[Abandoned] - Conquer Mart!

[a.sub]

well, as a simpleton, i like it!

a few minor tweak like above and i think u could make this go far!

[lzrman]

Whoa, whoa, getting way ahead of yourself there. The Final Forge is a long way off, and it'd be false advertising to say it'll be quick to get there.

So, looking at your map, I would say it DOES have the things required for Advanced Idea, so get in touch with MrBenn about that. The map itself, however...

The graphics are passable for this stage, but you'll need to work on getting them better.
- The backdrop photos, while nice and simple, could be a bit more symbolic of the territory proper. In Home Electronics, that's the right idea, but in the entire "Homemaking" (the one with Hardware) section, that's vaguely similar to the entire department, but not to each.
- The borders are boring. I know you have a floorplan look to things a la Mall Directory, but the little blue lines are rather generic.

Gameplay could use a few tweaks.
- First and foremost, your overall setup is very similar to CC City Mogul. Whilst that map has a conquest-style play and ridiculous reinforcements, which I believe is difference enough, don't be surprised if you get comparisons.
- Region names, you don't have any. Right now it's Pick the Color, and a lot of people like referring to continents by an actual name instead of "The red one."
- Men's Wear is rather ridiculously big. See if you can come up with another territory.
- The Checkouts and the Washroom are both dead-end territories that don't connect to anything else. A lot of other maps have this, and they typically don't help the gameplay of a map. See if you can connect them up to a few other things.
- Jewelry is spelled that way, not jewellery.
- Your territory name locations alternate from above, to below, to the side, or sandwiching your army circle. Since this is a fictitious mall (I hope), switch some names around so that you can make where the title in comparison to the army circle, as the way it is right now is rather distracting.
- The Washroom, if it's a territory, is rather smushed in there and lacks an army circle. Giving it a little more space and justifying it as The Only One In The Place at the expense of the Restaurant would help.

Wow!

I outta get to work on this!!

-So you are saying have individual graphics for each respective square instead of using a whole image to encompass a group of them.
-Blue Connector Lines could yes use a revision.
- Men's Wear I could break up into accessories or men's casusal.
- Jewellry is spelled right
- I didn't plan on having washroom as a territory, I could just take it out, or branch it out and add a customer service desk ????!!??
- Territory Name vs Circle Placing, I would have to work on this wanting to keep everything at this scale (dept sizes) I'll have to move names around.
- I could sacrifice the washroom, giving the resturant bigger space, and then add that customer service in the white below. maybe connecting customer service to the checkouts

Thanks TaCktiX was looking for a critic like ya! =O

[shakeycat]

Lzrman is from Canada, and Jewellery is the British/Commonwealth spelling. Does Conquer Club have a policy to only use American spellings where possible?

[danfrank]

Lzrman is from Canada, and Jewellery is the British/Commonwealth spelling. Does Conquer Club have a policy to only use American spellings where possible?

Awesome.. Very nice on pointing out the origin of the spelling..

[lzrman]

I prefer to keep the original spelling, gives it some Uniqueness =O

[lzrman]

It's gonna take me at least a week to go through and implement tactic's suggestions and improvements.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

maybe the checkouts should connect to one more places?
because if somebody were to start with it, they could win

[the.killing.44]

maybe the checkouts should connect to one more places?
because if somebody were to start with it, they could win

Not true at all - for one, everyone has a chance to win, and a +1 bonus isn't gonna win a game. That said, you may want it to start neu.

.44

[MrBenn]

[Advanced Draft]


As far as the future of this map goes, I think that you should take stock of what Tacktix says, and implement much of what he suggested!

I've spent some time having a look at supermarket/shopping centre maps online, and I have to admit that most of them are fairly uninspiring! Essentially, I think the map is lacking a 'hook' that will make people want to play it... part of me thinks that a shopping-themed map could have so much more potential - you could have a 'Shopping List' objective, or have each player with a different list, or shoppers battling for bargains...

I'm not saying you need to implement all of these things, but at least have a think about them - only because my personal opinion is that you need something to lift it off the page

[lzrman]

[Advanced Draft]


As far as the future of this map goes, I think that you should take stock of what Tacktix says, and implement much of what he suggested!

I've spent some time having a look at supermarket/shopping centre maps online, and I have to admit that most of them are fairly uninspiring! Essentially, I think the map is lacking a 'hook' that will make people want to play it... part of me thinks that a shopping-themed map could have so much more potential - you could have a 'Shopping List' objective, or have each player with a different list, or shoppers battling for bargains...

I'm not saying you need to implement all of these things, but at least have a think about them - only because my personal opinion is that you need something to lift it off the page

Lift it off the page you say? and we aren't talking about a drop shadow are we *l*.

Thanks!

I was considering linking the checkouts to Resturant and possibly adding more.

[lzrman]

I need some suggestions for Department Names (Continent Names)...... so far its Department (COLOR) which isn't good.

Was thinking the following as Department Names (Continent Names)
Yellow = Wishlist
Pink = (Ladies)
Brown = Care and Seasonal
Burgundy = Hard Work
Blue = Life's Essentials
Purple = Personal Vanity
Red = Fashion
Teal = (Men's)
Checkouts = Customer Care

[a.sub]

I need some suggestions for Department Names (Continent Names)...... so far its Department (COLOR) which isn't good.

Was thinking the following as Department Names (Continent Names)
Yellow = Wishlist
Pink = (Ladies)
Brown = Care and Seasonal
Burgundy = Hard Work
Blue = Life's Essentials
Purple = Personal Vanity
Red = Fashion
Teal = (Men's)
Checkouts = Customer Care

i actually think ur continental names are fine
EXCEPT i have one question, why is "food" in the ladies section? its seems a bit oddly placed if u ask me, id make that lingere into say idk "towels"

great work!

[lzrman]

That is where I put it man, and I like food by ladies wear, maybe the ladies will learn to cook =P

[sailorseal]

I had never like these inside of a building maps but this one I think is great. Could you make the pinks a little more different and the blues a little more different.

[lzrman]

I had never like these inside of a building maps but this one I think is great. Could you make the pinks a little more different and the blues a little more different.

I will, thank you for the input.


Just an update on what I am currently working on....
1) Currently working on skinning every department with a unique image.
2) Moving the Resturant over left and creating a spot in the hugeness of men's wear and dividing that up to fit the resturant.
3) In the place of the Resturant I will have a "Gold" colored Customer Service Area.
4) Working on the Connections inbetween the departments and will Add a Link from Customer Service to Checkouts.
5) Updated the Circles and Department Names so the Circles are Underneath the Name of the Respective Area.

Here is what I have been working on as an update.

Click image to enlarge.

[a.sub]

That is where I put it man, and I like food by ladies wear, maybe the ladies will learn to cook =P

that is the greatest sexist quote i have ever heard!

[LED ZEPPELINER]

the hardware section doesn't have a background like all of the other sections

[lzrman]

the hardware section doesn't have a background like all of the other sections

Like I said, its a work in progress and I just uploaded a preview of what I am working on, so the project doesn't look like a stall =P!

[dscot399]

I really like the theme in this design. I would like to offer a suggestion for you to consider pertaining to the bonuses.

According to the current bonus structure Purple (+3) is the toughest bonus to get. Although there are only four regions in Purple, there are four connections to other colors making it more difficult to defend purple.

My suggestion would be to boost Purple to bonus level +4 AND put a second border (Bedding & Kitchen Wares) between the two +5 regions.

[a.sub]

also i think your two blues are a bit to similar, its easy to change but just thought id throw in my two cents.

[lzrman]

I really like the theme in this design. I would like to offer a suggestion for you to consider pertaining to the bonuses.

According to the current bonus structure Purple (+3) is the toughest bonus to get. Although there are only four regions in Purple, there are four connections to other colors making it more difficult to defend purple.

My suggestion would be to boost Purple to bonus level +4 AND put a second border (Bedding & Kitchen Wares) between the two +5 regions.

So you are saying connect Bedding & Kitchen wares?

I will increase the bonus !

[sailorseal]

I was also confused by which blue bonus goes with which blue. Could you darken one?

[lostatlimbo]

This map is definitely improving. A couple thoughts:

1) I don't know about the skins you've used - it makes it look cluttered. Have you considered using small icons instead? (i.e. solid colored backgrounds with cartoon-ish images - like a small soccer ball for Sports, baby bottle for Infants, bra for Lingerie, etc etc). I don't think you need one for every territory - just enough to give it the feel of browsing through aisles of products. I think this would be a big visual improvement.

2) The Restaurant seems out of place in the Men's Dept. Since it is right next to Customer Service, you could make it Gold and swap the bonus #s for the two (i.e. CS +2, Men's +1)

3) Regarding your 'blue lines' - how about using Shopping Carts to connect those territories instead? A shopping cart icon is universally recognizable and would better fit the theme of the map.

[a.sub]

i like the shopping cart idea

[lzrman]

Click image to enlarge.

Version 12
- Gonna be working on shopping cart connection's