The Dawn Of Ages - Quenched

[Kabanellas]

I'm using fireworks..... PNG file.

I could transfer to Photoshop though, but maybe I could do the same in Fireworks. What filters are you using and how?

btw, don't get to technical on me, I'm not an art/graphic designer. Just a simple architect

[porkenbeans]

Getting to tech. will not be a problem, as I really do not know too much about all of the tech. terms. As a matter of fact, I am not even very computer savvy. I was given photoshop as a gift about 6 months ago, by a friend, so as to have something to do while I was stuck convalescing at home. I first tried to read the manual, but not being a computer person, I just did not understand any of the terms. I was left with just experimenting, and learning on the cuff.
That being said, What I actually did was create some additional layers, and used a variety of different transfer modes and settings. I could go through it all step by step, but it would take up a shitload of typing. I could post each layer here and you could go into each one to see exactly what I did. Do you have the ability to do this ? if not I will try the best I can to explain the steps for each layer.

[porkenbeans]

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A little more farting around with the settings.
BTW, with the land darkened like this, I think that you can change the red attack routes to a light shade of the off white that is already on the map. The red seems out of place to me, and does not really work with this treatment.

[Kabanellas]

Ok, there's a way that we could pull this trough. Make all that you're doing in a different layer, and save it (just your new layer) into a PNG file when choosing 'save as'. This PNG file must have the transparency ON so when I merge it with my original file, layers won't over pose.

[Kabanellas]

... but I think I got what your making here - you're using the 'brush' or the 'paint bucket' tool with the 'colour burn' or soft 'softlight mode', right?

I'll give it a try and post it here right away

[Kabanellas]

I think its pretty much it, taking Porkenbeans idea of burning the parchement, I think It gives a quite interesting look to the map.

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[porkenbeans]

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Hope this works, The layers are in order starting with the dark layer.

[Kabanellas]

Thanks again Porkenbeans! I think the map, graphically, improved a lot with your idea!! I'll do it in a diferent way. I'll just fill part of the map with a colour burn effect that pretty much does what you've shown.

Lighter version, and better in my opinion

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Darker version

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[porkenbeans]

YW friend,
You have done an excellent job of producing the effect.
2 notes,
#1, the land could use a little toning down with the yellow.
#2, the subtle, but important effect that the white layer on the edge of the water, where it meets the land, should not be underestimated. just that little extra touch of contrast there, really makes it pop. as does the subtle effect of the darkened corners. It draws your eyes towards the center of the map.

[Kabanellas]

I know what you mean there.. in the shore areas. I'll try it

[iceco]

One small thing:
Don't save it as a JPEG, it makes your solid red surfaces look ugly (in this case, the arrows showing one-ways). Use .PNG if you can.

JPEG is a lossy format meant for photos. Compressing digitally made things (with complete surfaces in one colour) with it generally isn't a good idea.

[Kabanellas]

Porken, I've done a version with your glow layer on. I've put it with some transparency but even so I'm afraid that the map might lose that realistic touch.
ieco, the glow version is a PNG file , but i'm not sure if this file type is allowed in the game, in the later stages of map development....

V10 with glow

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V10

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[Evil DIMwit]

What's the difference between a horesmen's training ground and a warriors' training ground? Is it purely aesthetic?

[Kabanellas]

its just to give a taste of the different races/people

Races:

-Orks ,region names came from Mongolic etymology
-Humans/The Horseman (representing the Rohirrin), region names came from Sumerian etymology
-Humans/The Warriors (representing Gondor), region names came from ancient Egypt etymology
-Elves, region names came from Scandinavian mythology.
-Dark Elves, located in the forest of Logoth
-Dwarves, located in underground tunnels across the map

[Evil DIMwit]

its just to give a taste of the different races/people

Races:

-Orks ,region names came from Mongolic etymology
-Humans/The Horseman (representing the Rohirrin), region names came from Sumerian etymology
-Humans/The Warriors (representing Gondor), region names came from ancient Egypt etymology
-Elves, region names came from Scandinavian mythology.
-Dark Elves, located in the forest of Logoth
-Dwarves, located in underground tunnels across the map

Okay, normally I'd say you're just cluttering the map with complexity but to a linguistics nerd like me this is just neat enough to be worth it.

Still... maybe it'd be good to visually associate the training grounds with the settlements more. Consider putting a little icon indicating race next to them -- maybe ork camps get underlined with an ax, elven towns with a little arrow, human villages and horses with a straight sword -- so players can tell which icons belong to which race without having to memorize the whole list.