Dark Continent (Colonial Africa) [Quenched]

[natty dread]

I don't know, the lion seems a bit out of place. There's no context for it, it doesn't seem to match the overall theme of the map.

Since the map is about colonization, maybe something more in line with that theme would be better?

For graphical input... the flags. Make them flutter. I mean the flags on the map... you know what'd look nice? If you made them look like they're pinned on the map by small pins. Or like they were drawn as such...

The sea routes - they look a bit uneven. Isn't there a tool in photoshop for creating dashed lines?

I also looked at the map through CB filters, and the Ottoman empire and British East are much too similar. Also, the Ottoman is too similar to Arabia when viewed through CB filters. Maybe swap the colours of Ottoman & Germany, that would probably solve both issues.

Also, Britain & France both look too different from the colour of their colonies...

[iancanton]

Alright! hopefully these negative bonus penalties will sufficiently deture people from blitzing Europe and force them to calculate their moves in Africa. I'm still thinking that each European start postition should start with 5 troops though, unless there's a big opposition to that.

Hopefully with this addressed the GP stamp isn't too far off.

at last, we have a consensus! 2 positions per player gives 17 starting regions in 1v1, which is a good number. 5 troops apparently makes each power less vulnerable, especially with the increasing negative bonuses for holding more powers. as soon as a 1v1 game starts, however, player 1 may use his 6 troops per power to knock down his opponent's powers to 1 or 2 on each position. if this happens in the majority of 1v1 games during beta and this turns out to help player 1, then be ready for a call to change to 3 starting troops per power rather than 5.



ian.

[The Bison King]

Alright! hopefully these negative bonus penalties will sufficiently deture people from blitzing Europe and force them to calculate their moves in Africa. I'm still thinking that each European start postition should start with 5 troops though, unless there's a big opposition to that.

Hopefully with this addressed the GP stamp isn't too far off.

at last, we have a consensus! 2 positions per player gives 17 starting regions in 1v1, which is a good number. 5 troops apparently makes each power less vulnerable, especially with the increasing negative bonuses for holding more powers. as soon as a 1v1 game starts, however, player 1 may use his 6 troops per power to knock down his opponent's powers to 1 or 2 on each position. if this happens in the majority of 1v1 games during beta and this turns out to help player 1, then be ready for a call to change to 3 starting troops per power rather than 5.



ian.

hooray!!!

and yeah I'll be ready

time to go crazy on the graphics!

[The Bison King]

I don't know, the lion seems a bit out of place. There's no context for it, it doesn't seem to match the overall theme of the map.

I don't think it's too out of touch with the theme. Maybe I can make it more ornamental or something.

Since the map is about colonization, maybe something more in line with that theme would be better?

Like a chained lion, to represent the african spirit being held down by the Europeans?

...or something?

For graphical input... the flags. Make them flutter. I mean the flags on the map... you know what'd look nice? If you made them look like they're pinned on the map by small pins. Or like they were drawn as such...

I don' like the pinned idea, but I do agree that they should flutter. I'm just not sure how to do it and have it look good (still recognizable at such a small scale). I'll find some way though.

The sea routes - they look a bit uneven. Isn't there a tool in photoshop for creating dashed lines?

Yeah those will be re-done

also looked at the map through CB filters, and the Ottoman empire and British East are much too similar. Also, the Ottoman is too similar to Arabia when viewed through CB filters. Maybe swap the colours of Ottoman & Germany, that would probably solve both issues.

I'll just make Ottoman darker to kill both birds with one stone.

Also, Britain & France both look too different from the colour of their colonies...

Really? I'm not seeing that one, might be a monitor thing but I'll look into it.

[Gillipig]

Madagascar doesn't look too good! Otherwise nice map!

[The Bison King]

Madagascar doesn't look too good!

What does this mean?

[The Bison King]

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Ok I was able to address some of the points brought up earlier. The sea routes are improved, Ottoman has been darkened, I changed the colors of Britain and France to match their colonies a little better. I also added some drop shadows to the legend

[The Bison King]

Ok so I know it's been a couple weeks from my last update. I've been SUPER busy IRL and I feel really bad for putting this off. I'll be able to come back to this later in the week and hopefully have some updates in the near future. so now would be a good time for some more suggestions if any one has any.

[RedBaron0]

The lion... not to be a male chauvinist or anything, but could you go with the male lion, the addition of the mane would be much more appealing than the female lion. I think Gillipig may be referring to the color of Madagascar blending in with the ocean you may have to go with a deeper or lighter blue for the French possessions, or just find a way that Madagascar stands out a little better from the background ocean.

idk about the fluttering of the flags.... it'd look nice, as long as you make sure the flags aren't lost in the flutter. On a strategic type map(such as this) the flags would be rectangular as they already are.

[The Bison King]

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

The lion... not to be a male chauvinist or anything, but could you go with the male lion, the addition of the mane would be much more appealing than the female lion. I think Gillipig may be referring to the color of Madagascar blending in with the ocean you may have to go with a deeper or lighter blue for the French possessions, or just find a way that Madagascar stands out a little better from the background ocean.

idk about the fluttering of the flags.... it'd look nice, as long as you make sure the flags aren't lost in the flutter. On a strategic type map(such as this) the flags would be rectangular as they already are.

How about both a male and a female lion?

There's a good deal of small changes on this version. I added some folds into the flags (in the legend) in the form of simple shadows. It's subtle yes, but I think it's better than having the flag all folded up so you can't see which nation it belongs too. I redrew a few borders to better fit some territory names that were cramped. I shrunk the Libyan sand dunes. I gave an actual form to the land in the far east of the non-playable map area, and added some very very light words into those area's as well. I did a few other small correctional type things.

I'm not too concerned about the color of Madagascar over the ocean, I don't see that as a real problem. If more people mention it I'll consider altering it, but I'm going to leave it as is for now.

[The Bison King]

Um now that I step back and look at it does the positioning of the lions make it look like they are uhh... doing it? Does anyone else think that or is that just me and my pervy mind?

[ender516]

It's not just you, that is an unfortunate positioning. Perhaps if the male were in the position of the female, and the female were up on all fours behind him? Let's face it, male lions rarely do anything but lie around.

[koontz1973]

You two are just perverted. They are fine as they are but you could always just move the lion to the right a tad. That way the lioness would look less like she is enjoying herself.

[natty dread]

uhh... doing it?

What are you, four?

Seriously though, the position of the lions is kind of suggestive. You know what would be cool though? A lion chasing a gazelle, or a zebra... would fit the theme well.

[The Bison King]

uhh... doing it?

What are you, four?

Seriously though, the position of the lions is kind of suggestive. You know what would be cool though? A lion chasing a gazelle, or a zebra... would fit the theme well.

Sounds brutal. I like Brutal.


hmm... Does CC have a policy on dead prey animals/blood and guts?

[natty dread]

I don't know, but I think maybe a scene where the lion is just about to catch the prey would be more intense... it would have a bit of suspense and stuff.

[isaiah40]

Um now that I step back and look at it does the positioning of the lions make it look like they are uhh... doing it? Does anyone else think that or is that just me and my pervy mind?

Its just you because the male would actually have the females neck in his mouth holding her it hurts her because he has barbs on his you know what.

[Gillipig]

Um now that I step back and look at it does the positioning of the lions make it look like they are uhh... doing it? Does anyone else think that or is that just me and my pervy mind?

He can't possibly have sex with her if he's got both of his legs on her left side! It looks like he's about to do it but not that he's doing it. Do you get what i mean ? Is till think you should rearrange it a bit though.

[The Bison King]

Maybe something like this?

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

Hm, the angle is a bit odd... the lion would look better from a front-view angle.

Maybe something like this?

Click image to enlarge.

[The Bison King]

Hm, the angle is a bit odd... the lion would look better from a front-view angle.

Maybe something like this?

Click image to enlarge.

I think animals read better in profile. Especially when they're locked in action poses.

[natty dread]

Really? No offense, but in your last version, there's really no sense of movement... it looks too static.

[The Bison King]

Really? No offense, but in your last version, there's really no sense of movement... it looks too static.

Well this is where it is now.

I don't know, when you draw an animal head on you lose so much of what makes them look unique. pretty much any torso looks like a trapizoid from a front view. You lose so much form.

[The Bison King]

something about that back front buffalo leg bothers me though. I think I need to bring it into the inside, like he's tripping.

[natty dread]

Maybe you could have two lions attacking the water buffalo (is that a water buffalo? it looks like one)... lions hunt in groups most of the time anyway.

Could make the 2nd one a male...