So, everything east of the Misty Mountains is done. Outlined the rest of the mountains, hills, and rivers. Still have to do the detail layer on half the mountains, but I've been a bit busy.

I scaled the map up slightly larger to max resolution, to have more space in some areas. I've also been having to go back and fix a bunch of things that I didn't do right the first time, cause I hate crappy borders and gaps and whatnot.

In the mean time, I've been working on some extra environmental eye-candy.

Barad-dur - I'm really happy with this one, just plan on adding a few windows/spires for detail.


Black Gate - Haven't done the outer towers, don't know if I will. It's meh.


Minas Tirith - Screw the white city, it's kicking my butt. I just can't get the basic structure to look right, and there's not a ton of space on the map to work with either.

Going to deviate from my blocky style and try working with the circle tool to see if I can't get something looking decent.

awesome!

4th try starting from scratch. It's super effective!



I finally found a reference image that was relatively close to the perspective I wanted, so I didn't have to do much spatial crap in my head. That always helps.

I'll probably just have to combine Minas Tirith and the Pelennor Fields, unless somebody has an idea for where to actually put the territory. Maybe the rock face, it would be interesting to see that change colors :P

Remember, the maximum file size is 2MB. If you carry on with the detail you're doing, it might go over. Often, text can take up a massive amount of memory without realising due to the curved edges.

Yeah, I'm aware of the limit, thanks. At more than halfway done, my file is 1.1 megabytes, but 0.5 of that is the temporary text of all the territory names, so I should be fine :)

Edited 12/6/2014 08:57:37

God damn, this is absolutely beautiful so far. The Elven Script writing on the territories is a great touch, and those water contour lines are absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to play on the map, if not examine it in detail.

This map..... is just awesome

Love it. Nice job man

Almost done assigning territories. Everything outlined is named, I just have the northernmost lands left.

Doing the area around the Shire/Bree was just painful. So many places in such a small area, it was very difficult to figure out what to actually use. I also had to take out the drawn hills for all the downs, tower hills, and a few others. Would have liked to keep them but there just isn't enough room.

I don't have an exact count, but I think there will be around 35 possible factions.

Map Preview: https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=38403

Still procrastinating on doing the north :/

Realized I'm retarded, and didn't plan for territories being forced to the top layer of a map when I drew things like Barad-dur, Minas Tirith, etc. Barad-dur was easy to fix, the others are varying degrees of more difficult or unsatisfying. Simply outlining things has a tendency to look pretty stupid IMO.

Barad-dur: Just extended the mountain range in the background.


Minas Tirith: Again, extended the mountain range. I'm not in love with it, but I like it more than when I tried just outlining it with the territory.


Black Gate: Don't know how I feel about this one, was trying out a few different things. Finished the left side, not the right. Made a background layer that matches the border color, put that behind the Black Gate layer. Then I roughly outlined the Black Gate, and the fill layer just hides the gaps.



Notes for future maps... either make sure I incorporate a background other than territory land, or draw things from a top-down perspective.

Are you going to have bonus borders inset from each other? If not, I highly recomend you do. Also, you should either make all city bonuses above or below the other bonuses. The areas where there are aren't any cities seem underpowered. I would recomemd keeping cities to 2 and 4 bonus armies. The are some missing connections still (old ford). Other than that, it looks like a great map!

Edited 12/20/2014 09:01:16

can the map have varying bonuses?
Like stronger capitals are higher in points?

THE ARTWORK IS SO AMAZING!!!

Also, if I can help you with the testing I would LOVE to!!!

Are you going to have bonus borders inset from each other? If not, I highly recomend you do. Also, you should either make all city bonuses above or below the other bonuses. The areas where there are aren't any cities seem underpowered. I would recomemd keeping cities to 2 and 4 bonus armies. The are some missing connections still (old ford). Other than that, it looks like a great map!

Yeah, offsetting the bonus borders is one of the very last steps in my workflow. I think a few territories have been done, I also need to offset the borders on rivers to create the bank effect you can see done in some of the bottom-right.

Balance will take a lot of work, I basically just threw some values down, but they also need to take in effect the proximity and number of nearby neighbors. Want to make sure someone starting in Isengard or Moria doesn't get stuck with nowhere to go.

I think custom scenarios are really where the map will shine most, it can be setup like a super smash bros melee mashup thing, with factions, heroes, and baddies from different ages all having a place on the map at the same time.

can the map have varying bonuses?
Like stronger capitals are higher in points?

THE ARTWORK IS SO AMAZING!!!

Also, if I can help you with the testing I would LOVE to!!!

Yeah, we'll see where the bonuses go. I like the idea of making the strongholds representative of the nation. An example is, if Rohan loses Helm's Deep, that's a huge blow for them, moreso than losing Edoras.

I'll definitely invite you to testing, going to do RT and MD testing on it once I finish setting up the north.

Glad you like it :)

ok
cos i often make games on the current middle earth map, and this seems an improvement..

If you want me to make a senario for you then just ask.

I'd love to help test this too, if you're willing to have me.

Same here, this map looks great

You're a real pro in map making, this looks like a great map!
You're not only making a warlight map, but also a piece of art and that is great!

The map is ABSOLUTELY COOL! :) I'd love to play it once it is done.

I would love to test this map for you if you wouldn't mind :o :D