# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Town/City Mapping >  The City of Opal Island

## Katerek

Over in the World Maps thread I have been posting several maps from my Homebrew Campaign. In the feedback some of you have requested to see some of my other maps.

This is a map I have been working on for quite some time, and is one of my more aggressive projects to date. This was all done in photoshop with some help from a couple of other programs. Some of the textures I borrowed here and there - but I don't remember where exactly.

As always - C&C are greatly welcomed.

I don't know that I will post too many of my other city maps as many of them are not wholly my creations. Typically what I used to be prone to doing was to take an already existing map from somewhere else, and tweak it and modify it to fit my purposes. Mind you, all of my maps only ever see the light of day for my gaming table typically - its not like I am making money at this or anything. Other times, I just finds maps that suit my purposes and do nothing; for instance, Gandwarf has unknowingly supplied innumerable maps of various cities and settlements for my DnD game.  :Wink: 

Anywho - anything I do that is wholly original or at least 99% so I will post for your enjoyment. I don't believe in taking credit for other peoples' labor.

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## Gandwarf

> Other times, I just finds maps that suit my purposes and do nothing; for instance, Gandwarf has unknowingly supplied innumerable maps of various cities and settlements for my DnD game.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo.....

Haha, I guess a lot more people have snatched my maps to use in their games. I have no problems with that. I am curious though which maps you used?

Anyway, I really like the map so far. The cliffs and layout are really well done. 
Are you going to add more buildings? 

Now, the fields I don't like. They are too big and the textures don't fit in well.

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## Katerek

Actually, I intend on using all of them eventually. Sirillion is my favorite though.

As to this map - yeah, this map is a work in progress. I do intend to add more buildings - I putz around with it every couple of days. The fields are also a complaint of mine. When I started it, I was going to go for a more realistic approach, but the utility side of me won out. I just haven't messed with them in a while.

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## thebax2k

Katerek,

This is a nice start to a city map that you’ve made.  The buildings are very sharply delineated and remind me of some of the better Harn city maps.  I echo Gandwarf in both complementing you about the relief lines (which give a very good indication as to what levels are at what height) and frowning about the fields (which don’t mesh really well with the rest of the city).

I did have a few brickbats from a realism/urban design perspective.  A fantasy city can be laid out and take any shape that you want, but your city (or at least the start of it) seems less like a city and more a collection of loosely scattered streets and buildings plopped down willy-nilly without little thought for the overall design.  That’s perhaps a bit harsh, but you might want to try a few things.  

First, a crude or rough grid that starts near the docks (which is likely where the settlement originated from) and thins out (or not if the island is really crowded) the further away from the docks that you are.  I have no idea what the population of your city is, but if its in the tens of thousands, likely every available inch of space will be used.  I don’t know what program (if any) you used to design your city, but it looks like that procedural program that was floating around the Guild a few months back.  It’s a great program for laying roads along ridge lines, cow paths, etc., but not as useful for laying out a city on a island, in which space is very constrained.

Take a look at Fogdown (http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3037) here on these boards by Redstar.  Or take a look at the beautiful Freeport map by Andy Law (http://www.greenronin.com/freeport/2..._adventure.php).  Or take a look at Yabusama’s incredible map of Lortenford at the (sadly now defunct) Gran March project (go to http://www.greyhawkonline.com/granmarch/, click on “Members pages” in the upper left and type in “bunionofvecna” at the prompt (all one word) and click on cartography, you’ll be able to get to the full sized map).  In each case, you have port cities that are densely built up (and Fogdown and Freeport are both on islands) and have a rough street grid to them (Fogdown’s is perhaps a bit too gridlike for realism purposes, but its still a great map).

Second, make sure that you have at least one market near where the docks are.  Depending upon the size of your city, you might have two or three.  It’s a good idea to also make your markets the nexus points of several roads.

Third, I’d move what looks like your temple?/manor? cluster (buildings marked 1-8, 15, 30, 32, etc. on the map) and move it into the center of town if it’s the temple quarter.  Urban temples and shrines in the ancient days (as well as churchs, masjids, and ashrams in the modern one) tend to be built near central points of a city so that they can easily be accessed by worshippers (there are many exceptions to this, but in general its true).  Your temple cluster (if it is that) is somewhat out of the way.  If it’s a cluster of noble buildings, I would still move it out of the way, as that area (looks like the highest on the island) seems ideal to locate a fortress, castle, or citadel.  (I do like your idea of have the nobles/great merchants/high muckety mucks of the city on the heights and the lower riff raff closer to the sea—that feels natural)  

Fourth, speaking of fortresses or citadels, your city does not seem to have many military structures (or at least structures recognizeable as such).  I have no idea how dangerous the waters around it are, but I would locate small fortresses or towers around the perimeter that could be fitted with ballistae or catapults (or provide a good vantage point for spellcasters) to drive off pirates or enemy fleets.  Given the height or heights of most of the island, only the lower area near the docks and the water might actually have to be walled.

Fifth, I would make sure that there is a warehouse district located near the docks.  Shipping and fishing are the lifeblood of your settlement.  There’s simply not enough space on the island to grow the crops needed to feed al or even most of the residents.  Thus the docks (perhaps you might want to include a drydock or two) are very important and a storage area to hold all those goods and produce (even temporarily) is equally important.  Take a look at the western side of Freeport to see what I am talking about, Mr. Law did a great job incorporating both fantasy and elements of realism into his map of Freeport.

Concluding, you’re more than welcome to take my advice with a grain of salt.  If your player’s are happy with the map that you already have, than stick with it.  But if you want a location that is both memorable and pleasing to the eye, try out a few of my suggestions.

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## Ascension

Personally, I think it looks pretty interesting; aside from the fields.  I didn't read all the way thru bax's post so my comments are based more on aesthetics.

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## ravells

I find that good fields are incredibly difficult to do. I think that for me, Torq is the only person I have seen who has put in fields which work well with the map. I'm still trying!

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## Katerek

First off - WOW! Thank you for such a wonderfully detailed response!

The willy-nilly appearance is kind of intentional. Originally, this island began as a loose collection of several disparate groups seeking refuge here during a war. They each built their own encampments which have in turn, over time, become individual settlements. Also, I have a whole mess more of buildings to come.

1) I like your idea about a rough grid near the docks. Which is in fact, where one of the major camps originated from. This island is massively populated. It is actually located at the center of a freshwater lake that is mildly geothermally active. It is pretty much the 'center of the world' for my campaign. I didn't really use any specific program to design the city - though I did use that generator to create several 'streets' (mainly because I was too lazy to draw all the squares). Though, to be honest, I have gotten away from that recently and gone back to hand drawn.

Thank you for the links BTW! Fogdown is one of my all time favorites, and in fact, I use it as a basis for another major city in my campaign.

2) Good point about the markets. I totally agree.

3) That area is in fact a temple mount. I have to keep it where it is due to events that have already taken place in the campaign. Though to be fair, when this is completed, that will be centrally located. The bulk of the island is all city.

4) Some of the buildings on the island do represent fortress like buildings - or at least they are supposed to. Since it is a freshwater lake that is surrounded on all sides by a single country - of which Opal Island is pretty much the capital - there has never really been the need in game for a wall.

5) I love the idea for a wharehouse district. Thank you! Now I just need to decide how I want it represented.

Thanks again for the tremendous amount of advice! I really appreciate it and more is very welcome! I will post my progress as it develops.

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## Katerek

Since this is technically a WIP thread, I thought I would post this.

The following image is the original map I did for Opal Island (pencil and paper) several years ago when the first PCs discovered it. This is what the island looked like in it's pristine state - before they started settling it, and later - using it as a refuge during the first orcish invasions.

The small square in the wood in the upper right indicates the location of the ruins that were all that stood on the island.

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## Katerek

After some of the comments received I went and tweaked my city map a smidge. I tried to incorporate several of the ideas, as well as tweaking the fields a bit. 

I would love to hear any feedback you have.

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## Gandwarf

The area near the docks is looking a lot better. Myself, I would cram the island full of buildings and roads. At least the parts between the docks and the huge building almost in the center of the island. Where is the legend to the map by the way?

The fields still look a bit off... they are also huge compared to the smaller houses! If the fields belong to different farmers I would expect them to be a lot smaller.

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## Steel General

I like what I'm seeing so far.

One thing that does catch my eye is that the buildings appear 'flat' opposed to the nice ridgelines, etc. which help give a sense of depth. Maybe add some shadowing or a slight bevel to give the buildings some 'depth'?

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## Ascension

I like those fields, good stuff.

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## thebax2k

Thanks for the additional background info Katerek and the nicely handcolored map.  I didn't know if the city was on potentially hostile seas like Freeport or Fogdown or otherwise.  Given that its in the middle of a lake that is controlled by the kingdom the city is the capital of, I would still have towers around the lower areas (and perhaps a few on the heights) that are easily accesible to the water to keep an eye out for smuggling and help enforce an evening curfew (curfews were common in cities in the middle ages, given the high level of banditry that existed, people were not out after dark unless they had to be).

I suspected that you were using the procedural program to generate streets, the communities it creates have a distinct "look" to them.  That isn't a bad thing, but the program tends to create lots of cul de sacs and wavy streets on what is flat terrain.  Certainly roads and trails have followed the terrain throughout most of history, but don't go overboard with it.  The island your city is on is relatively small and unless each of the levels of it somehow resembles a bmx course with moguls that we can't see  :Wink: , then it is likely that a grid has formed on each level as the city expanded and grew. 

I again echo Gandwarf, in that if this is the capital of a kingdom, unless its a petty kingdom with a very small population, most of that island is going to be absolutely crammed with buildings (at least the lower parts--I see your city as, in a sense, a smaller version of Ptolus, which is also on multiple levels).  I don't know if there is an FLGS near where you live, but if there is, head on over and see if you can find a book from Privateer Press called Five Fingers.  Its a major city spread out over several islands at the end of a delta, and nearly every island is crammed with buildings.  If you have a population of 20,000 or more for your city (and most fantasy capitals I've seen (City of Greyhawk, Lankhmar, etc.) have at least 30-60,000 people), your island is going to be crammed with buildings.  

I know that's a lot of work for one map, but if this is a city your adventurers return to again and again, I'd say its worth it.  One good way that you can capture the disparate communities that were settled and then merged to form the larger city is having neighborhood "clusters" with their own distinct road grid within the city.  For instance, most of the city could be loosely square like (similar to Fogdown) but one small neighborhood could have a circular grid, another on a hill could be akin to a corkscrew, a humanoid ghetto could have lots of dead ends and blind alleys (the better to ambush enemies foolish enough to follow the humanoids in), a dwarven section could be almost modern appearing with a rigid adherence to a grid of equally sized blocks, and so on.

In any event, I have been impressed with your maps and hope you keep drawing and posting them.  Keep up the good work.

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## Katerek

Steel General - Im not sure what you mean. This may help though - I have been thinking that once all of the buildings are placed that I will go back through and color code to specifics - i.e. certain types of buildings will have their own color; then after that I might look to add textures and more detail for the actual buildings.

Gandwarf - As to a key - I haven't posted it as the numbers are thus far just for my own reference. Once I get everything where I want it, I will likely go back through and renumber it so that various neighborhoods and what not will have numerical neighbors.

Bax - As always, thank you so much for the in-depth reply. I have added several more buildings and as a result of your comments have been going for a more grid-looking system, though one with more of an organic look. Thus far, a single exception might be considered in the upper central part of the island, an area I have been mentally referring to as The Landing, you will see more right angles and more of a pronounced grid. This area of town is where the dwarven refugees settled.

I am actually familiar with Five Fingers - it sits on my shelf as we speak. My intention is to absolutely cram this baby with buildings.

As always, all C&C are greatly appreciated and further more encouraged. The following is the latest WIP. You can see how I am developing some of the neighborhoods - or at very least, trying to. The areas near the southern docks is where I have been focusing most of my efforts. I have also noticed a trending of sorts as well - the areas that face the larger of the roads are - in my mind - leaning towards more commercial use, and thus, the more clap board/america wild-west thing; while the areas 'facing' the smaller roads are leaning towards more residential.

Thanks again.

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## NeonKnight

One: Congrats on making a city map with what I like - CROWDED, CONNECTED BUILDINGS! That alone earns you REP in my books.

My only issue, is there is a few area where the road come withing 30 feet of another road and ends. People (and dwarves and elves too likely) being who they are, they would likely not be willing to walk 500 feet when a 30 foot trek across the field would get them somewhere  :Wink: 

Roads coming to end are ok, if they are radiating roads, or if they are blind alleys/lanes coming up against another building, or a deep gulley (and they haven't build a bridge or anything yet), but otherwise those roads would join up.

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## Steel General

> Steel General - Im not sure what you mean. This may help though - I have been thinking that once all of the buildings are placed that I will go back through and color code to specifics - i.e. certain types of buildings will have their own color; then after that I might look to add textures and more detail for the actual buildings. 
> Thanks again.


Yup, that's what I meant.  :Smile:

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## NeonKnight

> Steel General - Im not sure what you mean. This may help though - I have been thinking that once all of the buildings are placed that I will go back through and color code to specifics - i.e. certain types of buildings will have their own color; then after that I might look to add textures and more detail for the actual buildings.


I did that with ALL my old Pen/Paper city maps, and even to this day I can look at one I drew 20 years ago, without a key and know (roughly) what type of building it represents.

My code was:

BLUE - Guard/Barracks/Military
RED - Taverns/Inns/Brothels etc.
Yellow - Warehouses
Orange - Temples/shrines/etc
Purple - Generic Businesses (tarders/coppers/tailors/jewelers etc)

My Big Ol' City Map thread can be found here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=845

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## Katerek

Actually Neon, your's is another style that I have quietly been monitoring and borrowing. In fact, I have even taken one or two of them and converted them to computer maps.

Here is the latest version. I have cleaned up alot of the streets and random looking buildings. I laid more of the streets out and added a few more buildings so that - hopefully - the over all pattern of the city is beginning to emerge.

Thanks as always. More to come in a few hours I am sure...

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## Gandwarf

Yep, definitely starts to look better! Especially the area near the docks. I would add a lot more roads there, though. I still see a lot of green passages... they would be travelled I think and a road would pop into existance.

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## NeonKnight

Yep looking good, looking good!

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## Katerek

All of the roads that are currently on this map are really just place holders. Once I am satisfied with their positions and the lay-out I will go back and redo them. At the same time, all of that space that is green between the buildings will be paved as well (or whatever).

I had to take a break from drawing buildings and stuff tonight - so I threw together a little something more artistic. You can see it in my Homebrew Maps thread over in the World/Region Mapping section.

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## Katerek

Well, I couldn't sleep.

Here's an update.

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## Gandwarf

Haha, now this is turning a city  :Smile:

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## Ascension

I'm diggin it.  I'm also feeling sorry for your mouse hand and strained eyes  :Smile:

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## Katerek

Well,

I haven't posted an update in a couple of weeks. I've been kind of busy. My wife had our new baby, I had to rebuild my computer from scratch, my oldest daughter turned two, so on and such forth.

I have also been working on a couple of other things. I have a new dungeon I am working on that I might post up in a day or two - I don't know.

As far as Opal Island goes, here is the latest update. I have added a few metric butt-loads of buildings, retweaked some roadways, added an orchard, some pasturelands and a few other odds and ends. AS always, C&C are welcome and encouraged!

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## NeonKnight

I'm digging it.

The wharfs though, see a little to artificial. They are perfectly straight and 100 feet wide and in the case of the one near 62, over a third of a mile in length! (A mile is 5280 feet, or 1760 for a third of a mile). This means a caravel (standard Fantasy fair ship), with a length of 20-30 meters or 60-90 feet would be able to birth almost 20 of them Bow to stern along the longest dock.

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## Gandwarf

Wow, this is turning into a very good looking, sprawling city. Really cool!
I still think you need more roads though  :Smile:

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## Katerek

Here is tonight's update. I retweaked the docks/wharf considerably after chewing over what NeonKnight had to say (Thank you Very Much, BTW). Lemme know what you think.

I also added several more buildings, and some trees.

The roads are coming Gandwarf, the roads are coming.  :Wink:  Much of the green areas between buildings will eventually be paved. I am going to have four different types of pavement: Heavy Traffic roads, Light Traffic roads, Back Alleys, and Court Yards. The thick brown lines you see now are only place holders.

Another thing I am wanting to do is put in a couple of sea-walls. Even though this is an island on a large freshwater lake, its big enough that waves could be a problem. Also, I think it would look cool.

Any feedback and commentary is greatly appreciated.

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## ravells

This is looking really cool, Katerek! I haven't seen this thread before. How are you going about making the geometric shaped building lots (pictured below)? Is the process automated or semi- automated or are you doing them by hand?

Superb work and looking forward to seeing more of this. I particularly like the way that no one lot is entirely 'landlocked' by other lots.

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## NeonKnight

Looking good. The docks are much improved!

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## Gandwarf

I am glad this city is receiving the amount of buildings it deserved.
Now about those roads...  :Very Happy:

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## Katerek

Ravells - I did 99% of the buildings by hand. In photoshop, I use the Line Tool to do the borders of each building in a basic black color. Then I go back and fill each shape with white using a tolerance of 1.

A longstanding prescription of Adderal helps too.

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## Katerek

Here is tonight's update. I added more trees and forested areas along the coastal regions. I finished up the bulk of the building placement for the lower portions of the island and began experimenting with tertiary roadways in the southern dock wards.

My next steps will be to further place tertiary roadways as well as shifting my focus to the higher elevations of the island. Those regions will be more unique and require a bit more thought on my behalf. While the entire island is populated with a relatively high amount of rather affluent individuals, the highlands are even more so.

Enjoy.

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## Gandwarf

Forests look nice as do the roads near the dock  :Smile:

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## NeonKnight

ONOZ! You haz Trs ina WTR!

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## Katerek

> ONOZ! You haz Trs ina WTR!


The trees in the water are from me forgetting to turn off the "Tree Pallette" layer in photoshop before converting it to a jpg.

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## Katerek

aaaaand here is the next update.

Thoughts, comments, critiques?

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## Gandwarf

More goodness... more houses and roads  :Smile: 
The eastern half of the island is getting even more roads I hope?

Nice to see you starting on the western half. So are the people over there richer? That might mean bigger houses, personal gardens some parks and stuff.

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## su_liam

> ...western half. So are the people over there richer? That might mean bigger houses, personal gardens some parks and stuff.


That would save him some work...  :Evil:  .

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## Katerek

I decided to forest some of the western side of the island and add even more buildings in the various little shopping districts and dock wards.

Opal Island is magical in nature, thus the small crop areas (relative to the local population). When the island was first discovered, the PCs in my game figured out that for some reason long ago the Elder Elves had cast permanent environmental magicks over the entire island, keeping it uniformly 72 degrees F. year round. Later on, due to actions taken by the PCs, epic spells were cast to make the grounds of the island even more fertile than normal.

Opal Island is pretty much the center of the civilized world in my campaign.

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## Gandwarf

You made some great additions...
As for the fields: even with perfect weather and perfect fertilisation, they would not be able to sustain a city this large. Meaning it would be very dependant on import.

Did you already put it in a graveyard somewhere?

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## Katerek

> You made some great additions...
> As for the fields: even with perfect weather and perfect fertilisation, they would not be able to sustain a city this large. Meaning it would be very dependant on import.


Well yeah...thus the docks.  :Wink: 

As for a graveyard - I don't know yet. One of the things culturally in this setting is a tendency to burn the dead - thus preventing their rising as undead later on. Although, graveyards do make for cool map features. Since space is highly limited on the island, the thought had also occurred to me of doing a single large mausoleum whose main purpose is as a city-wide burial vault. Not very interesting map-wise, but it could be cool game-wise. Then of course, there is also the catacombs approach.

Which actually brought up the idea of sewers and drainage - up til now I hadn't given that much thought either.

Alas...this project just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

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## Gandwarf

Ok, so the city is very dependant on import. That means it needs a lot of tradeships and also warships, because a blockade would be devastating. I think you need to add a lot of shipyards and drydocks  :Very Happy: 
They would make some cool features...

Oh, and the forests on the island could be planted... the trees might make great masts and timber for ships. Yada, yada, yada  :Smile: 

Also, you might consider adding some windmills on the cliffs (industrialisation for the win!).

And maybe add a fresh water well with a stream that drops into the ocean. Waterfalls are cool, you know  :Wink:

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## Katerek

Here is my latest WIP. I would very much like comments and crits.

For this take I added all kinds of stuff as well as tweaked several areas. I completely redid a couple of city blocks near the docks and wharves. I wasn't too pleased with them prior. Also, I have been cramming more and more buildings in where ever I think they look appropriate with each update.

Gandwarf - I added some fresh water areas with some falls-like features. Not too sure how I feel about it, but its growing on me. I figure that the source of the water for the falls comes from rain collectors and storm drains in the higher elevations of the city. The lone little body of water east of that is just something I was messing with. It could be sewage I guess. 

The stuff you mentioned about the forests is cool and all, but this is a fresh water lake that this island sits in. For the life of me - I cannot figure out how to make a windmill at this scale that would be distinguishing enough to show up on the map - but I actually love the idea.

I still have not figured out how/what to do with/about the graveyard thing. Also, I think I am beginning to lose steam - the western side of the island is starting to stump me.

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## Steel General

I've run out of steam on maps before (my Osengaard map for example), usually I can take a break for a few days to "re-load" then get back at it. That doesn't work for everyone and sometimes not even for me  :Smile: 

I didn't go back through the thread, but I don't see anything on here such as a fort/military installation. Maybe you could put something like that on the western part of the island. Or you could always put in more farm fields.

I think at this scale a windmill would pretty much look something like a silo, just remember to label them correctly and you should be good to go...

My only nit-pick at this time is the trees out in the middle of the water  :Very Happy:  (j/k)

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## Katerek

Here is the latest update.

I added all kinds of stuff. I am getting pretty close to calling this one done. At least, as far as the actual city lay out and mapping is done. I still want to do a nice border, a label, a compass rose, and a few other odds n ends.

Comments and critiques are greatly appreciated.

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## ravells

This is one of the best city maps I've ever seen, Katerek. Kudos for the hours and hours you must have spent on it. No suggestions or crits from me, I'm afraid. 

Are you going to have a side-bar with descriptions of the buildings you have labelled with numbers?

Just make sure you post the finished version in the 'Finished Maps' forum when you're done (hint, hint).

PS - Would you mind if I use your map as an example in my 'Depiction of Fantasy Cities' ebook? (link in my sig).

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## Katerek

> This is one of the best city maps I've ever seen, Katerek. Kudos for the hours and hours you must have spent on it. No suggestions or crits from me, I'm afraid. 
> 
> Are you going to have a side-bar with descriptions of the buildings you have labelled with numbers?
> 
> Just make sure you post the finished version in the 'Finished Maps' forum when you're done (hint, hint).
> 
> PS - Would you mind if I use your map as an example in my 'Depiction of Fantasy Cities' ebook? (link in my sig).


Wow. Thanks. That is an honor.

Yes - I do intend to sidebar. In fact, I just got through typing up the first draft of it in Word an hour or two ago. 

When it's finished, I will definitely post something in the finished maps section. 

And yes, by all means, please use it. If it helps someone else, then I am all for it.

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## Ascension

Monumental piece of work there dude.  I'm sure Ravs has plans for this and I wholeheartedly agree with him (in case he beats me to it).

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## Katerek

This is just a quick update so that you can see where I am going with it. I have started on the border and the other decorative bits. 

Let me know what you think - I for one, am getting excited. I am looking at maybe even having this one printed out as a poster map for my campaign.

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## Katerek

Alrighty - I think it is dang near done. I would GREATLY appreciate any nitpicking and what-not any of you have to offer. Once I have received plenty of feedback I will post it to the finished maps section.

Seriously, if you have time, give it a looksy and see if you spot any glaring inconsistencies or what have you.

Thanks as always, I really appreciate all the feedback I have received on here so far. I am already looking forward to my next map!

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## Feralspirit

Fantastic Work, Katerek! I don't really have any nit-picks to speak of, and look forward to seeing this work in the finished maps forum. I do have a question, though, and I apologize if it has already been answered elsewhere in this thread. Some of your numerals are bold, some are light. You have walls in both styles as well. I was wondering what they mean.

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## Katerek

No there is no real reason for the difference between bold and normal text. In fact, it is something I will most-likely change before posting it in the finished maps section. Actually, I had meant to do that already, but I forgot. Thanks for the reminder though!

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## KeithC

Wow!  Not only is the final piece marvelous, the journey from beginning to end is simply astonishing!  A true masterpiece!

Congratulations on a job very well done.

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## Gandwarf

Awesome work and I have no more comments.
Now, this is what I call a city  :Very Happy:

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## Katerek

Well, I posted the final work in the Finished Maps thread. Enjoy!

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...6859#post66859

let me know what you think in the comments there! I tweaked a few final things, added a couple handfuls of buildings and a few roads.

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## Zenfar

A great map, I could see a whole living campaign from it.

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## NeonKnight

Congrats on the finished map.

Finally a City Map that looks like a crowded place, not a collection of individual buildings!

Good Job!

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## Nomadic

Just stumbled across this. Very awesome. Quick question for ya, how did you pull off that water effect? I have been looking for an effect of that type for some time for my realistic maps.

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## Katerek

Sorry for the slow response - I had to have my gall bladder yanked and have been incommunicado of late.

The water effect? Its pretty simple. I did a few random splotches of blue in photoshop and then applied a ripple effect followed by a frosted glass effect followed by another ripple effect. Each time I did ripples, I changed the settings a little. 

Its basically pure experimentation.

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## Ascension

Hope you're healing well.

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## Katerek

> Hope you're healing well.


Very well, thank you! Still trying to adjust to the new diet though.

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## Ascension

Oo, ouch, that bites.  What sort of diet?  I like to know in case it ever happens to me  :Smile:

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## Katerek

Well the Gall Bladder is what is in charge of breaking down the fatty content in whatever you eat, so I am having to reduce alot things like bacon, fast-food, etc. Also I have noticed that the spicier the food the longer it is taking to digest, therefore heartburn has been an issue.

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## Steel General

Which means you'll probably also have to watch out for acid reflux as well...

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## ravells

When I get reflux I just grab the bicarbonate of soda from my wife's baking cupboard and mix a teaspoon of it with an inch of water in a glass. Gets rid of it instantly.

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## Steel General

As a an aside to my asthma/allergies, for several years I had a really bad bout with acid reflux. None of the normal/home remedy's came even close to helping. I was on medication for several years to get it under control.

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## ravells

You have my sympathies. Reflux really hurts. It gets even worse when you're lying down so it makes it impossible to sleep properly too.

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## Steel General

> You have my sympathies. Reflux really hurts. It gets even worse when you're lying down so it makes it impossible to sleep properly too.


Don't I know it  :Smile: 

Luckily it's all under control now and i very rarely have any flare ups.

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## a10centsuperhero

> And yes, by all means, please use it. If it helps someone else, then I am all for it.


Is this still the case? Because I'd love to use it for a DC adventures campaign I'm starting up, and we're gonna have a wiki page for it.  I'd of course link back to the original work.

In addition, I'm working on writing a novel set in the universe I'm creating and, should it ever go live, I'd love to use this map for the finished work.

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## Katerek

Use this for anything you want. Its something I did for my own campaign, if it benefits you let me know - I would love to know.

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