[Abandoned] - Switzerland

[ZeakCytho]

I could go either way on arrows or bridges. Certainly, arrows are easier to make look better. If the bridges are giving you a hard time, though, go with arrows.

[wcaclimbing]

I like the rivers, but I dont like the bridges or the mountains:

bridges need to be more glowy like the rest of teh map. make them fit the style everything else is done in. No specific suggestions, just try something creative.

mountains are too pixely/computer generated looking. have you tried drawing them by hand?

[Mr. Squirrel]

I haven't seen this map before, but I really like what I see. Also, forgive me if I say something that has already been brought up because I haven't read through all of the posts.
Comments:
I don't mind the bridges, but I agree with wcaclimbing that the mountains could look better.
Have you noticed yet that the colors on your main map are not coordinated with your minimap? Orange and Purple need to be switched.
Also, with the new impassables you are definitely going to want to alter your continent bonuses. Right now they are far from what they should be. I suggest:

yellow-4
orange (on the main map)-4
green- 5 or 6
purple (on the main map) - 3
blue- 2

Other than those few things, the map looks great and I can't wait to play on it.

[Kaplowitz]

I like the rivers, but I dont like the bridges or the mountains:

bridges need to be more glowy like the rest of teh map. make them fit the style everything else is done in. No specific suggestions, just try something creative.

mountains are too pixely/computer generated looking. have you tried drawing them by hand?

Ill work on them

[Kaplowitz]

I haven't seen this map before, but I really like what I see. Also, forgive me if I say something that has already been brought up because I haven't read through all of the posts.
Comments:
I don't mind the bridges, but I agree with wcaclimbing that the mountains could look better.
Have you noticed yet that the colors on your main map are not coordinated with your minimap? Orange and Purple need to be switched.
Also, with the new impassables you are definitely going to want to alter your continent bonuses. Right now they are far from what they should be. I suggest:

yellow-4
orange (on the main map)-4
green- 5 or 6
purple (on the main map) - 3
blue- 2

Other than those few things, the map looks great and I can't wait to play on it.

Im gonna work on the mts, and maybe make EVEN BETTER BRIDGES!
Yes, the minimap will be fixed once i have made a desicion on the final colors.
Those sound good, im going to use WM's excel spreadsheat to see what that says.

[mibi]

I would like to see less layer effects and filters. When I think of Switzerland I think, clean, simple, neutral, red, white, mountains, snow.

This map looks like it fell asleep in a bath of cheap layer effects and is the graphical equivalent of wrinkled prune fingers.

[t-o-m]

When I think of Switzerland I think, clean, simple, neutral, red, white, mountains, snow.

page 2 at the bottom

i always thought of switzerland as bright, sunny, soft top cars, people smiling, happyness while driving sports cars through the sunny alps, this doesnt show any of that

the reply:

tom, i can brighten it up

[Ruben Cassar]

Mibi is right but let's start one step at a time.

The font is ugly and the territory names too big and cumbersome and not very legible. Make them smaller and remove that glow that you added to the names.

[pamoa]

Go on great job, thanks for listening my advise!
Maybe some correction on the Solothurn end of the bridge. It's not clear if it end in Solothurn or Basel. You have to move your text so the borders could be seen.
And what about making a bonus only for the 3 initial cantons (Uri,Schwytz and Unterwald)!

And by the way for the rest of the world, we do have our little dirty corners.

[Kaplowitz]

Mibi is right but let's start one step at a time.

The font is ugly and the territory names too big and cumbersome and not very legible. Make them smaller and remove that glow that you added to the names.

If i remove the glow, its harder to read. Maybe just less glow? or i can post options.

[Ruben Cassar]

Mibi is right but let's start one step at a time.

The font is ugly and the territory names too big and cumbersome and not very legible. Make them smaller and remove that glow that you added to the names.

If i remove the glow, its harder to read. Maybe just less glow? or i can post options.

You have many options.

Start by reducing the size of the font. The territory names stand out too much and are way too big.

Then either make two shades of the text, a lighter one for dark regions and a darker one for lighter regions or else you can add a 1pt stroke instead of using the glow.

Once you solve this issue I'll comment on some other points in the map which need improving.

[Kaplowitz]

Hello, id like you all to meet:
version 12.
[bigimg]http://i30.tinypic.com/r1a550.jpg[/bigimg]
So many changes....so little time!

-Text Changes
-army circle/text moving
-New bridges (good?)
-New mts
-Yellow -> Grey
-Lighter colors (finally!)
-New Bonuses
-Impassable Key (good?)
-Fixed mini-map
-slight BG changes

Are these the final colors? or no?

[wcaclimbing]

I like the new colors a lot, but could you use something other than Filter>Render>Clouds to add light to your colors?
it just looks too fake right now... maybe distorting it or blurring it would help some.

cloud filter w/ no distortion = bad, cause many people that use photoshop could spot it from a mile away.
I think making the blue part a bit less saturated would help some. you should give it a try and see if it works out.

[Kaplowitz]

Lol, ill do that I couldnt really tell, but thats what you guys are here for!

[Ruben Cassar]

The font is still too big...it goes out of the territory in some regions. Does it have to be caps? It is also less legible now in some regions. I suggest further work on the font and maybe giving us some options to chose from and a poll.

Colours: The colours of South West and South East are too similar. I am not a fan of that gradient or whatever it is either.

Bridges: You'll have to work on these as well. They look like sticks magically hovering in mid air.

Also put the mini map in a box or something.

Good luck!

[Kaplowitz]

The font is still too big...it goes out of the territory in some regions. Does it have to be caps? It is also less legible now in some regions. I suggest further work on the font and maybe giving us some options to chose from and a poll.

Colours: The colours of South West and South East are too similar. I am not a fan of that gradient or whatever it is either.

Bridges: You'll have to work on these as well. They look like sticks magically hovering in mid air.

Also put the mini map in a box or something.

Good luck!

1- Its in all caps because thats the font, there is no lowercase. I can put up options
2- I can put thicker borders around the continents to make them stand out more
3- Yea, they look pretty bad...im just not sure what to do with them
4- Sure
5- Thanks!

[Ruben Cassar]

1- Its in all caps because thats the font, there is no lowercase. I can put up options
2- I can put thicker borders around the continents to make them stand out more
3- Yea, they look pretty bad...im just not sure what to do with them
4- Sure
5- Thanks!

1. Good, looking forward to seeing more options.
2. The problem is the colour though. I am colour blind and those two colours are a bit too similar.
3. look at the bridges in the Netherlands map for inspiration.

[Kaplowitz]

1- Its in all caps because thats the font, there is no lowercase. I can put up options
2- I can put thicker borders around the continents to make them stand out more
3- Yea, they look pretty bad...im just not sure what to do with them
4- Sure
5- Thanks!

1. Good, looking forward to seeing more options.
2. The problem is the colour though. I am colour blind and those two colours are a bit too similar.
3. look at the bridges in the Netherlands map for inspiration.

2- Yea, so i was thinking that a thick border would help differentiate. Or i can switch the grey with the blue/purple/

[Kaplowitz]

[bigimg]http://i26.tinypic.com/nxuj5e.jpg[/bigimg]
Didnt change the text yet.

Ruben do i get the colorblind stamp?

[Ruben Cassar]

Didnt change the text yet.

Ruben do i get the colorblind stamp?

Haha. I have no stamps my friend, but yes the colours are distinguishable in this last version.

[ZeakCytho]

The new bridges look better. The northeastern one is a bit jagged looking, though. The southwestern one is nice.

There's something off about the mountains that I can't place my finger on. I think it might be that they don't fade into the territories at all - they're just placed on top. I'm not sure what can really be done about this, though. I'd also like to see snowcaps on all of the mountains, not just the largest one. Most of the mountains in this region are tall enough to have that, I believe.

The "(Except where marked)" in the impassables box looks funny. I'd put a picture of a bridge and say that you could cross on those, if you really want to, but I don't think this map requires an impassables legend at all. It's pretty obvious that you can't cross mountains or rivers, especially with bridges to show crossings.

The stroke around the entire continent looks a bit off, especially in the gray continent. Again, not sure how to fix this. Maybe make it thinner?

[wcaclimbing]

Kaplowitz, to fix the colorblind problem, take a copy of your map and completely desaturate the color.
so the map image is greyscale, no colors.

Then try and tell what continent is what.
Whatever it takes to tell them apart, test it in greyscale mode.
So then even without the colors, you would still know what goes where.
Making the borders between the continents extra bold would help. then you could see that they were different, even without the colors.

oh, and the minimap colors are wrong again.... switch the grey and purple.....

[pamoa]

I'm not sure about the river between Bern and Fribourg. As i draw it to you it would be more geographicly correct between Bienne and Fribourg. And I think it would help the game play by making purple "continent" a bit more open to invasions.

An other graphical point is the borders between Zug, Schwytz and Luzern and the end of the river. With the army circle just above it and the army numbers in it, it will be almost impossible to understand which "country" are accessible from that point. Maybe you can move Zug name just above the "country" itself so the army circle would fit inside the territory.

I really like the snowy cap on top of mointains just add more of it. If you want to put more "decoration" mountains you can partially cover all the Graubünden borders (south east "continent") and also the Ticino Graubünden one. Just leave a pass between the territories. And by the way watch out the Glarus Uri border wich start to be a bit short.

Again great job, go on like this

[Kaplowitz]

I'm not sure about the river between Bern and Fribourg. As i draw it to you it would be more geographicly correct between Bienne and Fribourg. And I think it would help the game play by making purple "continent" a bit more open to invasions.
I thought that was what your image said...ill change that then

An other graphical point is the borders between Zug, Schwytz and Luzern and the end of the river. With the army circle just above it and the army numbers in it, it will be almost impossible to understand which "country" are accessible from that point. Maybe you can move Zug name just above the "country" itself so the army circle would fit inside the territory.
Sure

I really like the snowy cap on top of mointains just add more of it. If you want to put more "decoration" mountains you can partially cover all the Graubünden borders (south east "continent") and also the Ticino Graubünden one. Just leave a pass between the territories. And by the way watch out the Glarus Uri border wich start to be a bit short.
Im not really sure what you mean. Add more mts that dont interfere with the gameplay?

Again great job, go on like this

[Kaplowitz]

The new bridges look better. The northeastern one is a bit jagged looking, though. The southwestern one is nice.

There's something off about the mountains that I can't place my finger on. I think it might be that they don't fade into the territories at all - they're just placed on top. I'm not sure what can really be done about this, though. I'd also like to see snowcaps on all of the mountains, not just the largest one. Most of the mountains in this region are tall enough to have that, I believe.
I will use the smudge tool

The "(Except where marked)" in the impassables box looks funny. I'd put a picture of a bridge and say that you could cross on those, if you really want to, but I don't think this map requires an impassables legend at all. It's pretty obvious that you can't cross mountains or rivers, especially with bridges to show crossings.
Okay, ill just take the whole thing out

The stroke around the entire continent looks a bit off, especially in the gray continent. Again, not sure how to fix this. Maybe make it thinner?
I thought it looked cool, but i can get rid of it.