I've been working on a map for a bit now, and I like it. Well, I actually made one but didn't like it so this is my second try. I'm using a tool called "World Machine" to generate the heightmap, it's a very nice tool that helps to make believable mountains and lakes. After that I import it into worldpainter and do some fine tweaks; add caves, forests, biomes, fine-tune the terrain a bit, that kinda stuff.
I call it Zen Lake, it's roughly 3kmx3km(The wor and it surrounds a great lake, with several cliffs, foothills and flat areas. Around the map are some taller mountains and smaller lakes. Here's a few pictures I took in the first render. As you see, much still needs to be done to make it functional.
This map I'm making still stays vanilla survival in spirit, but I've decided to make all the terrain, caves, strongholds etc. all myself. That means that all of them are new and exciting to find. There is a pretty cool storyline for the map which I'll leave for you guys to find out, the stronghold also has a sort of "Victory Room" which has a few trophy racks, loot chests and most importantly, the victory monument. At the end of many story arcs will be the directions to a reward that's pretty much impossible to find outside of completing the story and finding all the hints. Rewards won't just consist of wool for the monument and items though, you'll also get special effects from command blocks (Which will be required to play this map to it's full potential)
Now, before we go on, this map is meant to be explored, which means that there will be spoilers ahead. If you're okay with ruining some of the suprise, that's fine but just a heads up. So far, here's what I've completed and what I still need to do:
Overworld: Complete
Ore Generation: Complete
Cave Layer: Complete
Stronghold: Complete
Witches Hut: Complete
Blood Maze: Complete
Village: Complete
Temple: Not Started
*Spoilers* Spring: Not Started
Mining Guild: Not Started
Abandoned Mineshaft: Not Started
Alchemists College: Started (20%)
Nether: Complete (It's still Vanilla generation though)
The Mad Kings Fortress: Not Started
The Dome: Not Started
The End: Not Started
Decrepit Fortress: Started(45%)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men." - Jean Rostand
"You have no power over me that I don't give you, and I don't have any power over you than you give me." - Vi Hart
Here comes the updates, so reading any further will be showing new places, though you won't know where they are in the map.
The Caves/UnderDark:
This is the main cave network underground, it snakes around the entire map and has lots of rooms and branching paths. Pretty easy to get lost in IMO. (So I just tried to get myself lost, took me 2 minutes of running and then another 15 minutes to find my way back. Success.)
Stronghold:
I don't want to give that many pictures of the stronghold, but I think it'll be easy to find anyways. Not so easy to clear, but hey, this is going to be a hub of sorts once you do find it. For now though, just one picture taken near the entrance.
Blood Maze:
Ah, the blood maze. Originally a little competitive minigame, I decided to move it into this map and turn it into a fast-paced loot dash. Unfortunately there's nothing stopping you from just taking the walls out since I built it in a worldguarded area. Oh well, you guys are honorable people who will follow the rules, right? Right?
The Village:
A calm, relaxed lakeside village that's been untouched by the ages. Looking back at what I've built and what's next, this place is probably the nicest and totally won't kill you in your sleep, which isn't to say the others would either. Heh.
Witches Hut:
A hermit on the top of the mountain, all alone except for his potions. I wouldn't trust him, he seems shady and all the mages and alchemists with good intentions study at the college.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men." - Jean Rostand
"You have no power over me that I don't give you, and I don't have any power over you than you give me." - Vi Hart
My internet was down for a few days but I've still been working and I'm pretty happy with the progress so far. Working on the Ender Castle and the Alchemists College, there's still alot of work to be done on them but the structure is coming along.
Unfortunately cartographer didn't want to render the roofs on the ender castle, and taking pictures of it is a bit difficult since the fog in the ender doesn't care about render distance.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men." - Jean Rostand
"You have no power over me that I don't give you, and I don't have any power over you than you give me." - Vi Hart
I call it Zen Lake, it's roughly 3kmx3km(The wor and it surrounds a great lake, with several cliffs, foothills and flat areas. Around the map are some taller mountains and smaller lakes. Here's a few pictures I took in the first render. As you see, much still needs to be done to make it functional.
http://imgur.com/a/Oqt4D
This map I'm making still stays vanilla survival in spirit, but I've decided to make all the terrain, caves, strongholds etc. all myself. That means that all of them are new and exciting to find. There is a pretty cool storyline for the map which I'll leave for you guys to find out, the stronghold also has a sort of "Victory Room" which has a few trophy racks, loot chests and most importantly, the victory monument. At the end of many story arcs will be the directions to a reward that's pretty much impossible to find outside of completing the story and finding all the hints. Rewards won't just consist of wool for the monument and items though, you'll also get special effects from command blocks (Which will be required to play this map to it's full potential)
Now, before we go on, this map is meant to be explored, which means that there will be spoilers ahead. If you're okay with ruining some of the suprise, that's fine but just a heads up. So far, here's what I've completed and what I still need to do:
Overworld: Complete
Ore Generation: Complete
Cave Layer: Complete
Stronghold: Complete
Witches Hut: Complete
Blood Maze: Complete
Village: Complete
Temple: Not Started
*Spoilers* Spring: Not Started
Mining Guild: Not Started
Abandoned Mineshaft: Not Started
Alchemists College: Started (20%)
Nether: Complete (It's still Vanilla generation though)
The Mad Kings Fortress: Not Started
The Dome: Not Started
The End: Not Started
Decrepit Fortress: Started(45%)
"You have no power over me that I don't give you, and I don't have any power over you than you give me." - Vi Hart
The Caves/UnderDark:
This is the main cave network underground, it snakes around the entire map and has lots of rooms and branching paths. Pretty easy to get lost in IMO. (So I just tried to get myself lost, took me 2 minutes of running and then another 15 minutes to find my way back. Success.)
Stronghold:
I don't want to give that many pictures of the stronghold, but I think it'll be easy to find anyways. Not so easy to clear, but hey, this is going to be a hub of sorts once you do find it. For now though, just one picture taken near the entrance.
Blood Maze:
Ah, the blood maze. Originally a little competitive minigame, I decided to move it into this map and turn it into a fast-paced loot dash. Unfortunately there's nothing stopping you from just taking the walls out since I built it in a worldguarded area. Oh well, you guys are honorable people who will follow the rules, right? Right?
The Village:
A calm, relaxed lakeside village that's been untouched by the ages. Looking back at what I've built and what's next, this place is probably the nicest and totally won't kill you in your sleep, which isn't to say the others would either. Heh.
Witches Hut:
A hermit on the top of the mountain, all alone except for his potions. I wouldn't trust him, he seems shady and all the mages and alchemists with good intentions study at the college.
"You have no power over me that I don't give you, and I don't have any power over you than you give me." - Vi Hart
I'll be following this post! So far the progress looks great, so keep it up
http://imgur.com/a/teeDl
Unfortunately cartographer didn't want to render the roofs on the ender castle, and taking pictures of it is a bit difficult since the fog in the ender doesn't care about render distance.
"You have no power over me that I don't give you, and I don't have any power over you than you give me." - Vi Hart