[Official] Germany Revamp

[pepperonibread]

New update, I had some time now that exams are over:

Large:

Click image to enlarge.

Small:

Click image to enlarge.

Large w/ Army #'s:

Click image to enlarge.

Small w/ Army #'s:

Click image to enlarge.

Changes:
-Lightened the Preussen continent so the territory names are easier to see
-I now use bigimg tags in my updates, for yall stuck with little screens

To do:
-Small map problems?
-Write XML

[ZeakCytho]

Write the XML, then quenchquenchquenchquenchquench!

[sailorseal]

This Germany revamp is long awaited in my opinion, also using German colors and giving a overall nicer feel gets this map my vote...





If we were voting...

[pepperonibread]

This Germany revamp is long awaited in my opinion, also using German colors and giving a overall nicer feel gets this map my vote...





If we were voting...

Glad you like it... hopefully it won't be too much longer til it's playable.

[gimil]

Hi pep.

Small point today. On the small could you move Dresden army number down a px? It looks like it more or less touches the terr name.

Pep you should make more maps, you are by far one of our best.

[wrightfan123]

Pep, I love the revamp, it's going great, but I DO have a complaint. The bridge connecting Rostock and Rugen stands out WAY too much for my liking. Maybe you could make a low-key dotted line? Or at least a better bridge? Thanks.

-Wright

[pepperonibread]

Hi pep.

Small point today. On the small could you move Dresden army number down a px? It looks like it more or less touches the terr name.

Pep you should make more maps, you are by far one of our best.

Thanks gimil. Can do.
As for more maps, it'll be tough with my current schoolwork - but I am hoping to at least do a global warming revamp/touchup after this is done

Pep, I love the revamp, it's going great, but I DO have a complaint. The bridge connecting Rostock and Rugen stands out WAY too much for my liking. Maybe you could make a low-key dotted line? Or at least a better bridge? Thanks.

-Wright

Ok, sure. There were previously other bridges on the map over some of the rivers, but now that there's only one I agree that it looks somewhat out of place. I think I'll slim it down a bit.

[alster]

It's really confusing comparing the old map and the newest revamp version. There's a perfectly nice and good revamp version on page 1 / post 1 in this thread, a version that follows the original shapes. These are well-known and good shapes. Rehauling the map like this seems like a bad idea. No. I suggest going back to the revamp version on page 1 / post 1 and take it from there. This way, you may as well make a new Germany map instead of a revamp. Part of the game experience/feeling depends on the territorial shapes. The shapes in the original map has a pleasant feeling.

[The Neon Peon]

This may have been discussed before, but what is the point of having images in the background if the territory connections, names and army numbers render them incomprehensible?

[Arachnophobia]

It's really confusing comparing the old map and the newest revamp version. There's a perfectly nice and good revamp version on page 1 / post 1 in this thread, a version that follows the original shapes. These are well-known and good shapes. Rehauling the map like this seems like a bad idea. No. I suggest going back to the revamp version on page 1 / post 1 and take it from there. This way, you may as well make a new Germany map instead of a revamp. Part of the game experience/feeling depends on the territorial shapes. The shapes in the original map has a pleasant feeling.

There was a consensus that we wanted to add some more realism to the map. The old map's continents were largely random and had little to do with current states/cultural unities, and so where many of the territories. We realigned them so that we have: continents consisting of a 1,2 or 3 states and no state lies in 2 continents, the east-west split which is significant and more realistic impassables. Thats the reason there's so many shape changes.

And seriously, the old map wasnt good graphically, but the major flaws were with the names, shapes, continents and impassables. Atleast thats what the majority of the people who looked here thought.

[MrBenn]

Nice work pep

I think it was mentioned before about adding an additional mountain to each mountain range that overlaps the border of Germany itself, to reinforce the fact that you can't sneak round the edges of them

As far as XML work goes, I cannot stress how important it is going to be to keep the territories in the same order as in the original XML file. To this end, it would be helpful if you could put together a single master list that shows all the territory names and how the new ones map onto the old ones.

[yeti_c]

As far as XML work goes, I cannot stress how important it is going to be to keep the territories in the same order as in the original XML file. To this end, it would be helpful if you could put together a single master list that shows all the territory names and how the new ones map onto the old ones.

Concur.

C.

[Tisha]

This may have been discussed before, but what is the point of having images in the background if the territory connections, names and army numbers render them incomprehensible?

with the images in the background of the territories, the different font sizes, the borders drawn like that.. it makes the map very busy

[oaktown]

This may have been discussed before, but what is the point of having images in the background if the territory connections, names and army numbers render them incomprehensible?

with the images in the background of the territories, the different font sizes, the borders drawn like that.. it makes the map very busy

While I don't think the map is too busy (real life maps are busy) I agree with the first comment in that I can't tell what some of those background images are. The "watermark" images in the yellow and red regions are an absolute mystery to me, so if they're going to there I'd like them to be more pronounced.

[ZeakCytho]

I kind of like the watermark images as they are now. Any stronger and they'd make the image too busy, any less opaque and what's the point of them being there? I think you found a good balance

[Arachnophobia]

Lets get this one done ppl

[laci_mae]

Bump.

What's the hold-up? Pep, maybe changing the thread title would get a mod's attention.

LMR

[pepperonibread]

Bump.

What's the hold-up? Pep, maybe changing the thread title would get a mod's attention.

LMR

Sorry, been doing schoolwork. Whenever I get back to this (hopefully soon), there'll just be some small changes to deal with, as the map is in FF.

[laci_mae]

Hey. Didn't mean to direct that "What's the hold-up" at you. Just to the process in general. I do think (when you get time of course) that updating the title will draw some new attention.

Best,
Laci

[Arachnophobia]

any news bout this one?

[WidowMakers]

Hey Pep,

Just want to say this is a great revamp. MUCH better than the old.
Like the tweaks you made to keep the GP but make the map a better overall piece of art.

Good Job

WM

[beav77]

Though the revamp may be prettier artistically, it looks so much more complicated. Is it really necessary to make a map prettier if it's going to be an eyesore when it comes to playability? The original Germany map may have some flaws, but it is nice in that it is simple to see everything clearly. All the jagged lines, colors, new mountains etc. just serve to make the map appear more confusing. I personally prefer the original because of this...

[pepperonibread]

New update, complete with finished xml:

Large:

Click image to enlarge.

Small:



Large 88's XML Test:

Click image to enlarge.

Small 88's XML Test:



Large 888's XML Test:

Click image to enlarge.

Small 888's XML Test:



XML Link: http://h1.ripway.com/pepperonibread/Germany.xml

Changes:
-Scooched a couple mountains around.
-Darkened the coats of arms on the six continents. I think these are basically set - as whenever I bold them, there are complaints about the map being too busy, and whenever I dull the arms down, people say they're too hard to identify. It's more of an aesthetics thing anyway, looking at the Great Lakes map you can see the same effect with flags, and many of those are certainly not easy to see.
-Thinned down the bridge between Rugen and Rostock.
-Completed the XML. So those army # tests above are the real deal now, not just 88's that I pasted on. I posted the 888's tests as well.

To do:
-Fix 88's, if any are off-center or misplaced.
-Comments?

[the.killing.44]

Important things first (in order of importance)…

Large
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

Small
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Schwerin "S"

move co-ords a couple px left

Then the small but easily fixable ones…
Large
Heilbronn (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
Passau (L)
Small
Passau (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
I also suggest you move the Nürnberg numbers up right under the name, instead of the bottom of the territory — it looks like you have room.

Nice job
.44

[pepperonibread]

Important things first (in order of importance)…

Large
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

Small
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Schwerin "S"

move co-ords a couple px left

Then the small but easily fixable ones…
Large
Heilbronn (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
Passau (L)
Small
Passau (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
I also suggest you move the Nürnberg numbers up right under the name, instead of the bottom of the territory — it looks like you have room.

Nice job
.44

Thanks, I'll try to get to these soon. Some of them, like the Chemnitz number, are an especially tight fit, but I'll see what I can figure out.

Also, to anyone knowledgeable with XML's (yeti?): I need some help with adding umlauts to my code. I think it has something to do with Unicode, but I can't exactly remember. Any suggestions?