Ryandor.com

http://www.rynet.com/preview3.jpg

The above is my first attempt at mapping. I think its .. blah hehe Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. If nothing else I've learned a lot here!

Hey, for a first go that's pretty good! My only suggestion would be to think smaller -- break up those big areas of grass/forest/snow somehow. When you're drawing the map, they look tiny, but in game they'll be really vast and empty stretches of land. I think it's better to go with smaller clumps of terrain with lots of detail, winding pathways, etc.

Don't shy away from restarting, either ... My second map was waaay beyond what my first map was, and my third was waaaaaaaaaay beyond that ... and it keeps getting easier, with much better results

Wouldn't say restarting. It's a pretty good start. Much better then what I started with, honestly. You dont have to restart though, work it out. Adjust everything. You -can- restart and shouldn't be afraid to do so, but in this case I'd say it just needs alot of tweaking.

I had the same problem as you. If you enter your game now with that map you'll find it to be HUGE. Much bigger then you expected. Start using the lasso tool (if you use photoshop) to cut things out of the islands.

Don't be afraid to make one bigger island, and some other smaller ones. Also, the mountain you did on top with the snow on it is not advisable. As you know, the map continues on the other side. That means you'll have a volcano directly on the other side of the map. And also, the mountain would look too straight like that. So I suggest continueing the snowlands on the bottom of your map some more too, and placing the volcano in the middle of the map, with a large chunk of desert around it.

Don't be afraid to make more islands. If you ask me it's a little bit too edgy too, so you could work it out more precise with the lasso tool. It's also advisable to work on the forests. Use alot of forests and grass mixed, so people will see a difference. Use small mountains in there too. It isn't really OSI-like, but when walking through a forest you can encounter small (lower Z leveled) mountains as well.

Lakes might be nice to have too. If you want, you can also look on my map for some map ideas. I'm not saying my map is great or anything, but you can use it as an example to create more stuff on your map too.

Also, if you read the tutorial I wrote you might find out some interesting things you might want to use (I really advise using the map brushes. They are teh sex).

Finally, both ends on the snow area are a bit small. I'm not exactly sure if it looks right ingame, so you'll have to try that out.


But it is most definitely a good start. I had a map a little bit like that, well, worse, but still. Eventually it turned out in what I have now.

Oh, another tip. If you're not planning on having too many players you should start with a small map. Maybe you're planning to let them play on one island at first, but it's also advisable to not make use of the whole area OSI uses. You'll have more spots for dungeons and other extra's then too.

*edit* Damn, you have a lot of IRC channels open. +gasp+

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