Elements World Map

[Bloodshadow]

This isn't card art or anything, but it's still Elements related, so I can put this here... right? Right?!

So yeah... The maps in this thread are mainly used for Elements RPGs and various other forum games, but I suppose they can be used for other things, too, like WoE.


The forum automatically shrinks the image, so if you want to see a larger version, click the link below:
http://a.imageshack.us/img138/8461/map3d.png

A more godly realistic version of the map, made by the master artist VRT himself:

http://www.vrt-designs.com/stuff/elements/elemaps.png

The history of this map is quite complicated: It was originally designed by Icybraker, then modified by Miniwally, then redesigned by myself. I tried to draw it myself, but I wasn't quite satisfied with the result (v4.0 below), so I asked my friend Iris, or DeepSeaSpirits (she preferred to be addressed as plural, and won't tell me why; she claims to be multiple people, and won't tell me how), to redraw it with her tablet pen. The art credit should go to both of us, since I designed the map and put all the text and stuff.

The outline of this map is here: http://a.imageshack.us/img203/6587/map0t.jpg

There are several versions of this map from the past:

Version 1.0 by Icybraker: http://imageplay.net/img/m7Gbd47562/Map.png
The first version of the map was very different from the current one I have now. They only share a few features.

Version 2.0 by Icybraker: http://imageplay.net/img/m7Gbd47902/map2.png
The second version incorporated some suggestions from me and other players. It was better than the first one, and the only thing I disliked about it was that the Desert of Time was no longer in the center. In a supercontinent, its center will most likely be a desert, because it is very far from the ocean.

Version 3.0 by Miniwally: http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/miniwally/Elements/Maps/Map20V1_0copy.png
The modifications to this version were requested by Purity_Riot. He wanted to get rid of the Entropic Shore, and put Aetherland near the sea.

Version 3.5 by DeepSeaSpirits: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11305.0;attach=1698;image
This is essentially the same map as v3.0, redrawn by Iris; she got bored one night and redrew the thing for me. She's quite talented with the tablet pen, so I would have used this as the final map, except I didn't like the Desert of Time not being in the center.

Version 4.0 by Bloodshadow: http://a.imageshack.us/img443/6791/map1z.png
This version was drawn by myself, tracing v3.5 above and modifying some of it. I redesigned the map, putting the Desert in the center, and changing Aetherland to the island of Etheria. It took me an hour of frustration to get the "Great River" right; the online vectorizer seemed to be unable to tell dark blue from black, or maybe the blue ink I used was too dark. However, this version wasn't as perfect as I would've preferred, since I did not want the black borders; the Great River was also a bit rough. I asked Iris to redraw it for me, getting rid of the borders and fixing the river.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Dragoon1140]

So you did end up taking it like a man.   

Anyway, it is a nice map.  I just wish the shores were more... distinguished.

[Bloodshadow]

The vectorizer couldn't figure it out, so I had to crop things by hand and color fill it to make the rivers blue. So yes, I guess I did "take it like a man", though by Kael Hate's definition I'm not yet old enough to qualify as a "man".

Meh. Iris is still better at this, since she has a tablet and I don't. I'm still gonna ask her to draw a v4.5 for me.

[Dragoon1140]

though by Kael Hate's definition I'm not yet old enough to qualify as a "man".

I saw that in the other thread, and I had a nice little chuckle, but if you are 5 (?) months from being 18, you are hardly a child.

Anyway, best of luck with the map.

[Bloodshadow]

I did this map with lineart first, so there are black borders around the different regions of the map. However, the previous versions of the map had no black borders. I don't know about the others, but I think Iris's version, v3.5, looks better than mine because it has no borders.

Do you think the map looks better with borders, or not?

[miniwally]

With makes it look more crisper.

[Bloodshadow]

And is "crisp" a good thing or not?

[miniwally]

Yes it's a good thing . Normal maps have outlines anyway.

[Bloodshadow]

I don't know... For some reasons I think v3.5 without the borders look better. More... "artsy", maybe? It looks more like a piece of art...

Or maybe it's because my black borders look rough, because of bad cropping.

[918273645]

How do you know the shape of the uncharted shore if it is uncharted?

[Bloodshadow]

How do you know the shape of the uncharted shore if it is uncharted?

I dunno. It wasn't my idea. Map v2.0 had that Uncharted Shore, and I didn't bother to change the name. Maybe the Uncharted Shore is uncharted because it is deserted, since there are no Other creatures (Malignant Cell used to be a Death creature, but was changed to Other to prevent Nightfall abuse).

As for how I knew about the shore... Well, it's because I'm God
Nobody in the game world actually knows about the map. The map is just there to guide the players in the real world.

[miniwally]

I was going to look at your map and see if I could tell that it was bad cropping then went hay it's 0334 maybe I should get some sleep so I'll check when I get up and I'll compare them both a bit more as at first glance yours looked better.

On a separate note I think gravity basin needs something to liven it up looks a bit weird there not having anything in it surrounded by places with mountains and rivers and such.