Macedonia map [Gp, Gr, X, BETA, Qnchd.]

[ender516]

From where I sit, right now Tetovo and Strumica look very similar, so natty's swaps may not be the whole answer, but they should be an improvement.

[natty dread]

Actually, swapping Berovo <-> Strumica might be better than Stip <-> Strumica.

[ender516]

how does "Change Skopje with Kumanovo and Stip with Strumica." make the map better colorblind-wise?

Take a look at this.



Tetovo & Skopje look very similar. Bitola & Strumica as well. If you do the changes I said, it will be much easier for colour blind people to see these bonus zones.

Actually, swapping Berovo <-> Strumica might be better than Stip <-> Strumica.

I think if you swap Skopje with Kumanovo and Berovo with Strumica, then Kumanovo and Berovo will be just as similar as Tetovo and Skopje are now.

[natty dread]

Yeah, I just figured it out... I think the best idea would be Berovo <-> Strumica and Stip <-> Skopje.

[ender516]

Looking at the colour blind map, I wonder if the problem is that there simply aren't enough distinct colours. Tetovo, Bitola, and Strumica are nearly indistinguishable, with Stip slightly lighter and Skopje a little darker. Then Berovo and Veles are quite similar. Kumanovo and Ohrid are the most distinct. Perhaps introducing an entirely new colour with a fair amount of blue (purplish, wine red?) to replace the one used by one of those first three territories would break things up.

[natty dread]

And easy solution would be to make Strumica and Tetovo a fair bit darker or lighter. (In the case of Strumica, it must be darker, since lighter would be same as Skopje).

But, you know, there are those thick lines separating the bonus areas. So perhaps we shouldn't pay so much attention to the colours...

You know, actually, that colour-blind version looks quite nice. I wouldn't mind if the actual map had colours like that... it would fit the style IMO.

[RedBaron0]

Another thing you can try that might sort of negate the colorblindness thing some is instead of a legend listing is to do a mini map in your own style. porken suggested it before, it got glazed over with the extra graphics he added.... but the idea has some merit.

[natty dread]

Another thing you can try that might sort of negate the colorblindness thing some is instead of a legend listing is to do a mini map in your own style. porken suggested it before, it got glazed over with the extra graphics he added.... but the idea has some merit.

A minimap wouldn't really be necessary here, nor would it fit the style of the map, IMO. The colourblindness is mostly a non-issue, since bonus zone names are identified by the bolded territories which share the same name.

What we've been trying to do here is seeing that no two adjacent colours are too similar for the colourblind. While there are thick black borders separating the bonus zones, I'm afraid the similar colours next to each other could still cause some confusion...

[porkenbeans]

Sorry nat,
but you are dead wrong. A mini-map is indeed needed here. Not only for the colorblind issue, but for the sake of overall clarity itself. Who wants to keep looking back and forth from the map to those little boxes to determine whats what ? It is needless confusion, when a mini-map gets the job done perfectly, with but a glance.

[natty dread]

Sorry nat,
but you are dead wrong. A mini-map is indeed needed here. Not only for the colorblind issue, but for the sake of overall clarity itself. Who wants to keep looking back and forth from the map to those little boxes to determine whats what ? It is needless confusion, when a mini-map gets the job done perfectly, with but a glance.

You're still missing the point here: the colours aren't the only identifier. Each bonus area is named by it's capital territory, and the capital territory has it's name in bold.

In most maps I like minimaps. This one doesn't need it IMO.

[ender516]

I'm going to side with natty on the mini-map issue, but I wonder if pork doesn't have a point (that perhaps he wasn't trying to make ): maybe the bonus values could be placed directly on the map itself, in a manner similar to the Third Crusade. Voila, no more glancing back and forth.

[porkenbeans]

I'm going to side with natty on the mini-map issue, but I wonder if pork doesn't have a point (that perhaps he wasn't trying to make ): maybe the bonus values could be placed directly on the map itself, in a manner similar to the Third Crusade. Voila, no more glancing back and forth.

Anything that would allow the viewer to quickly and easily, visually establish the bonus values, and their correlation to each other, would make this map much better to understand, regardless of any color blind issues.

If you only had two or three bonus areas, then the little boxes would work fine. But with nine bonus areas it is difficult to look at the map and visualize the strength and weakness of the bonus areas, in relation to one another. This IS my point that YOU are failing to understand natty. Ender gets my point, if not my solution. A mini-map IS a solution, as is ender's plan. One of these, or another plan is needed. AND THAT IS MY POINT.

[MrBenn]

Colour-wise, I'd suggest the only thing that needs to be done is to make Strumica perhaps a little darker and redder - similar to the red of the shield in the top corner but not quite as strong

That aside, there are only two things which I can see:

1. The tiny bit of grey within each mountain grates with me... I know it's supposed to look like snow, but I think it would look cleaner without it

2. The order of bonuses in the legend would be better if it followed a logical order from looking at the map. I'd suggest amending the order as follows:

Tetovo | Skopje
Ohrid | Kumonova
Veles | Stip
Bitola | Berova
_____ | Strumica

[ender516]

Now for a bit of point, counter-point:

Colour-wise, I'd suggest the only thing that needs to be done is to make Strumica perhaps a little darker and redder - similar to the red of the shield in the top corner but not quite as strong

I think I said before that a purplish colour might be the best way to help the red-green colour-blind, but I think the heavy zone boundaries are enough to make things clear.

That aside, there are only two things which I can see:

1. The tiny bit of grey within each mountain grates with me... I know it's supposed to look like snow, but I think it would look cleaner without it

Personally, I like the grey (or white, which is how it comes across to me). Without it, the mountains might just look like traces on an oscilloscope or a heart monitor.

2. The order of bonuses in the legend would be better if it followed a logical order from looking at the map. I'd suggest amending the order as follows:

Tetovo | Skopje
Ohrid | Kumonova
Veles | Stip
Bitola | Berova
_____ | Strumica

I'm not sure why MrBenn wants to bounce back and forth across the map like this, although on a second reading, I guess he is trying to go down the map while he goes down a column of the legend. I am more inclined to read across the map, so I would put

Code: Select all

Tetovo     Skopje
Kumanovo   Berovo
Ohrid      Veles
Stip       Strumica
           Bitola

or possibly

Code: Select all

Tetovo     Skopje
Kumanovo   Berovo
Veles      Stip
Ohrid      Bitola
           Strumica

depending on whether you see Ohrid as part of the middle row of zones or part of the bottom row of zones. Of course, the rows of zones that I see on the map don't fit as rows of names in the legend, and I don't know if shrinking the text there to put more names on one row would be a good idea, so I think we need more opinions and possibly more ideas here.
I do look forward to playing this map.

[n.n.]

It would really be best for me to get some conclusive suggestions on which most of posters here agree...
However, i will try tomorrow to compile the suggestions in a new version.

I will try to apply different colors for the "continents" (for the color blind issue) and maybe some of the other suggestions. Removing the white color from the mountains is really not something i would like to do - mostly because of the reason ender516 already explained.