Custom Map

[dillankid]

Affinity Photo (Raster app comparable to Photoshop) and Affinity Designer (Vector app comparable to Illustrator) are the closest things you can get to professional software without the monthly or otherwise outrageous costs…roughly $50 each but worth it if you plan on using programs like this on a semi regular basis.  Mac or PC, very powerful for the price and not too difficult to learn.

Make your files 300 dpi+ for printing.  To check the “crispness” from a printer, send them a small square (maybe 3"x3") of the map with a lot of detail inside and have them print it as a test and check the quality.  That way if it’s crap you’re only out a few $.

[Rank Carcass]

Thank you both! Mr tricorder and dillankid
Thats perfect info! :-D
Lots of threads on other’s project maps. But precious few,  on how to DIY a map,  player aids etc. The more you know, the fewer mistakes explained for you to repeat.

[bgugs]

Working on Inkscape to customize a map. Here is Italy so far. There is little cosmetic things that need adjusting but its a start. Any suggestions?

[Young Grasshopper]

Gorgeous bgugs!!! Keep it up.

[bgugs]

Mr. Tricorder, you said you have used inkscape before. When working on this map it began placing white squares anywhere I attempted to draw. It wasn’t actually placing the blocks there just displaying them. What I mean is it would still draw the color I wanted where I wanted but would display a big white box over where I was attempting to draw until I zoomed either in or out. Because of this I tried to save my work and reopen it and see if that would work. Now when I reopen the file there is nothing there, not the original map or the map plus my edits. Any idea what may have happened?

[bgugs]

Here’s a look at how Western Europe is coming along

[John Brown]

bgugs, that looks awesome! Great job on this. :-)

[bgugs]

Thanks. I am trying for a more complex map with likely more complex house rules applied to a variant game. It likely will not be welcomed by many gaming groups but a game with more complexity and more variability fits my groups desire so that is the way I am going with my project.

[John Brown]

@bgugs:

Thanks. I am trying for a more complex map with likely more complex house rules applied to a variant game. It likely will not be welcomed by many gaming groups but a game with more complexity and more variability fits my groups desire so that is the way I am going with my project.

I here you. The more variants, the better for the community. :-)

[Leatherneckinlv]

You should consider adding Reims/Dunkirk to your map, bordering Low Countries (Belgium). A 1 shot deal into Paris is kinda defeating the purpose of your map

[bgugs]

That’s still something I am torn on. I am worried about spacing and not making Europe overly crowded in certain territories, and I was kind of looking at making Germany have access to almost all of France once they conquer Belgium (much like they did in real life). I am still working on it and that is still something I am considering though

[bgugs]

North Africa and Great Britain

[CWO Marc]

@bgugs:

North Africa and Great Britain

Nice maps.  The Great Britain one, incidentally, should say Wales, not Whales.

[bgugs]

That’s embarrassing, didn’t even notice that. Thank you!

[bgugs]

Been a while since I shared on here due to being busy and not having a lot to share, but here is Germany/Poland/Southern Europe

[Mr_Tricorder]

@bgugs:

Mr. Tricorder, you said you have used inkscape before. When working on this map it began placing white squares anywhere I attempted to draw. It wasn’t actually placing the blocks there just displaying them. What I mean is it would still draw the color I wanted where I wanted but would display a big white box over where I was attempting to draw until I zoomed either in or out. Because of this I tried to save my work and reopen it and see if that would work. Now when I reopen the file there is nothing there, not the original map or the map plus my edits. Any idea what may have happened?

I’m very sorry. I haven’t visited this thread in a while and didn’t see your question until just now. I haven’t used inkscape in years though, so I don’t know what’s going on there. I have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, so I do all my vector-based artwork in Illustrator now. If you’re still having this problem, I would recommend checking out the inkscape support forums.

[bgugs]

Not a problem. I was speaking to panther about the problem when it suddenly fixed itself. So now everything is working great

[bgugs]

This project is not forgotten or given up on. I have made some great progress in the pacific so far. However, due to repeated issues with inkscape and the fact that I have basically had to redo all my work a few times, I am going to look to switch over to adobe programs. Once I have more figured out I will share the progress I have made

[robert t]

you can also look at Affinity products.
They have a PS and Illustrator replacement.
Cheaper and no subscriptions.
Caveat is they are newish and are not as chrome laden as adobe stuff.
But for this job, they would work fine.

[sjlr1]

This map looks really great! Love to see this progressing