Yes, I'm finally finished the overland map design! I will get back to scripting & populating it later, I have more urgent areas to focus on - such as this one nice shipwreck beach. Feels nice to design an area that's not in a miniature size. Of course, I'm having a wee bit hard time since I haven't designed a beach before. What makes a good, beautiful and natural beach? They're usually mostly sand...
But plain sand is boring! I looked at Storm of Zehir's shipwreck area, but that didn't help too much since the idea was too different and the actual beach was...well, pretty much empty. I need to think of something, the area is supposed to be nice and relaxed and fun to explore and talk to NPCs. Oh and the ship will be a part of a "quest" that will NOT appear in the player's journal. It's sort of a mystery that the player will have to solve without relying to journal entries telling them every little thing they need to do. I won't make it too hard though, I promise!
That overland map is looking snazzy. Gotta say, I'm impressed!
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to do with the beach. I'd say look up pictures of what real beaches look like and try to get a feel for how the sand rolls(if you're going only for sand).
Why thank you! (: Wow, I made you impressed, and I'm the one drooling at your every screenshot in your blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd the beach, I just followed my instinct on it. I hope it will turn out well regardless of my beach inexperience.
That is a great overland map!
ReplyDeleteI am in the middle of working on one myself, but feel frustrated by the fact that I am building it from an old PnP map, which tends to have less detail. Seeeing yours has made me consider a little poetic licence on my own design. :)
I would say check out some beach shots as well. Although, sometimes a beach will just be plain sand. ;)
Lance.
Thank you for boosting my builder ego! As for your overland map, I'm sure it will be a blast. Better scripted then mine for one thing - I'm pretty worried about that part. Can I beg for help from you if I run into overland map scripting problems? (:
ReplyDeleteYour overland map looks really good!
ReplyDeleteAs for the beach, I like it wide with dunes of different heights, covered of tall hard grasses or creeping fat vegetatation and the occasional dry-looking bush! :-)
you can check out how obsisian did the beach before the sunken ruin / skein in MotB
Hmm, my beach will be more flat then those <: It's a beach where people gather and relax, so it's just plain, boring, flat. Sorry if I got yall excited!
ReplyDeletePlenty of interesting areas to come though (: And thanks to all for the morale boosting comments!
Hi Mazena,
ReplyDeleteNo problem if you need any help. :)
I am just coming to the end of studying the OC map code. I will certainly help you where I can, although I have altered some of the OC code simply because I did not like the way it worked and my maps run differently to the OC. (I'm sure you know what I mean if you have been checking out my blog: It calculates distance travelled rather than alter speed etc.)
I include finding "goodies" and having random encounters, but I have not included any trade stuff at all .. not really my scene that. ;)
BUT, my maps do just look like an open playing field at the moment and a bit boring irrespective of any code behind it. ;) They definitely need more work there.
Lance.