Sand Mandala- New (Important) Question!!!!! POLL !! =D

[lgoasklucyl]

Okay so.. I work as a photographer for a University Paper and recently photographed Tibetan Monks creating what is known as a 'Sand Mandala'. It's a pretty intricate process that takes a few weeks to complete and in the end looks like something along the lines of this:



If you can't read the explanations, see here:
http://www.paullevalley.com/school/03c-pic-mandala.jpg
I figured breaking it up into what each area actually represents/the overall layout could make for some interesting and unique gameplay (something veering towards 8 Thoughts, but with more variety in attack directions and whatnot. I would be willing to tackle the graphics myself if enough people showed interest. Figured it better to propose it first, though, as even a rough draft could be pretty time consuming with that much detail. Let me know what you think and if enough people like it I'll hop on a rough draft to try and get more opinions. I know it's a load of work, but I'm pretty sure I understand gfx concepts enough to turn out a great product if given a long time to work on it. I'm on winter break starting tomorrow afternoon until the 20th of January, so it'd be prime time to get it up and running.

My defense (for the sake of anyone reading) of creation of this map:
-Interesting gameplay- it's not straightforward geographical or anything we've seen, and can prove for interesting connections/gameplay.
-Interesting looks- that goes without saying. it will be original and SO much can go into it.
-Very deep concept- with all the sections representing something spiritually, on top of the creation and destruction of mandalas I feel interesting terts/gameplay could ensue.
-Yatta yatta.

Thanks!


(New (Important!) Question!):
Okay- the problem I'm feeling I may face is the religious aspect of a Sand Mandala. It features pieces that represent the five Dhyani Buddha I'm not sure how individuals feel about this- would it be a problem to feature such things on a CC map? I'm not sure how religious folk would feel about it. Does anyone have opinions/practice a religion that may be able to shed light on such a subject?

[whitestazn88]

dude... i watched some monks make one of those in DC after the september 11th tragedy, and at the end you're supposed to destroy it and just let the sand go away, but they gave everyone some of the sand, and its supposed to be extremely lucky. too bad it doesn't help me in CC, but i usually feel like i'm pretty lucky when i'm around it.

[lgoasklucyl]

Haha- we had a ceremony afterwards where they placed it in urns and threw it into one of the campus' lakes, pretty interesting I think. Could even incorporate the themes of construction and destruction into the graphics of the map.

[oaktown]

This could certainly be a very attractive map... if you can develop a nice original image and capture the look of sand you'd really have something.

Trouble is, there's nothing to comment on beyond that right now. The image as posted above obviously wouldn't work as a CC map for many reasons - copyright ownership, lack of territory/region segmentation, too busy, etc.

Your challenge, Igo, is going to be to develop a playable map that can fits the theme of a sand painting.

[lgoasklucyl]

This could certainly be a very attractive map... if you can develop a nice original image and capture the look of sand you'd really have something.

Trouble is, there's nothing to comment on beyond that right now. The image as posted above obviously wouldn't work as a CC map for many reasons - copyright ownership, lack of territory/region segmentation, too busy, etc.

Your challenge, Igo, is going to be to develop a playable map that can fits the theme of a sand painting.

I have images I've personally taken that I might be able to work off of, so copyright certainly wouldn't prove too much of an ordeal. The territories would be divided into continents based on what each area represents, then if they aren't divided enough I'm sure something interesting could be done to correspond with the fact that the entire work is made of sand. The busyness could be limited by finding an image that isn't quite as detailed as the one above and incorporating intricacies into the overall image rather than the individual terts.

If it gets too difficult to make one based on an existed mandala I could use one as a base and work off of it in whichever ways necessary.

[lgoasklucyl]

I will selfishly bump the post (as apparently editing doesn't bump) to get an answer so perhaps I can start sketching if people feel it would fly.

[whitestazn88]

i've got no problem with the religious aspect, or you can make it secular by changing some things (its one of the cool advantages of making your own map, its whatever you want it to be)

ps. put in a poll by editing your first post. maybe you'll be able to get more feedback that way...

[lgoasklucyl]

i've got no problem with the religious aspect, or you can make it secular by changing some things (its one of the cool advantages of making your own map, its whatever you want it to be)

ps. put in a poll by editing your first post. maybe you'll be able to get more feedback that way...

Poll placed for all you guys too shy to write comments