The map itself looks great, though I have to say, the layout is not that great... In the south, the map goes over the border quite a bit, so I would say, that's okay. But in the north it is only a couple of pixels, which is kind of distracting. On the east border all but one name is cut off. There I would either cut of the last name as well, or let more names spill. As for the legend it kinda just floats in the area without having a proper place.
Please take this as constructive criticism, because I really love the basemap, it looks like an interesting continent with as interesting nations!
I actually really love the way the landmasses spill over the borders and frame. It’s unconventional and intriguing and it really stands out. Great work OP! My only advice would be to make the legend a sharper box, the rounded corners don’t match as much imo
This is so sprawling and epic, I love it! My only notes so far:
I can see a lot of influences from European languages. Perhaps you could diversify this into non-Euro languages, if that would make sense for whatever your maps purpose is? Also, in Russo languages the suffix -nik typically relates to people, rather than places, so Ozhanik stood out a tiny bit, but if you're not trying to sound vaguely Russian I wouldn't worry about it overmuch.
Other very small things I noticed: Some of the text is hard to read. You may want to make your font slightly bolder, or make your borders grey instead of black? Or perhaps dotted for the administrative divisions, and solid for the country borders?
Additionally, some country/region names are italicised whilst others are not. Also in Raszdensmurt (Lesser), the town of Tovierm... is obscured by the Razsdensmurt label. Don't be afraid to move the town name underneath the dot marking its location. Similarly, North Weis and Ssymcanji overlap each other a little too much. Also Aowestes (top right) isn't capitalised when I assume it should be? Not sure about that, of course - it might be deliberate for all I know.
Also, in the key it should just be river, not river's. I also agree with DarkMatterOne that the key placement is a little off. I would extend the ocean westward and contain the key entirely within the borders of the blue of the ocean.
All in all, this sounds like an extremely cool continent and I personally would want to explore it.
I forgot to add, The Continent is majority European.
Razdensmürt, Dultravosk, Zemyania, Arcadia, Doneski and celtivosk are a mix Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, a sprinkle of polish
North East part of the map is a mix of English, German, and Frisian
The Western part of the continent is soley Nordic Based, i.e. Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish
And i fell like i need to put a disclaimer i am native english speaking person, in no way am i knowledgeable about how other languages work.
I mostly use Google translate, a little bit of name generator and i did a small amount of research using wiki .
I absolutely love that some of islands near "brown" country are painted in "yellow". It's a subtle way to point out military/trade dominance of other countries. I'd add a a couple of lakes or inland seas.
Well, look at the borders of the Ottoman Empire, all the way up to the 1800s, or the Holy Roman Empire at any point. Before the railroad and effective power projecting, borders were often incredibly fragmented or uncertain.
Im not sure what your trying to tell me, Almost every Border on the map has changed within the past 3 months of in rp, While making this i have had to change the borders about 10 times.
I dont like using this as an excuse but its our world and our borders are going to be like we want, my mind set on creating these maps is like the old times when they didnt have satellites, Borders depend heavily on Major features, so i am going to continue like this as its been in the real world, in the past and even now.
I think what Red is trying to say is that back hundreds of years ago, borders weren't always "set in stone" - there would be contested areas where two countries laid "claim" to a region but the border wasn't strictly defined - basically "no mans land" areas. Or there would be tons of enclaves along a border where two countries had been at war: little spots where they'd managed to hold ground and build defenses, entrenching themselves in what was "enemy territory" - like how you have Razdensmurt split into two, this implies that there was a conflict at some point and that Zemyania managed to seize some of the land that probably originally was Razdensmurt. Hope that makes sense?
Explaining it like this makes more sense, We just havnt put that much thought in border disputes and Border claims
Disclaimer - Lore:
The nation of Dultravosk-Zemyania has really interesting history, about 10 years ago in RP These nations never existed but there was a massive war, and Razdensmürt went into the civil war afterward, dultravosk and zemyania were originally controlled by Right Wing Nationalist and were equivalent to Nazi's. The civil war went Back and Forth and it ended by forign interference.
After years of peace and many presidents Razdensmürt wanting to push the continent into a new era gave Dultravosk and Zemyania Independence and the borders reflect the original borders from the civl war....
And Razdensmürt and A nation called RSU Invaded the majority of the Continent in order to rid the continent of Imperialism.
Although its quite contradictory, but as a result Razdensmürt is now one of the most stable nations on the continent. And the Northern parts of the Continent are now known for its peace, security, and democracy.
(There is a ton more context and details that could be told but i am keeping it simple, thank you for reading this :) )
Yeah completely understandable that you're not at that point yet, I just think that Red is probably a map-nerd like me, and just feels like those complex, convoluted borders make a really interesting addition to fantasy maps. Obviously it's extra work, of course buuuuuuuuuut we don't make these ridiculous giant maps because we like quick easy tasks, right? :P
Nice map and it looks like Eurasia. I find your scale bar a little confusing and close to the text above it unless you are planning on adding text below. Are you going to add some topography? Mountains or hills would help to show the direction of river flow.
Right now i am experimenting with this style, I think adding topography would be cool but for right now im sticking with just rivers.
Just wondering whats confusing about the scale...
Overall, this map looks GREAT!
But I have just a few constructive ideas (many of which have already been stated):
\- Make the frame around the legend square?
\- Move the scale to the bottom of the map so that it is easier to read, and perhaps keep the scale intervals at regular distances (50, 100, 150, etc.)?
\- I like that the land masses extend into the grey border frame but the southern portion might extend too far? If you removed the entire 'Celtivoska' territory it might fit better?
\- Maybe it is just this image, but the text on the right side gets cut-off.
\- Include a compass rose or north arrow?
Its a private server with, we know each other and talk to each other outside the server but we are open to newer people.
We sorta have been Dormant recently, and most likely were gonna be dormant for a while.
But your still welcome to join, if your still up to it DM me :)
Scale bars on maps have been standardized to have at least one bar scale and a ratio scale to make it easy to measure distances on the map. On your map the left side of the bar starts at 0 M/KM and ends on the left side at 170M/273.59KM which means that the map measurement starts in meters/kilometers (unless the text defines these differently). The map would have to be large to measure meters on it. The halfway point would be 136.795M/KM, the one quarter point would be 68.3975M/KM, etc. This would mean a lot of math to calculate distances. A lot of people won't want to do the math and get frustrated or give up. A bar scale as you have drawn should go from 0M to 170KM (a whole number like 100KM would be better) and then there should be a ratio scale such as 1:100 which means that 1 of a unit measured on the map equals 100 of the same unit on the ground. The units could be inches, centimeters, or whatever unit you like. This makes it easier to calculate distances and the map user can work in the units they prefer.
The map itself looks great, though I have to say, the layout is not that great... In the south, the map goes over the border quite a bit, so I would say, that's okay. But in the north it is only a couple of pixels, which is kind of distracting. On the east border all but one name is cut off. There I would either cut of the last name as well, or let more names spill. As for the legend it kinda just floats in the area without having a proper place. Please take this as constructive criticism, because I really love the basemap, it looks like an interesting continent with as interesting nations!
I actually really love the way the landmasses spill over the borders and frame. It’s unconventional and intriguing and it really stands out. Great work OP! My only advice would be to make the legend a sharper box, the rounded corners don’t match as much imo
I do like it in the south, in the north it is either to less or too much, but only the couple pixels bother me, nonetheless as you said, great map!
Thank you i will do more experiments with the legend :)
Thank you for this i will fix the name to the east, i am still figuring out the placement of the legend, again thank you for the criticism
This is so sprawling and epic, I love it! My only notes so far: I can see a lot of influences from European languages. Perhaps you could diversify this into non-Euro languages, if that would make sense for whatever your maps purpose is? Also, in Russo languages the suffix -nik typically relates to people, rather than places, so Ozhanik stood out a tiny bit, but if you're not trying to sound vaguely Russian I wouldn't worry about it overmuch. Other very small things I noticed: Some of the text is hard to read. You may want to make your font slightly bolder, or make your borders grey instead of black? Or perhaps dotted for the administrative divisions, and solid for the country borders? Additionally, some country/region names are italicised whilst others are not. Also in Raszdensmurt (Lesser), the town of Tovierm... is obscured by the Razsdensmurt label. Don't be afraid to move the town name underneath the dot marking its location. Similarly, North Weis and Ssymcanji overlap each other a little too much. Also Aowestes (top right) isn't capitalised when I assume it should be? Not sure about that, of course - it might be deliberate for all I know. Also, in the key it should just be river, not river's. I also agree with DarkMatterOne that the key placement is a little off. I would extend the ocean westward and contain the key entirely within the borders of the blue of the ocean. All in all, this sounds like an extremely cool continent and I personally would want to explore it.
Wow this is extremely detailed and i love it thank you so much
I forgot to add, The Continent is majority European. Razdensmürt, Dultravosk, Zemyania, Arcadia, Doneski and celtivosk are a mix Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, a sprinkle of polish North East part of the map is a mix of English, German, and Frisian The Western part of the continent is soley Nordic Based, i.e. Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish And i fell like i need to put a disclaimer i am native english speaking person, in no way am i knowledgeable about how other languages work. I mostly use Google translate, a little bit of name generator and i did a small amount of research using wiki .
I absolutely love that some of islands near "brown" country are painted in "yellow". It's a subtle way to point out military/trade dominance of other countries. I'd add a a couple of lakes or inland seas.
Gorgeous work!
What sort of economic/political stage is it at?
Were based in a Modern Setting and were probably going to stay. im not sure what your asking so i hope this answers your question
Because the borders are quite clean, precise, and follow natural features. That might not be the case in earlier stages
What ?
Well, look at the borders of the Ottoman Empire, all the way up to the 1800s, or the Holy Roman Empire at any point. Before the railroad and effective power projecting, borders were often incredibly fragmented or uncertain.
Im not sure what your trying to tell me, Almost every Border on the map has changed within the past 3 months of in rp, While making this i have had to change the borders about 10 times. I dont like using this as an excuse but its our world and our borders are going to be like we want, my mind set on creating these maps is like the old times when they didnt have satellites, Borders depend heavily on Major features, so i am going to continue like this as its been in the real world, in the past and even now.
I think what Red is trying to say is that back hundreds of years ago, borders weren't always "set in stone" - there would be contested areas where two countries laid "claim" to a region but the border wasn't strictly defined - basically "no mans land" areas. Or there would be tons of enclaves along a border where two countries had been at war: little spots where they'd managed to hold ground and build defenses, entrenching themselves in what was "enemy territory" - like how you have Razdensmurt split into two, this implies that there was a conflict at some point and that Zemyania managed to seize some of the land that probably originally was Razdensmurt. Hope that makes sense?
Explaining it like this makes more sense, We just havnt put that much thought in border disputes and Border claims Disclaimer - Lore: The nation of Dultravosk-Zemyania has really interesting history, about 10 years ago in RP These nations never existed but there was a massive war, and Razdensmürt went into the civil war afterward, dultravosk and zemyania were originally controlled by Right Wing Nationalist and were equivalent to Nazi's. The civil war went Back and Forth and it ended by forign interference. After years of peace and many presidents Razdensmürt wanting to push the continent into a new era gave Dultravosk and Zemyania Independence and the borders reflect the original borders from the civl war.... And Razdensmürt and A nation called RSU Invaded the majority of the Continent in order to rid the continent of Imperialism. Although its quite contradictory, but as a result Razdensmürt is now one of the most stable nations on the continent. And the Northern parts of the Continent are now known for its peace, security, and democracy. (There is a ton more context and details that could be told but i am keeping it simple, thank you for reading this :) )
Yeah completely understandable that you're not at that point yet, I just think that Red is probably a map-nerd like me, and just feels like those complex, convoluted borders make a really interesting addition to fantasy maps. Obviously it's extra work, of course buuuuuuuuuut we don't make these ridiculous giant maps because we like quick easy tasks, right? :P
Looks good so far.
Nice map and it looks like Eurasia. I find your scale bar a little confusing and close to the text above it unless you are planning on adding text below. Are you going to add some topography? Mountains or hills would help to show the direction of river flow.
Right now i am experimenting with this style, I think adding topography would be cool but for right now im sticking with just rivers. Just wondering whats confusing about the scale...
Overall, this map looks GREAT! But I have just a few constructive ideas (many of which have already been stated): \- Make the frame around the legend square? \- Move the scale to the bottom of the map so that it is easier to read, and perhaps keep the scale intervals at regular distances (50, 100, 150, etc.)? \- I like that the land masses extend into the grey border frame but the southern portion might extend too far? If you removed the entire 'Celtivoska' territory it might fit better? \- Maybe it is just this image, but the text on the right side gets cut-off. \- Include a compass rose or north arrow?
Which server is this can u send its link pls
Its a private server with, we know each other and talk to each other outside the server but we are open to newer people. We sorta have been Dormant recently, and most likely were gonna be dormant for a while. But your still welcome to join, if your still up to it DM me :)
You should add mores islands
There arnt any large islands other than whats on the map :|
Scale bars on maps have been standardized to have at least one bar scale and a ratio scale to make it easy to measure distances on the map. On your map the left side of the bar starts at 0 M/KM and ends on the left side at 170M/273.59KM which means that the map measurement starts in meters/kilometers (unless the text defines these differently). The map would have to be large to measure meters on it. The halfway point would be 136.795M/KM, the one quarter point would be 68.3975M/KM, etc. This would mean a lot of math to calculate distances. A lot of people won't want to do the math and get frustrated or give up. A bar scale as you have drawn should go from 0M to 170KM (a whole number like 100KM would be better) and then there should be a ratio scale such as 1:100 which means that 1 of a unit measured on the map equals 100 of the same unit on the ground. The units could be inches, centimeters, or whatever unit you like. This makes it easier to calculate distances and the map user can work in the units they prefer.
When i put M i meant Miles, i wanted to include Miles and Kilometers
Use Mi for miles
What program did you use to make this?
Firealpaca and i used a website to put the og map on a globe