Rocky Seafloor, Adept (Patreon)

Hi! This week I made the Rocky Seafloor (30x30), and for you I turned it into a desert map! Since it's all just rocks and sand, it's a pretty easy swap that just required some new colors and tweaked lighting, something that I could probably start doing in reverse to some of my old desert maps. Anyway, this one meshes pretty well with lots of my other desert maps, and I'm sure it will fill some gaps nicely and make for some interesting encounters (don't walk in the sand, who knows what monsters lurk underneath?)!

1. For this map, I liked the idea of having lots of changes in elevation, despite it being an underwater map where that sort of thing is unlikely to change very much at all. Even so, it might effect how players view cover or make for points of interest for enemies (maybe a clutch of eggs is located in the shadow of this outcropping, or a glowing crystal at the center of a ritual is nestled at the top of this plateau). At the very least I figured it would help make the alternate desert version more strategic, so I thought it was worth spending time on.

2. I had a hell of a time with the rock walls this time around, but only because I made it harder for myself than I should have. I drew much of this map twice due to mis-clicks and accidentally drawing outlines on a color layer, and that made the second pass a big blow to morale that needed a few games on Magic Arena to bounce back from. Once they were finished though, the rest came together pretty quickly- most of this map is rocks so it was easy work afterward. 

3. Since this is my second underwater map, obviously I wanted to make the colors and lighting similar to the first. I did that, and when it was all finished realized that I wasn't a huge fan of it- everything was just a bit too gray, and I need vibrant colors in my maps, dang it! I ended up cutting much of the extra shadows and overlays in order to let the colors shine through, bumping up the vibrance and contrast along the way so that the sand would contrast with the rocks a little better too.

I think I'm pretty happy with the new colors, though it doesn't quite match up with Sunken Ruins anymore. Maybe for next month's revisited post I'll apply these underwater effects to some old desert and winter maps, that'll give me a chance to really figure out this environment.