[CWBP2] World Map construction thread

[BlackChakram]

Don't forget that you can have island chains anywhere on a plate if there's a hotspot underneath. If you push the left edge of plate 2 a bit farther left, you could explain those islands nicely with a hotspot under the SE island.

[Azélor]

Good to know and don't worry as I'm almost done with the climatic interlude.

[Azélor]

Ok, so we have our tectonic plates and I cleaned the map

Attachment 66479
Attachment 66480

and the oceanic currents :

Attachment 66481

I'd like to hear if some currents are wrong.
Next step is to finish oceanic current and finish the elevation map. I already started but it's not really an elevation map. I need to have a good elevation scale and ideally, a good color scheme.

low quality elevation map, some parts are outdated since tectonic changed. I think the challenge is to make a good elevation map that will make our world look immense (especially the southwestern continent).
Attachment 66482

[BlackChakram]

If you want it to look immense, the contour lines will need to be intricate down to a very small scale. I'm guessing there's probably a filter for GIMP or another program that can take simple lines and fractally twist them.

I did a quick mock up of the mountains on the SW continent. Ran a fractilize line script for gimp on one section. Spat out this.



This make it look more immense?

[Falconius]

I'm not too sure as to how much clarity we should be going for in the height map. We are not actually making a complete world map, we are making a foundation for the maps of the plots. In fact I think it would be better to avoid too much information as that would impede, unnecessarily, the creativity of our cartographers. You guys both said it your self on another thread where regional mapping is more engaging than world mapping due to the unknown.

No time for the elevation myself yet, here is the one thing I would change with the currents:

It doesn't make sense to me that that one channel of water would just go against all the other currents around there and the general trend of current at that latitude.

EDIT: Actually looking at it now, I might also be tempted to change the currents south of Falconis and Thurlor Islands to the other direction as there is an immense volume of water all being pushed into that ocean there.

[BlackChakram]

I'm not too sure as to how much clarity we should be going for in the height map. We are not actually making a complete world map, we are making a foundation for the maps of the plots. In fact I think it would be better to avoid too much information as that would impede, unnecessarily, the creativity of our cartographers. You guys both said it your self on another thread where regional mapping is more engaging than world mapping due to the unknown.

That is a very valid point. But you still have to make sure there's at least enough info for things to be consistent from map to map. Like if one person does the northern half of a range and another person does the southern half, you'd want to make sure either both put volcanoes or none put volcanoes. (Although thinking about it, this is probably info that doesn't have to get created until a little later.)

So how detailed do we want to make the topography at this point? What gives enough guidance but leaves room for each cartographer to get creative?

[Falconius]

I'm thinking of an arrangement where if two mappers have plots bordering one another, they will have to coordinate the various aspects between themselves. People will also have the option to reserve or block the plots bordering their working plot to either avoid having to coordinate with another person or to continue their work themselves. Blocked plots can block for two mappers (in the case where each person has a plot to either side of the blocked area), where as reserves can block for only the mapper who reserved it. People will be able to work on whatever they choose within their plot (so they don't necessarily have to map the whole thing, they can map an odd sized chunk if they wish). Upon release the unmapped part will go back to the plots available and someone else can pick it up if they wish. This means over time the plots will slowly change their shape. The purpose of all this is to ensure that the maps will make sense in a continuem, as the plots will either have a finished map bordering them, or untouched territory bordering them, or a person who they know they have to coordinate with boarding them.

[Azélor]

I'm not found of blocking plots. If someone in the middle decide to lock the surroundings the project will slow down a lot.

Also, while it is ok not to finish a map, it should be considered unfinished. It is not something I would recommend to do because it make things more complicated. The resulting map will have an odd shape so the mapper will either have to export the map in PNG or provide the original files so that the other mappers can finish the work. I'm not against this but it should only be used as a last resort, if the mappers for some reason can't finish the map. If he run out of ideas, the Guild can provide help.

Changing the plot shape is something that could become hard to manage. Squares are so much simpler. But how big should they be? Ansium used 600x600 miles plots. That's almost 1000 km by 1000 km. At the equator, it's almost 1 000 000 km2 but less as you move poleward...

They aren't 'quite' 600x600. Remeber, because of the 'flattening' of a sphere, the north/south distance is the same but the 'top' of the image 1350 miles east west, bottom is 2616 miles east west, so the top's total east/west is almost 50% of the same distance as on the bottom.

We might as well start with a small islands/continent to serve as a test for this. To see what is the best way to proceed. Plot do not have to be as big as the normal ones for this case.

[Azélor]

I would like to have a good topographic map but I don't want it to be to precise. I agree with Falconius that is might hurt creativity because people could try to follow the elevation map too closely. Every styles are different so we need some level of information. For example, a mountains range (or a mountainous area that could have more than one range) is represented by a brown thick line . Or, use colors for elevation and use a black line to show mountain ranges, where the top of the mountains are.


If it's a high altitude plateau like Tibet, it's more like a large blob.

[BlackChakram]

I think that's a pretty good idea for detail. Enough that things can match up, but still room for creativity.

As for plots, if we just do isolated plots, you'll get some very large differences in tone, style, flavor. Crossing a border will almost literally be like walking into another world because there will be little globalization. Real civilizations start in isolation, but eventually connect through trade, wars, etc. Nothing new here to you guys, I'm sure.

So what about letting users add content to areas by seeding? A person picks a location on the map to be the start of their civilization or whatnot and they slowly expand out from there. As new users come in, they can pick new locations to seed depending on what they're thinking (seed locations should probably pend approval so someone doesn't troll). This way, people that want closely linked areas can seed nearby while people that want isolation can seed in a very distant region.

Since fantasy often roughly maps to medieval, I use countries like France and Germany as rough size indicators. You could easily fit 50 or more plots that size on a map like this.

If people wanted to make wild regions, ruins, etc etc, this could be done much the same way. They expand out their area, but then make it die.

Now, I often lack common sense, so I'm sure there's an excellent reason why this won't work. If so, by all means lay it on me

Also, this may be totally out of line / unfair / whatever, but I'd like to express my interest in the region highlighted pink here on the eastern continent. Can I claim dibs?