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Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 12

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:48 am
by pamoa
Missouri arch seems strange to me, there is only one and plenty of them spread all over the state...
As I understood your icon logic it was about representing the most iconic production/product of this state, and not a single symbol.
But whatever icon you choose I think it should be white.

You have to move Indiana icons to get at least one fully visible.

Can you make a try with 888's so we can see how it fits with circle and stars.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 12

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:37 am
by WidowMakers
pamoa wrote:Missouri arch seems strange to me, there is only one and plenty of them spread all over the state...
As I understood your icon logic it was about representing the most iconic production/product of this state, and not a single symbol.
But whatever icon you choose I think it should be white.
I changed it for Night Strike but you make a good point. I will put it back to teh cow that I had and make it white. I liked that better anyway.
pamoa wrote:You have to move Indiana icons to get at least one fully visible.

NP
pamoa wrote:Can you make a try with 888's so we can see how it fits with circle and stars.

Sure

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Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 12

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:25 am
by yeti_c
Not sure I like the Kentucky Pig? - but it does stand out in the legend... which is something I was strugling with before.

C.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 12

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:30 pm
by Night Strike
pamoa wrote:Missouri arch seems strange to me, there is only one and plenty of them spread all over the state...
As I understood your icon logic it was about representing the most iconic production/product of this state, and not a single symbol.
But whatever icon you choose I think it should be white.

You have to move Indiana icons to get at least one fully visible.

Can you make a try with 888's so we can see how it fits with circle and stars.


The Arch IS the most recognizable symbol of the state. Way more than cows are. If WM is going for just products, perhaps I'll find something better to use (Missouri just doesn't seem to be known for the cows like Wisconsin is known for its cheese, etc.)

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 12

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:36 pm
by Natewolfman
i think that the colors look way better when its all in one general color (midwest being all blue shades, great lakes area being all red colors...) I think it looks awesome like that, but the couple you have up that are all different colors look kinda... gay lol

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 12

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:44 pm
by WidowMakers
Natewolfman wrote:i think that the colors look way better when its all in one general color (midwest being all blue shades, great lakes area being all red colors...) I think it looks awesome like that, but the couple you have up that are all different colors look kinda... gay lol
I don't know what you mean.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 12

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:19 pm
by WidowMakers
Version 6 Great Lakes
Updates:
    -Edited Moose Icon for Minnesota
    -Edited Corn icon for Iowa
    -Readded Cow for Missouri
    -Added 888's
    -Adjusted roads and text for new 888's
    -Added prelim background image. Midwest lake and tree scene. I think this will be the hardest to do since the map covers such a wide area of teh USA.
Image
Image

Image

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:26 pm
by edbeard
could the roads have a little lower opacity or perhaps a glow / light stroke like some of the earlier maps had? they're just too strong right now.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:31 am
by WidowMakers
edbeard wrote:could the roads have a little lower opacity or perhaps a glow / light stroke like some of the earlier maps had? they're just too strong right now.

How is this?

Version 7
Updates:
    -Added road glow
    -Added more lighter blue color to background to mimic current USA map
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Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:00 am
by pamoa
It's what I feared, the last 8 of 888's is illegible when it's on the blue shadow of states and I don't have any clue how to solve it nicely...
Maybe an outside glow on circles/stars or a white "shadow" on the right...

moose are fine
maybe move left Idiana deers
the upper line of Iowa corn is too thin I can hardly see it

good job go on

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:57 am
by WidowMakers
pamoa wrote:It's what I feared, the last 8 of 888's is illegible when it's on the blue shadow of states and I don't have any clue how to solve it nicely...
Maybe an outside glow on circles/stars or a white "shadow" on the right...
I understand what you mean but I beleive the purpose of teh 888's is to make sure that terriroties close together do not overlap. It is not specifically for readability pruposes. If a blue player owns a city and has more than 2 digits of armies, they will easily be able to know how many they have. Plus the number for times 3 digits happen (outside of buildup games) is not that often.

Like I said, I believe the 888's are for territory overlapping check. These pass that check so I think it is fine.

I am not going to add any glow to the circles or stars. the map has a very vector-ish feel. Adding the glow to everything will just take that away.

pamoa wrote:moose are fine
maybe move left Idiana deers
the upper line of Iowa corn is too thin I can hardly see it
Thanks I will make these changes. But I think I will hold off on the icon adjustments for now. I don't' want to keep making these little things so early in the process. Once all of the maps are 99% done, I will open up the talks about icons for all maps.

Thanks
WM

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:36 am
by pamoa
pamoa wrote:It's what I feared, the last 8 of 888's is illegible when it's on the blue shadow of states and I don't have any clue how to solve it nicely...
Maybe an outside glow on circles/stars or a white "shadow" on the right...

WidowMakers wrote: I understand what you mean but I beleive the purpose of teh 888's is to make sure that terriroties close together do not overlap. It is not specifically for readability pruposes. If a blue player owns a city and has more than 2 digits of armies, they will easily be able to know how many they have. Plus the number for times 3 digits happen (outside of buildup games) is not that often.
Like I said, I believe the 888's are for territory overlapping check. These pass that check so I think it is fine.
I am not going to add any glow to the circles or stars. the map has a very vector-ish feel. Adding the glow to everything will just take that away.

No it's not only when you have 3 digits armies but with 2 and color code. A lot of people do play with color code switch on and the difference between r13 or r19 could be crucial in any type of game... I don't think you can just ignore the problem. However I agree with you keep the map "vectorial" that's why i suggested to put a white/grey circle under the army circle but with a shifting of 6 pixels right and 3 down, excatly like a shadow if it was black...

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:29 pm
by WidowMakers
Here you go pamoa. I don't think it really helps. The drop shadows just cover up roads, icons and they don't look good.

Added Gray drop shadows behind the army circles and stars.
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Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:32 pm
by Night Strike
Those 8s were perfectly fine to read because they were darker than the light background. The funky shadows just look out of place.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:33 pm
by Androidz
WM i think those 3 bright red continents is to bright could you change that?Michigan, Iowa andWest Virgin

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:16 pm
by WidowMakers
Night Strike wrote:Those 8s were perfectly fine to read because they were darker than the light background. The funky shadows just look out of place.
NS, pamoa is saying that when the 888 hangs over and covers the dark blue drop shadow of the state (see Milwaukee , Duluth) the last 8 cannot be seen.

But I do agree, they new drop shadows on the army circles look out of place and bad.

WM

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:16 pm
by edbeard
hmm. I'd prefer if these roads were more like the grey in USA West and Southwest or the thinner lines and stronger stroke in Rockies.

these roads still stand out too much for me

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:14 pm
by WidowMakers
edbeard wrote:hmm. I'd prefer if these roads were more like the grey in USA West and Southwest or the thinner lines and stronger stroke in Rockies.

these roads still stand out too much for me
Better?

Image

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:27 pm
by edbeard
these don't feel right either (but they are improved) maybe a bit more opacity because the glow stands out too much in quite a few places

and then could you make me a sandwich. hold the mustard but I like half a tablespoon of mayo on both pieces of bread. please make sure the ham is extra thinly sliced.


seriously though I'm just trying to help you find something that doesn't stand out too much but is noticeable (since these are the attack routes after all).

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:37 pm
by gimil
I generally agree with edbeard on the light continents, they're just too white. I think you have plenty or room to for for a much more baby pink colour. Another thing I don't like is the Delaware rooster colour. It just doesn't fit in with anything from the map.

Maybe reducing the opacity of the background image wouldn't hurt as well as (even though its pretty to look at) it can be a little distracting. Overall thou, im happy with how this one is going.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:50 pm
by edbeard
I was actually talking about the roads but maybe you're right.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:07 pm
by gimil
edbeard wrote:I was actually talking about the roads but maybe you're right.


Hm, the power of assumptions...

I think the roads are a little bit of a nessesary evil. You could alternativly make them all different colours of green to contrast with the red of the map.

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:21 am
by pamoa
[bigimg]http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9320/usaglv068880905sih6.png[/bigimg]
Night Strike wrote:Those 8s were perfectly fine to read because they were darker than the light background. The funky shadows just look out of place.

WidowMakers wrote:... when the 888 hangs over and covers the dark blue drop shadow of the state (see Milwaukee , Duluth) the last 8 cannot be seen.

Sorry Night Strike but look at St Ignace, Detroit, Milwaukee or Duluth, it's not "perfect"...



WidowMakers wrote:...the drop shadows just ... don't look good.

I agree with you WM, white shadow is not a good solution. And it will be the only of your 6 maps where this problem will occur. It is about blue digits on a blue background. The blue inside the digit is not contrasted enough with it black outline and when it's on blue bg then you don't see it. ZeakCytho & Mjinga had the same problen in Archipelago map. They solved it by making blue lighter, maybe you can try a state drop shadow with a lighter blue, maybe...
I know I'm a bothering with this :oops: , but I really think it's an important issue and I do not have a good solution to it.

Btw did you forget delaware drop shadow or is it to small to be visible ?

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:35 pm
by WidowMakers
gimil wrote:I generally agree with edbeard on the light continents, they're just too white. I think you have plenty or room to for for a much more baby pink colour. Another thing I don't like is the Delaware rooster colour. It just doesn't fit in with anything from the map.

Maybe reducing the opacity of the background image wouldn't hurt as well as (even though its pretty to look at) it can be a little distracting. Overall thou, im happy with how this one is going.
I really want to keep the white and red states since those are the two colors that are actually in the USA map.

I will fix the opacity of the chickens in Delaware.

WM

Re: USA 6 Region Pack-COLOR Discussion Great Lakes Pg 1 and 13

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:36 pm
by WidowMakers
pamoa wrote:maybe you can try a state drop shadow with a lighter blue, maybe...
I know I'm a bothering with this :oops: , but I really think it's an important issue and I do not have a good solution to it.
The reason I used this color blue drop shadow was that it is the same color from the USA map. Plus making it lighter will just cause it to blend into the background.

But I will look into it.

pamoa wrote:Btw did you forget delaware drop shadow or is it to small to be visible ?
Yes it is just small. It is covered by the army circles