[Question] How do I make an Island that...

... is naturally shaped. All my islands seem to be either symmetrical or squarish, it really bothers me. I need a playable island that has a natural shape and can fit in either a 192x192 or 160x160 or 192x160 (width = 192) map.

Yeah, I'm having troubles with shaping islands.

I'm also having troubles on how to make a good, playable, island environment/terrain... it doesn't seem to be natural and it also seems to look a bit pre-arranged. I'm using a random-forest generator in some parts because it makes the game slightly different each time AND because of the destructible limit.

So yeah, what can I do to make a more natural looking island?

Well start with a map of water, then get your raise ground tool and put in on one of the biggest round brushes. Then click randomly to make some big mounds in your water. Then use a medium sized brushes to connect those large mounds and make the land continuous. You could google search a map of an island and then copy that. But I don't think anyone can really tell you how to make something asymmetrical, you just do it.

As for the island doodads, always use the 1 tree placer and put in trees in small groups of various sizes and shapes all around. Once you have little groupings, go in and put a pathway of dirt or stone or whatever where you need it. Then, put some individual trees around randomly that don't fit into your small groups until your map is very dense with trees. Next, use brush and plants and vines and I'd say really go crazy with them. Put a ton of them all over everywhere except the path, so you have a nice dense jungle. Then place rocks and whatever else you need.

I do this last, some probably do it first, use your raise ground tool to make little hills around the path. Generally, try to keep the path lower than the forested area, because if people walk there it will be pressed down a bit.

I kind of forgot to mentions tiles, but besides the pathways, keep it as random as possible. I don't know what tileset you're using (I assume Sunken Ruins) but lay down a base tile and then start putting others on top of it. Again, always use the smallest brush for placing tile.

It's hard to see what you are doing without a screenshot, so if you would like some tips specific for your map, post a picture. I tried to give some general advice, but it may not apply to you...

1. Map covered in shallow water
2. Layer - Terrain
3. Choose a size
4. Select the "Raise"
5. Raise how you want it to be shaped
6. Use the smooth tool to create more natural looking beaches

If you want an example, i'll post a screeny. Just ask!

Create a high cliff and then have some low beaches. include a few outskirt islands and a river or 2 going in-land. For the shape of your island, just keep building up the land in odd shapes and join bigger shapes. Its okay to leave large sections of water in the corners of your maps. If you are worried about it, stick a small island there and maybe some shallows or bridges to get there. Hell, you don't even have to do that, just make as if it was scenery.

What I did was I combined all 3 of those ideas and it somehow worked.
+Rep to you all

Now I've got to put something on that island... what can make a good looking "Sunken Ruin" or "Atlantis" type place? I need this to be playable, as well.

also, when placing small clumps off trees (at least i think)it looks better if there are an odd number of trees per clump and an odd number of clumps.

Tide, like he said, small clumps of trees with different heights, and then a LOT of undergrowth.

For buildings, make lots of stairs and really big things that look like stairs but are too big for you to walk up. Also, make some arches but don't use WC3 arches, make them out of tilted doodads (that way you can make it look like anything you want, any size, any shape, any thickness). The actual building, as I imagine it, would be kinda small, but the stuff leading up to it would be big.
If any of that helps you, I want you to rush yourself to the mental hospital and talk to your psychiatrist immediately.

hehe, my first ever attempt at making terrain, or islands..

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3...graphy2pk4.jpg

aquired this as a pet project from devious_sucks
working on jurassic park conquest NeXT..

hopefully you guys will give me some tips on what to change.
(the stuff done in mspaint = possible geographical features of the islands)