PDA

View Full Version : My first map



kane280484
November 15th, 2014, 19:19
Hi everyone,

I've red some tips and advices over the web and tried to do my first map with Photoshop. I'd appreciate any opinions as what to improve next time, as I'd like to practice more.

The map is a stone dias over a round pit with a stone bridges leading to magic portals - a battlemap for encounter with air elemental.

I used pre-made stone texture from cgtextures.com and dundjinni objects found over the web.

Regards,
Piotr

7919

dr_venture
November 15th, 2014, 20:36
Great work for your first map. I don't have much to say, as the things I'd change have more to do with my personal tastes, as opposed to any practical reasoning. The only suggestions I'd venture to make would be, in the spirit of the map representing an underground space:

a) darken the 'solid rock' areas on the map (you're the only one that is likely to ever see it, so it, and to my eye it helps to make the solid rock and passages more easy to discern), and;

b) darken the pit, again, to just make it more immediately apparent as to what it is.

c) To me, having the walls in an underground map have a dark 'glow' or shadow outside of the passages (basically, a dark outline where the solid walls are) is looks better and is easier to see.

I threw together a quick example so you can see what I'm talking about. I didn't spend too much time tinkering, and I do have a bright monitor, so my map might look too dark to you... but you get the idea.

So those suggestions are all just entirely critique for critique's sake -- I'm just tossing out ideas in the spirit of feedback. The map looks great, and I probably wouldn't have really thought much about it if you hadn't requested folks to critique. Good work -- if you're happy with it, I wouldn't change a thing :)

7920

damned
November 15th, 2014, 21:30
nice map - im with doc - if the glow is outside it should be dark - you have light glow so that either be dark or be inside...

kane280484
November 15th, 2014, 23:08
Thanks for the tips, based on @dr_venture's attachment I see what you meant with dark outer glow, it really looks more apparent and clear. Gonna have a go with some more maps. I hope to give sth back to the community when I get better with this :)

Blackfoot
November 16th, 2014, 09:16
Your post and the comments prompted me to try my hand at it as well.... here's what I came up with using some of the principles suggested here and making some adjustments to them.

I don't much like Dr Venture's 'dark glow' although darkening the 'non-tunnel' part of the map seems to make things pop.

How did you do your stairs? They look pretty cool.

EDIT: Tweaked to use a more universal rather than directional light.

kane280484
November 16th, 2014, 09:25
Cool, @Blackfoot, the more maps the better for DMs ;)

The stairs are a simple trick, here (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dundjinni.com%2Ffor ums%2Fuploads%2FKepli%2FE7D_Straight_Spiral_Shadow _kpl01.png&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dundjinni.com%2Fforums% 2Fforum_posts.asp%3FTID%3D8167%26KW%3Da&h=400&w=400&tbnid=91V7g49rI6UhGM%3A&zoom=1&docid=Yo1J8ND31wotgM&itg=1&ei=-WxoVN_qBYnmyQP6yYGQBg&tbm=isch&client=firefox-a&ved=0CDsQMygXMBc&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=461&page=1&start=0&ndsp=45) is Dudjinni's shadow stairs overlay. I just put it over a corridor and came up with stairs.

JohnD
November 16th, 2014, 17:58
Nice map, especially if that's your first one.

sukEEt
November 17th, 2014, 12:53
great job

kane280484
November 19th, 2014, 12:42
Thanks, I took your thoughts into consideration and implemented in other maps. Here is Ice Elemental chamber - another map in series of this interplanar chambers my players will face. I think walls look much better when more exposed.
7948
And two previous maps: Water Chamber and Lightning Chamber - I can see progress I guess :)
79497950

The idea behind is sth like a "labirynth" of portals connecting small planar elemental spheres made by a powerful elementalist as a place to hide his knowledge.

dr_venture
November 19th, 2014, 15:27
Again, these look great. I think in general, skilled map makers such as yourself are really blurring the lines between the store bought and home brew stuff. There's more than enough there to set the mood and allow for tactical play, and look good in the process.

A personal, philosophical aside: For me, I tend to get really fussy about my maps and getting them to look just right... it's really kind of a fun art project all by itself. But I then I have to remind myself that the vast majority of the maps I've ever player with as a GM or player were hand drawn on graph paper or with a marker on a vinyl battlemat. And PnP RPGs being what they are, those maps were more than enough. Also, I find that when I spend a ton of time on a map to get it perfect, I feel like I've somehow "raised the bar" on myself and have to start putting out even *better* maps than before. and with VTT, the prep time for gaming is just so overwhelming that it is the limiting factor in my gaming: there simply aren't enough hours in the day to prep this stuff to my inner perfectionist's standards. At some point I'm going to have to find a better compromise. I wanna put out stuff of this quality, but if I keep trying, I'm going to simply start delaying my game more and more.

Anyway, just figured I'd toss that into the thread, as I see this being a discussion more about mapping philosophy and approaches than quality at this point. Your quality is great -- as long as you're happy with it, you're good to go.

Are there aspects to the map(s) that you're not entirely happy with, or don't quite fit your vision of what you wanted them to be? Maybe more eyes here can help you identify solutions for you.

Andraax
November 19th, 2014, 19:55
I'm going for a more minimalistic look lately. Here is one I whipped up in under an hour just now...
7956

damned
November 19th, 2014, 21:00
i like em. i agree with dr_venture - so much to do.... so little time! do what you have fun doing.

kane280484
November 20th, 2014, 00:03
Funny, I was thinking about it earlier today - that I have to create more simple maps as preparing games was already time-consuming. Storytelling and imagination are, truly, main thing about Role Playing and I don't mind creating simple maps. Right now I am just excited about map-creating possibilities, thus I tend to overdo it. I really liked Andrax's map - a good example of combining simplicity and aesthetics.

dr_venture
November 20th, 2014, 01:46
Yeah, I agree with all of the above, and dig Andraax's map, too.

kane280484
November 26th, 2014, 08:24
Another maps for my "Elementalist's Chambers". Earth Chamber (second one) seems worst, dunno why but it's little blend to me.

810881108111

kane280484
November 28th, 2014, 10:36
8142Magma Chamber
8143...and Treasure Chamber

Next time I'm gonna try simplistic approach and see how it goes.