The production value here is off the charts but this is also literally just what it feels like to play Uno.
legendaryjay_ on TikTok
When this first came out on tiktok, I watched it on repeat and sent it to everyone I knew would appreciate it.
reminder to worldbuilders: don't get caught up in things that aren't important to the story you're writing, like plot and characters! instead, try to focus on what readers actually care about: detailed plate tectonics
@dragonpyre any chance you could elaborate on this
I grew up learning about land formations. Seeing fictional maps that don’t follow the logic and science of them makes me upset
What are the most common sins you’ve seen relating to this? I wanna know
Mordor.
Why is the mountain range square. How did the mountain range form. Why is there one singular volcano in the center. Why does it act like a composite volcano but have magma that acts like it’s from a shield. If it’s hotspot based volcanic activity why is there only one volcano.
And then the misty mountains!!!! Why isn’t there a rain shadow!! And why is there a FOREST where the rain shadow should be!!!!!!!!
So what is a rain shadow?
Wind blows clouds in from the sea, but mountains are so tall the clouds can't get past 'em, so you get deserts on the windward side of mountain ranges because clouds can't get there to water the land, or do so only very rarely.
Oh yeah nothing is more annoying than fantasy maps that can't get mountains, rivers and rain shadows right.
May I recommend my new favorite tool: Mapgen4. You start with a random seed and then add mountains, valleys, shallow water, or oceans as you like. You can adjust the wind direction to make wind shadows off the mountains fall where you want. You can adjust overall raininess to make the rivers larger or smaller, or have more or fewer tributaries. It works best for small, isolated landmasses (think islands more than continents) but as there’s no scale bar and it’s all slightly abstracted anyway you can do whatever you want with it. I’ve only just started playing with it but it’s SO FUN.
I do think this could be useful for writers! ...Caveat, if you're going to use this for making a map for anything published (digital or paper, even if it's only in a fanfic archive or whatever), please, please credit the creator and their program as how you made that map! The more ways information like this gets out there, the more useful it'll be to other writers, roleplaying game DMs/GMs, creators, etc.
One of my favourites for mapping plates, biomes, etc is Tectonics.js. If you're familiar with how tectonics shape a planet, you can guess where the features go by toggling plates, crust thickness, etc. Between Mapgen4 and Tectonics.js, we've got some pretty sweet tools at our disposal.
More stuff!:
Also I would recommend looking into Landscape Archaeology as well! That's because Landscape archeology is basically adding the social/cultural layer on top of all that geology and geography. Environments change when communities live in them, and communities likewise adapt to various environments.
This is a short free introduction to the concept: "Notes on Landscape Archaeology." To summarize, Landscape archaeology sort of like...studies the relation of people to places/spaces (that is, landscapes) in time.
Also this paper [An Archeology of Landscapes] breaks down/introduces the key concepts that I learned which is first that you can form the "construct paradigm" of a landscape from settlement ecology, ritual landscapes, and ethnic landscapes.
And then the highlights of their summary of what constitutes defining a landscape:
Basically a "landscape" is made by a community living in an environment. Once you have a geological environment that makes sense, landscape archaeology is like... Basically how I feel confident knowing where trade routes would be on a map, where there are areas of continual high conflict, what kinds of agriculture exists where, etc. once the geological stuff is hammered out, it's like...I know how that would influence the local cultures and vice versa. At that point, it's easy to start marking the natural borders, settlements, trade/port cities, and even strategic fortresses. If you have properly put rivers on a map, then marking your port cities is effortless, basically.
Also:
If you are like me and find it helpful to have video reference for a process/activity in addition to a written guide, Artifexian is a YouTube channel that does a LOT of world building stuff and specifically he's in the process of creating a world following a lot of Worldbuilding Pasta's methodology!
awesome
As much as I hate to ruin the joke, the article is really good. Here it is in full!
I’ve been looking for this really helpful post about artist growth… where you get to these points where your skill doesn’t match your knowledge of what SHOULD look good, and then it flips… it looked like a double helix on the graph, if that helps. If anyone happens to have that pic I’d love to see it again!
Here you go!
There's also this one, I just prefer the one above because it's easier for my brain to parse.
THANK YOU!!! This is exactly the one. I like both versions but yeah the first is a bit easier to take in
Show up at work like hi boss sorry I'm late my I was helping my mother track down one specific 90s dungeon crawler for the purposes of obtaining a muffin recipe the developer hid in the files
Anyway shoutout to Stonekeep (1995)
I'M MAKING THE MUFFINS
Burnt my hand picking it up to show. Gonna wait to taste.
Taste review: Make the video muffins oh my GOD.
This is a nice video showing an blind/invisible stitch, which is quite useful for repairing tears or finishing something (ex. cushion).
Also, that extra step for putting back the seam is really nice.
i have a few resources i look to consistently but i'm gonna plug anatomy for sculptors as One Of The Most Useful. great if you're a 3D artist, INVALUABLE if you're a 2D artist. gives you turnarounds of specific limbs/fiddly body parts like ears. great especially if you're referencing a photo and start looking at an individual part like 'wait, what the hell is going on in there'
苗疆miaojiang style fashion designed by hanfu stores
the fact that a river ends at the mouth implies that the source is the anus, and a river flows from anus to mouth
not for this one I don't think so
Allow me to make use of tumblr’s new longpost shortening feature for a moment to say HEY… the comic we’ve been working on for the past year is live with *11 episodes* you can read RIGHT NOW.
I made this post back on april 2022. Season 1 was completed just yesterday! :’) 💖 You can now read the whole first saga, for free, at any moment.
Not to toot our own horn, but I think it’s pretty damn good.
I’ll toot the creators’ horn for them: this comic is so good. Soooooo freaking good. It’s so good I recommend it to coworkers.
Yes. So good I recc’d it IRL.
And I’ve recc’d it here before, and I’ll do it again, I’m sure. Now’s a great time to jump on, though, cause you’ve got a bunch to binge but not so much that it feels overwhelming.
Seriously. It’s so good.
I binged the entire thing in like two and a half hours and I gotta say dear fucking lord this comic slaps. PLEASE give it a whirl it’s phenomenal!
HAPPY PRIDE!!! read our trans comic
How to make a piccrew. I’ve been making one for the past while and been talking abt it on discord and somebody said they wanted to make one but didnt know how. So here you go. This is the worst possible tutorial and is more of a crash course but just. Do these things, and when you learn how to make parts and add colours etc just do that for everything.
hope this helps y’all!!
A Tutorial.
"your days are numbered" yes that is quite literally how the calendar system works
"He's down for the count!" Yes Bradifer, the Count's a good top.
Check out this cat
Sound on. It instantly made me smile.
