Terraining a "cold" landscape

[shadow3]

Heya Hive.

I'm now working on a big map that'll eventually turn into something I hope people will play, but I'm having difficulty terraining it.

The thing is, I want it to be a cold landscape, unwelcoming and harsh.
But since I want it to be appealing I want to do more then slap snow tiles all over the place and spam trees and rocks, then say "finished!".

So I'm in need of some advice on terraining a cold landscape.

I want to have a mixture of snowy areas and areas that have less snow, I'm going to include a huge forest, a mountain, and some islands.
It will be an all outdoor map, and if I do decide to have indoor areas, I'll simply use doodads for floor.

So, just any general tips and hints are welcome. Where to place snow and where not to place it, and such.

 

[Gikon]

Undead. Use blight under trees and use a darker snow? That would make it look just a bit unwelcoming?

 

[greasontim]

Um use paint and show me the type of map i can show you roughly wat it'll look like

 

[shadow3]

What you mean, like how the map will be?

 

[greasontim]

ya just a rough thing useing paint or whatever u choose
Check the first image on page one here I made a map from hes really crappy picture and it came out good
maybe i'll be able to help you out a bit if u show me the type of thing your going for
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/f341/kinda-quick-terrain-request-108825/

 

[shadow3]

Very roughly done in paint, but that's the general idea. If that's not what you meant you'll have to explain closer

 

[greasontim]

so like the bottom right corner is water and islands?
I'll show u a picture 2morrow when i get more time to work on it to show u

 

[shadow3]

I hope you're not making a map now, because I want to do that myself, I just need ideas and tips on how to make it look good, because I think the winter landscape tilesets are hard to work with.

 

[bounty hunter2]

Use nortrend trees that look dead, use stones, put them in piles, a lot of stones and ice chunks, ice chunks look good.

 

[greasontim]

not makeing it for u just going to make a quick thing and see if any of it helps give u ideas

 

[wolfman]

you said the winter landscape tilesets are hard to work with.
did you try making a custom tileset so you have more textures to work with?

 

[Dr Super Good]

All trees should be leafless and cold. Lots of ice on the water. Odd frozen corpse scatterd around. No small foliage at all. Odd zombie here and there or strong cold resistant creeps. Hardly much life at all. Very bright white fog to simulate sterileness and snow blindness. Maybe damage units due to cold when playing the finished map. Also do not forget the snowy blizzard like weather effect, it would hardly be cold with out it.

All these would aid in setting the atmosphere of the map.

 

[bounty hunter2]

Adding some wind would be nice too.

 

[shadow3]

Great tips everyone, I'll try to implement what I can, but I'm not going to do the whole undead things part, but I'll try the other ones

 

[~Void~]

Hm, don't use blight. Blight is bad and should never be used. That's going in one of my 10 commandments of terraining. Anyhoo, use ice and snow variably and some rough dirt/dirt under trees because snow wouldn't get there in thick forests as much as in the open.

 

[shadow3]

Blight is bad and should never be used.

It can be good some times, but in this map it doesn't fit at all. It's supposed to be as realistic as possible.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Blight is good for burned land or damaged ground. It is not good terane in general as it makes no sense in snow since it must mean the land is very warm as it is not covered by snow.

 

[Craka_J]

Capturing the feel of a terrain is very important. Fogs are one of the many elements that help define the temperature, mood, and overall feel of the terrain. In this case, there are a few that can define 'cold'. Light Gray, Light Blue (You'll need to customize it to be even duller though), and White are the three colors that seem to accomplish this best. Tilesets that blend with the fog is also crucial; getting a tileset that does not blend with the fog nor sky can make the terrain look messy, ugly, and unfitting. If you use a white fog, you should mainly go with a snowy terrain such as a tundra or a town/village that has snow in it. Just some ideas. If you use light blue or light gray, tiles with a dull color to them such as dirt tend to get the feel done, but grass is always needed - or at least in most cases - to help variate the terrain. Unless you're doing a snowy, mountainous, indoor, or cave terrain, grass is a very good tile choice to add in with dirt, grassy dirt, and perhaps a rocky tile as well.

Tundras tend to be scarce snowy wastelands, but that doesn't mean you have to just make a map with purely a snow tile and a bunch of hills. Instead, try to add things like spires, rocks, and other doodads to help make your snowy terrain unique.

~Craka_J

 

[shadow3]

Thanks a lot
That actually inspired me quite a bit.

How do I customize the fog though?

 

[Craka_J]

Scenario>Map Options>Fog (Click the checkbox for fog) and choose the fog color "Custom".

~Craka_J

 

[thedeathunterxx]

mmm

use different types of snow in your tileset.

there are 4 snow tiles. 1 in underground tileset ( called ice), 1 in the northrend tileset
1 in the icecrown tileset, and one in the loarderon winter tileset. Use them , not in random patterns, but instead use them where they might be realistcally placed. Icecrown ice overlaps northrends snow ( or vice versa, i forgot ), so place icecrowns snow in a place that would seem to have more snow than the other ( for instance, surrounding some rocks maybe )

also, bare trees, like the northrend tree are good. i suggest placing them around, and then submerge them using the CTRL + PG DOWN thing.

also. best fog : 0 in the x, 4000 in the y, .60 density, 132 red, 132 green, 132 blue, and then add a fogged sky, or maybe a blizzard sky.

 

[ASDnametaken]

Heres something with lots of snow

 

[thedeathunterxx]

ahh

as u can see in adsnametaken's pictures, he uses 2 types of different snow.

he also uses the hieghts variation to make the trees seem like they are below tons of snow... very nice.