Forest Bandit Camp, Adept (Patreon)

Hello Adepts! This week's map, the Bandit Camp (25x25), is coming with an extra Autumn version, and I really think this is my favorite one yet! At this point I've made quite a few in this style but I'm always tweaking the formula (since I'm never satisfied), this one has hints of blue around the edges while keeping the vibrant yellows and oranges that I love so much without getting washed out from the bright lighting. Hopefully I'll find a way to replicate it next time!

1. Heading into this one I had a pretty solid idea of what I wanted- a small and simple camp in an obviously asymmetrical clearing. I wanted to make sure that the environment itself offered something interesting beyond the camp itself, and since this is a forest map that left only a few options- trees, rocks, or water. Rock walls are my personal favorite since I love mixing up the height in maps and they're interesting to look at, but I was pretty close to placing the camp on the banks of a small stream.

2. Now that I've started releasing prop packs, I've started being a little more careful with the props I take from past maps, making sure not to overuse overly-identifiable tents/rocks/tables. That's boiled down into me redrawing a lot of my library, going so far as to draw fresh trees and rocks when I can. Now that I think about it, it might be time to consider making a new batch of trees- I've started recognizing and naming certain trees like I used to recognize my old batch of rocks. 

3. While most of the coloring for a forest map like this can be done on autopilot, I do still like to mess around with small details in hopes that it will catch my eye. This time I wanted to get across a 'deep forest' kind of feel, which I tried to get across with a darker and greener vignette around the edges of the image. This gives the map more of a claustrophobic feel like you're being surrounded by trees, while also making the center of the map feel like it's at a higher elevation than the rest if you choose to play it that way. 

Speaking of the vignette, something I like to do with these forest maps is reduce the darkening on the trees' layer, leaving the gradient mostly on just the ground. It's a small effect, but it helps get across the trees' height a little better while making sure they don't blend into the background.