How detailed is your fictional world?

[webcomicguru]

Good thinking. Keep it simple yet detailed enough for realism. Some creators fall down the world-building wormhole and never come back.

[avalonmao]

Holy crap....that's really detailed! Amazing

[ConradComics]

I have noticed most of the stories in my head are set in a modern earth/earth-like world, almost certainly to cut down on the world-building required. I have fleshed out the fantasy/super-natural elements of those stories in case the setting moves to those locations; but for the most part, those hidden worlds are; um... hidden, or only exist in the past. Both are the case in my manga-style comic I've posted on Tapastic. I just haven't progressed far enough yet to show it.

[shazzbaa]

Have any of you been so wrapped-up in the details of your world that you've had difficulty just getting started/continuing the actual comic-making? Does it sometimes become a distraction?"

I tend to have a different version of this struggle -- developing something that doesn't matter and then being tempted to shove it into the story. So like, I delve into the culture of the neighbouring country that doesn't really play a role in the story, and then I get attached to this creation, and then I'm like "can I....insert someone from this country.....into the story anywhere...?????"

Sometimes this is helpful! : D Sometimes this is just another temptation I must resist. : [

[scythe]

I want to hear about these airships.

[webcomicguru]

That's when you start a spin-off series about the neighboring country!

[webcomicguru]

As distracting as it can be, it's a good idea to save unused material in folders. You never know when you might be able to use it in the future.

[AnnaLandin]

@scythe They won't be appearing in Grassblades, I can promise you that! XD

They're for a fantasy world that's sort of industrialised - I guess it's kind of steampunk, but also kind of not? Steam-tech is definitely there, but not everything depends on it, and the world lacks some of the common Victorian-era morals and social systems that tend to get imported into steampunk along with the tech.

There are several types of airships, and one of the on-going things in the background of the story is the shift from old-fashioned wooden vessels over to a more modern iron-clad type. Still sailing vessels, but with sturdier hulls and rams built into the fore of the ship. I'm not 100% settled on exactly what it is that makes them fly, but I'm thinking of combining steam-tech/mechanical solutions (for the general running of the machinery aboard the ship) with some sort of semi-magical natural resource that kind of levitates, and which is used to lift the ship into the air. So the levitating mineral/whatever would be controling the vertical position of the ship, while the wind and various steam-tech/machinery controls the horisontal position of the ship.

At least one of the older models of ship has folding wings on the side made of sturdy sailcloth stretched over reinforced wood - it looks kind of like a mechanical bat-wing - that they use to manouver with. The iron-clads come in several different varieties - some with the folding bat-wing (made with heavier, more durable materials) and some with a more fixed-wing solution, with smaller wing-like structures bolted onto the sides of the ship, that can only be tilted slightly - whereas the bat-wing can be folded in all the way to lie nearly flat against the hull, but can also be stretched out into the full width of the wingspan.

... I confess that some of this might have been heavily influenced by how much I loved the airships in Final Fantasy IX. >.>

[tableflipstudios]

:EPOCH Files is pretty much planned out by L and I.
She can do most of the stuff I make up for the 'future' but at the end of the day, we won't make it too complex for both the readers and us.

Double Scoop is pretty much 1.5% fiction. Lol.

-Grim

[daryake9]

I LOVE worldbuilding and i'm constantly making up new stuff. I only recently posted a bit of worldbuilding on my comic (bc I kinda forgot to mention a few details for the readers lmao).
It's all pretty detailed. The comic I'm doing is just the backstory of one of my three maincharacters, the other two come from completely different backgrounds which are still partly in development, after like five years or so.
So far I have:

Humans:
126 different tribes belonging to 24 ethnic groups (and that's just in two countries)
17 Countries
29 Languages (with dialects and variations)
40 Cities
3 political systems (still working on them)
(so far) 6 writing systems.

Non-Human Species:
41 Cities
4 regions
9 dialects of the same language
Political System

Various other thing such as climate, history, weapons, most common types of magic, how magic works, gods, systems of belief, economical stuff.
This won't all be featured in the comic though, since the purpose of it is for me to kinda develop Niwa (my protag in the comic) and her personality and culture and stuff (and of course my art skills ), so I will focus on that. Maybe one day I'll make my entire story into a comic but that's to big a project for me now, so yeah.

Also, does anyone have tips how to magic could influence technology? Or how magic can influence the development of technology?

[daryake9]

As someone who has been in this wormhole for years, I second this. I often feel like I do more worldbuilding than actually working on the storyline :/

[Thesleepypencil]

I love world building. I LOVE it. Most of my comics are fantasy type so i make multiple worlds everywhere. My
largest one has it's entire history laid out, two religions designed, 6 countries, and a whole slew of creatures. I have maps of the world and maps of cities all drawn out. It's great.

Now my current comic Lalita at the end of the universe Is both a blessing and a curse in disguise. The characters planet hop so depending on each planet and the time spent on each planet i need to do multiple world building. As well as universe building. I have to design the planet, maybe their politics, maybe their religion, maybe their entertainment or transportation, the ecosystem or that part of the world, sometimes multiple countries. I also have to factor in if the planet is open to Alien visitors, that other planet's will come to visit. And how does this effect them.
I have a universal type of transportation that isn't a spaceship and i have to know which planets have it.
My favourite part is each planets clothing. Some have cloths for practicality, some have fashion, some don't have clothes at all. One of my favorite planet's is in a middle of a 80s and welcome to nightvale mix of clothing and thats fun.

Also i have to design a race of aliens to fit comfortably in each setting.

But i love it. I love designing things and i can’t stop myself

[Roxane]

My comic's detail level is "stick-man" o.o

Same here! haha
I LOVE world building, but it sucks me in! I wont do anything but world building. So when I actually want to work on the story I'll stick to stick figures. I also only draw props when they contribute to the story.

[AnnaLandin]

Also, does anyone have tips how to magic could influence technology? Or how magic can influence the development of technology?

Depends on the type of magic, and how common it is - but if magic is something just anyone can use, I could see technology being less advanced. If you could just snap your fingers and do something by magic, you wouldn't need a technology to do it for you.

But if magic IS rare - or very difficult/tiring to perform - I could see technology developing alongside it. Either to replace it for those who can't use magic, or to complement magic for those who can use it. Maybe technology that makes magic easier, or amplifies the effect of spells being cast?

[purrlpankras]

Two Faced is set in the future so everything has to be designed. After another war, humans "evolve" to survive. So they have elemental powers according to what region they are from. Eventually the planet starts to accept other people from different worlds, to get back trading systems. Quite convenient for the main character Rick heh...

People don't judge you on your looks, because everyone looks different, They would probably judge you if you're wondering around looking lost without any shoes on.

[SeanMor]

Well, let me put it this way:

Ulfserk was originally the backstory to a minor character in another story I had planned...

...that story was itself backstory to another story i was writing but never finished.

It just never ends, it isn't even conscious I just add more and more lore and the world keeps getting bigger.

[arcanehalo]

I was feeling super done with my schoolwork and I have been in the world building mood.

And now in my comic Shieldheart I have like a world map---and ofc I also did the math for the distance they're travelling, actually thats WHY I did it--(on top of the lore I already came up with, and it's traditions) and now I also ended up writing up their language system it's kind of hilarious.

Actual excerpt [EXCERPT] of the language file:

===NOUNS===
Nouns can come from simple compounding of etymological root-words, sometimes a vowel is lost in the middle, and sometimes apostrophes are added (though most have been replaced with vowels for colloquial use nowadays), but most are just put together.

Pluralization has the prefix "Te'" if begins with "b,p,r,d,k,s,v,g", "Se'" if begins with "m,n,x,z,ch,j,f,l,t"

===VERBS===
Verbs conjugate, where the root-verb's ending "ri" will be replaced as such:

PAST: a
PRESENT:
FUTURE: i

=========VOCABULARY==========

PRONOUNS:

Ha = I
Vo = you
Ye = s/he
Fe = it

*plural + 't (Ha't, Vo't, Ye't, Fe't)

and in my comic Kuroi Hitsuji--considering it's set in real world--the amount of background detail is also insane like I have written the entire history of the school, I am building the facility in a 3D program, and also created sample class schedules and worked out the mechanics of the special classes (it's a specialty school)

Yet another excerpt in the detail:

Similarly there is a curfew and an opening time.
Students and faculty alike, once out the grounds, can only enter at 5:30AM, and the gates do not allow students/faculty in after 11:45pm (unless a student/faculty member asks for a special permit, as is the case for some with night jobs, at which case they are given a special ID card.)
Private vehicles are allowed into the campus, but must also have permission either through identification of a student with registered private vehicles, or permission slips.

--------BUILDING--------

JGAIA is located in an isolated area of Hachioji Tokyo (Prefectural Highway 61 Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan, near Miyama Elementary School 35.692437,139.253404)

JGAIA is a very large ground, I don't really know how big, didn't make the computations yet. Still based on the image included you will get an idea from this.

Like I have too much time.

[Wishjacked]

My practice comic's world is broadly and rather loosely developed. The whole premise of the world is that every imaginable apocalypse happened right around the same time: you've got a nuclear war, civil war, eternal winter, an alien virus that creates zombies, a wacko computer AI taking over all electronics, and the government ruled by one evil overlord. Probably some other stuff. The bottom line is that the world sucks, and that's really all that's important for the story. Big picture is there, but the little details stay very flexible. It does its job better that way, I think, because keeps me able to take the quickest and clearest route to the point. That said, once something is stated in-comic, it stays a fact in the comic forever.

Most of my comics, though, are rigidly detailed. I could write guides on how my worlds work.

[KSlinger]

Not that detailed to be honest. I don't have a pile of notes on language and cultural recipes laying around the house, but I do collect photographs of 'West-like' objects that I see day to day. Jed's lantern, for example, is an actual lantern my Grandma had in her house when I was small. I also collect names, place names, and things I hear people say-- especially from kids because they're hysterical-- but these are just like...clues? I don't know when or if they'll be used, they just have the right feel.

There are some basic things I make sure I know about West, though. Umbrella facts like:

• What level of technology is available and where in the world we are. For example, Jed will meet someone later in the story who gives him schematics for a first-generation rifle and various other 'upgrades' for his boat and gear, and this is all a bit mind-blowing for him because he's a serious recluse.

• What are people afraid of and what do people celebrate, in general terms. e.g. are birth marks a blessing or a curse? Do all towns feel the same?

• Are there Queens and Kings, Lords or Mayors? Are there organised events? Who's in charge here?!

• What are the rules of the powers Jed and Serge have? Can anyone get them? Where do they come from? How are they different? What are the costs? e.g. Jed can do some snazzy stuff, but his deep emotions are given away.

It might seem like a lot to keep track of but I try and keep things black and white, and don't over explain if I can help it. Seems people have been following the hints well enough so far.

[efdvorsky]

Oh man /)'v'(\ For Cosmic Fish I went ahead and did a lot of research on my local mythology that's been, sadly, lost through time and colonialism, so a lot of visual aspects can be seen in terms of architecture, masks, or environments. I also studied a lot of astronomy along with theories which will be incorporated later. Which regardless, Cosmic Fish is a mix of about 4 different stories that takes place throughout different years and....it's been a labor of love. Most of the details aren't fully explained and you have to either pay a lot of attention to it, or be familiar where the inspiration comes from (sometimes I make posts on tumblr to make the explanations far easier) And you can see image comparison of real places versus the ones in the comic.

That being said, I have a lot of mythology set up, including how different countries within the world see the same thing through culture or religion despite the fact there is almost a global agreement that the guardians are the equivalent to deities. Despite that, it doesn't mean that everyone agrees what they DO or if they're good for humanity and such.

I also set up a made-up language that took a few months to set up and am officially going to take a course to solidify it next year but that doesn't come until later since it's an ancient language.

These are some world-building notes I did in a week my tablet had died and I had to wait for a new one. (some of these are actually out-dated, this photo is a little old)

It's been fun, really, doesn't distract me when I'm working but rather brings up real questions for me to be able to make a more believable story. I think the only time it's slowed me down is for a side-project i'd like to work on which has no relation to Cosmic Fish.