The Balkan Peninsula [D] (v14 pg. 1&10) April 5

[ZeakCytho]

The Balkan Peninsula
There's been no attempt at making a map of this region of the world for CC before, or at least, none that I know of. So here's a solution to that problem.


Current Version:
Version 13 (Large)

Click image to enlarge.

Required Info:
1. The number of territories currently on the map: 52 + 2 neutral
2. The number of continents: 11 (+1)
3. Gameplay oddities: Kosovo, part of the Serbia continent, is worth +1 if held on its own and starts neutral. Both territories in Bosnia are coded as starting positions (for different players)

Old Versions:

show

I'd like to thank qwert and Yamakasi for helping me determine some territory names via PM.

[the.killing.44]

I was just working on a draft . Ah, well. I really like the look of this so far. It's 'Czech' not 'Czeck,' though. I would also take out the (letters) in the minimap and make the list have glow — it looks very chaotic atm.

Nicely done,
.44

[ZeakCytho]

I was just working on a draft . Ah, well. I really like the look of this so far. It's 'Czech' not 'Czeck,' though. I would also take out the (letters) in the minimap and make the list have glow — it looks very chaotic atm.

Nicely done,
.44

Good catch on the Czech, I fixed it just now. Sorry about preempting your map - I'm sure there's another part of the world you can apply the style to. Out of curiosity, how did your territory groupings compare to mine?

For the minimap, I experimented with a number of ways and determined that the current way looks the least cluttered. There needs to be an association between the country names and their location somewhere on the map, and the minimap is the best place for it IMO, but it's too crowded to put the names on directly.

What do you mean by making the list have a glow? Instead of the stroke? I assume you mean have it glow with the color of the country? From personal experience, this is very bad for colorblind players. The continent colors are rather similar, which is fine gameplay-wise because there's a minimap, but just having a glow around the name would not be enough for me to be able to associate the country with its location.

[The Neon Peon]

Good. Nice graphics. Might consider making the borders between territories/continents thinner. Looks a little odd in Greece where there are many islands.

Nice texture or color pattern you have going on the map. Makes it much more pleasant to look at.

The abbreviations of the continents might be more of the first letters of the country's name rather than the first letters of the alphabet.

I love how you kept in the countries around the Baltic still visible, yet in a gray tone. They look really nice.

I also love the title. It is simple and small, but it has a nice feel to it.

[edbeard]

I agree with dropping the letters on the mini-map. I would just replace the letters on the legend portion with the bonus numbers. On the mini-map just put the bonus number


I'd be better if you had impassable borders in there.

let's see what you've got when you get up to 42 territories

[the.killing.44]

Good catch on the Czech, I fixed it just now. Sorry about preempting your map - I'm sure there's another part of the world you can apply the style to. Out of curiosity, how did your territory groupings compare to mine?

Don't worry 'bout it — it was in the very first stages and yours looks great. Our groupings were very similar, however I had less and combined most of your small ones.

What do you mean by making the list have a glow? Instead of the stroke? I assume you mean have it glow with the color of the country? From personal experience, this is very bad for colorblind players. The continent colors are rather similar, which is fine gameplay-wise because there's a minimap, but just having a glow around the name would not be enough for me to be able to associate the country with its location.

Hmm, good point. I would look at Neon Peon's comment about the abbreviations, though. I agree with him on that.

.44

[ZeakCytho]

Good. Nice graphics. Might consider making the borders between territories/continents thinner. Looks a little odd in Greece where there are many islands.

Nice texture or color pattern you have going on the map. Makes it much more pleasant to look at.

The abbreviations of the continents might be more of the first letters of the country's name rather than the first letters of the alphabet.

I love how you kept in the countries around the Baltic still visible, yet in a gray tone. They look really nice.

I also love the title. It is simple and small, but it has a nice feel to it.

Thanks for the input! I like the thick continent borders on land, but I'll look into making it thinner for the Greek islands - you're right, it does look out of place.

The abbreviations would be hard to do via first letter, since a few places start with the same letters - Montenegro and Macedonia and Serbia and Slovenia. These are also some of the most crowded places - I'm not sure (Ma) would fit in Macedonia.

The title is simple, but it feels a bit too simple to me. I don't have any ideas on how to make it better, though, so it'll stay simple for now, until someone suggests something that I like.

Thanks for the color/texture/unplayable land comments, too!

I agree with dropping the letters on the mini-map. I would just replace the letters on the legend portion with the bonus numbers. On the mini-map just put the bonus number


I'd be better if you had impassable borders in there.

let's see what you've got when you get up to 42 territories

That could work - I'll substitute the letters for the bonus number for the next version

I'll add impassables as soon as there's a little discussion about where to put them. I think Tirana/Pelagonia would be one, and perhaps Shkoder/Kosovo, Vardar/Central Macedonia, Gorski Kotar/Sarajevo, Plovdiv/Pleven, Epirus/Thessaly, and Plovdiv/Thrace?

-Zeak

[ZeakCytho]

Here's version 2, with Ed's suggestion for the minimap implemented and the island border thickness reduced, and the typo in Czech fixed.

Click image to enlarge.

I'm not sure the legend still conveys which countries are which, though it's certainly more visually pleasing than before. I tried stroking them with the continent colors, but it didn't look very good. Any other thoughts on this?

Edit: I forgot to change the color of the new borders, they will be the same color as all the other borders in version 3.

[the.killing.44]

Much better … I think you'll still need some impassables in there though …
EDIT: well I realized it's kinda impossible to tell which bonus you're holding, seeing how multiple continents have the same # of extra men. Gotta change the text color.
EDIT II: the middle-left bonus worth +1 should be +2 — I know it's just 2 terts but they can be attacked by 8 different ones

.44

[edbeard]

I think that's fine how you have it but you could...

move the mini-map to where it says ITALY

under that you have the legend portion

put the whole thing in a rectangle section where the mini-map and legend have their own boxes.

colour the text

[ZeakCytho]

Much better … I think you'll still need some impassables in there though …

.44

See my comment above - I plan on adding them, I'd just like some discussion of where they should go first. I listed the places I think are appropriate two posts ago.

I think that's fine how you have it but you could...

move the mini-map to where it says ITALY

under that you have the legend portion

put the whole thing in a rectangle section where the mini-map and legend have their own boxes.

colour the text

In one of the versions I made before I had the minimap on a dark box like that - I don't think it looked very good. Take a look for yourself:

Click image to enlarge.

Though I didn't position it very well - it was just to test to see how the box would work (not very well, IMO).

The main problem with moving it up to Italy is that the area underneath the minimap becomes much more visible. It needs a box and background around it, and of what I've experimented with, these all look pretty bad. I think the positioning of the minimap is optimal right now, since it doesn't require any background to it.

What if I gave the list of countries a box and dark background and stroked them with their corresponding colors? I think I'll try that for v3.

Any thoughts on whether to include Crete, European Turkey, etc.?

[edbeard]

well I don't think either is particularly good in terms of mini-map placement. though version 2 is the better. I don't think it's a big deal to have it just like you have it there (non-coloured legend I mean).

[gho]

I would add european turkey and get rid of crete. It would be interesting if you had no impassables as you would have created a very open map, there aren't many open maps in CC.

[ZeakCytho]

I would add european turkey and get rid of crete. It would be interesting if you had no impassables as you would have created a very open map, there aren't many open maps in CC.

I think the gameplay would be pretty bad without any impassables - it would be almost impossible to hold some of the continents.

Thanks for your comments on Turkey/Crete. I'll wait for more people to speak up before deciding.

More on the minimap: look at version 3, below, and tell me what you think. The translucent beveled box probably won't stay, but how do you guys feel about positioning and the idea of boxes in that location? If I go with that style, I'll just need to decide how to make the boxes.

Click image to enlarge.

[edbeard]

why don't you try something else entirely

increase the size of the legend area. drop the minimap.

have it look like

Slovenia +1 [shape of continent]
Croatia +3 [shape of continent]
etc