I really don't know what there is to say, except that I really, really love your map, and I strongly admire the amount of work you're putting in it. This is amazing work!
Yet at this, and enjoying it very much. It's just that I have been busy which reduced the available time for fooling around and I made a big mess on a couple of layers which took that little time to clean up (and if you look closely, it ain't yet right in a lot of places).
Still, the map is coming along and I wanted to share its latest stage. I have re-worked some valleys and some ranges, major and nearly completed the western lowlands, both north and south.
weekly_preview.png
This time I am showing the continental shelf layer as well and a different color for the ocean (both still in draft form)
Still to be done in this continent:
(1) lower altitude on two mountain ranges / another way to put it is re-do them... (the smaller peninsula in the north and the eastern-most line, kind of crescent-looking)
(2) finish the little bits of land still incomplete (pretty quick job)
(3) fix a big mess on some height levels (light/yellowish green - which are levels 7/8/9 to me)
(4) complete the island-arc in the NE tip
(5) maybe... redo the main SW-NE eastern range, including adding one or two intermediate height levels with intermediate colors (this range looks a way worst job than the rest)
I really don't know what there is to say, except that I really, really love your map, and I strongly admire the amount of work you're putting in it. This is amazing work!
Check out my portfolio!
Thank you.
I am really loving the task in hand. But looking at the same thing for so long has left me wondering (and this is where members input would be really helpful) if the whole thing looks believable.
I mean, really, completely, utterly... real-looking?
- Too many mountain ranges, not enough?
- Too many highlands, not enough?
- Are plateaus visible?
- Are river basins clear, not enough, too obvious? That sort of thing..
- Do the islands feel right?
- Can you "get a grasp" of where the crust is bending/wrinkling?
- etc, etc
Looks about right to me. I checked the scale of the continent on the full world map to be sure, and it's definitely believable.
Depends on the underlying geography really. It's quite a tall continent, but it's definitely within reason. Personally, I really like it, rugged terrain like that can be really interesting.
Definitely.
They look really good to me, even without the rivers visible you can clearly see where they'll go because the elevation is so clear.
Yes, though I think they could be improved by adding some contour lines to the sea floor, so they look more like peaks of underwater mountains (since that's effectively what they are). Basically continuing what you're doing for the land itself down into the sea, all the way to the edge of the continental shelf (and maybe even beyond?!). Looks like it'd be a huge amount of work, but then again I'd have said the same for what you've done so far on land.
Yep.
Really loving it so far, it definitely feels realistic to me. I think you're doing a good job of keeping it realistic both at small and larger scale tbh.
I second what Raptori said : don't worry, everything's fine so far ! Your mountains looks like a lot of work, but the result is good and feels very "atlas" to me.
Anyway, I really understand your questionning... You have to, when you're throwing yourself in a long-term work like this.
This continent looks like a penguin to me. Was that intentional? Great work by the way!
It took me a while to "find the penguin", but yep, I see it now.. It wasn't intended at all, lol.
Just wondering: roughly how much time have you spent on this so far?
Can't wait for the next update!
Next update due. I was away on holidays this weekend, which means there's less novelty.
Answering your question, Raptori, I think I am averaging 1h a day for the last month, so something between 30 and 40 h of work. However, a lot of the initial stuff has been redone already. I will probably be much faster in the next continents. As I said, I will make a movie of my technique one of these days, but for now there's other priorities (finishing the damn penguin!)..
In fact, this could have been completed if I wasn't aiming for as-perfect-as-I-can-make-it. The main range didn't have the detail of the rest (more recent) and I jumped into redoing it... you can see the "note" in the map.
weekly_preview.png
Currently the file has 23 layers dedicated to the height map. I have also experimented turning the colored thing into a grayscale DEM-like image and it works pretty well. Requires upper layers inverting the upper layers after B&W and tweaking levels but it's possible.
Please comment on the following (if you please):
Does that Thailand/Java like peninsula work well where it is? It is created by the subduction of oceanic plate on old, submerged, continental crust.
Does the coast look alright or too linear? I can't make my mind about this.