World Map

Started by winkio, March 04, 2011, 04:25:20 pm

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winkio

We are far enough along that we can start creating a world map.  This doesn't necessarily have to be used in game (although it could), but it should have a general organization of the places the characters will visit.  Here are the features it needs to have:

1.  Starting kingdom with chuch and idk what else.
2.  Cultist hideout.  Maybe near a volcano?
3.  Other kingdoms.
4.  Corruption Zones.

Try and create some different environments (look at RTP tilesets for inspiration).

AliveDrive

I'm nearly finished with the church. (I've been working on it since a few hours ago :haha:)
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

just for clarification, I mean a hand drawn map, not an RMXP map.

AliveDrive

March 04, 2011, 05:06:19 pm #3 Last Edit: March 04, 2011, 09:03:42 pm by AliveDrive
Oh. Lol

http://forum.chaos-project.com/index.php/topic,2072.new.html#new

Well anyways, this was for practice.

Let's discuss regions.

I heard something about a volcanic zone?
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

I think it will flow more naturally if the artist draws first, and then we come up with specifics the regions later.

WhiteRose

Quote from: winkio on March 04, 2011, 11:23:48 pm
I think it will flow more naturally if the artist draws first, and then we come up with specifics the regions later.


Agreed. Do we have any artists on the team yet?

winkio


AliveDrive

March 05, 2011, 07:52:20 am #7 Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 08:17:50 am by AliveDrive
World Map: ShowHide


I'm currently working on an evented World Map System, but its far from a working state. Think of SMRPG's world map.

I can't get the image to track the player, and fear that I'll have to do it manually for each location. Oh well, no one said it would be easy.

http://www.mediafire.com/?r5qd9mlssa037f8

But if we like this then I'll do it.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

Idk, everything seems too blobish.  I was looking for something more like this, but without the drawings (just the sort of shapes you see on the coastlines and inland).  And I think there should either only be one continent, or have 3-4 main ones and another 2-3 small ones.

AliveDrive

I like the Pangaea idea.

This is just a first draft, I used blobs for general regions, which I color coded for simplicity.

That way, it's easier for the team to work with.

What other additions/subtractions would you state for this map?
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

Well see, I wanted the shapes first so that we could determine the environments accordingly.  For example, the mountains are well done.  But try shaping the coastlines more (ex. jagged around volcanic area, maybe a bay and some tiny islands in the desert area) and adding inland water (lakes, rivers, etc.).

AliveDrive

I'll get to work on this, we can keep refining this as we see fit.

If anyone else wants to submit another map, even an edit of mine, then feel free.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

Yeah, I might give it a try tonight.

AliveDrive

World Map - 2nd Draft: ShowHide


So, slowly refining the map.

We now have a Pangaea.

Kingdoms

  • I'm not yet focused on detailing the coastline, but in the south we have a bay, with one of the kingdoms located there and near to the desert.

  • Another kingdom is in the north near someways between the arctic coastline and the grasslands.

  • The last kingdom is located at the base of the mountain range near the forests.

    Geographical Features

  • I added a small (dormant) volcanic island to the south.

  • There is a large river which splits the continent, and could be a main "highway" trade route for ships.

  • Trying to make geography more realistic.

  • Cute moon :V:

Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

There we go, that's starting to look better.  Keep working :)

AliveDrive

Can you give me a few pointers?

And once we lock in a concrete map, I'll switch over to sepia tones likely.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

Uh, sure, just some basic geography tips, in case you aren't familiar:
Desert doesn't usually go all the way up to the coast.  If you just put a thin line of mountains and forest in between, it would look better: like a rain shadow

There should be rivers/lakes/ocean (very) close to every kingdom.

mountains between forest and arctic.

archipelago off of bottom island?  since it's volcanic.

AliveDrive

March 05, 2011, 12:47:55 pm #17 Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 05:42:28 pm by AliveDrive
Great, I'll get started. I was trying to do a rain shadow thing, I'd remembered that from HS, but then I threw in an oasis instead.

Yes of course, the volcano needs an island chain.

Water xD Gotcha.

EDIT:
World Map 3rd Draft: ShowHide

Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

Kagutsuchi

March 05, 2011, 07:05:35 pm #18 Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 07:14:36 pm by Kagutsuchi
Quote from: winkio on March 05, 2011, 12:39:24 pm
Uh, sure, just some basic geography tips, in case you aren't familiar:
Desert doesn't usually go all the way up to the coast.

Sahara anyone?

As to transitions between areas with constant winter and constant summer, it is typical that you would see a huge decrees in vegetation to something like this:
Spoiler: ShowHide

First the leaf-trees are replaced by pine and spruce. Then there are just empty fields of heather and then snow.

Subsonic_Noise

tbh I think we should make the map out of a photoshop cloud render, that usually give more realistic shapes, and it's also what aqua and me did for Remexos - It goes like this:

- render clouds
- Adjust Contrast / Brightness
- Set Contrast to maximum, Brightness controls the continent size

there you go, nice continent forms. I really don't like the current one tbh.

AliveDrive

I dunno how to use photoshop :/
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

Quote from: Subsonic_Noise on March 05, 2011, 07:15:24 pm
tbh I think we should make the map out of a photoshop cloud render, that usually give more realistic shapes, and it's also what aqua and me did for Remexos - It goes like this:

- render clouds
- Adjust Contrast / Brightness
- Set Contrast to maximum, Brightness controls the continent size

there you go, nice continent forms. I really don't like the current one tbh.


Ahh, what a nice trick.  Combining that with a transparent gradient to determine the general shape works well.  I'll post mine up in a bit.

AliveDrive

I look forward to seeing it.

I took advanced cooking instead of graphic design. :P
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

One main continent:
Spoiler: ShowHide

Many smaller continents:
Spoiler: ShowHide

AliveDrive

Those are both really good. I quite like the one main continent but honestly either is great.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

March 06, 2011, 01:26:23 am #25 Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 02:38:26 am by winkio
Just figured out a great way to make a natural looking piece of land.  I'm going to keep seeing what I can do and I'll post it in the morning, but this is starting to look very legit :)

EDIT: Don't ask me how this happened:
Spoiler: ShowHide


I will probably change the water to be less distracting and make the whole outline for each landmass the same color.  Feel free to suggest anything else.

AliveDrive

This is the map we should use.

Any dissenters?

*Jettisons dissenters.*

We're in agreement then xD

Seriously though, after the water is fixed I like this map quite a bit. Do you know how the RTP sprites look contrasted over it?

Not that it matters:
Spoiler: ShowHide


Clearly it can work.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

Shalaren

Quote from: winkio on March 06, 2011, 01:26:23 am
Spoiler: ShowHide


that one Definitely looks like a map,
a suggestion though to make it look more realistic, first you should make it lighter, only a little bit though.
cause as its dark the details are harder to notice then how it would be if was lighter, by details I mean the texture of the grass and such.
also try adding clouds on top of it, would definitely make it look nicer,
here is an example of a quick cloud I made
Spoiler: ShowHide

and if your making it be a map the character is going to be able to walk on, just put it as another layer on top of everything else in the tileset.

winkio

Spoiler: ShowHide


I don't like the clouds.  I did brighten everything up and changed the water.  Oh, and the outline is fixed too.

Shalaren

The islands dont fit with the water, it almost looks like the islands might be floating.

AliveDrive

I would like those clouds a lot if we just used them as a fog for the world map.

Overall I think it looks really good, maybe try adding a beachline in there somewhere, and also maybe make the water near the coast a lighter hue.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

Aqua

Um... wouldn't it be better to create the world map bigger than 640x480? o-o

winkio

Spoiler: ShowHide


I like the lighter water near the coast.  I also tried a different way of lightening it so it wouldn't be quite so grainy.

And to reiterate, this is just for the planning phase of the world, so that we can map out the environments.  We could make more zoomed in ones later if we decided we wanted them in game.

AliveDrive

March 06, 2011, 01:23:20 pm #33 Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 02:42:59 pm by winkio
I think this is looking great.

Try smoothing out areas that would be naturally smooth such as plains and deserts.

Other than that I think this is quite satisfying. I wonder what WhiteRose would think.

lol wrong topic *moves*
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

Shalaren

hmm try making the stroke's opacity a little lower so it wont stand out TO MUCH from he water

winkio

Spoiler: ShowHide


So I did some rough planning, and theres about 14 different 'areas', some of which are similar environments:
Kingdoms (blue):
1.  Green area below mountains at far left (forest)
2.  Center of light green area in middle of large continent (plains)
3.  Peninsula around lake at top part of large continent (forest/lake/port)
4.  Light green area at top of bottom continent (island/tropical)

Fields (yellow and red):
1.  Mountain area below desert at left (mountains and mines)
2.  Desert area at left (desert)
3.  Mountain area above desert (caves)
4.  Plains area around center (plains)
5.  Forest area at top center (woods)
6.  Marsh area at bottom center of big continent (marsh)
7.  Forest area at right of big continent (forest)
8.  Snowy area at top right (snow forest, snow mountain)
9.  Volcanic area at middle of bottom continent (volcanic)
10.  Forest area at bottom of bottom continent (woods)

Seem good?

Shalaren

March 06, 2011, 04:02:34 pm #36 Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 08:33:29 pm by Shalaren
its good o:
get the stroke's opacity to 70% it would mix better with the water.
for final copy have something more graphical then just dots.
like these perhaps


other then that I think you made the map look pretty neat  :D

WhiteRose

Quote from: winkio on March 06, 2011, 03:29:04 pm
Spoiler: ShowHide


So I did some rough planning, and theres about 14 different 'areas', some of which are similar environments:
Kingdoms (blue):
1.  Green area below mountains at far left (forest)
2.  Center of light green area in middle of large continent (plains)
3.  Peninsula around lake at top part of large continent (forest/lake/port)
4.  Light green area at top of bottom continent (island/tropical)

Fields (yellow and red):
1.  Mountain area below desert at left (mountains and mines)
2.  Desert area at left (desert)
3.  Mountain area above desert (caves)
4.  Plains area around center (plains)
5.  Forest area at top center (woods)
6.  Marsh area at bottom center of big continent (marsh)
7.  Forest area at right of big continent (forest)
8.  Snowy area at top right (snow forest, snow mountain)
9.  Volcanic area at middle of bottom continent (volcanic)
10.  Forest area at bottom of bottom continent (woods)

Seem good?


That looks great; I like it.

winkio

I realized I forgot the corruption zones, so I put 4 of them in brining us to a total of 18 zones.  I tried to put them in remote locations because I thought that made more sense.  18 zones seems like the perfect balance of diverse environments without a game that drags on too long.
Spoiler: ShowHide

Also, I changed the blips to something that looks good:
Blue - kingdom
Gray - corruption zone
Yellow - Desert
Brown - Mountains/caves
Green - Forest/woods
Light Green - Plains
Cyan - Snowy
Purple - Marsh
Red - Volcanic

Hatsamu

Though the maps clearly got an improvement over time, I have to say I'm kinda lost.

Would this be the definitive map? (in terms of zones, I know it could be redone/zoomed later)

Because I was thinking on more than just 4 corrupted zones and one volcanic area.

(But maybe I was just thinking in something too big...)

Anyway, I'd go with 24 areas, something like:

4 kingdoms
7 corruption zones (I think this zones could be a great part of the game)
1 Desert
3 Mountains/caves
3 Forest/woods
2 Plains
1 Snowy
1 Marsh
2 Volcanic (one being the main one, where the vult hideout is)


On a side note, I'm good at hand-drawing and at photoshop so if we need a either a sketch or a more advanced drawing, count on me.

AliveDrive

Areas:

3 Main Kingdoms, numerous small villages.
7 corruption zones, agreed.
1 Desert
2 Mountains/caves
1 Large Forest
2 Plains
1 Snowy
1 Marsh
1 Volcanic, There need only be one volcano, as we can make it go as deep into the earth as we need.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

March 07, 2011, 01:54:51 am #41 Last Edit: March 07, 2011, 02:12:14 am by winkio
20 zones, managed to stick a few more corruption zones in and they are all in different environments so we won't have any repeats.  Also, keep in mind that the kingdoms are on different zones so they will represent a few different environments: plains kingdom (middle), mining kingdom (left), island kingdom (bottom right), port kingdom (top right).
Spoiler: ShowHide

Blue - kingdom (4)
Gray - corruption zone (7)
Yellow - Desert (1)
Brown - Mountains/caves (2)
Green - Forest/woods (2)
Light Green - Plains (1)
Cyan - Snowy (1)
Purple - Marsh (1)
Red - Volcanic (1)

And yes, the whole point of this map was to plan out the geography of the game.  Once we finalize it then we can make a storyline progression through it.

AliveDrive

Lookin' good, I sort of imagined that the place where the gods are held would be a place you could go near the end of the story.

That being said, I imagined it in the harshest of all climates: the arctic.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

Okay, I want some consensus before we finalize this.  We are finalizing the map and the general layout of the zones (they may end up being split into sub-zones, or nudged around slightly, but the general layout is what we are talking about.).  Once we finalize, we can use it to start constructing the game's plot line in greater detail.

WhiteRose

It looks good to me. I say we consider it finished and move ahead.

Hatsamu

Me too. No need to move/change anything else for now.

Let's throw some storylines over that map  :wong: