Ascension]

That's how I do cities as well, I make the whole layout then place my perfect lil story buildings in appropriate places (butcher, haberdasher, baker, furrier, etc). It's very OCD but I think, on some level, all of us here are a bit obsessive about our babies. You can tell a finely crafted and thought out town from one that's just plopped down and that's what makes for a fine map...that loving care and attention to detail. Of course, once you're finally done with it you feel like you've been running a month-long marathon so you're totally burned out and spent and your next effort isn't quite so good. But after a while you get your mojo back and things are good again.

[jtougas]

That's how I do cities as well, I make the whole layout then place my perfect lil story buildings in appropriate places (butcher, haberdasher, baker, furrier, etc). It's very OCD but I think, on some level, all of us here are a bit obsessive about our babies. You can tell a finely crafted and thought out town from one that's just plopped down and that's what makes for a fine map...that loving care and attention to detail. Of course, once you're finally done with it you feel like you've been running a month-long marathon so you're totally burned out and spent and your next effort isn't quite so good. But after a while you get your mojo back and things are good again.

I actually just read through your city/village tut and I am amazed at the level of detail you go into. It's funny when I was hand drawing the original I would leave great swaths of the city blank because I hadn't "gone" there yet. Even after 20+ years I haven't seen all of it. I guess i'm looking to evoke a emotion and a story instead of just an "accurate" depiction of streets and topography. And to your "burnout" point I know what you mean. Although I enjoy this so much so it's not bad.

[jtougas]

Smallish update this morning. I started adding roof texture to the buildings and threw a bevel on them to see how they would look,for the most part I like it. I added a few "unusual" colors (such as the green) to coincide with story and adventure snippets I had written down when originally drawing this map. I recently found a couple of my old notebooks that were filled cover to cover with building descriptions and ideas and story and adventure hooks. It was like finding a long lost friend and having a long conversation.. As always feedback is requested and appreciated ..Thanks!!