Japan v2.2 p1 (02/02/09)

[Industrial Helix]

Japan

Vital Info

Map Title: Japan
Mapmaker: Industrial Helix
9 regions
40 territories
Bonuses: +29 regions, +2 for each two cities held.
Gameplay: Take all territories.
Size: Large 649px × 784px; Small 554px × 517px (35% difference)

Setting:
Modern Japan.

Objective:
Take all territories.

Features:

Cities can attack other cities and serve as the link between islands. Cities can be attacked by the province they are situated in. Plus 2 for each two cities held.

Click image to enlarge.

Plan:

I do the work.

Work Done:

Version 1 (12/17/2008)
Feedback and crits answered.
Version 2 (12/23/2008)
Version 2.1 (12/26/2008)
Name adjustments made.
Version 2.2 (02/02/09)
1) compacted the size to make better use of the space.
2) Changed 2nd Toyama to Wakayama
3) Removed 3 provinces: one from Shikoku, one from Kyushu, one from Kanto
4) Adjusted the borders to get rid of four corner borders and to accommodate the names
5) Fit almost every name into the province it designated.
6) Adjusted the bonus scheme according to the spreadsheet provided in the tips and tools section.
7) Added those lil numbers.
8 ) Minor clean ups in graphics.
9) Toyed with the cities soldier circles. They are now more saturated. They also sit where the city is, as opposed to the previous system of a city dot and its soldier circle.

Current Version:

Click image to enlarge.

Version 1

Click image to enlarge.

[the.killing.44]

Got terit names? and really, an entire bonus for one terit? You should probably start that ~5 neutral.
Just a first glance comment.

[captainwalrus]

What are the bonus regions based off of?

[Industrial Helix]

the.killing.44: The territory names are in the upper right hand corner. As for Okinawa, I will start it off at neutral, but only 3 guys. I figure it's two territories worth only 1 man, not to mention a boarder with 8 other cities so it shouldn't be too easy to hold.

captainwalrus: The bonus regions are derived from a couple of things. Four of them are based on the islands and their names reflect that. Honshu, the big island, is broken up into 4 based along modern province territories. I basically grouped a bunch of provinces to create the bonus regions. I figured one for the northern most part, one for the southern most part and Tokyo should have its own area, which leaves the last part.

[shakeycat]

It's an unusual way to break up Modern Japan. Try this:



Kansai can also be called Kinki, and Hokuriku can be included in Chubu (though keeping it could improve gameplay.) Kyoto and Osaka should be together in the same region.

[el-presidente]

THe bottom territ of the green bonus should be purple

[the.killing.44]

the.killing.44: The territory names are in the upper right hand corner.

I mean the actual names of the territories – the ones with the army circles.

[Juan_Bottom]

Yup, each individual spot needs some type of name so you can coordinate during team games. I can't just tell my partner to fort me in the thrid orange territory, he/she will have no idea which one.

Otherwise, it's a fine start.

[MrBenn]

Oooh... I like the cartoon-style background...

I can see the Manga theme working here, but Japan is a tricky area to map out - you'll struggle to get all the names in, and keep the map playable. It's worth checking out the previous attempts at Japan maps to see where they fell down

[captainwalrus]

It's an unusual way to break up Modern Japan. Try this:



Kansai can also be called Kinki, and Hokuriku can be included in Chubu (though keeping it could improve gameplay.) Kyoto and Osaka should be together in the same region.

I like those bonuses better. They make more scence. Earlier, when this was in the Ideas section my map was based on those bonus reigions and It looked good like that.

[Industrial Helix]

It's an unusual way to break up Modern Japan. Try this:



Kansai can also be called Kinki, and Hokuriku can be included in Chubu (though keeping it could improve gameplay.) Kyoto and Osaka should be together in the same region.

My map is close to those regions, it seems the key difference is that I lumped your yellow teal and orange regions into one. There's something to be said for not having too many bonus regions, of which mine already has 8. I may yet add in Kansai or Hokuriku so instead of having three regions with a 4 man bonus to maybe having two with a four man, one with a 3. I'll give it a shot in my next map update and see how it looks.

THe bottom territ of the green bonus should be purple

I changed it on my base map and when I update the map again the territory will be in the purple bonus area.

the.killing.44: The territory names are in the upper right hand corner.

I mean the actual names of the territories – the ones with the army circles.

Ah yes, my mistake. I'm working on fitting those in. They'll be part o the next map update.

Yup, each individual spot needs some type of name so you can coordinate during team games. I can't just tell my partner to fort me in the thrid orange territory, he/she will have no idea which one.

Otherwise, it's a fine start.

Thanks Juan_Bottom. See the above reply for more.

Oooh... I like the cartoon-style background...

I can see the Manga theme working here, but Japan is a tricky area to map out - you'll struggle to get all the names in, and keep the map playable. It's worth checking out the previous attempts at Japan maps to see where they fell down

Actually, the background is based on a wood block print which now that you mention it, does resemble manga a little bit.

Thanks for the advice, adding the territory names is proving quite tricky. But I'll what I can do about making it work.

I like those bonuses better. They make more scence. Earlier, when this was in the Ideas section my map was based on those bonus reigions and It looked good like that.

Like I said before, there's something to be said for having a limited number of bonus regions. I'm considering breaking purple up into two separate regions, reducing the bonus and seeing how it fits.

[shakeycat]

Yellow and Orange are fine together, and are technically one region. I saw them separate and thought it would be a good grouping to make an otherwise linear map more circular. I look forward to the updated map with Kansai on its own.

[Industrial Helix]

Thanks for the feedback shakey cat. I've got the map no with Kansai on its own, plus labels and a title.

Click image to enlarge.

Ok, so i made quite a few changes here.

1) The obvious artistic changes. I muted the colors a little and added a photoshop filter to break some of the monotony

2) I added the bonus region Kansai and gave it a bonus amount, I also reduced the bonus amount for Honshu.

3) Added provincial titles outlined in white. Some are in 6 pt font, some are in 8 if the 6 point font seems acceptable and readable to everyone, I'll go with it. But I thought I'd offer a comparison. Shikoku is also a little crowded, I was htnking of reducing it to three provinces but am unsure.

4) Changed the cities from white surrounding to red surrounding to differentiate them from the provinces. The troop number thing has also been changed to red to clearly designate which troops are where. I'm unsure if the red troop number will show up on it, I'll be testing that in the next update. Any ideas how to resolve that? Also, Do the red troop number things being distant from the city on the map (see Matsuyama on the Shikoku region) make it too difficult read?

5) I merged two provinces in Edo and created one farther north.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any and all feed back.

[shakeycat]

Where do you get the names "Mutsu" and "Mimasaka"?

[captainwalrus]

THis is getting pretty similar to my map which came First!

[Industrial Helix]

Shakeycat: I got them from some regional map I found on google. But after seeing the map you posted, I noticed that there's more maps with those names than the ones I used. I'll probably make the switch next update I think.

Captain: I explicitly said in the suggestions thread that I wanted to do the work on this map and pursue this thing. I understand you don't like my map and the gameplay involved. It does look a lot like your map, because both of our maps are based on the administrative regions of the government of Japan but I think the game play involved is fundamentally different. I already agreed to throw my map and its game play up into a poll, even if there is to be no competition. Just give me a date when we'll start the poll and we'll put it to a vote. In the meantime I'm going to work on my map because I find it quite enjoyable.

[captainwalrus]

Ok. I respect that you want to make this so I will just continue mine(if people ever start to realy give suggestions ).

[Industrial Helix]

Shakeycat, I made the adjustments in the key.

Captain: Sounds good.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

wait, r the places labeled with red writing the cities

[Industrial Helix]

Yes they are. I'm gonna have to label that more clearly.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

what are the black dots for

[Industrial Helix]

By the cities? Those are to identify which province the city is in, so therefore which province can attack it. And when I think about it, I ought to give them some red glow or something to tie them together with the names and red spots.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

By the cities? Those are to identify which province the city is in, so therefore which province can attack it. And when I think about it, I ought to give them some red glow or something to tie them together with the names and red spots.

ya that would help

[captainwalrus]

It's looking good! You gave some 4 corner borders (I seem to be telling that to a lot of people lately). Also I'm not sure if your territory borders are that accurate in the green and purple area. It might just be the way you are combining territories but it seems off. Do you have google earth? If so that is very helpful to find the proper borders. Also, with the bonuses,

1 yellow could probably be 3 but it is close
2 Green should also be 3
3 purple could be 4 or 5, since it has 5 borders
4 blue could be 3 and it should also be in between orange and green on the list
5 grey could be 1 since it has 1 border

Keep up the good work!

[herschal]

I like the background. My english teacher has the exact same picture (but not zoomed in on the wave) in a frame above her desk. Small world