Conquer Club

Questions added at update 4:
Ok Just to show you where I am at. I did not accomplish everything I was hoping for but I am starting to forget what ideas I had.

So Looking for feedback on this new update and looking for anything else that needs to be put into the game play. And also looking for any suggestions on what I can do for a theme based on the little bit present. Also would you guys like to see castles or capitals added? Would you like to see some sort of goal put into it, and if so what would the goal be?


Original Post:
Hello All,

Ok I wanted to make this map back in May of '06 but did not have the skills at the time. So now I am reopening the topic and while I still am not a professional at photoshop I am going to give this a try.

Original Thread: http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=242&t=1591&start=0

Info:
There are currently 43 Territories on this map.
There are 6 Continents.
Currently the yellow lines represent the sea crossing attack routes. And the arrow from Delss to Sed is a one way attack route.

Feedback I am looking for:

-First: I am looking for any border changes, or attack routes that I should change. Or any general changes to the structure of any of the continents in any form.
-Second: Any barriers I should add in to reduce borders in an area.
-Third: Things I can do to improve the graphics. I am slowly getting use to photoshop, but I pick up on things fast when given a guide. I am using Photoshop CS3 if that matters.

And any other kind of feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Update to Version 4:

-Lines around the Continents thinned out.
-Sea lines changed to dots
-removed the one way attack
-added some sea connections between orange and red and red to purple
-added possible bonuses to the top after rethinking what I initially proposed
-added a short story thing to kinda of make up a theme
-moved the map down in the overall out set of it and traded the white boarder for a blue one
-added a river between part of purple and green to block a few territories creating less boarders




Update to version 3:
Changed the texture of the land and water.
Added a bevel to the borders and the water.
Darkened the colors a bit.
Changed title again.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn237/Blitzen09/highborn0010copy.jpg?t=1246670235

Update to version 2:
Changed name of map.
Changed a few boarders.
Changed the island sizes.
Turned the set of red islands into a massive island.
Added names to the Territories.

Version2:
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn237/Blitzen09/highborn0008.jpg?t=1246620002

Version 1:
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn237/Blitzen09/highborn0007.jpg?t=1246607614

Update:
Changed name of map.
Changed a few boarders.
Changed the island sizes.
Turned the set of red islands into a massive island.
Added names to the Territories.

Are these Isles a real place or from a book or just made up? A little explanation in the map would be helpful.

And for Islands... they only appear to have a coast and the rest is cut off the map. If they're gonna be islands then they should be surrounded by water I think.

Industrial Helix wrote:Are these Isles a real place or from a book or just made up? A little explanation in the map would be helpful.

And for Islands... they only appear to have a coast and the rest is cut off the map. If they're gonna be islands then they should be surrounded by water I think.

Yea I wasn't sure what to call them. As for the story behind it, that was in the original post which I included the link for, but I guess I will just copy it over into this thread as well. The map comes from a book series about "Elric of Melniboné" by Michael Moorcock. It is a map of the Young Kingdoms, but to avoid further risks of copyright issues I changed the name of the map from Young Kingdoms to the randomly generated one that it now has.

It is a fictional place, so no real world land marks to be based off it. You are right about the island thing, I was worried about that when I picked it.

Do you have any suggestions for a title?

Update 3:

Changed the texture of the land and water.
Added a bevel to the borders and the water.
Darkened the colors a bit.
Changed title again.

Ya know, now a days, there are plenty of maps that are just like cassic, medium and no other special properties. How about missions, or bombardment from one place. Now as for the impassables, there could be mountains, rivers whatever, but you can decide on it, overall, it is quite good, but try to work up some special properties

oh yeah, how do we know how much bonus we get from a continent, I don't believe it's there...

jleonnn wrote:Ya know, now a days, there are plenty of maps that are just like cassic, medium and no other special properties. How about missions, or bombardment from one place. Now as for the impassables, there could be mountains, rivers whatever, but you can decide on it, overall, it is quite good, but try to work up some special properties

Ya I could do that, maybe put some castles on it and have the Goal be to capture the castles. Or something of that nature. Any suggestions on a mission goal other then that? I like the idea but at the moment I can not think of anything that will not make this map look like all the others by time I get done. lol

Impassable I was thinking of adding in my next update, working on thinning down the boarder and working on the sea path lines.

jleonnn wrote:oh yeah, how do we know how much bonus we get from a continent, I don't believe it's there...

I have not decided on continent bonuses yet. I was mainly focusing on the graphics. But I just looked at it. Which made me figure out where at least one impassable should go lol need to stick some mountains or something between green and purple, to many boarders to defend on both for the number of territories.
Dark Brown: 6
Orange: 7
Red: 2 Taking off the sea route to the brown
Green: 4 Closing the southern border
Purple: 5
Light Brown: 3

How do those look?

Welcome to the fourndy HighBorn!

Your draft is good
It reminds me something, but i don't know what exactly..
Anyway, i think that graphic is good for now.
Start to place some impassable is a good idea (mountains and maybe a river), specially in the orange zone.
Do you want to add something else to the map (capitals, resources,etc) ?
what you have in your mind...a theme for the map?
In other word, i see a good starting point but the map now is a empy big land...
You started a not geographical map ( i think it's not a real place), but you have to find the way to let us enter in the world your going to represent or the map will be not enjoyable...try to work on this, first

Anyway, i see good starting point...and i think you will improve the map in the right way
Looking forward your next update

thenobodies80

thenobodies80 wrote:Welcome to the fourndy HighBorn!

Your draft is good
It reminds me something, but i don't know what exactly..
Anyway, i think that graphic is good for now.
Start to place some impassable is a good idea (mountains and maybe a river), specially in the orange zone.
Do you want to add something else to the map (capitals, resources,etc) ?
what you have in your mind...a theme for the map?
In other word, i see a good starting point but the map now is a empy big land...
You started a not geographical map ( i think it's not a real place), but you have to find the way to let us enter in the world your going to represent or the map will be not enjoyable...try to work on this, first

Anyway, i see good starting point...and i think you will improve the map in the right way
Looking forward your next update

thenobodies80

Thanks I would like to get my next update out before I answer to many of these questions as I have a lot being added, and they should be explained in that, hopefully before I hit the sack tonight that will be done.

As for the world I am bringing everyone into, it was originally off the book series that the map comes from, but I am not sure if I want to head into that and risk having the map stopped because of copyright issues or if I should just go ahead and continue to just work on creating a whole new story to go along with the map.

HighBorn wrote:but I am not sure if I want to head into that and risk having the map stopped because of copyright issues or if I should just go ahead and continue to just work on creating a whole new story to go along with the map.

Stay away from copyright issues, it is always the best choice.

thenobodies80 wrote:Welcome to the fourndy HighBorn!

Your draft is good
It reminds me something, but i don't know what exactly..
...

Hello thenobodies80... were you thinking of this map at lux delux gaming forum ?

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/111/armengia.jpg

luxCRUSADER wrote:

thenobodies80 wrote:Welcome to the fourndy HighBorn!

Your draft is good
It reminds me something, but i don't know what exactly..
...

Hello thenobodies80... were you thinking of this map at lux delux gaming forum ?

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/111/armengia.jpg

Oh dang that is close to what I have layout wise. But I assure you I did not copy off you if you click the link in my first post it shows where I started with this project back in '06.

HighBorn wrote:

luxCRUSADER wrote:

thenobodies80 wrote:Welcome to the fourndy HighBorn!

Your draft is good
It reminds me something, but i don't know what exactly..
...

Hello thenobodies80... were you thinking of this map at lux delux gaming forum ?

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/111/armengia.jpg

Oh dang that is close to what I have layout wise. But I assure you I did not copy off you if you click the link in my first post it shows where I started with this project back in '06.

OMG !! Don't worry about it m8 I don't want you to think that I'm mad at you or anything like that... First of all, that IS NOT my map... It is one that I love to play on and once I saw 'thenobodies80' question, I just wanted to help him with his "brain fart" for forgetting what he may have seen before. Heck, the Armengia map may not even be what 'thenobodies80' was thinking about ....

By the way, I LOVE what your doing with your map, because like I said, that style is very fun to play on... many private games were played with friends at lux Delux on that map !

Good Luck in future with your NICE map !!!

luxCRUSADER wrote:

HighBorn wrote:

luxCRUSADER wrote:

thenobodies80 wrote:Welcome to the fourndy HighBorn!

Your draft is good
It reminds me something, but i don't know what exactly..
...

Hello thenobodies80... were you thinking of this map at lux delux gaming forum ?

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/111/armengia.jpg

Oh dang that is close to what I have layout wise. But I assure you I did not copy off you if you click the link in my first post it shows where I started with this project back in '06.

OMG !! Don't worry about it m8 I don't want you to think that I'm mad at you or anything like that... First of all, that IS NOT my map... It is one that I love to play on and once I saw 'thenobodies80' question, I just wanted to help him with his "brain fart" for forgetting what he may have seen before. Heck, the Armengia map may not even be what 'thenobodies80' was thinking about ....

By the way, I LOVE what your doing with your map, because like I said, that style is very fun to play on... many private games were played with friends at lux Delux on that map !

Good Luck in future with your NICE map !!!

Thank you very much

Ok for anyone watching this thread it is taking me longer then expected to figure out what to do with the orange for the next update so should be soon tonight or tomorrow, possibly Wednesday at the latest.

Ok Just to show you where I am at. I did not accomplish everything I was hoping for but I am starting to forget what ideas I had.

So Looking for feedback on this new update and looking for anything else that needs to be put into the game play. And also looking for any suggestions on what I can do for a theme based on the little bit present. Also would you guys like to see castles or capitals added? Would you like to see some sort of goal put into it, and if so what would the goal be?

Update to Version 4:

-Lines around the Continents thinned out.
-Sea lines changed to dots
-removed the one way attack
-added some sea connections between orange and red and red to purple
-added possible bonuses to the top after rethinking what I initially proposed
-added a short story thing to kinda of make up a theme
-moved the map down in the overall out set of it and traded the white boarder for a blue one
-added a river between part of purple and green to block a few territories creating less boarders

I like this a lot, the bevel on the land is a little much, but it is ok.
So this is based on a book, you say?
Try to spice it up a bit more, with pictures or stuff that fit in. Whales in the ocean! Boats too!

nice work so far. Very smooth and clean. But... there's nothing stand out about this map. You've got a good start, now just add something special to it.. And for that, you've got to figure it out for yourself. You can ask the group for feedback or suggestions, but you've got to work on the map as if we are just a guide, but you've already chosen the path.

My first suggestion would be to look through dafont.com or a similar site, for some unique fonts. If you want to get good at design, you've got to learn typography. Download lots of fonts.

You've got some standard layer blends & filters. Try to lighten up the bevel. It's over-used nowadays.

You've got a lot of ocean/water area. Maybe add some graphics to that, or maybe at least name them?

But overall - nice work. Welcome to the foundry, after 4 years of waiting


(EDIT)
Check out this grungy tutorial. You may find that you like this effect.

viewtopic.php?f=127&t=76649

captainwalrus wrote:I like this a lot, the bevel on the land is a little much, but it is ok.
So this is based on a book, you say?
Try to spice it up a bit more, with pictures or stuff that fit in. Whales in the ocean! Boats too!

I added a couple boats in that last pic The bevel i am going to fix, wasn't sure if i could get away with it, does look nice though from my point of view, but now that i do more looking it is over used.

As for the book theme it was at the start a book theme but I have taken away from that aspect. The only thing that remains of that is the shape of the land, and even some of that is way off.

RjBeals wrote:nice work so far. Very smooth and clean. But... there's nothing stand out about this map. You've got a good start, now just add something special to it.. And for that, you've got to figure it out for yourself. You can ask the group for feedback or suggestions, but you've got to work on the map as if we are just a guide, but you've already chosen the path.

My first suggestion would be to look through dafont.com or a similar site, for some unique fonts. If you want to get good at design, you've got to learn typography. Download lots of fonts.

You've got some standard layer blends & filters. Try to lighten up the bevel. It's over-used nowadays.

You've got a lot of ocean/water area. Maybe add some graphics to that, or maybe at least name them?

But overall - nice work. Welcome to the foundry, after 4 years of waiting


(EDIT)
Check out this grungy tutorial. You may find that you like this effect.

viewtopic.php?f=127&t=76649

Thanks mate
Guess I can't get away with another classic style map. oh well I will look into the special features.

I will go check out the fonts thing after this post.

I like how open the water is with little clutter it keeps the map simple, but I will try the names once I figure some out, should not be to bad if i fade them.

I really like the grunge look, and you wrote a good tutorial. Has this been used a lot on other maps? Or is it rare to find them?

Thank you for the tips, I look forward to chatting with you again.

you surely can get away with another classic style map, and I hope youd do. I prefer them actually. When I say add something special to the map, I'm speaking graphics or theme - just something unique. Looks like you'll have the gameplay down soon. I was not speaking of XML game features.

If you like how the water looks, then keep it. It's your map - we're just here to guide & give feedback.. If enough people chime in about something, then you're best bet is either to listen to them, or have a good reason for not. Naming the lakes/oceans is not going make or break anything.

The grunge texture is nice, it's not done too much - but it's out there. Just make sure to not over do it. Very subtle is nice - you don't want it to interfere with armies or territ names. Good Luck -

Re: Gameplay

RJ is right I would think - no reason you cant have classic gameplay when you have a unique setting.

If you are tempted to add a little something gameplay-wise you may consider the boats - or some kind of decay somewhere (maybe on the boats) - or a capital or two - but, as RJ says, such extras, whilst interesting, aren't essential.

[Moved]

It would appear that development of this map has stalled. If the mapmaker wants to continue with the map, then one of the Foundry Moderators will be able to help put the thread back into the Foundry system, after an update has been made.

Sorry I got busy with other things, I will get back to it later. Sorry I didn't keep it going.