Labyrinth [Quenched]

[RedBaron0]

Labs is fine, better than Greek Games for sure. (Greek Games would give me more of feeling of the Olympics...)

Basically what'd I'd like to see is the black territory borders covered over in spots. Put "walls" there, make a maze of it. These walls won't have an bearing on gameplay, save for a block on the 4 corners, and if you go with something square, best to put on as a diamond. Those blocks would easily blend into the "walls" as a post between slabs, and still be needed on each corner.

It's really the only thing bothering me that this labyrinth really doesn't depict any sort of maze.

Nooooo, I got only a few maps to deal with gfx wise, figured I'd just stir the pot. Is the only reason YOU selectively targeted me, is because I said something here?

[ManBungalow]

The Greek characters spelling out 'LABYRINTH' are just...wrong.

[koontz1973]

Will make the big slabs of rock smoother and the small blobby ones elongated. As for changing it to diamonds, you do realize that is a complete redraw and gameplay do over. I hope you where suggesting this for a sequal map and not this one? And no, I only bombed you as you seemed to of started putting troops there to attack me.

Labs title font can change MB. Can I ask what is wrong with it?

[ManBungalow]

Labs title font can change MB. Can I ask what is wrong with it?

The Greek characters in the title don't mean anything like that.

In my opinion, you can spell 'labyrinth' using our usual Roman alphabet or you can use the Greek form (wikipedia tells me that it's 'λαβύρινθος' ) - not both.

[tkr4lf]

I don't see that there is anything wrong with it. It's a stylistic thing. It's like when people use Cyrillic to spell things out in English when there is a Russian/Soviet theme.

Yeah, the letters don't actually mean that, but pretty much everybody is going to know what's going on with it. Even Greek people will see that it spells out Labyrinth in English. I think it's fine the way it is.

[koontz1973]

MB, if the title goes into the Greek alphabet, no one will be able to read it. It would become nonsense. As for moving it into the Roman alphabet, it again is wrong as it is not a Roman map. So both of your choices are bad for those reasons. The title has to be able to be read and the font used is called something Greek which is why it was used. This is going to turn into the cairnswk / Oneyed argument in the Moscow thread over that title. It stays as is unless you point me towards a better font to use then.

Labs is fine, better than Greek Games for sure. (Greek Games would give me more of feeling of the Olympics...)

That was one of the reasons it got changed from Greek Games of Death (too long) to Greek Games (Olympic year) to Labs.

[koontz1973]

RB0, here is a quick mock up of the walls made smother and larger. I can see what you mean by making it more of a maze but it feels wrong to me. If this is the way it has to be done, then I will get them done nice. Sorry it took so long to do the mock up.

Click image to enlarge.

[RedBaron0]

It definitely doesn't look good.... I was kinda expecting something regular with defined edges, like blocks. The best example I can think, especially in the realm of mid 80's type video games is the wall block in the original Legend of Zelda, in fact a lot of the Labyrinth levels there have the same kind of feel as you do here.



I wouldn't say it has to totally replicate this of course, but a similar style block, kinda crumbly would work quite nicely.

[koontz1973]

Here's your blocks RB0. I do not like them but I will defer to your judgement.

Click image to enlarge.

[nolefan5311]

It definitely looks more "pillar like" from the top. Cleaner and more maze like, imo. What about the stone areas around the edge of the map?

Also, I think the color for Medusa's Gaze is a little out of place.

[koontz1973]

Stone areas around the edges will stay. Sort of like a dug out quarry is being used. Medusa gaze has not changed colour for a long time. Why has it suddenly become a problem now?

[IcePack]

i dont like the blocks...

[koontz1973]

i dont like the blocks...

ditto,
One of the reasons why I do not like them is that they are not organic. One of the problems with this map is the way it is designed. For each of the starting positions to become equal or as near equal as possible it became necessary to have a lot of the same icons all over the map. So Medusa and all of the other icons needed to have a the same difference between themselves and the opening territs. The only ones that are out of whack are the food and swords, even those are pretty well balanced for all 8 starting positions. So how do you get some of the sameness out of a map that is the same everywhere. You get a little creative with the impassables. Some maps have the same mountain copied all over and players say this is not a nice thing. Look at the trouble cairnswk had over New Zealand's mountains. This is just the same thing but done with a different impassable.So to get away from the sameness problem, I made every impassable different. Some large, some small, thick, thin, tall or short, everyone of the original ones had a life of its own.

The second reason why I do not like them is this, the impassable (graphics) now seem to of taken over because of the title. If this map had been named Maze, then RB0s posted graphic

would of worked as a template for the map. Far more walls, but set a lot thinner. Would this make for a game/map, yes, but would it make for a better map, well that is for someone else to make and then we can compare the two. Looking at RB0s second picture,

gave me the direction for the current set up, and like the first one, it gives a large blocky feel to the impassables. Something that is solid and impassable but not very nice as you get a lot of the same grey slabs all over the map. If we went back to Greek Games or Greek Games of Death as the title, this issue would not of really come up. Even as it is now, the title of labyrinth does not really convey the look of the map as compared to the labyrinth posted by RB0. So we can change the title and keep the originals but as it stands now, the grey blocks are shit and no matter how much I improve them or change them, they will always be grey slabs of shit.

[nolefan5311]

i dont like the blocks...

the grey blocks are shit and no matter how much I improve them or change them, they will always be grey slabs of shit.

This is a defeatist attitude. You know if you really decided to work on them you could get them to the point where you liked them. But you don't like them, so you don't want to work on them.

Personally, I think the blocks are a big improvement. They look much more intentional, as if the creators of the maze chiseled them and then intentionally put them there to make the slaves life more difficult. It looks like a maze, or a labyrinth. One option is not for each cell grid to be an individual block, but a grouping of them (i.e., you remove the borders of them on the inside of the maps blocks, if you know what I mean).

Stone areas around the edges will stay. Sort of like a dug out quarry is being used. Medusa gaze has not changed colour for a long time. Why has it suddenly become a problem now?

I'm going to be nitpicky about the this, but the stones around the outside just don't really look good. Rock/stones don't have those features, even after they've been dug out...like water spilling from outside the map or like the stone is gradually creeping into the game board like vines or something. Instead of individual blocks, you could have one solid wall along the outside, etc. When rock is chiseled in the way you mean, it doesn't have jagged un-uniform edges. Additionally, the edges are usually as smooth as possible so that a person can't climb up the walls of the maze and escape.

And as far as the color for Medusa's gaze goes, it's certainly not a problem. It was just a suggestion.

[sannemanrobinson]

The blocks give some clarity and pleasing order to this map that it needs.

The brown ground layer that the minotaur is standing on is a bit confusing. it almost looks like an impassable.