[Official] Classic Revamp [Quenched]

[ender516]

Guys
I know youv'e put a lot of work into this, but we're going to need actual territories w/ boarder for this to work. This rail/bubble with lines connecting isn't cutting it.
Sorry just my 2 cents.

- That's your opinion.

- That would be dangerously close to the board game version.

And it also makes no sense since the entire premise of this map is that we are using cities. My goal from the start has been to make a map of important world cities. Cities are distinct points, not regions or territories, so the current construction is the only system that makes sense.

Aye it is my opinion (and many many many others)
Bubble maps suck, they are confusing, irritating and annoying (oops my opinion agian)
Sorry but it's not an improvement.

If you mean that many many many others agree with your opinion, they are almost unanimous in their silence. You are the first poster in ages (I won't say ever, though I am tempted) to object to the points and lines layout.

[nesterdude]

argh
fine
I concede
blada

Only b/c Robin said so.

[Doc_Brown]

I know I'm pretty new here, so my opinions may not carry quite as much weight as those of some of the others here. However, I thought I'd chime in with my comments. I personally much prefer the Asian cities in V6. It was pretty confusing to me to look at the map and wonder what Beijing was doing up in Russia and what Hong Kong was doing so far inland. I realized later that there were location indicators on those cities (and Seoul). Singapore should definitely be removed even if you decide to keep the new city structure. It's actually located right between Bangkok and Jakarta, and I think a territory indicator stretching over there would get too confusing.

If you're going for more recognizable cities, how about the following: Use the V7 layout for Australia/Oceania cities. For Asia, start with the V6 layout, but use Manila and Tokyo in place of Tokyo and Magadan. That would give you a bit more room on the map. Yakutsk can be shifted a bit more to the east (I think it's actually slightly to the east of the Korean peninsula anyway) so that the new line between Yakutsk and Tokyo doesn't interfere with Beijing.

I'm also with the people that think the two globe continent indicator looks better than the new 3 globe version. Plus, I think the compass symbol adds a nice touch to the map.

Finally, make sure to check the text in the upper left. As of V7 it should read "Anchorage and Seoul are connected."

[MeanestBossEver]

I personally much prefer the Asian cities in V6. It was pretty confusing to me to look at the map and wonder what Beijing was doing up in Russia and what Hong Kong was doing so far inland.

I agree 100% with this.

[the.killing.44]

I personally much prefer the Asian cities in V6. It was pretty confusing to me to look at the map and wonder what Beijing was doing up in Russia and what Hong Kong was doing so far inland.

I agree 100% with this.

To be honest, so do I. I don't actually mind the markers when I fully got what the represented; if you worked on them for a bit (maybe a little more cylindrical/3D?) I could bare them.

[sully800]

I agree about the pointers, I think it makes the far east more confusing than necessary.

Here's half of the next big update (the other half if the Large map, which is complete except for the connection lines). Many of the suggested changes have been implemented, and I will address several others soon.



Small with numbers

[captainwalrus]

The one with numbers looks nice, and different from the one without. This might just be my eyes, but it seems much richer and more saturated. The greens look greener, the blues look bluer, is that actually the case?

[isaiah40]

The one with numbers looks nice, and different from the one without. This might just be my eyes, but it seems much richer and more saturated. The greens look greener, the blues look bluer, is that actually the case?

Looks like I was beet to the punch! I do like the one with the numbers!

[WidowMakers]

Couple suggestions:

1) Save as png for better quality
2) Use version without 88's. It looks better for some reason
3) Adjust 88's for: Edmonton (up) / Mexico City (up) / Lima (up) / Sao Paulo (up) / Moscow (up) / Jakarta (up) / Tokyo (up & left) / Magadan (up)

Looks great.

WM

[natty dread]

1) Save as png for better quality

This! I was just looking at the latest picture, thinking "man, again with the smudgy JPG:s, he should save it as a PNG" and I was going to post about it but I was 1 post late I see...

If you look closely, there are places where the noise of the JPG format is really noticeable. The title, the shores of all the continents, the edges of the army circles...

As this will be the "flagship" map of CC, this kind of image quality is just not acceptable... I'm sure it will look much better as a PNG.

[Robinette]

the lower map (with the 88's) would be less enjoyable to play, too much color saturation.
The upper map fits the "classic" billing much better...

And i'll add a little tid-bit about using these "less known" cities...
i've been in a few conversations recently where my new found knowledge made me appear quite intelligent,
these may be "obsure" cities to us, but to people from the region, they are easily recognizable and they just loved the respect of someone knowing their part of the world.

[sully800]

This is interesting. The difference between the two pictures is that the first is a jpeg, and the second is a screenshot of that jpeg which is saved as a png. I guess the different files give a different color quality as well as resolution. I see a difference in the red labels, but otherwise the two pictures look virtually identical to me

As for quality, I will definitely save the final product in the highest quality possible. I've been reducing the quality of the jpegs which causes a decent amount of noise. If png would produce a cleaner product than the highest quality jpeg then I will switch to that. Thanks as always for your input everyone!

[natty dread]

If png would produce a cleaner product than the highest quality jpeg then I will switch to that.

It most certainly will. PNG is a lossless format. Every pixel will be in the same colour as it was in your original photoshop file. JPEG however, uses a complex algorithm somewhat similar to MP3:s sound packaging, to reduce the size of the image to a certain level, and while this usually works for photographs, digital images don't really appreciate it...

In other words, PNG is to JPG what FLAC is to MP3.

[Doc_Brown]

I think this version looks a lot better. I'd suggest considering using the city of Urumqi instead of Hong Kong. It will make the far east less crowded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumqi

[natty dread]

Something I found from wikipedia... comparison of JPG vs. PNG:

[skeletonboy]

wow. thats a big difference

[the.killing.44]

wow. thats a big difference

But it's not, really, because that image is zoomed in to about 500%. You can't see that when it's at 100%. In any case, I'm with 'nette in that you shouldn't use the oversaturated screenshot's colors.

[natty dread]

You can't see that when it's at 100%

Sure you can.

[sdhillson]

I think V8 is as good as it's gonna get in terms of cities. The only questionable connection is Novosibirsk-Manila, but there had to be one. Congrats and good work sully.

PS: I still think seeing what a magnified inset would look like would be cool, but I realize that's a lot of work and we're past the Nov 16 deadline... c'est la vie.

[WidowMakers]

You can't see that when it's at 100%

Sure you can.

I agree. It is very noticeable. It all depends on teh level of compression you choose for teh jpeg. But why bother with any of that. Just use png and then there are no issues.

[natty dread]

Also, for those who worry about the size of PNG files... lots of graphics software, including some versions of photoshop, do not optimize PNG files when they save them. There are software available to do this however, google for PNG optimization.

[WidowMakers]

One more thing. After looking over the maps I have sent to lack as PNG files. NONE of them are PNG anymore. He re saves them as jpegs for the official site image.

So don't worry about bandwidth. Make sure your best image goes to lack and let him worry about size later.

WM

[natty dread]

Awww... that really sucks. I mean, really, totally, absolutely, REMARKABLY sucks.

I would like to hear lack's reasons for doing this...

And hey, what about the animated GIF maps, such as conquer man? If he doesn't convert them to JPG:s, why would he convert PNG:s? Doesn't make any sense. If it's a size thing, why not just optimize the PNG:s?

[the.killing.44]

The reason is, no offense, because nobody cares that much. Probably saving server space and realizing that it's not a noticeable difference to most players on his site.

[natty dread]

Saving server space? Please. All the posts on the forums take up more space than converting all of the map images to PNG:s...

Besides, I find it a bit offending to the mapmakers, who spend their time and effort to make the most graphically excellent & beautiful maps, only to have their image quality shitcanned by the administration...