Boston Massacre v5 [02-09-2012]

by **jscutler** on Fri Dec 30, 2011 10:18 am

Like the suggestions. Here's a slightly larger legend.

by **Flapcake** on Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:12 am

it looks good to me, I like the simple gameplay, as many people on CC do, a taste for every one 8-)

I'm sure you will get some response/comments from the CA, but patience is a virtue here in the foundry

by **Industrial Helix** on Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:21 pm

I feel like the landmarks outght to yield some kind of bonus, maybe like +2 for 3 or even an auto deploy. And, some sort of explanation of the landmarks would be nice, what is the significance of North End?

by **jscutler** on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:49 am

I think that is explained in the legend, no?

by **Industrial Helix** on Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:47 pm

I see only that there's a victory condition for all 5 landmarks, no bonus, but I think some kind of bonus would be a cool addition.

by **thenobodies80** on Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:29 pm

[Moved]

It would appear that development of this map has stalled. Since the map has no stamps, I'm going to move it into the melting pot. If the mapmaker wants to continue with the map, then one of the Foundry Moderators will be able to help put the thread back into the Drafting Room, after an update has been made. ;-)

by **jscutler** on Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:12 pm

It hasn't stalled on my end. I've made all the suggestions that have been recommended. Waiting for next step.

by **Flapcake** on Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:28 pm

The lates updated map must be to find in the first post

thats where people look for new updates so they dont need to read every post to follow

(advatising) take a look on how I have created my first posts on my denmark or trensh map, the head subject must contain: date, pages, version and so on.

by **jscutler** on Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:10 am

Ok, thanks. Done

by **Flapcake** on Wed Feb 08, 2012 11:15 am

jscutler wrote:Ok, thanks. Done

Super duper, one more thing (importend) when you click "view your post" you see the head line of this topic, add to the text "Boston Massacre" date of update, where to find latest image, like this:

Example :idea:

Boston Massacre - v5 [02-08-12] Pg. 1/5 ( and you can add what your working on, gameplay/graphic/xml)

then people can strait away see your latest progress with out even enter your post, (like an advertising :mrgreen:

)

Flap

by **thenobodies80** on Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:39 pm

jscutler wrote:It hasn't stalled on my end. I've made all the suggestions that have been recommended. Waiting for next step.

I moved it because the latest update was more than 1 month old.

I think you should try to show us that your graphics skill is up to the foundry standards, not asking you to produce final nice graphics, but just ensure you know how to do things.
We decided to ask to all first time mapmakers to show their graphics skill to not have them (and us) to spend months on a project to discover too late that the mapmaker needs more practice.

Anyway, moved back to the drafting room

Now show us what you're able to do.
Nobodies

by **jscutler** on Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:19 pm

Thanks for moving it back.

I've worked on the graphics quite a bit. I think the most up to date version is pretty good, no?.

by **Flapcake** on Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:05 pm

jscutler wrote:Thanks for moving it back.

I've worked on the graphics quite a bit. I think the most up to date version is pretty good, no?.

not worst seen, im sure ohter will give some advice on graphics and gameplay.

one last thing, still your head line for the post, insert on wich page last image are shown EG. "pg. 1/27" tells that your lates image are found on first page and on 27. 8-)

by **natty dread** on Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:13 pm

Ok, so why is the map's name Boston Massacre?

by **jscutler** on Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:03 am

Good question, thanks. Aside from the obvious naming fun, the map is intended to be a battle for modern-day Boston with a nod to the historic Boston Massacre. It could be called simply "Boston" but I think this adds another element that makes it more compelling.

by **thenobodies80** on Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:07 am

jscutler wrote:I think the most up to date version is pretty good, no?.

It depends, if that result it's the best you can do...the answer is, unfortunately, no....you need more practice with the graphics software you are using. Instead, if you can do much, but much better....the answer is...yes for now it could be good.

Nobodies

by **jscutler** on Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:10 am

I like the graphics the way they are. (and I am plenty practiced at Photoshop) If others don't agree then I guess this project isn't worth continuing.

by **koontz1973** on Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:29 am

jscutler wrote:I like the graphics the way they are. (and I am plenty practiced at Photoshop) If others don't agree then I guess this project isn't worth continuing.

It is not that the graphics are bad for a first time map maker but there is a lot wrong with it and will need to be sorted before it goes further. Here are a few points to start with....

Your bridges are the same jpeg just turned at different angles. Any bridge that gets moved needs to have a different look so you see different parts of it.
Your army circles are not needed. remove them.
Your texture is everywhere. Change it for different bonus regions.
The colours for each region is overlapping and not in a smooth way.
Your pictures, where did you get them from. Are they free to use?
Territ font is bloody ordinary. The title font is nice, try and see if you can use that for the territs.
Lose the bump map for each territ. It looks like you foundout how to do it and decicded to over do it. Less is more.
Sea route lines need to be redone. make them finer.

Believe me, there is a lot more to do, now it is up to you to see if you can take this and improve on it. I would really like to see if you can bring this of as it looks like a nice map.

good luck. Believe me, when I say you will need it and it is better to get these things done now than later.

by **natty dread** on Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:13 am

jscutler wrote:I like the graphics the way they are. (and I am plenty practiced at Photoshop) If others don't agree then I guess this project isn't worth continuing.

You do realize this is only the drafting room, the first forum of the foundry? Maps aren't just made like that here, so that you submit a map, and then it's either approved or rejected. You have to work for your map for months, receive feedback and criticism and address them, and when everything is good and ready, it goes to play. It's a long-term project, not something you do in a day or two.

And, I'm sorry, but your current graphics are not up to standards. I think a complete redraw is (eventually) going to be necessary for this to become acceptable. If you're not willing to work to improve your skills in graphics, you won't succeed at this.

Firstly, I'd strongly suggest changing the title to just Boston - since the map is not about Boston Massacre, which apparently is a historical event, the name is misleading. It's kind of like I made a map of today's Finland and called it the Winter War.

Now, as for the graphics... the land shape is too simplistic, it looks shoddily drawn, and doesn't look like an actual coastline. This is one reason why I think you'll have to redraw the graphics, to get the land shape looking more "real". Try to find an accurate map of the area, one that shows the coastline accurately, then trace it accurately and don't just "approximate" it.

The region borders are, I'm sorry to say, awful. I think you're going to need to get rid of these and figure out something that works better.

Koontz gives some good advice too, I only disagree with two points:

koontz1973 wrote:Your texture is everywhere. Change it for different bonus regions.

I see no reason why you should have different textures for different bonus areas. That would just make the whole map look messy and inconsistent. The texture you have isn't very good though, I suggest looking for a better one.

koontz1973 wrote:Territ font is bloody ordinary. The title font is nice, try and see if you can use that for the territs.

The region font should be ordinary. It should be a plain, easily-readable font. Fancier fonts are better saved for titles and such where readability isn't that much of an issue.

Anyway, looking forward to see the next update of this map. Let's see you take this map to the next level!

by **koontz1973** on Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:21 am

natty dread wrote:
koontz1973 wrote:Your texture is everywhere. Change it for different bonus regions.

I see no reason why you should have different textures for different bonus areas. That would just make the whole map look messy and inconsistent. The texture you have isn't very good though, I suggest looking for a better one.

And having the same texture over the whole map looks lazy. Not saying a completely different texture but a variation on a theme would be nice.
koontz1973 wrote:Territ font is bloody ordinary. The title font is nice, try and see if you can use that for the territs.

The region font should be ordinary. It should be a plain, easily-readable font. Fancier fonts are better saved for titles and such where readability isn't that much of an issue.

Region fonts that are plain are OK but this map has lots of room for something a tad more fancy and a map that has a historical feel to it could maybe use a font that looks older to bring in the history element of the theme.

by **natty dread** on Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:32 am

koontz1973 wrote:And having the same texture over the whole map looks lazy. Not saying a completely different texture but a variation on a theme would be nice.

Completely untrue. Just because it's something you prefer to do doesn't mean it's something you should prescribe for everyone. Having different textures / patterns for different areas may work for some special applications, like Patch Wars, where it's appropriate for the theme. But for most maps it will just look out of place and inconsistent.

koontz1973 wrote:Region fonts that are plain are OK but this map has lots of room for something a tad more fancy and a map that has a historical feel to it could maybe use a font that looks older to bring in the history element of the theme.

It's not about "room"... if you have lots of text in a fancy font it just becomes difficult to read, hurts the eyes. When there's only a few words, like in a title, ornamental fonts are fine, but when there's lots of text, then you need a text font.

To be fair, the font in the title is also pretty much a text font, so it could probably be used for territory labels with hinting enabled.

by **jscutler** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:36 pm

I think the graphics are more than satisfactory for this stage in the process. Please advance this map and I will continue to tweak and improve it.

by **Bruceswar** on Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:33 pm

jscutler wrote:I think the graphics are more than satisfactory for this stage in the process. Please advance this map and I will continue to tweak and improve it.

You should keep working on it regardless of where it is in the foundry. It is your map to make and improve. Do not let where it is in the foundry slow you down.

by **natty dread** on Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:27 am

^ what he said. There's lots of feedback given to you in the last couple of posts, why not address those?

by **jscutler** on Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:25 am

I've done about a dozen revisions already. I think I've been pretty open to suggestions. Changing fonts to something less readable is not really a helpful suggestion in my opinion. In any case, this has gone on much too long. Please close this thread down, I'm not going to put any more effort into this given the response.