Verdant Islets, Adept

This week's map is the Verdant Islets (40x40), a fairly lush collection of rocky outcroppings on the ocean, perfect for castaways (luckier ones than any who might have washed up on last week's map), or large flying predators who like eating sailors and need a place to rest.

Your alternate version here is Low Tide, which includes much more beach between the platforms and opens up lots of potential little hiding places for anyone who might not be so good at swimming.

 1. So, as you can see, the Low Tide version of this map was where I started, thinking that I would probably make an additional variant later where I cut all the sand entirely. I figured this would be a solid map by itself, featuring plenty of ground to run around on on two levels, and then the bonus variant would be one that's trickier for players to navigate through. Then, later, I decided that I've been too nice recently with my easily-traversable maps and so players won't be getting a pass. Maybe it's time for a few more unfriendly maps? I am a neutral party after all, so I should probably be giving the enemies a little more to work with.

 2. I'm continuing my overhaul of water and rock wall outlines with this week's map (secretly the driving force behind this map's design). 2 weeks ago I tried out drawing taller rock wall platforms, essentially using the same design I would use for cave walls, and last week I tried out new methods of drawing shorelines and water, tinting the outlines, combining the layers, and going for more of a rippling look rather than contours. This time around I also added in little rock ledges near the edges of the platforms in an attempt to make them look more rounded on top rather than completely flat. I think it looks good!

Beyond that, my takeaway here is that I'm still not convinced about this style of tall rock walls. It's honestly not very visually appealing and doesn't do a great job of expressing height even with shading supporting it. I guess I'm going back to the drawing board, though I'm hopeful I can alter this style of rock wall a bit to make it look a little better.

 3. Tropical colors are always excellent, they're maybe my favorite palette for maps. I was genuinely struggling with the colors when I started this recent series of tropical maps but I feel like I've hit my stride now that I'm just about to move on. Thank goodness, it would have bugged me if I hadn't made something I was content with before moving on to a different map theme.