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World map believability

Erolath

Newbie
Apr 29, 2024
19
8
Hello. I am working an H-game and would like to know if you're paying attention to how world map looks like?
This is the prototype of the map I'm making. I'm wondering about making smaller region game map, and in future expanding it to match game needs. Game include base managment
Game setting is dark fantasy.

Here is link for development thread: The Lost Empire
Thank you.
1714824900813.png
 

No named lad

New Member
Jun 11, 2021
1
0
I Belive more forests and some more rocky spots on the coastline could help your maps asthetic out. some ruins an roads between towns would not hurt eather.
 

Erolath

Newbie
Apr 29, 2024
19
8
I Belive more forests and some more rocky spots on the coastline could help your maps asthetic out. some ruins an roads between towns would not hurt eather.
I see a massive deforestation here, but no wonderbread factories in sight, fix that.
Main area of game is upper-right corner, where "Base" mark is.
Map is still work-in-progress, so other areas are still unfinished. There will me few more cities/ports/villages and ruins.
 

Erolath

Newbie
Apr 29, 2024
19
8
the only important thing is the style shouldn't heavily clash with rest of the game.
I think this shouldn't clash with rest of the game. Map is rather addition for lore and place where player can get access to other areas/location. I thought adding map, will have more immersive effect.
 
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woody554

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2018
1,300
1,662
I think this shouldn't clash with rest of the game. Map is rather addition for lore and place where player can get access to other areas/location. I thought adding map, will have more immersive effect.
a lot of people who are into fantasy games like maps in itself. they love them, make their own maps and show their friends who also make maps. it's really the backbone of worldbuilding for them.

I mean if you search youtube for making fantasy maps there's a ton of videos and streams about this. it's kinda popular in this fandom.
 
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♍VoidTraveler

Forum Fanatic
Apr 14, 2021
5,166
13,159
Cut a piece of that and it will be Act1 map, then another similar piece will be added on top of the first one when player reaches Act2, and like that you can gradually expand the map. :whistle::coffee:
 
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MrOverhead

New Member
Jun 28, 2021
10
6
Maybe you can refer to some real-world maps to make the world look more realistic and cooler. You can use Google Earth or something else
 
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theSwish

New Member
May 5, 2024
8
3
You've got mountains, sure, but not really any 'rolling hill' style stuff, or broader elevation changes like plateaus. Also, that one river coming out of nowhere is odd, as is the lack of lakes and coastal wetlands. Beyond that, hot springs, unless their source is magical, are typically in areas that are mountainous - though, unless you want them to be superheated, I'd put them further from any actively volcanic mountains. Don't slap them next to Lethal Lava Land is what I'm saying.
 
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Jaike

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2020
1,362
4,592
The basic idea looks pretty much fine. Parallel coastlines, bands of grassland, large forests and a large mountain chain pretty much work. And mostly leaf forests and a few mixed/coniferous forests near mountains is good too, but you can apply that to the smaller mountain chains too. The idea I get from this map is that most rain comes from the south west. Then the leeward side of the mountain chains could look drier, unless you have rivers running there.

But you could depart a little more from the basic idea to make it feel more lifelike and less schematic. That coastline is pretty regular, you could break that up with a few peninsulas or islands. And I can't see if those are beaches by the coast, but then you could have different terrain there too like dunes or coastal cliffs.

Maybe the idea is to keep the different terrain types managable and avoid scope creep. If that's the idea, the general idea works and it's perfectly fine. But theSwish's suggestion to add hills, highlands, wetlands and lakes is one to keep in mind if you want to add more. Drier grasslands like steppes or savannas can fit near that desert or in the leeward sides of mountain chains. Meadows or heathland can be added near forest or shrubland.

I think the number of rivers is low. You'd expect more coming from the mountains, especially the Forbidden Lands. And you could develop the river mouths more and go with different types like deltas, estuaries. It's okay if 1 or 2 rivers really dominate the water inflow. Unlike what theSwish said, "one river coming out of nowhere" isn't odd if it's pretty wet grassland, but you don't want too much of that and they shouldn't be too wide. And again, more lakes and wetlands.

The map does look really empty though. Maybe it's a setting where a region that's been settled only recently. If that's so, you could have much more forests or shrubland, above all in places far away from civilisation. The amount of grassland looks like the region is pretty heavily grazed or deforested. And the location of settlements is a little strange. Most are at the coast, like you expect, but only 1 is at a river mouth if you stretch that concept really generously. You'd expect towns at each river mouth of a river with settlements. And more town on rivers. Water routes are the cheapest transpost routes. So settlements should follow that pattern, especially if it's been settled recently by seafarers.

I'm a bit thrown off by the scale. You see single buildings on one hand, but some mountains look like they are only like 10 building big. That could be an artistic choice. But it classes with the invisibility of farmland. Fantasy videos kinda suck with this, but you expect visible crop fields for miles around a big town. Near or (partially) in every town, you should see a few acre of cultivated forest, then orchards or vinyards preferably on higher ground, and then fields with crops. Farmland should roughly follow the patterns of rivers and roads, because transport. You can leave those forests near the towns in the south in place though, people don't always clear them.

tl;dr: more water, slightly more irregular coast, actual river mouths, more settlements near rivers, maybe more forests and maybe more terrain types, remember the pattern of forest-orchard-cropland.
 

Winterfire

Forum Fanatic
Respected User
Game Developer
Sep 27, 2018
4,965
7,285
I really hate your rivers, they're so unrealistic that it bothers me way more than they should :WutFace: coast also needs a lot of work.
I'd also keep some consistency regarding location names' size, hotsprings is really small and hard to read compared to the rest.
 

Erolath

Newbie
Apr 29, 2024
19
8
The basic idea looks pretty much fine. Parallel coastlines, bands of grassland, large forests and a large mountain chain pretty much work. And mostly leaf forests and a few mixed/coniferous forests near mountains is good too, but you can apply that to the smaller mountain chains too. The idea I get from this map is that most rain comes from the south west. Then the leeward side of the mountain chains could look drier, unless you have rivers running there.

But you could depart a little more from the basic idea to make it feel more lifelike and less schematic. That coastline is pretty regular, you could break that up with a few peninsulas or islands. And I can't see if those are beaches by the coast, but then you could have different terrain there too like dunes or coastal cliffs.

Maybe the idea is to keep the different terrain types managable and avoid scope creep. If that's the idea, the general idea works and it's perfectly fine. But theSwish's suggestion to add hills, highlands, wetlands and lakes is one to keep in mind if you want to add more. Drier grasslands like steppes or savannas can fit near that desert or in the leeward sides of mountain chains. Meadows or heathland can be added near forest or shrubland.

I think the number of rivers is low. You'd expect more coming from the mountains, especially the Forbidden Lands. And you could develop the river mouths more and go with different types like deltas, estuaries. It's okay if 1 or 2 rivers really dominate the water inflow. Unlike what theSwish said, "one river coming out of nowhere" isn't odd if it's pretty wet grassland, but you don't want too much of that and they shouldn't be too wide. And again, more lakes and wetlands.

The map does look really empty though. Maybe it's a setting where a region that's been settled only recently. If that's so, you could have much more forests or shrubland, above all in places far away from civilisation. The amount of grassland looks like the region is pretty heavily grazed or deforested. And the location of settlements is a little strange. Most are at the coast, like you expect, but only 1 is at a river mouth if you stretch that concept really generously. You'd expect towns at each river mouth of a river with settlements. And more town on rivers. Water routes are the cheapest transpost routes. So settlements should follow that pattern, especially if it's been settled recently by seafarers.

I'm a bit thrown off by the scale. You see single buildings on one hand, but some mountains look like they are only like 10 building big. That could be an artistic choice. But it classes with the invisibility of farmland. Fantasy videos kinda suck with this, but you expect visible crop fields for miles around a big town. Near or (partially) in every town, you should see a few acre of cultivated forest, then orchards or vinyards preferably on higher ground, and then fields with crops. Farmland should roughly follow the patterns of rivers and roads, because transport. You can leave those forests near the towns in the south in place though, people don't always clear them.

tl;dr: more water, slightly more irregular coast, actual river mouths, more settlements near rivers, maybe more forests and maybe more terrain types, remember the pattern of forest-orchard-cropland.
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such detailed feedback! Your insights are incredibly valuable, and I completely agree that adding more complexity and realism to the map would enhance its believability.
Breaking up the regular coastline with peninsulas and islands is a fantastic idea, and I'll definitely explore adding those features to diversify the geography. Introducing different terrain types along the coast, like dunes or cliffs, is also a great suggestion
Overall, your feedback has given me a lot to consider and has inspired me to further refine and enrich the map. Thank you again for your thoughtful insights! If you have any additional suggestions or ideas, I'd love to hear them.

I really hate your rivers, they're so unrealistic that it bothers me way more than they should :WutFace: coast also needs a lot of work.
I'd also keep some consistency regarding location names' size, hotsprings is really small and hard to read compared to the rest.
I promise I didn't mean to anger you :cry:. You're right about location names size, in initial plan it looked different.

Before making first ever map, I thought it will be much easier.
 
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theSwish

New Member
May 5, 2024
8
3
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such detailed feedback! Your insights are incredibly valuable, and I completely agree that adding more complexity and realism to the map would enhance its believability.
Breaking up the regular coastline with peninsulas and islands is a fantastic idea, and I'll definitely explore adding those features to diversify the geography. Introducing different terrain types along the coast, like dunes or cliffs, is also a great suggestion
Overall, your feedback has given me a lot to consider and has inspired me to further refine and enrich the map. Thank you again for your thoughtful insights! If you have any additional suggestions or ideas, I'd love to hear them.


I promise I didn't mean to anger you :cry:. You're right about location names size, in initial plan it looked different.

Before making first ever map, I thought it will be much easier.
Yeah, inventing an entire geography is a truly grueling task! So much goes into just the terrain itself, like continent shapes, landmass, and volcanic activity. When you start throwing climate into the mix too, it quickly becomes nigh-intractable. But this is as much a blessing as it is a curse, because literally nobody else can get it perfect either. Not without a few server racks to do climate and plate tectonic simulations, anyways. People are willing to forgive a few inaccuracies if you've clearly put in some work to make it believable! So don't give up, we believe in you.
 

Erolath

Newbie
Apr 29, 2024
19
8
Yeah, inventing an entire geography is a truly grueling task! So much goes into just the terrain itself, like continent shapes, landmass, and volcanic activity. When you start throwing climate into the mix too, it quickly becomes nigh-intractable. But this is as much a blessing as it is a curse, because literally nobody else can get it perfect either. Not without a few server racks to do climate and plate tectonic simulations, anyways. People are willing to forgive a few inaccuracies if you've clearly put in some work to make it believable! So don't give up, we believe in you.
That's the plan. On few first version I spent more hours than I initially planned, but it is so much fun for now :D . Probably I will invest in paid version of site I'm using to have much more available tools and assets to use. I'm not much afraid about maps as I'am about making this game ^. It's tedious task.
 

♍VoidTraveler

Forum Fanatic
Apr 14, 2021
5,166
13,159
Look at dem nerds all ready to start inventing Earth2 lmao.
This shit doesn't need to be terribly realistic ya know, it's a fantasy after all. The world can even be in the form of a cube if you can figure legit reason for it to be so. Like, an artificially made planet, made by a super advanced civ that one day simply left somewhere and left their creation to its devices. Or maybe not quite, maybe there was a reason why they just left it there.
Use that imagination. :cool::coffee:
 

Erolath

Newbie
Apr 29, 2024
19
8
Look at dem nerds all ready to start inventing Earth2 lmao.
This shit doesn't need to be terribly realistic ya know, it's a fantasy after all. The map can even be in the form of a cube if you can figure legit reason for it to be so. Like, an artificially made planet, made by a super advanced civ that one day simply left somewhere and left their creation to its device. Or maybe not quite, maybe there was a reason why they just left it there.
Use that imagination. :cool::coffee:
The most appealing thing in this, is making it "fantastical". Making things, that in real world would not exist. Making my own world, with things normally I wouldn't be able to see. This is best aspect of it
 
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baneini

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2017
1,939
2,991
Just follow rules like mountains come from 2 continents colliding with each other, they dont just randomly sprout wherever. Volcanic activity is related to being near the edge of a continent and hot springs are related to that.
Rivers form from mountains/uplands as rain falls down and follows gravity forming smaller streams that converge.
Theres no sudden environmental changes like sand deserts next to greenery. Often games do a thing where they simply have a small transitionary environment with elements of both or its divided by large mountain range.
Humans require water, so all permanent population settlements are next to rivers or coastlines, also forests since thats where all the building material and food is. Theres some additional rules regarding like where the sun shines or ground tilt for optimal village placement if you want.
I don't really see what would explain random unforesty areas. Tallness is a competitive advantage when you want sunlight, in case of farmed areas or humans living in hilly areas trees and other plants are convenient anti-erosion measures.
The land is generally uneven and youd expect some sporatic elevation changes to be believable.
 
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