Conquer Club

The winner of the Capital Map Graphics Competition: thenobodies80's "Middle Ages"


Runners up:
Entry A: Castle World


Entry B: Kingdoms of Zarhn


---- Original post ---

Could it be? The felicific aroma or a substantial new gameplay update? Losing Conditions are here!

MrBenn wrote:Losing conditions (technically known as 'requirements') are a form of objective that you must continue to hold in order to avoid being eliminated. If your 'requirement' objective is taken from you, then you will be instantly eliminated from the game. (You can think of this as a 'capture the flag' scenario).

Your faithful CAs have thought long about how to commemorate this historic addition, and I am proud to announce the launching of our new Capital Map Graphics Competition. My fellow CAs and I have come up with a gameplay scheme based on capitals -- territories each player has to hold in order to stay in the game. To make it easy for you, we've done did all the delicate balancing and number crunching, and now it's your turn. Take this gameplay scheme, and immortalize it as Conquer Club's first required capital map.

Format

The main period for entries into this contest will be three weeks long, ending on Wednesday, November 10. The entries will, as usual, be anonymous, and so please PM your entries to me, Evil DIMwit, by then.

After three weeks, all the entries will be looked over by a committee of discerning CAs who will produce a shortlist of only the best few entries. The mapmakers, still anonymous, will get one week for comments and refinements before the maps are put to a general vote. Voting should last about another week, with possibly a final runoff round.

Map Specs

The gameplay is as follows: There are eight capitals on the map, that are separate regions from the geographical territories they're contained in. There are eight starting positions, each of which consists of one capital and the adjoining territory: The capital starts with 9 troops and the other territory starts with 3 (yes, we can have starting positions with multiple territories -- another XML feature that's never been used).* If at any point you don't hold a capital -- as soon as you have no capitals left -- you're eliminated from the game as if you have no territories left, and your remaining armies revert to neutral.



The gameplay scheme as is set above has to be followed. We can tweak bonuses and territories after the winner is crowned, but for now, in the interest of fairness, every map will have the same gameplay scheme. That's not to say it must have the same theme, location, or shape. As far as those go, creativity is encouraged. Capitals don't have to be capitals; they can be castles, or radio stations, or what have you. The map can take place anywhere and any time as long as it has the same territorial arrangement. However, for those who want something to trace over we do provide a standard theme:



Click image to enlarge.





Note that territories labeled with "2" start with 2 neutrals. This is to prevent high bonuses from being dropped on the first turn.

The Stakes

The overall winner will receive one year of premium membership, as well as an achievement medal and a mapmaking medal. The final runners-up will receive achievement medals for competing.

Good luck!

_____________
*Each capital is coded to start with 9 neutrals if no player gets it, but their adjacent territory isn't coded neutral. But you don't really need to know that for this competition.

I love the new XML guys... And I know you will use it well. But I urge you to really think out your map designs. I think this type of map BEGS for gridlock. So please use your imagination . Most players HATE gridlock... well at least Myself and my friends do. Looking forward to this competition!

Your gameplay scheme and your standard theme maps don't match. Specifically, Southern Europe has a starting neutral territory in the theme map but not in the scheme (which I thought was odd, since every other starting position is adjacent to one starting neutral).

Ffraid wrote:Your gameplay scheme and your standard theme maps don't match. Specifically, Southern Europe has a starting neutral territory in the theme map but not in the scheme (which I thought was odd, since every other starting position is adjacent to one starting neutral).

Yes, I missed a spot in the gameplay scheme. There should be a neutral on what corresponds to Northern Europe. It should be fixed now.

Evil DIMwit wrote:

Ffraid wrote:... Southern Europe has a starting neutral territory in the theme map...

Yes, I missed a spot in the gameplay scheme. There should be a neutral on what corresponds to Northern Europe. It should be fixed now.

Yes, sorry, by Southern Europe I meant the bonus region represented by the southern part of the continent of Europe (i.e. not the Scandinavian countries). I should have been more clear. Looks like it's all good now though.

I'd like to highlight this bit...

Creativity is encouraged

MrBenn wrote:I'd like to highlight this bit...

Creativity is encouraged

As in, you don't want a Classic Capitals?

Have you had many entries yet, Evil DIMwit?

I think you'd get more entries if it were a gameplay competition and not graphics.

I was considering attempting, but then I realized I'm awful with graphics. I think you'd get more entries if it were gameplay (aka don't force a map-style, allow anything that involves capitals).

Army of GOD wrote:I think you'd get more entries if it were a gameplay competition and not graphics.

I was considering attempting, but then I realized I'm awful with graphics. I think you'd get more entries if it were gameplay (aka don't force a map-style, allow anything that involves capitals).

Although the idea here is to get a finished map that makes it into Live Play

Army of GOD wrote:I think you'd get more entries if it were a gameplay competition and not graphics.

I was considering attempting, but then I realized I'm awful with graphics. I think you'd get more entries if it were gameplay (aka don't force a map-style, allow anything that involves capitals).

If you've got a gameplay idea, by all means please post it in the Melting Pot. There is certainly a lot of potential to the update that this contest never comes close to.

It's looking like we don't have a lot of entries yet, so I'm going to extend the competition for another week. The due date is now November 10. Make sure to send your entries to me, Evil DIMwit, in a clearly marked Private Message, by then.

i have zero graphics experience, except for putting a jack o' lantern over my head. but i do have long term map making aspirations and a clever idea for the contest. can i submit a rough design with an explanation and perhaps some color swatches?

squishyg wrote:i have zero graphics experience, except for putting a jack o' lantern over my head. but i do have long term map making aspirations and a clever idea for the contest. can i submit a rough design with an explanation and perhaps some color swatches?

Sure - why not?

Has anyone produced a skeleton XML file for this gameplay layout?

Not yet.

Working on it.

ender516 wrote:Working on it.

Err... until territories have been named and coordinate locations confirmed, this seems a little but futile

MrBenn wrote:

ender516 wrote:Working on it.

Err... until territories have been named and coordinate locations confirmed, this seems a little but futile

Arbitrary placeholder labels can be used and easily changed with global search-and-replace commands when the time is right.

The gameplay scheme as is set above has to be followed. We can tweak bonuses and territories after the winner is crowned, but for now, in the interest of fairness, every map will have the same gameplay scheme.

What exactly do you mean by that? Do you mean there can't be a victory objective, or a main assaulting territory, like P.A.F. in WWII Poland?

RedFlyingGolf wrote:

The gameplay scheme as is set above has to be followed. We can tweak bonuses and territories after the winner is crowned, but for now, in the interest of fairness, every map will have the same gameplay scheme.

What exactly do you mean by that? Do you mean there can't be a victory objective, or a main assaulting territory, like P.A.F. in WWII Poland?

No objectives, no new elements. There can't even be a single territory connection that's different from the contest scheme. In theory, if a group of players start up any one of the contest entries, they are playing the exact same game, and just seeing different pictures.

Evil DIMwit wrote:

RedFlyingGolf wrote:

The gameplay scheme as is set above has to be followed. We can tweak bonuses and territories after the winner is crowned, but for now, in the interest of fairness, every map will have the same gameplay scheme.

What exactly do you mean by that? Do you mean there can't be a victory objective, or a main assaulting territory, like P.A.F. in WWII Poland?

No objectives, no new elements. There can't even be a single territory connection that's different from the contest scheme. In theory, if a group of players start up any one of the contest entries, they are playing the exact same game, and just seeing different pictures.

Oh wow. I'm not entering then

If you've got an idea for something that's similar but with new gameplay features, you're welcome to take it to the Melting Pot for discussion.

Evil DIMwit wrote:If you've got an idea for something that's similar but with new gameplay features, you're welcome to take it to the Melting Pot for discussion.

Sounds like a plan

I presume that the starting positions have underlying neutrals, so that games with 3, 5, 6, and 7 players have the unused starting positions removed from the random drop.