Conquer Club

Luxembourg [Quenched]

Care to peruse completed maps? Take a stroll through the Atlas.

Moderator: Cartographers

Forum rules
Please read the Community Guidelines before posting.

Re: Luxembourg - Vote in Poll - New Update on pages 1 and 6

Postby fireedud on Sun May 04, 2008 10:20 am

Ruben Cassar wrote:
fireedud wrote:In the legend you have written Luxembourg city and its surroundings, is surroundings what it will be called in the XML? If not, you may want to rename it.


Thanks but I am not an XML expert so I don't really know what you mean, but I will talk to Yeti about that when the time comes and if there's a problem we'll fix it.

I will worry about the XML later, probably the last thing after graphics and gameplay...let's get the idea approved first!


I mean in the game log, what will the continent be called? Will it be called Luxembourg city's surroundings?

Also the way you have it written in the minimap, it sounds like you have to own Luxembourg City in conjunction with its surroundings to get the +4.
me have no sig
Cook fireedud
 
Posts: 1704
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:06 pm

Re: Luxembourg - New Update on pages 1 and 6

Postby gimil on Mon May 05, 2008 10:08 pm

Image

A few points for the road:

1. The dead territory needs some kind of texture or something to break it up. The blocked color you have jsut now doesnt do it for me.

2. The country flags you have included dont really do any justice to anything the way htey currently are. My suggestion would be to remove entirly.
What do you know about map making, bitch?

natty_dread wrote:I was wrong


Top Score:2403
User avatar
Corporal 1st Class gimil
 
Posts: 8599
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: United Kingdom (Scotland)

Re: Luxembourg - New Update on pages 1 and 6

Postby Ruben Cassar on Tue May 06, 2008 4:44 am

gimil wrote:Image

A few points for the road:

1. The dead territory needs some kind of texture or something to break it up. The blocked color you have jsut now doesnt do it for me.

2. The country flags you have included dont really do any justice to anything the way htey currently are. My suggestion would be to remove entirly.


I am assuming with dead territory you mean the neighbouring states?

I did not add any texture to those states because I didn't want to attract attention to them. The focus is on Luxembourg. Wouldn't adding textures to neighbouring states make the map a bit confusing?
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - New Update on pages 1 and 6 [I]

Postby graulenst on Tue May 06, 2008 9:13 pm

The one thing i remember about luxembourg was that lux. city was on top of a mountain (large hill really) if there was some way to represent that i think this map would jump another level for me.

Like the idea and would love to have another small map to play on.
User avatar
Private graulenst
 
Posts: 273
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 2:53 am
Location: Salem, MA

Re: Luxembourg - New Update on pages 1 and 6 [I]

Postby oaktown on Tue May 06, 2008 9:36 pm

Two in the Main, Ruben? You've been busy lately!

As this is my first real look at this, I'm going to throw a lot at you - apologies if some of my comments have been covered.

I have two issues with the beveling between the regions, which I see has already been questioned. The first is that some of the territory borders that collide with the region borders bleed over into the beveling while others do not. The second issue is that I think a bevel or shadow looks best when you're trying to give the impression that something is three dimensional, which is not what you are trying to do here. If the borders were river valleys the bevel would make perfect sense, otherwise not. Plus, to me they look like impassables.

Color scheme: makes me think that this is Luxembourg in an ice age, when really Lux' has a marine climate with warm summers and relatively mild winters. If you incorporated some red in the region colors, it would nicely mirror the colors of the flag.

Bonuses: correct me if I'm wrong, but on a small map I think you need to be extra careful with the bonuses. In a two or three player game (which you'll have a lot of on a small, quick map), whoever goes first will most likely be just one territory away from capturing a +3 bonus, which will mean the game is all but over after round two if the bonus holds. Doodle is wildly popular, and I think is a good example of solid bonus assignment on a smallmap. The only three territory region is a +2, while the +3 regions are four- and five territory regions with three borders each.

The presence of three easy to capture, +3 bonuses also makes the Luxembourg city bonus moot. Why waste armies hitting a neutral for a +1 when I can hit one enemy territory and obtain a +3 region? I'd drop all of the three territory regions down to a +2, max.

And why is everybody beveling around the outside of their maps these days? This, India, etc. Makes it look like the entire country has sunk, which would be fine if this was a Holland map. ;)
User avatar
Captain oaktown
 
Posts: 4451
Joined: Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: majorcommand

Re: Luxembourg - New Update on pages 1 and 6 [I]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Wed May 07, 2008 3:26 am

oaktown wrote:Two in the Main, Ruben? You've been busy lately!

As this is my first real look at this, I'm going to throw a lot at you - apologies if some of my comments have been covered.

I have two issues with the beveling between the regions, which I see has already been questioned. The first is that some of the territory borders that collide with the region borders bleed over into the beveling while others do not. The second issue is that I think a bevel or shadow looks best when you're trying to give the impression that something is three dimensional, which is not what you are trying to do here. If the borders were river valleys the bevel would make perfect sense, otherwise not. Plus, to me they look like impassables.

Color scheme: makes me think that this is Luxembourg in an ice age, when really Lux' has a marine climate with warm summers and relatively mild winters. If you incorporated some red in the region colors, it would nicely mirror the colors of the flag.

Bonuses: correct me if I'm wrong, but on a small map I think you need to be extra careful with the bonuses. In a two or three player game (which you'll have a lot of on a small, quick map), whoever goes first will most likely be just one territory away from capturing a +3 bonus, which will mean the game is all but over after round two if the bonus holds. Doodle is wildly popular, and I think is a good example of solid bonus assignment on a smallmap. The only three territory region is a +2, while the +3 regions are four- and five territory regions with three borders each.

The presence of three easy to capture, +3 bonuses also makes the Luxembourg city bonus moot. Why waste armies hitting a neutral for a +1 when I can hit one enemy territory and obtain a +3 region? I'd drop all of the three territory regions down to a +2, max.

And why is everybody beveling around the outside of their maps these days? This, India, etc. Makes it look like the entire country has sunk, which would be fine if this was a Holland map. ;)


I have a third one in the map ideas, maybe I'll manage to quench one out of three someday. :)

The colour scheme and the bevelling are two aspects of this map which I really do not want to change. Changing those would mean changing the direction I wanted to give to this map from the start. I really would like to keep that format for this map. I am sure that some will like it while others won't, but as the map maker I would like to stick with those if I can make this one decision. I know that for some of you the blue colour scheme is associated with cold but I just find it pleasing on the eye, not necessarily associated with coldness.

About the bonuses...you are probably right on this issue now that I look closer at it. Perhaps I should drop all the 3 territory regions to +2. If I do that however, shouldn't I drop the 4 territory region to +3 as well?

Thanks for your comments.
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Vote in Poll - New Update on pages 1 and 6

Postby fireedud on Wed May 07, 2008 7:34 pm

fireedud wrote:
Ruben Cassar wrote:
fireedud wrote:In the legend you have written Luxembourg city and its surroundings, is surroundings what it will be called in the XML? If not, you may want to rename it.


Thanks but I am not an XML expert so I don't really know what you mean, but I will talk to Yeti about that when the time comes and if there's a problem we'll fix it.

I will worry about the XML later, probably the last thing after graphics and gameplay...let's get the idea approved first!


I mean in the game log, what will the continent be called? Will it be called Luxembourg city's surroundings?

Also the way you have it written in the minimap, it sounds like you have to own Luxembourg City in conjunction with its surroundings to get the +4.
me have no sig
Cook fireedud
 
Posts: 1704
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:06 pm

Re: Luxembourg - Vote in Poll - New Update on pages 1 and 6

Postby Ruben Cassar on Wed May 07, 2008 7:47 pm

fireedud wrote:I mean in the game log, what will the continent be called? Will it be called Luxembourg city's surroundings?


I don't know yet. If it's such a problem I can always resort to calling that region Lëtzebuerg as it is referred to in Luxembourgish.

Actually the state is called Luxembourg (Grand Duchy of), the region is called Luxembourg and the city is called Luxembourg as well. Quite confusing...
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Vote in Poll - New Update on pages 1 and 6

Postby fireedud on Sat May 10, 2008 9:22 pm

Ruben Cassar wrote:
fireedud wrote:I mean in the game log, what will the continent be called? Will it be called Luxembourg city's surroundings?


I don't know yet. If it's such a problem I can always resort to calling that region Lëtzebuerg as it is referred to in Luxembourgish.

Actually the state is called Luxembourg (Grand Duchy of), the region is called Luxembourg and the city is called Luxembourg as well. Quite confusing...



Yes it is.
me have no sig
Cook fireedud
 
Posts: 1704
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:06 pm

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Mon May 12, 2008 9:43 am

Version 1.10 - New bonuses, region renamed to Lëtzebuerg, new title and minor graphical refinements
Click image to enlarge.
image


oaktown maybe you can let me know if you think the bonuses are right this time?
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby RjBeals on Mon May 12, 2008 9:56 am

Looks good to me Ruben. Have you considered adding anything to the non-playable map areas, instead of solid colors? No need, just thought I would add. I really like this map a lot. It will be a great speed game map!
Image
User avatar
Private RjBeals
 
Posts: 2506
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:17 pm
Location: South Carolina, USA

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Mon May 12, 2008 2:16 pm

RjBeals wrote:Looks good to me Ruben. Have you considered adding anything to the non-playable map areas, instead of solid colors? No need, just thought I would add. I really like this map a lot. It will be a great speed game map!


Yes, I considered it but I preferred to keep the focus on the playable area which is Luxembourg. The bordering states don't really matter so I did not want to detract from the attention on Luxembourg.

Thanks RJ. I am glad you like the map. Hope it will be fun to play on from a gameplay perspective as well.
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby RjBeals on Mon May 12, 2008 2:37 pm

Ruben Cassar wrote:Thanks RJ. I am glad you like the map. Hope it will be fun to play on from a gameplay perspective as well.


Honestly, I think gameplay looks great. Simple, Straightforward and Fun. In fact - I think this is ready for a sticky. The more I look, the more I would suggest keeping the solid colors on the background areas. The colors are soft enough and tie in perfectly with the tone of the map. Any kind of pattern would be too much. Your bonus amounts look good. Your territories are split out nicely. Gameplay looks really fun to me. I don't think there's much more I can comment on. Great work Ruben.
Image
User avatar
Private RjBeals
 
Posts: 2506
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:17 pm
Location: South Carolina, USA

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby ZeakCytho on Mon May 12, 2008 2:45 pm

Is it just me or is the bevel on Terres Rouges higher than on the other continents?

I think something more could be done with the flags in Belgium, Germany, and France. Even faded as they are they look like they were just thrown in. Maybe if you make them larger, fade them more, and put the country name inside them they'd look better? Or that could end up looking like total crap, in which case, I didn't suggest it :-$.

Hmm...you could set the flag to the background of each country, like the Great Lakes map, but I think that would make them look too busy/be too distracting...

I really don't know what else to suggest for the flags. Everything I can think of will look awful, but the current flags don't look very good either. Blah. Maybe you'll think of something :).
User avatar
Captain ZeakCytho
 
Posts: 1251
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:36 pm

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby Kaplowitz on Mon May 12, 2008 2:53 pm

I dont like the color of Terres Rouges, i think its too dark, making it hard to see the borders and texture (which is an awesome texture).

Looks great! :P ;)
Image
User avatar
Private 1st Class Kaplowitz
 
Posts: 3088
Joined: Tue May 01, 2007 5:11 pm

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Mon May 12, 2008 5:28 pm

ZeakCytho wrote:Is it just me or is the bevel on Terres Rouges higher than on the other continents?


No it's not. It's the same as the others.
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby gimil on Mon May 12, 2008 8:03 pm

From a gameplay point of view Letzebuerg could probably be pushed to a 4 its slightly bigger than the rest of te continents and its sits in the middle of the map making it horrible to defend.

For graphics im on the fence just now. Theres something putting me off while there is something that still pulls me in. Im not sure what so Ill leave commenting until I have something more constructive to say.
What do you know about map making, bitch?

natty_dread wrote:I was wrong


Top Score:2403
User avatar
Corporal 1st Class gimil
 
Posts: 8599
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: United Kingdom (Scotland)

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Tue May 13, 2008 4:17 am

gimil wrote:From a gameplay point of view Letzebuerg could probably be pushed to a 4 its slightly bigger than the rest of te continents and its sits in the middle of the map making it horrible to defend.

For graphics im on the fence just now. Theres something putting me off while there is something that still pulls me in. Im not sure what so Ill leave commenting until I have something more constructive to say.


The bonus for Lëtzebuerg was +4 before, but oaktown suggested that it should be reduced to +3 since this is a small map. Hence the change.
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby gimil on Tue May 13, 2008 4:30 am

Ruben Cassar wrote:
gimil wrote:From a gameplay point of view Letzebuerg could probably be pushed to a 4 its slightly bigger than the rest of te continents and its sits in the middle of the map making it horrible to defend.

For graphics im on the fence just now. Theres something putting me off while there is something that still pulls me in. Im not sure what so Ill leave commenting until I have something more constructive to say.


The bonus for Lëtzebuerg was +4 before, but oaktown suggested that it should be reduced to +3 since this is a small map. Hence the change.


hm I may have to disagree with him here, but hes teh expert ;)
What do you know about map making, bitch?

natty_dread wrote:I was wrong


Top Score:2403
User avatar
Corporal 1st Class gimil
 
Posts: 8599
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: United Kingdom (Scotland)

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Tue May 13, 2008 4:40 am

gimil wrote:
Ruben Cassar wrote:
gimil wrote:From a gameplay point of view Letzebuerg could probably be pushed to a 4 its slightly bigger than the rest of te continents and its sits in the middle of the map making it horrible to defend.

For graphics im on the fence just now. Theres something putting me off while there is something that still pulls me in. Im not sure what so Ill leave commenting until I have something more constructive to say.


The bonus for Lëtzebuerg was +4 before, but oaktown suggested that it should be reduced to +3 since this is a small map. Hence the change.


hm I may have to disagree with him here, but hes teh expert ;)


My initial reaction was to disagree as well but since we took down the other bonuses from +3 to +2 and they have 3 borders I think it makes sense to have Lëtzebuerg with a +3 bonus instead of +4. Don't forget the neutral Luxembourg City is close by and could be an easy target to expand the bonus as well.
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby oaktown on Tue May 13, 2008 11:52 pm

ultimately you can do what you prefer with the bonuses, as long as you're fairly consistent with how you weight them... you could double them all if you like, just don't double a couple of bonuses and leave the other players screwed!

I have no concerns with the gameplay... in fact I'll even stamp this.
Image

I do, however, have a general concern about the recent appearance in the Foundry of what I see to be several very similar maps. Seems like a number of mapmakers are giving us small-scale maps of geographic regions with a potentially limited audience... Luxembourg, St Lawrence, San Marino, Haiti, and Iceland in Final Forge. There is nothing particularly wrong with any of these maps - in fact I think Iceland looks spectacular - I just want to caution mapmakers that by selecting a little region and making a straightforward map we might be making redundant products. It remains to be seen just how much demand there is out there for 20-30 territory maps of regions that less than 1% of users have any connection with. So to make one of these maps popular you either have to come up with something remarkable in terms of gameplay or remarkable in terms of graphics.
User avatar
Captain oaktown
 
Posts: 4451
Joined: Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: majorcommand

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Wed May 14, 2008 5:27 am

oaktown wrote:ultimately you can do what you prefer with the bonuses, as long as you're fairly consistent with how you weight them... you could double them all if you like, just don't double a couple of bonuses and leave the other players screwed!

I have no concerns with the gameplay... in fact I'll even stamp this.
Image

I do, however, have a general concern about the recent appearance in the Foundry of what I see to be several very similar maps. Seems like a number of mapmakers are giving us small-scale maps of geographic regions with a potentially limited audience... Luxembourg, St Lawrence, San Marino, Haiti, and Iceland in Final Forge. There is nothing particularly wrong with any of these maps - in fact I think Iceland looks spectacular - I just want to caution mapmakers that by selecting a little region and making a straightforward map we might be making redundant products. It remains to be seen just how much demand there is out there for 20-30 territory maps of regions that less than 1% of users have any connection with. So to make one of these maps popular you either have to come up with something remarkable in terms of gameplay or remarkable in terms of graphics.


Thanks for the stamp oaktown. I think the bonuses are okay now.

About the recent trend in small maps...I can only speak about my two maps in the list; Luxembourg and San Marino. While Luxembourg is a small map (19 territories), San Marino is not a small map at all. It is a standard 36 territory map. Maybe you were misled because San Marino is a very small state but the map is of a standard size, suitable for 6 player games in fact. As regards Luxembourg's success, only time will tell I guess. I had run a poll at the start of the map process to gauge the interest for a small map and the majority of respondents opted for a small map, so I am hoping they will like playing on this one.
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I,Gp]

Postby oaktown on Wed May 14, 2008 8:34 am

My comment was not intended to say that any of these maps are bad... in fact there are a couple on that list that I really like. I was just noticing a trend, and the trend may be a reaction to all of the big, rather complicated maps we've been seeing lately. The challenge, as always, is coming up with something original - in terms of play, graphics, or concept - and as we're up to 80-something maps it's getting harder and harder to be original.

And you're correct - San Marino does look smaller than 36 territories! And Iceland isn't particularly small either, but both are smaller than Classic and fall into the general category that I've outlined.
User avatar
Captain oaktown
 
Posts: 4451
Joined: Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: majorcommand

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I,Gp]

Postby Ruben Cassar on Wed May 14, 2008 8:42 am

oaktown wrote:My comment was not intended to say that any of these maps are bad... in fact there are a couple on that list that I really like. I was just noticing a trend, and the trend may be a reaction to all of the big, rather complicated maps we've been seeing lately. The challenge, as always, is coming up with something original - in terms of play, graphics, or concept - and as we're up to 80-something maps it's getting harder and harder to be original.

And you're correct - San Marino does look smaller than 36 territories! And Iceland isn't particularly small either, but both are smaller than Classic and fall into the general category that I've outlined.


Yes I know. I did not misunderstand your original comment! ;) Of course you can't always be original but as long as a map is nice to play on it's okay for me.

However I consider San Marino and Iceland with 36 territories as standard maps, ideal for 6 player games. The small maps are the ones that have 18-24 territories like Luxembourg and Doodle Earth.
ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Colonel Ruben Cassar
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Civitas Invicta, Melita, Evropa

Re: Luxembourg - Map on pages 1 and 8 - Updated: 12.05.08 [I,Gp]

Postby zimmah on Wed May 14, 2008 10:08 am

don't you know luxembourg has a new flag?

Image
Click image to enlarge.
image
User avatar
Major zimmah
 
Posts: 1652
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:43 pm
Location: VDLL

PreviousNext

Return to The Atlas

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users