Aonbarr Cartography
patreon
Argynvostholt 2.0
🕑 Added 2021-09-21 14:14:10 +0000 UTCSo, this was a big one. I couldn't even tell you how many hours this took over the last two weeks, but I am thoroughly exhausted. I've been a little anxious about how long it's been since I posted my last map, so last night I sat down for a six hour map-making marathon and finished it off.
With my first version of Argynvostholt, several months back now, I learned a lot about making better use of layers in Dungeondraft. This time around, I think the biggest lesson was that the next time I work on a map on this kind of scale, I need to revise my workflow to avoid burning out, because last night got pretty rough.
In saying all of that, I'm really proud of this one - it almost killed me, and I'm incredibly tired today, but I'm happy with the result, and I hope you are too!
Going forward, I'm going to be presenting my maps a little differently, so just to give you the run-down:
-Full size maps will now be 128 pixels per square, WebP format.
-UVTT files will now be 128 pixels per square.
-Economy sized files will now be 70 pixels per square, JPEG format.
If anyone has any other suggestions regarding variants, please let me know - I'm still experimenting, so I'm happy to hear what you have to say!
For now, I'm probably gonna take it easy for the next few days, but I'll be back with more maps soon - moving onto either Berez or Krezk (if anyone has any strong feelings on this one, do let me know). See you soon!
My maps are made with assets from Forgotten Adventures, Tom Cartos, and AoA, and they come with grid/gridless, day/night, WebP/UVTT/JPG, and 128/70 pixels per square size variants.
Comments
James Long
I don't have a 256PPI or JPG/PNG version of this one, did one ever exist? I can scale it up myself, but it will be "near perfect", not perfect. EDIT: Speaking of scale, it's not mentioned above, but this one is 60x60. ;)
Vincent - Aonbarr Cartography
Hey Drodinn! Ah, that's unfortunate - sorry about that! Argynvostholt was a bit of a nightmare to build, honestly - having to have each floor function as a tile while also being able to see the ground below required having duplicates of most of the floors, and I definitely could have improved on how I put all of that together, in retrospect. The number of assets per floor and the size of the map also slowed Dungeondraft down dramatically, too, which certainly didn't help. I'm not sure if I'll simply remaster this one, or if I'll try to make it anew when the time comes - I feel like remastering it might be just as difficult as making it from scratch, considering how awkward the layers are... But thank you so much for letting me know - it's a huge help when folk point these things out!
Drodinn
Hey boss! Love your maps. Prepping Argynvostholt right now, and I noticed something. The "2nd Floor" (or 3rd Floor, depending on one's country of origin) transparent files for stacking actually has the lower floor's balcony present in the graphic, preventing tokens from being visible on lower levels if using in VTTs. So not a huge deal, but if you're ever working on these maps in the future, it might be beneficial to remove the balcony from the 2nd (3rd) floor and retain just the shadows.
Vincent - Aonbarr Cartography
Thank you, DrunkJesus - I really appreciate this! I'm feeling a lot better about the project since I made this update - switching to a 'Per Map' payment system and working on the maps when the mood took me was definitely the right call. I actually think I'm finishing maps just as frequently as before, just with less stress attached to it! I do intend to tackle Ravenloft again, but I do think the plan will be to release it one floor at a time. It's a big undertaking, and even with my old maps to refer to, I imagine it could get tricky. I was also toying with the idea of having a pristine version of the castle for any flashbacks, visions, or other such events people might want to run, but we'll see if the mood takes me when the time comes!
Drunkjesus
Thank you so much for all the working you are putting into those maps. Taking breaks and not feeling pressured is really important, take time for yourself and your health ! I'm not sure if you intend to redo Castle Ravenloft with updated style (or if you already have) but I think you should only do one floor and post it. Dont force yourself too much :)
Vincent - Aonbarr Cartography
Thank you, Andy! I do think the flooring might be my favorite thing about the map - glad I took the time to figure out how to make it look more interesting! As for the windows, while trying to figure out how to replicate the more narrow windows, I realised I was just going about things wrong. My one regret is that the arrow slit assets are all way too wide to use for the towers on the roof level, so I had to make some compromises!
Andy D'Amato
I'm loving all the details of this map! The floor is freaking awesome and I really love the latticed windows!! The window assets in Inkarnate are pretty boring. Seriously, these maps are so good!
