Conquer Club

Posted: **Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:52 pm**

Central America

Version 14:
-Moved a couple territory names around (Islas de la Bahia up, Chiriqui down a little bit, Puntarenas down a bit)
-Added the full name for RAAS (only changed on the large, it was there last small version)
-Fixed up the credits. I think the brighter green is much more readable
-Spaced out/tried to center the sea rout names. I think I accidentally bumped the font size of Atlantic up, something I'll fix next update.

Version 14:
Large

Click image to enlarge.

Small

Click image to enlarge.

Thanks for all the positive comments everyone! Hopefully we can finish this one up soon

I'm going to look into moving the Canal bonus text next version, curious as to how it would look. I kind of like it where it is, but if it improves on things I won't mind moving it!

Territories: 33
Continents: 7
Gameplay: Standard geographical game play with six sea routes.

Previous Versions:
Version One: http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8175/caflatfinal1er5.jpg
Version Two: http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/5865/camapsmallerflat1dw1.jpg
Version Three: http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8871/camapsmallerflat1fx7.jpg
Version four: http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/9899/camapsmallerflat1ss8.jpg
Version Five: http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8740/camapsmallerv5t.jpg (Circles); http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7795/camapsmallerv5tnoc.jpg (No Circles)
Version Six: http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5513/camapsmallerv6nocircles.jpg
Version Seven: http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/7695/camapsmallerv7flat.jpg
Version Eight: http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/8268/camapsmallerv8nocircles.jpg
Version Nine: http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/4547/camapsmallerv9.jpg
Version Eleven (nope... I can't count): http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/5792/camapsmallerv112grunge.jpg
version Twelve: http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/9582/camapsmallerv12.png
Version Thirteen: [L]http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4456/camapv131large.jpg; [S]http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/6940/camapv131large88.jpg

Posted: **Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:58 pm**

instead of having dotted lines for attack routs, maybe for long distance borders, have ports and say that ports connect to each on each ocean or something, just a thought

Posted: **Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:00 pm**

Ok here are a few things i would change:

The Glow behind the territory titles doesn't fit, maybe make it 1 pixel bigger and lower the opacity as it just looks bad when it's 100% white, needs to be dimmed.
I'm not too fond of the texture of the land.
The legend doesn't need to be embossed like that, it looks a bit strange.
I'm thinking you should just remove the 88's just for now, so we can look at it without 88's.
Also when doing Army Circles you don't need them so bright, since your continents are bright you probably don't even need army circles? But if you do i would dim them because as of now they are too strong.
And as you said the green and blue continents don't really fit IMO but that's just what i think.
I love the Water, very Tropical.
I would like the title better if it had some sought of tropical flavour to it, go to http://www.dafont.com they have heaps of fonts you can download for free, there could be a tropical onethat fits this perfectly.

That's all from me for the moment, remember i''m only one person so don't take my opinion as the opinion of the whole community

Posted: **Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:05 pm**

I'm glad you're going to at least attempt the use #2's font. I hope you also seriously consider his legend as well. the fonts there are nice but the crests/symbols (or whatever they are) are a nice touch

Posted: **Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:40 am**

Due to me being roughly 18 hours late on deadline for the paper I work for I was unable to work on it last night. I do have a block of free time today I may put to use on it, though few comments may negate much potential progress.

Posted: **Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:32 pm**

shouldn't this be in the main foundry?

Posted: **Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:34 pm**

bryguy wrote:shouldn't this be in the main foundry?

Indeed. I've PMd Oaky asking him to move it (not sure he can).

Question: Does anyone feel this map would benefit from being smaller? It is rather large in its current state, and I feel it could afford to be a little smaller.

Posted: **Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:57 pm**

MrBenn had already Draft stamped the original thread, so let's get this into the Foundry and working on the gameplay/graphics stamps... in the next day or two I'll weed through the old threads and bring all gameplay and naming concerns into this thread.

MrBenn wrote:If nobody else raises any objections, I will stamp this now:

The future of this map is now in the hands of the mapmaking competition... viewtopic.php?f=10&t=70130

Posted: **Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:01 pm**

If you could make it smaller without sacrificing legibility, that would be pretty great, speaking as one with a small laptop monitor.

If you're looking for inspiration for a compass, I freakin' loved the one Zeak did (his was the other map that was removed for the final round of voting). I dunno if it would fit into your style, but might be a good starting point.

FYI, I'll be the guy gameplay stamping this. I don't foresee much in the way of changes, but I'm sure I'll have a few gameplay comments before it's all said and done.

Congrats on winning the competition!

Posted: **Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:06 pm**

Incandenza wrote:If you could make it smaller without sacrificing legibility, that would be pretty great, speaking as one with a small laptop monitor.

If you're looking for inspiration for a compass, I freakin' loved the one Zeak did (his was the other map that was removed for the final round of voting). I dunno if it would fit into your style, but might be a good starting point.

FYI, I'll be the guy gameplay stamping this. I don't foresee much in the way of changes, but I'm sure I'll have a few gameplay comments before it's all said and done.

Congrats on winning the competition!

Thanks Incan =)

I noted early in the first round of gameplay that the map being used was rather off geographically from an actual map due to a division at the Panama Canal. I mentioned it being a potentially intriguing addition, but couldn't pursue that any further due to everyone needed to stick to the predesignated game play. Just figured I'd mention it

Posted: **Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:16 am**

I went looking for any concerns from the older theads that I don't want us to overlook, and allI could find was this...

abarbaro wrote:As a Costa Rica citizen, i going to do a correction the capital of my contry is San Jose, is also a provinces as Alajuela.But if they are going to name a provinces San Jose is more important than Alajuela is very closed in the map, but is a diferent provinces.
Should be change.

I don't see any problem with making the Alajuela territory (which we may have mis-spelled anyway) San Jose. It could be broken into two lines which may fit better anyway.

My thoughts on the visuals of this map... I don't like the way the playable area seems to pop out of the non-playable land to the north and south. It may be the beveling that I don't like. Seems like even non-playing land should be on the same physical plane as the rest of the land.

I only just now noticed the color on the attack route dots - very cool idea! =D>

The stroke on the region names in the small map is oppressive. Make it look like more of a glow, perhaps? And there are places that the territory names on the main map start are hard to read - my eyes get lost in Usulutan. Again, the the stroke may be too strong.

I don't think the compass rose is bad, but it lacks central american flavor... it looks more like a tacky 1960s clock.

As for the map size, as the mapmaker you are free to take some artistic liberties with geography here, lgoasklucyl. You could bring the western reaches of Guatemala in a few pixels, shorten parts or all of Panama, etc. Moving the Islas a few pixels east will put some much-need space between the attack routes in there. And nobody said that the top of the map has to be due-north, though it probably makes the most sense in this case. I think most CC mapmakers have been guilty of altering geography to fit gameplay - as long as everything is still recognizable, nobody will even notice if you hack 50 miles off of the Peten or make the islands a bit larger than life.

Alright, looking forward to what you give us next!

Posted: **Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:17 am**

hi, i'm from guatemala so i'm very excited about this map... first off, just a couple of corrections on territory names:
- it's IZABAL not IZABEL
- XELA is like a short name for XELAJÚ, which is the real name of the city.. i think you should change the name to XELAJÚ

Posted: **Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:47 am**

hmm, the drop shadow on the cayes is so far from the islands it looks like they are hovering over the earth... :-s

Posted: **Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:06 pm**

I'm glad someone noted the color on the attack routes- thank Oak =D.

I've been mulling over this today, touching it up here and there. I'm currently figuring out a new font for the terit names and trying to decide on colors for the terits. I'm not sure I can make the orange/red/yellow thing work because they will undoubtedly run pretty close together. Ideas anyone?

The terit name font will be a lot more readable/less harsh once it's done, as this is a concern multiple individuals have pressed on.

Regarding map size: I will be making the entire image smaller. I've looked at it on a couple of screens and it would suck for users will smaller monitors the size it is. Plus, it looks better sized down somewhat.

Soon as I figure out those two issues I will post a new image- wish me luck :roll:

Posted: **Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:22 am**

Hi Igoasklucyl,

I just wanted to come in and congratulate you on the win for the competition. I have a few concerns of my own but I see there has been alot of comments made already concerning your map so I will wait until you update before I bombard you with my shit

Posted: **Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:07 pm**

gimil wrote:Hi Igoasklucyl,

I just wanted to come in and congratulate you on the win for the competition. I have a few concerns of my own but I see there has been alot of comments made already concerning your map so I will wait until you update before I bombard you with my shit

Thanks!

Posted: **Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:09 pm**

lgoasklucyl wrote:
gimil wrote:Hi Igoasklucyl,

I just wanted to come in and congratulate you on the win for the competition. I have a few concerns of my own but I see there has been alot of comments made already concerning your map so I will wait until you update before I bombard you with my shit

Thanks!

First update is up now- so tear it down

I would also ask in future that you post a new draft in the thread as well as updating first page. Makes it much easier to follow the process

Posted: **Sun Feb 01, 2009 3:56 am**

some territory typos:
"The Cayes" not "The Cayas"
"Izabal" not "Izabel"
"Tegucigalpa" not Tegucigapla"
We're changing Alajuela to "San Jose"

It needs to be a bit more clear that Usulutan doesn't border Chinandega.
The managua title obscures its eastern border.

I miss the inset box for the small map, and the region names are gone! :-s

Posted: **Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:38 am**

1) there is a strip of land connecting Guanacaste and Puntarenes that does not have a border on it. I do not know if the strip of land is purposely there or not, but its there
2) Typo: Alejuela, not Anejuela. Course of your changing it then thats not important

3) Some areas of the map are pixelated

all I have time to comment on right now. Looking great!

Posted: **Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:58 pm**

Version 3:

Click image to enlarge.

Done in this version:
-Added the continent names back to the mini-map for discussion. It looks a little busy, but I don't think it's too bad.

-Fixed all the typos Oaky pointed out.

-Changed 'Attack Route' from white to black font. Contemplating making it a color instead, up for debate.

-Fixed the Guanacaste border. Turns out it is a peninsula that runs close the the land. I chopped a bunch off to make it more readable.

Have to fix:
-Chop a little off the border between Usultan and Chinandega to make it easier to see there's no connection.

Need comments on:
-The colors. I like the scheme but am not 100% on the order.
-The mini-map. Both the cont. names being included and the box being/not being there. Last round a lot of people hated on it, but now Oaky misses it. Debate! :lol:

Posted: **Sun Feb 01, 2009 2:04 pm**

Colors look good, but I would like to see you flip the colors of Panama and Costa Rica - it's a bit hard for me to tell the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica right now, being colorblind.

I preferred the minimap in a box, but not necessarily the box you had before. Just something to separate it from the water around it. And you should definitely keep the names.

One minor quibble: the attack routes are bit a wobbly in places, as if you hand drew the dots. It might be better if you create a brush for the dots and then make a path where you want the route to go, and stroke the path with that brush. Also, the San Jose territory label comes a bit close to the attack route next to it.

Posted: **Sun Feb 01, 2009 2:07 pm**

ZeakCytho wrote:Colors look good, but I would like to see you flip the colors of Panama and Costa Rica - it's a bit hard for me to tell the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica right now, being colorblind.

Makes sense. I'm colorblindish too- but with blue/green/grayish colors so I know where you're coming from. There's a few maps on the site that are really hard for me to read, so it can be changed

Only problem I see with this would be two green being next to one another, might be hard to distinguish.

ZeakCytho wrote:I preferred the minimap in a box, but not necessarily the box you had before. Just something to separate it from the water around it. And you should definitely keep the names.

I'll try to figure out a box to use. Maybe I'll make an entirely different bg instead of the blue box and separate it entirely.

ZeakCytho wrote:One minor quibble: the attack routes are bit a wobbly in places, as if you hand drew the dots. It might be better if you create a brush for the dots and then make a path where you want the route to go, and stroke the path with that brush. Also, the San Jose territory label comes a bit close to the attack route next to it.

Easy fix. I'm on a Wacom tablet now so I can make finely tuned attack routes. Easy peazy.

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:49 am**

maritovw wrote:- XELA is like a short name for XELAJÚ, which is the real name of the city.. i think you should change the name to XELAJÚ

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:27 am**

maritovw wrote:
maritovw wrote:- XELA is like a short name for XELAJÚ, which is the real name of the city.. i think you should change the name to XELAJÚ

Apologies for missing that last update- it will be in the next one!

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2009 11:30 pm**

congrats on winning the competition

Conquer Club

Central America [Quenched]

Central America [Quenched]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D] V2 up!!

Re: Central America [D] V2 up!!

Re: Central America [D] V3 up!!

Re: Central America [D] V3 up!!

Re: Central America [D] V3 up!!

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D]

Re: Central America [D] V3 up!!