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South Africa [29/1] [V1][P1/2]

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South Africa [29/1] [V1][P1/2]

Postby Iksarra on Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:07 pm

Map Name: South Africa
Mapmaker(s): Iksarra
Number of Territories: 58


Right, so, here is my next draft.

You'll see that this map is quite different in terms of colouring (it won't cause epileptic fits any more;)). I have also altered borders, names, and added two more territories as well as foreign borders (Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland). Provincial and national borders have not changed.

I am aware that the labels are somewhat unclear, especially in the small version of the map, but I will fix that in the next version, along with rivers and mountains. I have added a bonus-troop key with figures based on the formulae found in 'CC Bonus Map Calc' but of course this will likely change with the addition of the rivers and mountains and this, again, will be dealt with in the next version - I would really appreciate some advice on how to create mountains that look decent, I don't just want to draw and copy an upside-down v over and over.. :mrgreen:

For now, though, I have made a large map and a small map (which is just a rescaled version and needs to be redone for the sake of clarity).

In terms of unique gameplay, I thought that I'd play on one of the current issues that South Africa has a big problem with: illegal immigrants crossing the Zimbabwean border. This would affect the territory labelled 'Musina' and I thought to use the code that deducts troops each round.

I have another two ideas which capitalise on the 'if x territories are held, then y bonus troops are granted'

1) Golden Triangle: The player is required to hold Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban for a bonus. This bonus-system plays on the 'Golden Triangle' which is used in aviation, tourism and logistics as these 3 cities are the biggest in South Africa (in that order).

2) Capital Control: The player is required to hold Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Cape Town for a bonus. This plays on the fact that South Africa does actually have 3 capital cities. Pretoria is the executive capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and Cape Town is the legislative capital.


So, tell me what you think! :D

Map Image: Image


show: previous drafts


(I hope that I have posted this and edited the necessary details properly this time, sorry about that!)
Last edited by Iksarra on Sun Feb 03, 2013 1:06 pm, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: South Africa

Postby ManBungalow on Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:14 pm

Okay, cool.

First question is: what graphics software are you using?
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Re: South Africa

Postby Iksarra on Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:25 pm

Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10
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Re: South Africa

Postby Seamus76 on Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:56 pm

Nice first draft, I like idea. You'll have to work pretty hard from this point on but you have solid start.

I'm not familiar with that program, I use gimp, but if there is anything I can do to help just let me know.
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Re: South Africa

Postby Iksarra on Wed Jan 16, 2013 3:05 pm

Thanks, well, I'm a bit uncertain as to what I should next do. Like I said, this is the first time I've done this so I'm not sure
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Re: South Africa

Postby Seamus76 on Wed Jan 16, 2013 3:22 pm

Just sit tight and wait for the boys in blue, and the community, to guide your next steps.

Obviously you'll need to turn it into a proper map, fit for the site, so you can certainly start on your next update. Shore up a background, font, etc. The feedback will come, but in the meantime you can start thinking about any unique gameplay you'd like to add to make the map different and not just a regular map. Conditional borders, capitals, etc.
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Re: South Africa

Postby koontz1973 on Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:27 am

Iksarra, welcome to the foundry. Always nice to see new faces here. Everything you need to know about map making can be found here in the foundry handbook. You will also need to read this in the drafting room. Firstly, lets get the boring and bad bits out of the way, then we can move onto the map itself. You need to change the title of the thread so it read like this.
South Africa [17/1] V1 P1
Title Date Draft number Page of draft
This map is very close to the South Africa 1885 map we already have so you will need to make this map better and different in game play to that one radically. I am not sure so will ask my colleges later when one comes on, but I think Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10 is like paint which will not get a map made. But let me ask them first if they know the difference.
Now lets get to the map.
Some of the regions are very small and I doubt the army numbers will fit in.Image You can download these ones and try it out. That right now seems to be the biggest problem apart from the programme you are using. So when you do another draft, think about merging the regions together or fudging the borders a bit so you can fit the numbers in.

Best of luck

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Re: South Africa [17/1] V1 P1

Postby Iksarra on Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:01 am

Hi koontz,

Thanks for all of that, I have switched over to Photoshop Elements 10 so I am hoping now that I will be able to do this a lot easier. I have also altered the territorial borders so that all of the numbers fit.

Speaking of territories, in terms of the number thereof, is there an amount which I should aim for, and should the number be even?

I have also started some of the basic programming for this map but my focus at the moment is the map itself - still need to add mountains which I'm not sure how to do. The mountains in the maps Germany and Eurasia are sort of what I'm after, so if you could give me some advice on that I'd be very grateful.

On a final note, I am going away for the weekend and my activity on Conquer Club will thus be very limited, I am not abandoning haha
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Re: South Africa [17/1] V1 P1

Postby koontz1973 on Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:40 am

IK, first things first, forget programming. That will come a lot later. When I say a lot later, map making can take between 6-18 months so this is not something that is going to be done quickly. The 888s I posted, for the large map, the 888s need to go into the territ with the name or it has to be very clear. For the small 88 is OK but 888s are a must to be able to prove that it will be clear for players. Glad to see you have switched over to PS10. As long as a new draft comes in every month, you will be classed as active. :D I have no knowledge of PS so cannot help you their but will guide you though this part of the process. Go here and you will find golden numbers for the amount of regions. Do not worry about that now though but if you are not on one of these numbers, you will be asked to change it or add a neutral region.
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Re: South Africa [17/1] V1 P1

Postby Industrial Helix on Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:32 pm

Not a bad first draft. Though the graphics are a bit too neon for me.

I did the South Africa 1885 map a while back, but I support a modern South Africa map.. presuming you get those colors under control.
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Re: South Africa [17/1] V1 P1

Postby Iksarra on Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:21 am

Thanks for the support. I used the colours like that only for the very first draft. The newer map versions are much more standard and there is no more neon element. I played that map of yours a few times and quite enjoyed it (especially since I live in SA) and I thought it would be a good idea to add a modern version os South Africa to CC, like that which was done with Germany and France.

I have finished my second draft and will upload it later. I have some ideas for a 'different' gameplay that koontz mentioned which I will discuss then.
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South Africa [21/1] V2 P1

Postby Iksarra on Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:21 pm

Map Name: South Africa
Mapmaker(s): Iksarra
Number of Territories: 58

You'll see that this map is quite different in terms of colouring (it won't cause epileptic fits any more;)). Of course, I have altered borders, names and pretty much everything else, save the provincial, national and foreign borders.

I am aware that the labels are somewhat unclear, especially in the small version of the map, but I will fix that in the next version, along with rivers and mountains. I have added a bonus-troop key with figures based on the formulae found in 'CC Bonus Map Calc' but of course this will likely change with the addition of the rivers and mountains and this, again, will be dealt with in the next version.

For now, though, I have made a large map and a small map (which is just a rescaled version and needs to be redone for the sake of clarity).

In terms of unique gameplay, I thought that I'd play on one of the current issues that South Africa has a big problem with: illegal immigrants crossing the Zimbabwean border. This would affect the territory labelled 'Musina' and I thought to use the code that deducts troops each round.

I have another two ideas which capitalise on the 'if x territories are held, then y bonus troops are granted'

1) Golden Triangle: The player is required to hold Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban for a bonus. This bonus-system plays on the 'Golden Triangle' which is used in aviation, tourism and logistics as these 3 cities are the biggest in South Africa (in that order).

2) Capital Control: The player is required to hold Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Cape Town for a bonus. This plays on the fact that South Africa does actually have 3 capital cities. Pretoria is the executive capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and Cape Town is the legislative capital.


So, tell me what you think :)

Map Image:
Click image to enlarge.
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Re: South Africa [21/1] V2 P1

Postby koontz1973 on Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:49 pm

Iksarra, no need to start a new topic with each draft. I have asked for one of the others to merge this topic with the other one. In your first post, put the drafts into a spoiler.
Code: Select all
[spoiler=drafts][/spoiler]

Then just post the new draft in the first post and update the thread title. When you have done this, post the new draft as a new post with all changes you have made. Ask questions if you want people to look at anything specific.

That being said, this is a far better draft than the last one. I will take a closer look for you later when this has been merged.
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Re: South Africa [21/1] V2 P1

Postby Iksarra on Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:54 pm

Ah, my apologies, I will attend to this right away.
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Re: South Africa [21/1] V2 P1

Postby thenobodies80 on Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:30 pm

The two topics were similar so they have been [Merged].

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Re: South Africa [21/1] [V1][P1]

Postby koontz1973 on Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:31 am

Looking a lot better than the first draft.

A few things this time around to try and get this looking good. Fudge the borders a bit. You will need to fit in the 888s and the names for each territory. If the name goes out, that is OK but try to get all the names in. So along the coast, increase the size of SA so you can get at least half of the name in.
The texture is a bit blah. Try to find something that screams South Africa. Sea can use some love to. As we already have a SA map, I am trying to get you to do something interesting. Think game play. Why would anyone want to play this over the other SA map? Game play has to be the answer. We have hundreds of normal maps like this, so why play this one. Again game play is the answer. We could use some impassables abd maybe some history of SA as well.
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Re: South Africa [21/1] [V1][P1]

Postby The_Samurai on Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:02 am

I'm also living in South Africa, so a new map of the country is always most welcome.

My input won't be 'graphics' but I just thought to drop some random ideas about the map itself. All available for discussion:

- We have an interesting scenario with the Atlantic ocean (cold water) and indian ocean (warm water). You could bring the oceans on the map, with territories, boats, perhaps an area of turbulence between the 2 oceans (with regions becoming neutrals after each turn or losing troops?)
- We have the karoo which is hot and arid. How could this area be subdivided into regions where moving between them would be slower because of the hard condition ... for instance the whole area of the Karoo could be subdivided into 6 to 7 regions, but moving between these regions would be equivalent to Trench (only taking 1 region at a time would be possible). Would that be possible? It would definitely make the map very interesting.
- Then you could bring in the lesotho and swaziland, and somehow they could attack each other, as well as the cities of cape town, pretoria, johannesburg, durban and bloemfontein.
- The Drakensberg is an unique mountain and having a few territories on it which could bombard other regions of the country would be nice.
- Kruger Park could be represented with several territories, and players having troops on them would lose troops every turn because of the lions, ...

Just some ideas to make the map more interesting. If several of these ideas are taken on board, I would suggest to make the maps much bigger.

Cheers. Hope this is useful?

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Re: South Africa [21/1] [V1][P1]

Postby Iksarra on Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:36 am

Hey,

Firstly, koontz, I am working on impassables, I did mention that I did not yet have them in because I am still trying to find a way to create a good representation of mountains and so on, so it is coming :) and with regards to the names, like I said, I will redo them all as they are too small and are not very clear (especially those in the sea).

The texture is not good on this draft and it was not my intention; this draft was more to illustrate that all the 888s fit within the territory borders and of course that I had got rid of the neon.


Samurai, thanks for those ideas! They're brilliant!

So far, these are the ideas I would like to use:

1) I think we could use Lesotho as a firing location that can attack Ixopo, Ladysmith and Harrismith, protected from direct attack from these territories by the Drakensburg.

2) On the topic of bombardment, we could use the popular myth of the Flying Dutchman (yes, the very same that is seen in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) that is reported to be seen on the western coast of the country. The ghost ship could cause territories along the western coast to become neutral (like Port Nolloth, Lutzville and Saldanha for example) and, according to ocean lore, "the sight of this phantom ship is a portent of doom" so this could fit in very nicely.

3) I think I could also incorporate the fact that South Africa's navy has an Antarctic Expedition vessel (the SA Agulhas) which could be placed in the region where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, causing turbulence and troop loss etc like you suggested.

4) The Karoo: slow troop movement (trench warfare system) is a definite, if XML allows this.

5) In the North, I would still like to do the troop loss in Musina due to illegal immigrants crossing the Zimbabwean border. Not so long ago we had massive waves of xenophobic violence in which many were killed and this was caused by this problem.



There is one thing that I would like to keep constant though, and that is the provincial divisions because I want the map to be related to the 1885 one made by Industrial Helix so that the political, historical context can be maintained and compared.
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Re: South Africa [21/1] [V1][P1]

Postby Industrial Helix on Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:30 pm

I like the update, but you need to put some sort of glow on the territory names, especially the ones that are in the sea. causer I can't read them. Or just makr the color of the labels a lighter color
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Re: South Africa [21/1] [V1][P1]

Postby Iksarra on Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:40 pm

I have made a MASSIVE improvement to the msp. I only have Android internet access at the moment so I can't upload it yet but I promise it will be worth the wait. :P
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Re: South Africa [29/1] [V1][P1/2]

Postby Pirlo on Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:25 pm

nice map
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Re: South Africa [29/1] [V1][P1/2]

Postby koontz1973 on Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:18 am

[Moved]

It seems this map has not had an update in some time. Moved to ideas. If the mapmaker would like to continue the project, we will be more than happy to move it back once an update has been made.

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Re: South Africa [29/1] [V1][P1/2]

Postby Iksarra on Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:49 pm

Hi koontz,

There was an update on the first of this month but no comments were made at all. I have not made any updates thus far as I was waiting for a reply..
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Re: South Africa [29/1] [V1][P1/2]

Postby koontz1973 on Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:23 am

Iksarra, I know that things can be slow but it is up to you to get updates done within he month. I am sure you can think of things that need doing on your map. Also, get out their and publicise your map. You will notice some of the map makers like myself have made sigs just for this reason. If you are in a clan, get them to come along. Lots of ways to do it, but you need to do it.

The drafting room has had a lot of traffic over the last month, and without sounding brutal, maybe the map is not something people want to play. As you know, we already have a SA map, so a second one may not be what players are after. I would suggest one of two things for you now. 1, find a way to spice up you map, making it different from what we already have or 2, start fresh with a new idea. Not all ideas are good for now.
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