Little Pub, Adept

This one is the Little Pub (13x12), a bite-sized map featuring a tiny saloon-style pub. I mentioned on a previous map that I wanted to make more urban maps this year and several patrons responded with requests for more isolated buildings, standalone locations. I thought that was a great idea and decided to start with something small while I'm still getting my schedule in order again after getting a stomach bug that put me out of commission for most of a week. I'm planning on making more like this though, so be sure to check in next week to see what comes next!

1. I haven't had much practice making building maps recently. I have no idea when the last one was, but I'd bet it was well over a year ago, maybe 2. I probably don't need to tell you that I like to make outdoor maps, preferably forests, and that means I'm not very experienced at designing walled spaces. When tasked with filling a building with props I usually just put old-timey stuff against the walls and slap down a couple rugs. I think I'm going to try to find some proper reference to study as I keep working on this type of map, but for now you get the basic stuff- a pub with a few tables against the walls, some barrels stacked in the corner, and a few rugs to tie it all together.

2. One of my primary goals with these coming building maps is to keep from using artificially straight lines. In the past I'd quickly draw the walls while holding down shift, which would ensure perfectly straight lines. I always hated how fake and uninteresting they looked, but I've always been a stickler about uniformity and chronically short on time so I took the shortcut and turned a blind eye to the downsides of it. For this map I put up some guidelines, zoomed in nice and close, and freehanded the lines for just about everything in the map (everything other than the floorboards outside the building, I was watching Airplane! on YouTube (which is apparently up there for free now, pretty cool) while drawing and forgot that I swore off straight lines). The result it definitely more visually interesting than before, the lines have way more character and feel less computer-generated. This is the sort of thing I'll work on further in the future.

3. The colors/lighting are another aspect of building maps I find tricky. It's easy for them to get too shadowy, first off, and it can be hard to keep track of the light sources. For this map I didn't want to worry too hard about the direction of the sun, but I did want to ensure that the only light was coming primarily through the windows. I probably overdid it a little here and there, but overall it's not too bad. I think I should have gone a little deeper and added additional shadows underneath the props further away from the windows , but it's not bad as it is. This is just the sort of thing I'll have to keep an eye out for in future building maps.