Yikes, nobody took a look at this map since the forums are so dead
.
But fortunately I decided to quickly download and check up on your progress
. And I have screens to show you
exactly what I'm talking about. Let's start with the critiquing...
This,
this, and
this illustrates some texturing-continuity issues on your map.
To be honest, those orange patches, the bright green textures, and the brown-muddy texture looks weird on your map. The brown texture (in the first screen shot) appears in huge chunks and it only appears in the eastern half of the map if I remember correctly. The brown texture works for your map in my opinion but it just isn't continued throughout the entire map. I would've liked to see that brown texture throughout the entire map and not in huge chunks. The bright green grasses and the orange textures just don't work for your map. Your map takes place at night so I think that you should stick to darker textures (being dark greens and muddy-browns) in consideration of the time that your map takes place in.... The darker, the better I think.
Don't worry about your map being too dark because of the textures. You already have some trees on the map that are a brighter colour than the other trees. For example, in the 2nd and 3rd screenshots, you can clearly see that you have a variety of trees; some being a brighter colour. Now it is going to be your props and vegetation that brightens up your map and adds colour, not your textures. I'm not saying don't blend or anything, just try to avoid those acid-bright greens. If anyone wants to contradict me, please do I'm not a godly mapper myself
.
This screenshot brings me onto my next point.
Once again, that bright green texture near the centre is not working for your map. The green texture that surrounds your bright green texture, should be your new best friend
. That texture works
very naturally in your map. Just wanted to point that out.
Anyways, in your map you have Drakes, Wargs, Goblins, and Wights. You need to make a choice on which creeps you want to have.... Usually it is best to have one or two different kinds of creeps on one map. Otherwise it gets the player questioning where your map is actually located. I would recommend just sticking to Goblins and Wights since Bree is located by the South Downs and just North of some mountains.
This bit of water needs to match your northen bit of water too.
This screenshot also illustrates some of your use of buildings outside of your city. Using Rohirim buildings outside of Rohan looks strange unless those buildings are intensely disguised or unless you are doing a Rohan map (in my opinion). Same goes with the use of Gondor buildings... Thankfully the buildings that you use inside the city are vague enough to use in almost any map and outside your city.. Anyways, your map isn't anywhere near Rohan so I don't recommend using Rohirim buildings on this map. Instead I recommend using the set of structures that you've been using inside your city and hobbit buildings (since Bree is located right next to the Shire).
The brighter grass texture near the bottom of the screen also doesn't naturally fit your map in my opinion.
I also recomend placing Bucklebury Ferry at this location as well since Bucklebury Ferry was located right after the Brandywine Bridge (which is west of Bree). Here's a link to support that as well:
http://www.glyphweb....eburyferry.htmlAnd you can find a map of Middle-Earth anywhere on Google or in your own book edition.
Your isolated grasses and bushes in
this screenshot don't really fit the map as well.
Don't get me wrong, you do need to have some grasses and bushes in your map but you need to surround those grasses and bushes with trees or rocks.. Otherwise they don't look as natural as they should be. And having some of those brighter-green bushes/grasses will also brighten up your map like I was mentioning before.
Also the lighter green texture at the bottom-right-corner of the screenshot should be another texture that could get used a lot. That bottom-right-corner texture naturally slides into your map and it will be one of the only textures that will brighten up your map minimally. Most of the colouration and brightening of your map should come from your props and vegetation since this takes place at night, like I mentioned before. Once again, this is just my opinion
.
This area of your map needs something done to it.
You can spot its exact location by looking at the mini-map that I left on the screenshot for you.It's a little boring to be honest.... But this is where you can let loose your creative juices! A dunedain camp, extensive hills, a rocky creek, almost anything that's a little dynamic would be nice to have here! With creeks, they don't have to go off your maps limits if you know what I mean. You can end a creek by placing a collection of vegetation and smaller rocks at the end of the creek. You still have a bit of empty space, and I feel that you need to fill it in a little more.
Also, something that I don't have a screenshot of; the river ontop of Bree.... Is that suppose to be a river or is it suppose to be a creek? I understand that you placed some ferry props there since you wanted to add Bucklebury Ferry and that would make sense since Bucklebury Ferry is attached to a river. If that is a creek on the northern border of your map, then I think it needs to be changed because it feels a little too large to be a creek... And there aren't any rivers north of Bree either; there's only a river to the west of Bree that has Bucklebury Ferry
. My suggestion for making the creek feel more like a creek is to make it shallower, and make some parts of the creek walkable. You could even afford to break up the long creek into a series of creeks if you wanted to. But right now, it feels too large (and it looks too deep) to be a creek. It looks like a river that should be mapped in my book
.
Now onto your favourite part, the compliments
.
1. I love what you have done with the town of Bree itself. It feels very dynamic, it's still functional (and I have the 1000 pop. limit to prove it!), and it definitely feels like a city! I will be using your town of Bree as a model for my remake of my Umbar map (that I'm going to need to restart) since it uses a lot of the buildings that I plan on using. Also great job on texturing there as well
.
2. You have some hills (and cliffs!) near the southeast/eastern part of your map. That adds a lot of dynamics to your map and it was well done. This is just me, but I would like to see more hills in the western and northern parts of your map as well just so that it balances out.
3. I also like the choices that you made with your variety of trees. They suit the area well. I think that you could narrow down the variety of trees a little more but right now your tress look great on the map.
4. You also have some excellent textures in your map along with some textures that (I don't think) fit your map. You still have some beautiful textures that really work for me and it was good to see that you tried out some new textures as well!
Sorry about some of the darker screenshots; I was too lazy to edit them or send units to that area
.
Hope that some of this helps.
Edited by Scryer, 08 March 2010 - 02:22 AM.
