Advice for terrain building in editor...

[Guest *Captain Foobar*]

No, I dont have any advice, I am looking for some....

I have this big hilltop village pictured in my head, with winding roads leading up to it. There are tall pines all over the hill, and all sorts of nasty hiding places for ambushes.

My problem is, when I load up the editor, I find it difficult to build this mountain I pictured in my head... My slopes, towns, clearings, roads don't seem to look random or spontaneous. The random map function is a great help to get started, but does anyone have any tips for building good looking terrain with a natural appearance?

[Guest *Captain Foobar*]

Just bringing this to the top again......help me out here, guys...

[PanzerShark]

Well Capt. i really have no answer here but practice, practice and practice.

I create my own 3d-landscapes every now and then and one of the hardest parts is making it look natural. Sometimes closing your eyes and pressing some mouse buttons here and there makes the most natural scenery.

[Eridani]

My biggest advice when designing maps (Which I love doing) is... Design for realism, not gameplay.

When putting together a town, I find myself asking/thinking "how do the people in this town live, where do they live, where are they're shops... where is the church?"... I find that the battlegrounds become far more "authentic" feeling when they are built to be places rather than battlefields...

I dunno, of course IMHO

-EridanMan