Guild City

[J.Edward]

Ok. Did a bit more on a spmple of dividing up some land in an organic sort of way.
The logic is... the areas closer to the main sinkhole, as they are prime real estate, get somewhat smaller plots.
The areas further from prime center grow a bit more in size.
I have made some really large areas in case there are some mappers that really want to make an almost sub-city size area.

There are also some rather unique and interesting areas.
I tried to make lots of variety for all sorts of terrain and locales.
And there is still room for more.

The original file is 16k x 16k pixels... and is still not big enough in my mind.
The grid, which looks super small here, is a 5' square grid/ The 5' grid is based on rpg games, for those who are not aware.
This is still just a sample at this point.


To address some other concerns and questions/comments....
shadows... I will provide a directional lightray showing the angle of light.
We will just have to be conscientious about shadows. It's just going to be tricky.
We can set an angle that is a bit harsher... closer to a midday mopre direct overhead sort of thing.

[Redrobes]

R.e. Shadows:
If it were me doing the map - and its not of couse - but just saying.... I would map it with no shadows and then work out the rough heights of the map and make a 3D model with just the rough shapes in it and then render out a black and white shadow map. Id then blur it a lot to give it soft shadow which I know is not accurate to a sunny day but is more like cloudy day and then apply that to the map. I can apply the shadow map in ViewingDale so that it darkens the relevant places. But of course the more accurate you want the shadows the more accurate the 3D model and if it were me then Id not make it all that accurate and just live with it. But then my maps are nowhere near as good as everyone elses and maybe other people would want to have better shadows that it would provide. But by doing it this way its consistent - and as a bonus you can render out several shadow maps for different directions or different times of day.

[Mouse]

@ John - I can't wait to get started. Its perfect

Thank you so much for all this work. I mean I know its not completely finalised yet, and that others may want you to adjust things a bit, but you've done so much with so little time!

@ Redrobes - that sounds like a great kill-all method to solve the problem, but that's only my point of view

[J.Edward]

There are many situations where it would likely not work Redrobes.

If someone drew their map as a pencil drawing and the accompanying shading is done as cross hatching, then they really do need to do their own shading.
The shading, if one intends to include it, is actually a very individualistic part of someone's map.
To leave off the shading, can be a bit like being asked to do just half a map.

Not to mention, there are a lot of very complex shading things that are likely to go on in these maps.

[DarkInfinity]

I'm liking the layout so far. I really like the more organic feel. As much as I enjoy regular pattern this has some wonderful possibilities. I wish I was as talented as my brain is right now... I'm with mouse I can't wait to get started.

[J.Edward]

Ok... do I need to lay out some major roads?

[Voolf]

I love the layout J.E.

If it is possible i would like to take some suburb area, possible near river or lake. As for the scale of one region, i was thinking something like that would be best for me.

[Mouse]

Its 3:30 am here, but I'm still around. I keep looking at that map! Can't stop imagining what I'd do with each of those sections!


@ John - Main roads would be a big plus to keep us all in our respective 'pens', John, but you must be practically exhausted!


For everyone else here is a bit of inspiration about what we will be fitting our city around, this is karst country (admittedly its only really impressive in the wet tropics, but this is for inspiration):



And for the dungeon buffs...

[Wingshaw]

That map looks good, John. I'm already imagining all kinds of exciting possibilities, and can't wait to get my hands on a district...

In terms of shadows, I agree with John's point above. The whole point of a cooperative project like this, I think, is that everyone get's to adopt whatever style they want. There are clearly some limitations on this fact (eg. top-down vs. iso) but it's still fairly flexible. It would be a shame to start setting unnecessary limitations (like not including shadows or specifying the height of buildings).

Now I'm all excited too! When can we start choosing districts and get to the mapping???

THW

[Azélor]

So I did some test on the map for the general layout including only the walls and the mains roads. These are just suggestions.
Walls are built to take advantage of the landscape and centered on the sunken lake. Several faubourg expand outside of the walls as well.
Number 1 could be where the castle and the inner walls are located.