[Abandoned] - Zodiac Map

[Friskies]

Such a map would be great!

First, I was thinking of only the constellations around the EARTH (I'll remind you the Sun goes through all these constellations). However, there are too many stars to make all of them territories. A way to attack adjacent stars and 4 warp zones (at equinox and solstice for instance).
Then, for the bonus, a whole season seems more reasonable because there is great difference in the number of stars between neighbouring constellations. In addition to this rule (which makes only 4 continents). We could have 4 other continents based on the element of the zodiacal sign. For instance: Fire = Ares + Lion + Sagittarius. This makes all in all 8 continents which can be crossed.
Finally, I thought of a more astrological map, not a scientifical one. It would be more beautiful and pleasant to play.

For inspiration: http://www.astrosurf.com/nezenlair/nel2/printemps.htm, http://www.dinosoria.com/univers/rustica_14.jpg

[snapdoodle]

Ohhh... that's a little disappointing for me. I thought this would be about the awesome Zodiac Warriors anime from ages past.

I think you need to spice it up past a simple astronomy map if it's going to capture imaginations.

[rsacheli]

First, I was thinking of only the constellations around the EARTH (I'll remind you the Sun goes through all these constellations).

The sun doesnt move around the earth... infact the earth orbits the sun... giving the illusion of the sun's movement... thats why I picked the sun as the center...



I like the warp zones idea... as well as the seasons/element ideas...

[GrimReaper.]

Has potential

[bbqpenguin]

one thing i'd like to note is, that while we want to stay as scientifically accurate as possible with this map, it's not a huge deal if we fudge with it a little (ex: if we wanna put ursa major next to scorpio or something like that... well, it's not atrologically correct but who cares all that much really) what's more important is gameplay and making this fun to play, not total accuracy. if we have to rearrange the skies a bit here, so be it

[Friskies]

Yes, we should not make this map really accurate. But the point of reference is the Earth here, guy .
Why not add some famous constellations in order to make continents and ways a bit easier to see?

[rsacheli]

this is a zodiac map not a night sky... I thought about the night sky idea and it would be to large... And does it really matter if it's the sun or the earth in the middle? I'm prolly just gonna make it a black hole so all the concerns on what is correct can just stop... If I wanted it to be completely correct I wouldn't have made it circular for one... Look at my draft... That is my idea I started with and the end product will be similar to that... I'm not adding any other constellations cause then it wouldn't be a zodiac map like I stated before

[jako]

u know, when i read ur first post, an image of teh night sky, plus all the constellations came to mind. now that would be a great looking map to play on. the current one is like a bad cross between 8 thoughts/crossword/chinese checkers. sorry but thats how it seems to me.

try to give what i said some thought. the current one is way too big even for a large map but if u try my way, u could fit all nicely and have each star a territory and the constellation it self a continent. then just use path ways to connect all the constellations together but u might have to use different line types or colours to differentiate between pathways within a star (perhaps white glowy lines) and something else to connect the constellations themselves.

good luck. it sounds promising.

[Lynx Cat]

I think the sun is actually a good idea, since the 12 signs are based on the solar zodiac. Sun is the classical "planet" that has the most connection with the zodiac. By the way, another suggestion of what you could put around the Sun are the other 6 classical "planets" - Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

But otherwise, and focusing on gameplay/concept, the map presented honestly doesn't look so good to me because there are too many "dead-ends" / easily isolated areas. For example, look at Scorpio. You can protect a 21-territory area by holding just 1territory, and that sounds ridiculous to me. No, scratch that - I hadn't noticed that ALL zodiac signs are connected to the rest of the map by 1 territory each. That's egregious. I don't mean to discourage you, I think the idea has lots of potential (if there's someone who's pretty good with graphics willing to work on it, it could well be one of my favorite maps) as long as the layout is more balanced.

Maybe lay out the constellations so that they "fit" each other a bit more neatly (sorta jigsaw-like), and make it so that each constellation has about 2-5 connections to the rest of the map - both to the two constellations in either side along the zodiac, and to the planets in the center of the circle. I don't know, maybe you could use other elements to connect them as well, such as the aforementioned seasons, or even the four classical elements (since there are three signs associated to each element, maybe there could be shortcuts between them). Just throwing ideas around and hoping to help, since I think this could be a great map if gameplay and graphics are well-designed.

[rsacheli]

a soon as I get my laptop back I'll work on the second draft...

[gimil]

Nice to see new guys making an attempt at map making! Since your actively developing the map ill move it on over to the right forum

[moved]

[rsacheli]

This is something i just quickly whipped up over the last hour... potential background?

Needs more work thats for sure... but for a basic idea for the BG i think its a good start...

IDEAS??




--- Image not available ---

[bbqpenguin]

This is something i just quickly whipped up over the last hour... potential background?

Needs more work thats for sure... but for a basic idea for the BG i think its a good start...

IDEAS??

mmm not bad, certianly not to start with. should go over ok with the lighter colored zodiac stuff

[rsacheli]

... im planning on re-vamping the other one i posted anyway... i needed to make it smaller... and yea...

[rsacheli]

as soon as i get a few things tweaked in the next draft... its gonna look AMAZING! it already does... i should be able to post it up tonight or sometime this weekend...