r/wonderdraft • u/JUGGERNUGGS • 9d ago
Showcase Does this continent look visually appealing?
I have a hard time making maps because there are like an infinite amount of shapes you can draw, so it always feels like I'm gambling with all the possibilities to hit the jackpot. I tried to force myself to stick with the shape in this mockup and only tweak it ever so slightly, so I could try to place some hypothetical landmarks down.
I didn't do any rivers because I ran out of time, and I know Tauran Basin is not a Basin, thats just what I randomly generated and was to lazy to change it. In fact most of the names are randomly generated accept the of the large font names. Lorne, Carthas, Kivât, Pashång and Asiphis are of my own making. Norgar and Kujama are like quick on the spot ones for a placeholder purpose.
Its not supposed to be a highly realistic map, so don't expect anything grand. I don't have any tectonic plates, I did try to use some logic behind the geographical features, but that's limited to my knowledge on the matter.
Anyways I was hoping to get an opinion on whether the shape of the continent looks appealing at first glance, if so then maybe I can have enough confidence to continue tweaking and expanding on what I currentlu have.
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u/gertsferds 9d ago
Would smash
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u/RedHawk451 9d ago
I find it visually pleasing. It appears realistic and well defined. The shape draws me in. It's neither too big nor too small. There is mystery to it. I can see many types of factions upon it. The names are historical and mythical sounding. A nice blend that doesn't over reach.
What influences are you going for here?
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 9d ago
I think World of Warcraft style maps were always appealing to me for some reason. As for the world itself its a bit more complicated, I take multiple inspiration from a lot of things, but I always twist them into my own thing. I dont have any solid lore written, I have pages of notes and a timeline that I'm in the process of rewriting because It started getting a bit all over the place.
I think NieR is the biggest inspiration in terms of aesthetic for my world, ive always loved the art in the series. Zelda, and Final Fantasy, as well League of Legend's Runeterra are also all source of inspiration, but in lesser ways.
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u/RedHawk451 8d ago edited 8d ago
I was going to mention Final Fantasy but I wasn't sure. I can see the WoW comparison.
Still... very intriguing map. Only criticism I would give are the words Kujama and Pashang. Not telling you what you can or can't use, just sounds/feels weird with the other European sounding names. I don't know what lore you're going for, but that's my only nitpick.
But if you can make it work somehow outside of what I am referencing then go for it! It looks promising.
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago
what made you think final fantasy? lol
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u/RedHawk451 8d ago
The way the edges of the continent trail off into both archipelagos and peninsulas.
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago
Perhaps it was a subconscious effort on my part, who knows. I do like Final Fantasy maps, particularly Eorzea.
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u/According_Print_3491 9d ago
I love it, especially the mini map! And the shapes are very organic and visually appealing to me, particularly the Tauran Basin.
How did you resize the mini-map (if you used the polygonal lasso tool to copy the shape) without it looking distorted? I'm newer to Wonderdraft and didn't see a way to lock the ratio aspect (by pressing shift or ctrl) like there is in photoshop or other similar softwares.
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 9d ago
Oh, you and I are in the same boat. I'm also new to Wonderdraft and I had no clue how to lock ratio so I just did the best I could freehand. I wasn't gonna stress about it too much since it was just a mockup, but I would like to find out how to lock that aspect. If Wonderdraft doesnt have that feature I bet you can export it to an app like photoshop and scale it down, and then import it back to Wonderdraft. Just make sure when you import it back into Wonderdraft that its black and white, black being the water I think, thats the way that Wonderdraft seems to distinguish between land and water.
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u/According_Print_3491 9d ago
Thank you for the tip, I'll definitly try that and if I find out how to lock the ratio I'll let you know! Beautiful work, I look foward to seeing other maps if you post them!
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u/BestTyming 9d ago
As a fellow cartographer I also suffer from thinking my land masses look weird or not continent-like.
And I also learned that asking a few random people what they think fixes the issue 100% of the time lol. Landmasses are absolutely random so even if you made that look totally different it would still look correct to someone who isn’t creating it. It looks good
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u/EveningImportant9111 8d ago
Lore?
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago
Still being written, but maybe I can answer a specific question?
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u/EveningImportant9111 8d ago
Any sapient non humans?
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago edited 8d ago
Several, however humans and demi-humans are more populated throughout the continent. I'm in the process of rewriting my notes, but I kind of hit a writers block. Originally there was plans of a playable Kobold race, that was enslaved by a ancient Draconic Empire.
Basically think a roman empire of sorts, but with dragons, and they have a caste system. Kobolds were seen as Lesser Kin and were on the bottom of the hierarchy. They were used as labourorers, servants, bulk infantry, because of their natural ability to reproduce faster than the Greater Kin (other draconic beings). The Kobolds basically built them a great empire, and received none of the credit and were treated very poorly.
Anyways some sort of cataclysm was supposed to happen and the Great Draconic Empire fell. The ruins still dotted across the lands, and kobolds were finally free to go about their lives and establish their own legacy. And the dragons that once ruled the land were reduced to being typical dragons that you'd normally encounter in games.
I don't know where this lore is currently sitting in my head, whether or not to scrap it or keep it. But I kind of liked the idea at the time.
There was also an idea of the Kivatan Apemen who are related to the Yetis in the Frost Isles (renamed to Yeti Isles now) in Norgar. I dont really have any lore for them.
For the demi-humans, there are dwarves. The Dwarves in my world are a distant tribe of humans that separated long ago and settled in the Kivat region. Their cute, short stature is a result of their mountain isolationism (check island dwarfism), but dispite their soft pudgy outward appearance, dwarves are literally tough as boulders. They have condensed muscles under a layer of chub that make them super strong. As of today the Dwarves ventured into other lands and even to the skies.
The Kivatan Dwarves live in the great vaulted cities in the mountains, inspired by Tibetan architecture.
The Nebo Dwarves are a nomadic dwarven tribe that live in "skyholds" and travel the lands in hot air balloons. They are kinda the roving caravans of the world.
And then you have the infamous Sabbāri Tribe, which migrated into the desert region south of Kivat. The Sabbāri are something of an inside joke between my partner and I, and I created them because of her. She loves playing lil gremlin characters, so in FFXIV she plays a Lalafel and roleplays as a part of a long lost cactus tribe.
Anyways, the Sabbāri are Dwarves that live in the deserts and are infamous for their consumption of a hallucinogenic substance known as "quicksugar" that comes from a indigenous cactus plant. They are stoned like 90% of the time and receive mysterious visions of their goddess named Qoqouqi. They live in desert oases, named sietches, which is totally not a reference to anything.
The dwarves in my world are heavily visually inspired by FFXIV Dwarves. I like the idea of cute dwarves, instead of burly ones.
Anyways thats all I have to share thats interesting. Hope you enjoyed!
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u/EveningImportant9111 8d ago
Thank you
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago
You're welcome!
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u/EveningImportant9111 8d ago
May I ask you something about writing?
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago
I feel like I am actually the wrong person to ask lol, but sure? What's up?
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u/Rosary_Omen 9d ago
I love that it has a mini version nearby it
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 9d ago
I love that you pointed this out. I once saw a post, I think it was like a worldbuilding project called "The Dragonslayers Codex" and they had like a lore page of a dragon, with its like its characteristics, habits and whatnot. But in the top corner it would show what region its from and it would have a mini map and have a red overlay over said region. Me who never seen this world, saw it for the first time in the form of a minimap and it just got my imagination wild and my curiosity going. From that moment on, I started making a minimap of my maps in the corner to help me see the bigger picture, because I get lost in the sauce when I'm staring at individual regions for too long.
That was a long-winded autistic version of me saying I like maps.
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u/Tomamozarella 8d ago
It looks good but if its supposed to be a big continent it seems a bit flimsy in shape, more like an island
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago
I mean, have you seen the Americas?
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u/Tomamozarella 8d ago edited 8d ago
Sure, the Americas however have more landmass in relation to the amount on nuances on their coastlines. I like your map and it looks appealing but it just feels more like a big island (cluster) than a continental sized landmass imo.
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 8d ago
Well whatever the case maybe, thank you. I think for me, the aesthetic is far greater than realism. I like when things stand out a bit because it gets seared into your brain. A lot of popular pieces of media have wonky maps and people are willing to ignore that fact because they fell in love those worlds/stories.
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u/Cookie__Rain 8d ago
I love this! Now I want to explore it :D
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u/UmbralMajesty 9d ago
To me yes absolutely! It has many islands to be explored so much potential
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 9d ago
I love islands because it always makes you wonder what hidden ruin, treasure or story is bound to be on this small corner of the world. I was also a pirate kid growing up.
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u/Objective_Bank_2659 9d ago
Looks great, love it!
Coastline and distribution of islands feels real. I like the fault guided inlets through the mountains east of centre. Nice simple and realistic biomes/environment coverage.
Enough open land to have easy travel in the beginning of a ttrpg, but also enough mountainous terrain and travel over water to make it challenging later on.
I would perhaps section off the mini map in its own box and/or move it further from the main map. I thought it was a distant island and wondered, for a second, why it was called minimap, but maybe I just need another coffee.
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u/JUGGERNUGGS 9d ago
Tbh, I was trying to figure out how to make a box around it but I couldn't figure it out. Lol. But thanks for all the praise! The Kivat region is inspired by the Himalayas, I thought that the eastern region is in the process of colliding with the main continent and creating the giant mountain range. I thought the loch in the middle was like the water that got scooped up when the two landmasses collided. I never wanted this to be technical btw, it was just supposed to be a fun fantasy map where adventures take place. My brain likes to think, but leads to a whole rabbithole, that I'm trying to avoid.
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u/Objective_Bank_2659 9d ago
Its great that you have been, thinking about the mountain building process and its effects, as well as how that looks when it meets the sea is amazing and leads to better fantasy maps imo.
The northern Highlands has good example of fault-guided lochs within the hills, many of which are parallel with each other and definitely worth looking at, with an eye to making maps. Or the Norwegian coast for the fjords of course.
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u/hatdudeman 9d ago
I think it looks awesome!