# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Building/Structure Mapping >  Dangerous Back Alley

## Bogie

This is a map I made that shows a city block.  It focuses on the alley behind the buildings, but since we never know which way the players are going to go, I have filled out all the building interiors.


Comments and constructive criticism welcome, Hope you like it.  ( This is my first map posted here )

This map and a companion map were also posted in the Finished Maps Forum.

----------


## maxsdaddy

Very nice. The broken down cart under the tree caught my eye right away. Hope you have someone or something guarding
all those swords though!  :Smile:  btw, is that a mancala board across the porch from the chess board? Thanks for posting this map.

----------


## Bogie

Glad you like it.  I think that is a mancala board, not sure, just thought it looked cool.
Rumor has it that the suit of armor in the main room of the swordshop is some kind of
magical guardian, like a Helmed Horror.

----------


## atpollard

A nice map for miniatures.

An option to empasize one thing (like the alley) while providing extra details (like the interiors) for "just in case" would be with a graphic hierarchy.

One example might be to leave the interiors as white lineart or greyscale, while the alley is in color.
A subtler way would be to create the interiors as a pale color layer and the alley as a bold color layer, making the difference between the indoor and outdoor spaces 'pop' visually.

----------


## anstett

This is very nice!

BOB

----------


## Bogie

Thanks,  
I also posted this in the Finished Maps section as 2 maps, one exactly like this and one with all the building roofs in place.
On a  later reply, I posted the roofs as separate pieces so anyone using a VTT can just add and subtract the roofs on the fly.

----------


## catsclaw227

Very cool.   ILooking st it, it presumes that a potential "combat" will be a multi-place, multi-site area.  Much like 4e talks about, but I would use this with Savage Worlds as well.  Excellent.

----------


## Bogie

Thanks catsclaw227, glad you like it.

----------


## Korash

Yup, it does look nice.  :Smile: 

the only crit that I do have is that the shadows don't all follow the same line. Just for an example, take the stone building on the bottom left: the shadows around the edges seem to be from the sun being in the top left, yet the you have the right corners building shadows going straight to the right (top right corner) and pointing to the upper right (bottom right corner). there are a few others that popped out at me, but you get the idea.

Don't let that take away from the map. It does look good, but I tend to fixate on the shadows. 

Nicely done

----------


## Bogie

As much as I love Dundjinni, it has a few drawbacks, one is the lack of control over wall shadows, they are always from the upper left.  The shadows I added were roughly for a sunset to the west, and they are not perfect either.  As it is early evening I assumed there would be some other artificial light sources casting irregular shadows.  ( at least that sounds like a good excuse  :Wink:  )

Glad you liked the overall map, while I try to make them as visually accurate as I can, I mostly make my maps to be a good place to run my games.

----------


## Korash

Well It certainly fits the bill.  :Smile: 

I kinda thought that it was a DJ (or simular) map as I have heard that complaint before. "nice objects, but wish they didn't have the shadows already there" sort of thing.

As for excuses...If it works as intended, no excuse required.  :Wink:

----------


## Simon33600

It's really nice!


For some reason, it made me think of the old "UFO enemy unknown" game from the 90ies...

----------


## bruno66

I really appreciated your job

----------


## jimmyray73

> It's really nice!
> 
> 
> For some reason, it made me think of the old "UFO enemy unknown" game from the 90ies...


I agree, nice map that gives me evil ideas as a GM and it reminds me of what I think is the same game "X-Com: UFO Defense"  That was one of my favorites.

----------


## Bogie

Thanks, glad you like it!

----------


## Simon33600

> I agree, nice map that gives me evil ideas as a GM and it reminds me of what I think is the same game "X-Com: UFO Defense"  That was one of my favorites.


Yep, that was indeed the same game, I believe they played with title between the US and European release...


Anyway, a really nice map!

----------


## Mathias

perfect!!!!!!!!!

----------


## Robert Rickson

This is great work! I love the detail you put into it. How long did this take you?

----------


## J.Edward

My word Bogie, you must have quite a library of textures and materials. It must take forever to create or find all that.
Have you ever tried Genetica Studio? I think there's also some free version too. I used to use that when I was doing 3d stock models.
Just from doing that I can appreciate all the textures involved in this.
I don't think I would have the patience to put in all those little details, all the stuff on the tables. I love that section at the bottom left with all the tools and veggies.  :Smile:

----------

