PSA: A random guy at a con in Portland told me my map looked like a real estate brochure

I was showing off my digital continent map with perfect, clean coastlines and neat little labeled forests at a table last October. He pointed at my 'Bay of Whispers' and said it looked like a gated community, not a place with actual history or danger. I went home and scribbled all over the printout with a red pen, adding shipwrecks, jagged rocks, and a ruined watchtower half-swallowed by the cliffs. Does anyone else struggle with making places feel lived-in instead of just pretty?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez1mo agoMost Upvoted

Lol, my actual real estate brochures have the same problem.

jason_black21mo ago

That Bay of Whispers HOA sounds pretty strict.

ryanburns3d ago

Yeah, the "real estate brochures" thing is a perfect example. It's everywhere once you start looking. Like those ads for "luxury" apartments that are just normal buildings with a fancy font. Or restaurant menus calling a basic burger "artisanal". Feels like they're all selling a fantasy version of the thing instead of the actual thing.