'March Madness!' map

by **carlpgoodrich** on Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:44 pm

I am not sure if there is a thread where this belongs... If there is then can someone please tell me where to post it?

Anyways, I have an idea for a new map that I think would be a lot of fun. Consider a standard 64 team tournament bracket, where every spot for a team is a region. There are six rounds of a tournament, each with half as many teams as the last, and also one champion. Therefore there are 64+32+16+8+4+2+1=127 regions.

Here is an example of what I mean, although I doubt this would even qualify as a first sketch:

There are a lot of ways to set up the gameplay, but here is what I propose:
-Players begin only in the "First Round" (i.e. in the 64 regions at the far left and far right). everything else begins neutral, with more neutral troops in the higher rounds.
-Every region can two way attack its pair (what I mean is every game in a tournament is 1 v. 1, the regions that correspond to those two teams can attack each other).
-Every region can one way attack the adjacent region in the next round (this makes sense intuitively: both teams that play each other have the opportunity move up to the next round, so those two teams can attack the winner of that game)
-There does have to be some sort of way to move backwards, so I propose that any region can one way attack all the "First Round" regions directly below it. (So a "Third Round" region can attack four "First Round" regions, a "Fourth Round" region can attack 8 "First Round" regions, etc.)
-The game is won when a player holds the championship (maybe for two rounds?), or eliminates the competition.

The last concept regarding gameplay is bonuses. There is no good way to make regions that I can see. Instead, players can get a bonus for holding a region and all the regions leading up to it. (So, for example, holding the regions that correspond to two teams that play each other in the "First Round" and the winner of the game might get a bonus of 2. Holding a "Third Round" region and all that lead up to it might get a bonus of 8. etc.)

Since this is essentially a race to the Championship, there will be a lot of strategy regarding whether to send your troops backwards to build up bigger bonuses or march forward towards the championship. And since everyone's paths eventually collide, choosing when and how to make your move would be very important.

Comments? Critiques? Advise? If my descriptions were not clear, please let me know and I will try to show what I mean visually. I am of course open to any recommendations the community suggests, especially regarding the number of neutral troops on the higher round regions.

In terms of logistics, I would like to be involved in the creation of this map. However, I have absolutely no artistic ability and I am not very good at image design. I am willing to learn, but if someone wants to do it themselves that would probably be better.

I hope you all think this could be as fun as I do. I look forward to hearing from you.
-carlpgoodrich

by **natty dread** on Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:57 pm

The forum for map ideas is currently closed, but will be opened soon, in a day or two (I hope).

Anyway something like this has already been proposed, I don't think it ever moved past the drafting room... not enough support I guess.

I think the big challenge in a map like this would be theme: an abstract map without a theme is very hard to get through these days.

Take for example the hive map: I understand it started out as a simple hex grid, and it had considerable trouble until the maker developed the theme of bees and honeycombs for the map...

by **carlpgoodrich** on Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:57 pm

natty_dread wrote:I think the big challenge in a map like this would be theme: an abstract map without a theme is very hard to get through these days.

The theme was suggested in the title, but I guess I didn't make it clear

. March Madness refers to the NCAA basketball tournament, so I was thinking it could be basketball themed. We could even take an actual bracket from a recent year and give region names like "UNC_R3" or "Florida _R1". I'm from Syracuse, so I vote for 2003

. Artistically, there is a lot that can be done with this theme, and sports themes in general is something that I think is missing from CC.

by **RedBaron0** on Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:03 pm

Right, like natty said the space where this would normally go is in the construction zone, but it shouldn't be closed too much longer. There is actually a tournament bracket map in the Map recycling bin.(also in the construction zone)

Locked for now, and to be reopened and moved to it's proper forum upon the reopening of the Foundry.

by **carlpgoodrich** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:06 pm

Hi all, I posted an idea I had for a new map about a week ago in a different forum when the foundry was closed. When it reopened the thread got put here but was half way down the page so I dont think many people saw it

For those of you who didn't see it, I would like to start the thread over. (I hope this isn't a breech of CC etiquette)

As a sports fan, I have always wanted CC to have more sports related themes, and I think a really good map could be made from a March Madness bracket (essentially just a 64 team tournament bracket, where every spot for a team is a region). The theme would be college basketball (artistically, there is a lot that can be done with this, but alas I have no artistic ability :oops:

). Now, there are six rounds of a tournament, each with half as many teams as the last, and also one champion. Therefore there are 64+32+16+8+4+2+1=127 regions.

Here is an schematic of what I mean, although I doubt this would even qualify as a first sketch (please don't judge the map on this picture, it is just so everyone understands what I mean):

There are a lot of ways to set up the gameplay, but here is what I propose:
-Players begin only in the "First Round" (i.e. in the 64 regions at the far left and far right). everything else begins neutral, with more neutral troops in the higher rounds.
-Every region can two way attack its pair (what I mean is every game in a tournament is 1 v. 1, the regions that correspond to those two teams can attack each other).
-Every region can one way attack the adjacent region in the next round (this makes sense intuitively: both teams that play each other have the opportunity move up to the next round, so those two teams can attack the winner of that game)
-There does have to be some sort of way to move backwards, so I propose that any region can one way attack all the "First Round" regions directly below it. (So a "Third Round" region can attack four "First Round" regions, a "Fourth Round" region can attack 8 "First Round" regions, etc.)
-The game is won when a player holds the championship (maybe for two rounds?), or eliminates the competition.

The last concept regarding gameplay is bonuses. There is no good way to make regions that I can see. Instead, players can get a bonus for holding a region and all the regions leading up to it. (So, for example, holding the regions that correspond to two teams that play each other in the "First Round" and the winner of the game might get a bonus of 2. Holding a "Third Round" region and all that lead up to it might get a bonus of 8. etc.)

Since this is essentially a race to the Championship, there will be a lot of strategy regarding whether to send your troops backwards to build up bigger bonuses or march forward towards the championship. And since everyone's paths eventually collide, choosing when and how to make your move would be very important.

Comments? Critiques? Advise? If my descriptions were not clear, please let me know and I will try to show what I mean visually. I am of course open to any recommendations the community suggests, especially regarding the number of neutral troops on the higher round regions.

In terms of logistics, I would like to be involved in the creation of this map. However, I have absolutely no artistic ability and I am not very good at image design. I am willing to learn, but if someone wants to do it themselves that would probably be better.

I hope you all think this could be as fun as I do. I look forward to hearing from you.
-carlpgoodrich

by **natty dread** on Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:43 pm

Umm... making multiple threads just to get attention for your map idea isn't cool. The forum is crowded enough as it is.

As for the map:

Symmetrical maps have never been very popular. There needs to be some variation to the gameplay... I don't know what else to say. I just can't see the map being very interesting either by theme or by gameplay.

If you really want to pursue the idea though... Try to get someone who does graphics interested in your project, or start learning photoshop skills yourself. Worst that can happen, your map stalls, but you learn lots of useful skills for another project.