The Dawn Of Ages - Quenched

[yeti_c]

First look at this map - so apologies if I repeat something someone else has said.

First looks are very impressive - I love the graphical style - it is very good - I've not really looked at the gameplay as I see we have a stamp for that already.

A couple of issues I want to touch on that might need cleaning up to make the map easier to understand.

a) Ports - where do they one way attack to? The port in Aesir-Vanir appears to one way attack to Sea Dragon and Hellnor? But I can't work out where Akhenat attacks too...
b) NL/SL - can you not actually write "North Logoth"/"South Logoth" on the map? (In the key you have "Forest of Logoth" - but that's not mentioned on the map at all.
c) One way attacks from NL are quite detailed in the key - could be made smaller if you need more space for other stuff?
d) Mines - would prefer the red lines to lead into the mountains?

C.

[Kabanellas]

Thanks Yeti

-All ports one way assault Hellnor and the Sea Dragon – and there are ports in Aesir-Vanir, Akhenat and Edin-Na-Zu
-NL and SL are abbreviations, if I could I’d write the entire name in the respective regions.
-maybe
-they are more legible when passing outside the mountains

K

[Kabanellas]

one more test:

[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15c.jpg[/bigimg]

[The Neon Peon]

I don't think you need the line to indicate the bottom of the mountains, that might help.

[Kabanellas]

ok, gathering all experiences:

Sepia grades
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15b.jpg[/bigimg]

Sepia grades with some shadows
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15a.jpg[/bigimg]

Black
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15dns.jpg[/bigimg]

Black with shadows
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15d.jpg[/bigimg]

Black with scratch, also applied to the shores
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15ens.jpg[/bigimg]

Black with scratch, also applied to the shores + Shadows
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15e.jpg[/bigimg]

[natty dread]

My vote goes to "Black with scratch, also applied to the shores"

[Kabanellas]

seems like a good choice to me .. but with or without the shadows?

[natty dread]

Without definitely. They just don't sit well with the style of the map. The map is supposed to be drawn on parchment, so how do mountains drawn on parchment cast shadows on the map?

Pick that version, and I'll be flabbergasted if you don't get a graphics stamp.

[Kabanellas]

well, I've been using shadows in other situations like in the Towers and the trees... the shadow could be drawn in the parchment as well.

[natty dread]

Regardless, the shadowless version just gives me better eyegasms than the shadowed.

[AndrewB]

Black (no scratch) is awesome. No shadows for me too...

[MrBenn]

The Black looks good - without shadow and without any scratch.

The only problem with it is that you've got the wrong side of the mountains coloured in black - you need the other side filled in to match the cliffs...

[Kabanellas]

yes, but they are matching the projected shadows from the towers and the trees.... for design regions the cliffs had to be black, though they work against the projected light.... but honestly it doesn't bother me that much

[Industrial Helix]

Hmm... I'd go with black with scratch... but you should remove the horizontal base lines from the mountains so it looks like they're coming out of the ground rather than just attached randomly to it.

I'd also suggest that you bring the gray in the shadow area closer to the tone of the rest of the paper, maybe even just slightly darker. As it is now, it stands out too much, they don't really look like mountains to me.

[Kabanellas]

some tests picking on that suggestion from Helix:

[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15x.jpg[/bigimg]

[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V15xns.jpg[/bigimg]

[Industrial Helix]

I think that did it for the most part, though the shadows on the north east mountains around Mt. Doom, the Skull Peninsula mtns. and the mtns. bordering Khnum south of the gate are too thick and unbroken. The other mtns. look great though.

I also noticed that your thin lines are very pixelated. I dunno if this is just a save thing or what, but their jaggedness doesn't do this map justice.

[MrBenn]

I'd still like to see the blackness on the other side of the mountains. I know you said about the shadows on the trees, but they're less obviously different than the black shadows on the cliffs elsewhere...

[porkenbeans]

I'd still like to see the blackness on the other side of the mountains. I know you said about the shadows on the trees, but they're less obviously different than the black shadows on the cliffs elsewhere...

The shadow problem could be fixed if you did some horizontal flipping here and there.

[Kabanellas]

Benn, well.... I've been going around and around with all this shades, and the problem is that if I have the light directed from other way, 75% of the mountains surface will be black, also I would like the setting sun to go into west (the sea).

So I did a couple of tests, maybe we could start by brighten up the coastline....

Brighter coastline, with black shades on mountains
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V16.jpg[/bigimg]

Brighter coastline, with brighter shades on mountains
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V16a.jpg[/bigimg]

Brighter coastline, with darker shades on mountains
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V16b.jpg[/bigimg]

Sepia coastline, with darker shades on mountains - My favourite
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V16c.jpg[/bigimg]

Sepia coastline, with darker shades on mountains and no shadows
[bigimg]http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af105/Kabanellas/Dawn_of_Ages_V16cns.jpg[/bigimg]

[natty dread]

Elf's training ground should be Elves' training ground, as all the other training grounds are in plural. (Warriors', Horsemen's)

Also the bow of the elves' training ground symbol looks a bit like the letter B... the handle is too close to the string in the middle.

Make it more like this:

[porkenbeans]

About those mountains, I just think that if they were more like the House of the Gods island, they would keep with the style, of the rest of the map. To me, they just don't fit in with this map.

[Raskholnikov]

Kab, the dark coastline with the original mountains was great. This latest version takes away from the hand drawn ink qualiy of your map. It does no longer look entirely like your map. Stick with your original vision. It was far better than this.

[ghirrindin]

Kab, the dark coastline with the original mountains was great. This latest version takes away from the hand drawn ink qualiy of your map. It does no longer look entirely like your map. Stick with your original vision. It was far better than this.

Agreed.

[Kabanellas]

Elf's training ground should be Elves' training ground, as all the other training grounds are in plural. (Warriors', Horsemen's)

Thanks Natty, I will correct it.

As for the coastline shade, the all idea was to comply with Mr.Benn's observation about making the coastline and mountains shades appear in the same side. This way I wouldn't be treating the coastline as a shade avoiding any conflict with sun direction.....

[AndrewB]

Brighter coastline, with darker shades on mountains for me.