EDITED
Sorry for my initial post, but I simply cannot be excited anymore. I was excited in May, anxious in June, but July has left me numb. I'll check back again on the website when I come back from holidays. No point in DSS for me anymore.
Hail Elyrians!
Several months ago my team and I set out to take the maps you voted on back in the Fall and turn them into maps that were large enough and detailed enough, and contained enough information, that your nobility and aristocracy could look at them and say "that's mine," to any domain or settlement on the map, and feel proud of that.
At the same time, we wanted to ensure that we didn't reveal so much of the continent that it felt like all the discovery had been done, even before the game launched. In spite of the dynamic nature of our world, and the fact that you never know for certain what lies at the edge of the copse of trees, there's some thrill and excitement that comes from just exploring the lands and being the first person to chart a map of a specific region for the first time. And we didn't want to take that away from people. We also wanted to give people a glimpse into what some of the cartographic tools you'd be using as players would look like in the game. So, taken all that in mind, we set out to create a stylized, rendered version of our maps that conveyed the necessary information, while still left plenty to discover.
We always knew that it would take more work to create the symbolic, stylized maps than it would to just render a relief map or height map and shade/color it. But we hoped that by only having to do a stylized view of the map the we'd somehow be saved from the painstaking work involved in building every nuanced detail of the world. We were wrong. The more we looked at the maps, the more we realized without a deep, fundamental knowledge of every parcel of land on the continent, whatever we conveyed would just be a gross approximation that would inevitably lead to more work down the road.
So, over the last month and a half the designers and I have been running simulations, statistical models, and balancing algorithms to learn everything there is to know about the starting maps - from the composition of the soil in each parcel, to the amount of wood and trees, to the overall sustainability of an area, given the resources that exist there. While this all seems a bit much, it's important to understand that what we represent in these maps are a snapshot of the world at around launch. And we convey information such as the sustainability, that has to tie directly into the in-game mechanics around survival. So a lot of the work we didn't think would need to be done until later in the balancing cycle, had to be done now.
But I'm pleased to announce that our work has almost come to an end. And while we still have a bit more cleanup and polish to do, the journey is almost over for us.
So - as a bit of a visual update, here's Map H stylized and rendered at 16m resolution. Note that the settlement locations are handled by the web framework, not the renderer, so there's no settlements visible. And as roads to nowhere would look kinda weird and be a bit confusing, I've left the roads off as well. But this shows you the natural world of Map H. Also take note, D&SS includes 4 layers of detail, each designed to allow you to pick a specific domain type. The lowest resolution layer is for picking the kingdom, the next the duchy, then the county, and finally the settlement. The resolution of the following map is the "county" level. Which means, upon the launch of the D&SS website, there would be yet one further level of detail.
And as one final note for those who haven't heard - Map H is the map that will be used during all public/private Alpha and Beta testing. So you'll be seeing a lot more of Map H as we move forward.
Cheers!
Click the image to download the 40mb 12k image.
EDITED
Sorry for my initial post, but I simply cannot be excited anymore. I was excited in May, anxious in June, but July has left me numb. I'll check back again on the website when I come back from holidays. No point in DSS for me anymore.
Small question... in kingdom 1, the alhine forrest. Where are the snow peaked mountains?. Back in the days, during map voting. it showed mountains with snow. Now even the lower moutaine (kingdom 2) looks like it has more mountains and hills.
Map looks like it was made in 10 minutes with a free online map creator and then had a Photoshop oil paint filter applied. Only thing impressive about it is the amount of zoom I can reach while still being disappointed.
If this was meant to show actual progress after weeks of development...
Edit: I understand its supposed to be stylized and not show the actual data, but it still simply looks bad and I'm confused how its any different or even better from the versions we voted on.
I was like what is? Until I clicked on the image and zoomed right in. So HUGE
Posted By Cathorian_Evendusk at 11:55 AM - Fri Jul 12 2019
Map looks like it was made in 10 minutes with a free online map creator
Got a link to said free map creator? If its this good I'd love to use it in my D&D games.
Friend Code: C8DF9C
Looks great.
Trying to guess what all the symbols mean without the key, but very impressed.
Love the representation of how dense some of the forests/mountains get.
Posted By Cathorian_Evendusk at 10:55 AM - Fri Jul 12 2019
Map looks like it was made in 10 minutes with a free online map creator and then had a Photoshop oil paint filter applied. Only thing impressive about it is the amount of zoom I can reach while still being disappointed.
If this was meant to show actual progress after weeks of development...
Edit: I understand its supposed to be stylized and not show the actual data, but it still simply looks bad and I'm confused how its any different or even better from the versions we voted on.
It's intended to look like the maps cartographers will be making in game. Perhaps you could provide feedback instead of just negative commentary, although I'm not sure why you would be surprised since they've been showing us concepts of how the stylized assets would look for a long time.
NA-W, Governor of Ogralyn
Posted By BioRules at 1:38 PM - Fri Jul 12 2019
Posted By Cathorian_Evendusk at 11:55 AM - Fri Jul 12 2019
Map looks like it was made in 10 minutes with a free online map creator
Got a link to said free map creator? If its this good I'd love to use it in my D&D games.
I too would like a link to your free online map creator... please can you share?
Posted By BioRules at 2:38 PM - Fri Jul 12 2019
Posted By Cathorian_Evendusk at 11:55 AM - Fri Jul 12 2019
Map looks like it was made in 10 minutes with a free online map creator
Got a link to said free map creator? If its this good I'd love to use it in my D&D games.
For D&D I'd recommend Googling Worldspinner - which itself was originally a kickstarter project. It has some fun history generation tools and towns will generate basic summaries of them and quest lines that can help you out too. In my group we have a laptop with the map pulled up so that you don't have to pay for it and also lets people interact with the map which is always fun. The Artist generation at the end of it is what prompted my original comment. Obviously not to the same resolution being a free app and all but its fun.
Awsome, thank you for sharing.
as i like islands i have been searching them and if i found lots of very tiny ones, i also found some small ones and a few with descent enough size to house a settlement and even a handful of islands large enough to house a tiny county.
Our patience is rewarded with honest admission, clear explanation and steady results. No BS, no buzzspeak, no PR spin stories, just the down low on how it is, what we've got and why.
That's the SBS I've come to respect and appreciate. Stay the course, Caspian.
"It's not the scales, the wings, the teeth, or even the breath that set a dragon at the pinnacle of creation. It's not the strength or senses, nor the size of his hoard. It's something that a dragon knows that only comes with age and experience. It's a skill mortals never truly master."
"A dragon...knows how to wait."
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