Thread: I'm the AppMaker...
Hi App Maker and welcome!
I for one am very interested in the Maps of Tolkiens world and would love to take a look at your world. I also have been unsuccessful in finding a Map section on this site or indeed a Gallery which I keep reading mentions of. If someone could enlighten that would be great.
PS I would love to see a map which in someway overlays the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Age all in one view. This would highlite the damage caused during the various wars and the downfall of Numenor.
I tried to do a single map with "layers" and it became a huge mess. The file size was enormous (more than the current 60MB+) and talk about a SLOW redraw...
If interested, I'll give away the PDFs but would rather make a buck or two on the apps (I have a partner in the apps and can't give away the store)... but I have some promo codes.
For more info go to www.richard-blum.com or email me at info@richar-blum.com.
Thanks!
PS. Always looking for feedback, suggestions, corrections, etc.
I downloaded the Map and have had a good look at it, you have put a lot of work into it. I like it as a modern map. I would love to see you attempt a more ancient looking map, in colour and font.
Re the Map overlay, this could be achieved as a simple line drawing with very subtle shading.
Thanks for the feedback!
I experimented with idea for making the place names look "elvish" or "ancient" and to be honest, I had difficulty reading them (I'm an old hobbit - losing his eyesight). The most I went with was a script font for the "hills" (and those are bad enough).
Map III - The Third Age — will not be the same as the first two maps... Aman is hidden and I focus on the areas of Middle-earth from the Ice Bay to Umbar, while still keeping the final size the same. It will allow me to add details down to "street level". I am adding "pictorial features" such as buildings, paths, livestock, etc. that will (hopefully) make the map more enjoyable.
By the way, the PDFs have a much larger zoom capability than the apps. I was really restricted by the size of the original document and couldn't just import the PDF... tried it.
The only way I found to show a "combined map" was to use layers for each category of features (continents, mountains, rivers, etc.) for each age... and then to show/hide whatever you want... sorta like SimCity where you can see the electrical grid or zones separately... it's possible... unfortunately I don't have the time right now... gotta be focused on the apps and making a buck... gotta feed my cat...
Again, thanks for the feedback... if you find any gross errors (misspellings, etc) please let me know for the updates... sometime next year I'll be revisiting the maps for updating (getting it into the app is a lengthy process)!
I have made loads of maps, I can give you a full guide. If you want to make your maps look old, then wash over them in watercolor, the watercolor also fades bit, giving it a fragile look. Don't use teabag, they will, actually, ruin the map. Use a ruler, and tear off the sides, this will give it an older look. And then crumple it, one crumpled, smooth it out again so it remains flat but that you can still see the creases. Outline the map in pencil, then go over them with a quill pen. I have a whole collection of nibs. If you want to write on them, I suggest using either dwarf runes or elvish. If you are doing runes, make the pen strokes bold and use an older nib. If you are doing elvish, then do them in pencil first before outlining them, elvish is much harder and squiggly, so you need to be careful, also, use a very fine nib. Hope you like my guide!
I found some great Elvish fonts here...
Elvish fonts are easy to mimic,I have developed my own elvish hand-writing style, it is a bit more curly and thinner, also the letters are more elegant than some other elvish fonts.