South Africa: Boer War (Ready for Forging?)

[Stronger]

Please give me input. I've taken everyone's suggestions and put more time into graphics work, shadowing, etc. I've also changed the color scheme and provided a smaller version of the map (on page 2).

CURRENT VERSION



PREVIOUS VERSION (7.5)



PREVIOUS VERSION (6.0)



Thanks for everyone's help!

[sfhbballnut]

you are definatly getting there, but its still rough looking. You've got some sloppy coloring in the dark blue and red continents, it still looks a little cluttered, and some of the boundaries are unclear

[mibi]

how about some army circles.. looks like blue green and red armies would get totally lost here.

[KEYOGI]

There was no need to start a new thread, this one will likely be deleted by Andy anyway.

Your map looks nice, but there's still a lot of work to be done. As mibi pointed out, you'll definately need army shadows on this one. You've got some white dots and lines randomly in some of your territories. The text is quite difficult to read on the yellow territory and I can't even read it in the legend. Try using a black outline rather than white.

What's going on with De Aar? Is there a territory there? I can't see any territory border.

Why are your mountains hovering above the map?

Is the river in the dead territory really necessary? And the rivers on the actual map are quite thick, I think they'd benefit from going on a diet. They also seem to just drop off the edge of the map, not flow into the ocean as rivers do.

[Samus]

Actually, Andy can merge the threads and that's what I'm betting he does.

As soon as that happens, I'll comment on the gameplay.

[Skittles!]

Okay.
Colours. Change some
There's also under-colours underneath Cape Colony and Skeleton Coast.
Why are there different mountains?
The rivers hurt my eyes and why are there different textures for the oceans?

[Spockers]

my eyes hurt

[Crowley]

Call it Southern Africa, or something and take out the current South African flag.
Until then, you will not have my support.

[Nikita_2006]

Call it Southern Africa, or something and take out the current South African flag.
Until then, you will not have my support.

Hey Crowley talking to the enemy

[Crowley]

LOL, maybe

Before I found this site, I only played about 20 games of RISK on the actual boardgame, so one of the reasons I enjoy this site (and subscribed after a few days) is the great variety of maps.
I will support every new map, within reason of course, but I like the option of being able to play on all these cool maps - This is why I'm trying to make my own map too.

Variety is the spice of life!

[Stronger]

Awesome - please keep the comments coming.

So, far, I think these areas stick out for discussion/repair:

+ Colors (though everyone, I've discovered will disagree about this)
+ Shadowing of the mountains (will be fixed)
+ Rivers emptying into the sea (will be fixed)
+ Coloring/graphical issues (will be fixed)

+ "South Africa"
--To be honest, it seems like this is mostly/exclusively a problem for the resident South African. That is completely fair, but I am not inclined to change it based on one person's historical analysis, even if correct. I want to be as historically relevant as possible, but I want it to be good-looking and playable, more importantly. When I conceived of the map, I thought of modern south africa and looking at its roots and how it came together. The small bit of flag imagery is used to represent that a lot of this mass will be melded into South Africa, but, as of 1902, it looked like this. I would be glad to continue this discussion, too.

+ Appearance of rivers
--Please give me more comments on this-- some people dislike them, but some have thought they looked interesting. I like them, so I'd like to hear more before I change them.

+ Northern territory (river, trees, dessert, etc)
--Again, I've gotten multiple perspectives. Again, I like the imagery, but would be open to change. If you don't like it - why not?

+ Legend
--So, this still needs to be clearer and more readable right?

Please - the more people and comments the better. And post something if you like it, too - let me know. It seems like sometimes there is a strong encouragement to mostly comment improvements, which probably leads to overediting on some of these maps. Thanks for all the help!!!

[Contrickster]

Features - mountains, trees, rivers, bridges are too large and have too much detail. They distract from the layout of territories which during a game you want to focus on.

[Crowley]

Awesome - please keep the comments coming.

+ "South Africa"
--To be honest, it seems like this is mostly/exclusively a problem for the resident South African. That is completely fair, but I am not inclined to change it based on one person's historical analysis, even if correct. I want to be as historically relevant as possible, but I want it to be good-looking and playable, more importantly. When I conceived of the map, I thought of modern south africa and looking at its roots and how it came together. The small bit of flag imagery is used to represent that a lot of this mass will be melded into South Africa, but, as of 1902, it looked like this. I would be glad to continue this discussion, too.

Look, I'm not trying to be difficult. If you want to make a new map, I'm all for it. See my post above.
But, if you want to do one - do it right.
If you make a Boer War map, it should only include the current day South African borders, because it only played out inside the SA borders.

OK, so you're making a map of Southern Africa in the time of the Boer War? Great. Call it that.
Don't have a huge title proclaiming 'South Africa - Boer War 1899-1902' with the new SA flag in the background!

Actually, in 1902 'South Africa' did not exist. Only in 1910 was the Union of South Africa created - In 1902, the area now known as South Africa consisted of the Cape and Natal colonies, as well as the republics of Orange Free State and Transvaal.

These points have absolutely nothing to do with playability and is also not "one person's historical analysis" - it's fact - and I will dismiss your efforts as long as you keep it there.

[Ruben Cassar]

Awesome - please keep the comments coming.

+ "South Africa"
--To be honest, it seems like this is mostly/exclusively a problem for the resident South African. That is completely fair, but I am not inclined to change it based on one person's historical analysis, even if correct. I want to be as historically relevant as possible, but I want it to be good-looking and playable, more importantly. When I conceived of the map, I thought of modern south africa and looking at its roots and how it came together. The small bit of flag imagery is used to represent that a lot of this mass will be melded into South Africa, but, as of 1902, it looked like this. I would be glad to continue this discussion, too.

Look, I'm not trying to be difficult. If you want to make a new map, I'm all for it. See my post above.
But, if you want to do one - do it right.
If you make a Boer War map, it should only include the current day South African borders, because it only played out inside the SA borders.

OK, so you're making a map of Southern Africa in the time of the Boer War? Great. Call it that.
Don't have a huge title proclaiming 'South Africa - Boer War 1899-1902' with the new SA flag in the background!

Actually, in 1902 'South Africa' did not exist. Only in 1910 was the Union of South Africa created - In 1902, the area now known as South Africa consisted of the Cape and Natal colonies, as well as the republics of Orange Free State and Transvaal.

These points have absolutely nothing to do with playability and is also not "one person's historical analysis" - it's fact - and I will dismiss your efforts as long as you keep it there.

I do not know the facts but I assume that Crowley does since he lives there, so yes I agree with him, a map must be factual. Especially one with a theme set in a specific time like this one.

[cairnswk]

Crowley...i'm all for diversity of maps!

Please however, do it correctly of you're going to have historical perspective, as suggested by Ruben.

I think the overall colours are too bright. They do hurt the eyes.
The trees are good, but the rivers look like some cells out of a botanical class....Sorry.
I think the outline would look better if it was reduced in thickness.

Your title is starting to look great, but perhaps rather than all spears, use some rifles also.
The dark SOUTH AFRICA at the top of those letters doesn't appeal and I think maybe should be all the same tone.

And your legend could do with a lot more work.

Hope this encourages U to continue...it could be a good map with lots more effort.

[Lone.prophet]

not to be rude but i looks like big MESS

[Spockers]

Sorry but this map is visually just awful.

The colours are horrible, it looks messy and I can barely make out the countries in the big version let alone the small one.

[Teya]

The dead territory should be that... dead. No trees, no river. Just a neutral colour.
Your rivers really are too thick.
In the legend you have no space between madagascar and its bonus of 2.
As other people have said. This map really is just a big mess.

[luckiekevin]

this is far from forging. The colors don't work and it's hard to look at the words. Soften it a bit. I think we can all be a bit more active in making suggestions maybe.

[luckiekevin]

some suggestions

the shading/3D effect of the colors of the countries might look better if they were shaded with dark highlights instead of light ones.

There needs to be more contrast between the text and the colors of the countries.

The color of the rivers is a bit ugly. Maybe try darkening them a bit and they can also be thinner.

[Welshy]

Colours.. play around with sandy, terecottas, greens (not Lumi green) .... and yes take out the modern flag ..... all in all a good adea... good luck cant wait for the Zulu Wars next..... "stop chucking those bloody spears!"

[Stronger]

Current Version (7.5)



Changes:
+ Clearer titles and legend
+ Removed northern river
+ Darkened/narrowed rivers
+ Shrank bridges
+ Improved coloring/graphics

Some of the above comments were just rude or idiodic. This is certainly not a total mess and its probably more detailed and playable than some of the older basic maps on this site.

But, I appreciate the constructive comments - please give me more input.

I will change the flag at some point in the next few versions.

[sfhbballnut]

great improvement, I don't like the grey borders, but the rivers looks great and the color scheme is much nicer

[AndyDufresne]

Psst, you've set your map back at least 15 months now asking for Final Forge!

Kidding, kidding. I hope I can find some time to give this map a proper look over.


--Andy

[Stronger]

Hahaha. Thanks for taking a look!

Here is the newest version (7.6)

Big



Small



This version features:
+ Improved graphics/lighting effects
+ Improved legend
+ Army dots
+ Better continent borders