Volcanic Walkway, Adept (Patreon)

This week I made the Volcanic Walkway (30x32), an interesting map that came about after I decided that I wanted to draw some nice glowing lava. It's fun, you know?

Anyway, your alternate version of this map is Crumbling, and I've taken out a couple big chunks of the platform. The idea is that this will make the fight a little more asymmetrical, so the room doesn't feel so much like an arena. Plus there's an added feeling of danger since there's a threat of other chunks of the platform falling away, which can get your players thinking (and sweating).

1. My original sketch of this map was very very different from what you see above. It featured a number of platforms with 5' gaps between them, forcing players to jump over the lava in order to progress further. The arena was rectangular as well, and the end of the room would have some focus or prop, like a throne or crystal maybe. The problem I found was that it was just ugly and felt nonsensical. Who would make this place and leave gaps between the platforms? What would be the purpose of that room? So I scrapped that plan and instead redesigned it to be more of a junction between 4 tunnels, which makes some sense as a location with function, and kept the danger of the lava present by including gaps in the platform and locating them so that there was always one nearby. 

2. Heading into the outlines, I can't believe I made another map with a ton of rock walls. I told myself I wouldn't do it again, but it seems like I never learn. This time I at least designed something where the lines peter off into the edges of the frame, but it was still a pain despite that. I knew I had to be strong though, and I pushed through quickly before I could get too bored and slow down. 

The platforms were easy enough to draw, especially since I had intentionally designed them to feature 0 round edges. I felt that they were a little plain though, so I threw in a pile of spikey bits, which I felt seemed on brand for the volcanic location- like Bowser's aesthetic kinda.

3. Colors! Lava's just fun to draw. I get to blast the contrast and go nuts with fun glowing effects, and as an added bonus the lava's so bright that most shadows get blasted away, which makes my life a little easier. 

The only thing I agonized about was the color for the platform. I never color anything to be entirely black, since it doesn't read well, so I couldn't make it look like black metal even though it would have looked very metal. Instead I tried a sandy-lookin' orange, which matched the walls a little, but that looked lame, frankly. The gray I ended up with contrasts nicely and is eye-catching, so it stuck!