Conquer Club

Guiscard wrote:and I think lightening the darker background colour would help lighten the map up a little in general. I think it's making the map a little dingy.

that's the water, and it's supposed to be dingy. nyc is godawful dirty, and as inklosed said, the water is definitely not blue.

Guiscard wrote:I think finding a different colour for Staten Island might also be an idea, because it seems like it is part of the group including Brooklyn at the minute.

staten island has it's own continent name...i don't see how it could be confused as being part of brooklyn.

Guiscard wrote:Finally, maybe the shadows behind the continent labels would make it look neater. As nothing other than the title graphic are currently shadowed (i.e. not the legend or any other text) it looks a bit out of place.

there is already drop shadow behind the continent names. not sure what you mean here, could you be more specific?

iron butterfly, thanks for not raising hell about the A train extension...strictly for game play purposes. we were wondering if anyone would call us out on that.

as for most of the other comments, i really like the statue as it is. not sure how snap feels, but i would like to keep it.
i also don't like what we did with staten island in the legend. drastically inconsistent. i'd like to change it back, and change the list order of the continents. make it counter-clockwise (manhattan, staten island, brooklyn, queens, the bronx). it was already pretty clear, after this is should be obvious.
i'd also like to rewrite the line about the stations. it doesn't quite work right now.

other than that, what is there to do in order to move to the forge?
is it just game play issues?
if so, let's try and get some discussion about that.
for example...the bonuses?

thanks to everyone for the comments, it's nice to know folks are interested!
and special thanks to YOU, lil' lisa!

I have to say I quite like the statue... although it would be better if it were actually on the island and not in the water?

C.

I still think that the water should be made to look like water. I get that you want to make it look dirty, but why not make it slightly bluer with a faint water texture or something... It just doesn't look like water to me at the moment...

benny profane wrote:i really like the statue as it is. not sure how snap feels, but i would like to keep it.

After some additional staring at the map, agreed.

change the list order of the continents. make it counter-clockwise (manhattan, staten island, brooklyn, queens, the bronx). it was already pretty clear, after this is should be obvious.

a "duh huh" moment! Yeah, I think that should work.

i'd also like to rewrite the line about the stations. it doesn't quite work right now.

How 'bout something like this:
"Subway Stations and Transfer Stations can attack adjacent stations and the territory they are in. The subway lines are their own bonuses."

is it just game play issues?

As a newbie, currently getting my butt kicked , I'll leave that one to the experts...

thanks to everyone for the comments, it's nice to know folks are interested!

Very much interested, this is a great looking map!

snapdoodle wrote:small - v10



Hello!

Back from being married and down to brass tacks.

Done list:

-Statue of Liberty Army Circle
-added line in legend about station bonus
-adjusted bonuses
-adjusted Pelham and Pelham station circles
-added connection btw ellis and Gov isles
-shifted and sharpened continent name drop shadows
-changed display of staten island bonus to better highlight

To do:
-redo graffiti, probably in the same style because of space and because it's funny. we're not going for Graf Star, but rather two douche bags with a can of spray paint. (read: us)
-listen to more suggestions unless we're ready for Final Forge? (maybe?)

We're going to try and print and play to see how the bonuses work out but we've got to schedule some time for it. And that might be tough. Anyone else is welcome to try as well. That would be AWESOME and a big help.

Let us know what you think!

-snap and benny

To do:
1. get rid of graffiti..it absolutely spoils the look of the map and doesn't fit with the design style you have created, regardless of the fact if it is realistic or not.
2. Why is DUMBO all caps?
3. can you re-arrange the army shadows on some terts so that they don't sit side-by-side...you are going to have trouble getting this through FF if your triple digit army numbers i.e. 888 overlap.
4. also triple digit army shadows shouldn't overlap on names, so you might have to play juggle with some of those also.

thanks for the liberty icon...real good.

other than that, this is turning out better than i had expected...good work guys.

To do:
1. get rid of graffiti..it absolutely spoils the look of the map and doesn't fit with the design style you have created, regardless of the fact if it is realistic or not.

No offense pal, but F that...

2. Why is DUMBO all caps?

DUMBO is an acronym.

cairnswk wrote:1. get rid of graffiti..it absolutely spoils the look of the map and doesn't fit with the design style you have created, regardless of the fact if it is realistic or not.
2. Why is DUMBO all caps?
3. can you re-arrange the army shadows on some terts so that they don't sit side-by-side...you are going to have trouble getting this through FF if your triple digit army numbers i.e. 888 overlap.
4. also triple digit army shadows shouldn't overlap on names, so you might have to play juggle with some of those also.

you are right about the army circles. some of their positions are a problem, and we'll have to spend some time with them.

DUMBO is an acronym, as rustle pointed out. it stands for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass, and as it is always written, there are no periods between the letters.

as for the graffiti, i'm prepared to do everything i can in order to keep it.
we're not going for realism so much (A train to Riverdale?), but we are going for authenticity, which i don't think can be so casually cast aside.
nothing in this map evokes NYC so much as the graffiti. not even the statue of liberty. and if it spoils the style we've set, that makes it all the more perfect.
in the first place, there is no real NYC style, and anyone who tells you different doesn't know what they're talking about. this place is a mess of contrasts and contradictions. this is something we've tried to be very tasteful about.
in the second place, graffiti is a subversive act, and i can't think of a more perfect element to add. one guy builds something and makes it look all nice, and then some jerkoff strolls by and marks it up.
not to mention, it's pretty popular. everyone seems to like it very much. yours is so far the only voice of dissent.
one reason i think people like it is that it's funny. there is a certain lack of humor in the majority of the current maps (doodle earth is an obvious exception), and the graffiti is funny without being overtly so.
our first priority is making a map that is fun to play. our second priority is to distinguish our map from the current ones. i think we've done a lot to progress towards both of these goals, and i know that the graffiti is crucial to this.

I'd vote to keep the graffiti. Hell, you might even want to try and make it a bit more distinct. At least on my monitor, it requires some close inspection to properly read.

Aside from the too-close army circles, I'm wondering if there's anything you can do with DUMBO, which is really really cramped and could maybe use some redrawing or rethinking.

I would also vote to demote the liberty island army circle back to normal status. The statue is weirdly off-putting.

Small (and not terribly serious) suggestion: it would be amusing to draw a tiny tiny floating body in the east river, similar to how mibi put tiny ducks in the river in Siege.

I've been keeping loose tabs on this map, and I'm excited to play on it. Really great work thus far guys.

benny profane wrote:

Guiscard wrote:and I think lightening the darker background colour would help lighten the map up a little in general. I think it's making the map a little dingy.

that's the water, and it's supposed to be dingy. nyc is godawful dirty, and as inklosed said, the water is definitely not blue.

Guiscard wrote:I think finding a different colour for Staten Island might also be an idea, because it seems like it is part of the group including Brooklyn at the minute.

staten island has it's own continent name...i don't see how it could be confused as being part of brooklyn.

Guiscard wrote:Finally, maybe the shadows behind the continent labels would make it look neater. As nothing other than the title graphic are currently shadowed (i.e. not the legend or any other text) it looks a bit out of place.

there is already drop shadow behind the continent names. not sure what you mean here, could you be more specific?

Firstly, fair enough on the water comment. However, do you not think that brightening the colours of the continents up just a touch might help? The colours, especially the yellows, are quite 'muddy' anyway, so it might help make it 'pop' out a little better.

Secondly, I mean that as the colour is fairly similar it might seem to some players that they have to control Staten as well. But no matter.

Thirdly, I meant get rid of the drop shadow. Error on my part. Just seems a little out of place as it puts them 'above' the level of the continents.

I agree that you probably should change Staten Island's color a little bit, just to remove all shadow of a doubt that it's a separate continent.

As far as the water goes, I'm ambivilant on the color one way or another, but I'd give a pass on texture...Not every map needs textured water, and it certainly doesn't serve every map.

My two cents.

Otherwise, I'm a big fan of this one.

Incandenza wrote:Aside from the too-close army circles, I'm wondering if there's anything you can do with DUMBO, which is really really cramped and could maybe use some redrawing or rethinking.

yeah, it's a mess. on the to-do list.

Guiscard wrote:However, do you not think that brightening the colours of the continents up just a touch might help? The colours, especially the yellows, are quite 'muddy' anyway, so it might help make it 'pop' out a little better.

i'll lighten the staten island yellow to distinguish it, but we're not really interested in making the colors brighter. we think it looks better dirty, and that has gathered significant support. it seems to create more atmosphere than brighter colors might.
(i like the morrissey quote)

mrjayfbennett wrote:As far as the water goes, I'm ambivilant on the color one way or another, but I'd give a pass on texture...Not every map needs textured water, and it certainly doesn't serve every map.

i agree 100% (not about the color though!), thanks for commenting.

as for drop shadows, i'm not 100%. but at the moment i feel they are doing more good than harm. we'll wait for more feedback.

and i think we may need to put up a poll about the statue.
poor lady liberty. taking such a beating here!
i've come to really like it, but comments seem to be split down the middle.
we'll see....

more soon, thanks for the help everyone.

-benny

Blitzaholic wrote:when some of these get close to done, is it possible to put it in general discussion, so more can view it?

Hi Blitz,

I'm not sure what you mean?

snapdoodle wrote:

Blitzaholic wrote:when some of these get close to done, is it possible to put it in general discussion, so more can view it?

Hi Blitz,

I'm not sure what you mean?

dude, this is a pretty old comment. i already asked for clarification, and never got a response.

way to focus on what's relevant snap, lol.

I say keep the graffiti - it is an entirely appropriate way to sign this map!

I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on the bonuses... I'm thinking now that the trains may need to be brought down a bit.

When you play with the location of army circles, keep in mind as well that three-digit counts shouldn't bump into other counts as well as territory titles. The DUMBO circles are especially close.

oaktown wrote:I say keep the graffiti - it is an entirely appropriate way to sign this map!

hoorah!

oaktown wrote:I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on the bonuses... I'm thinking now that the trains may need to be brought down a bit.

yeah, we'll just have to see how the continent bonuses feel.
the train bonuses are a bit high, but they will be VERY difficult to hold.
my initial idea was to assign one army per train station, and then add one more army on top of that total for each transfer station (6 train has 4 stations total, one of which is a transfer station, so that equals 5).
this still seems reasonable to me, but that's how the numbers got so high.
any suggestions?

oaktown wrote:When you play with the location of army circles, keep in mind as well that three-digit counts shouldn't bump into other counts as well as territory titles. The DUMBO circles are especially close.

this will be done by the next update. some parts of brooklyn need to be re-drawn, and DUMBO is top of the list.
thanks for coming by oaktown!

Well I looked hard to find something I didn't like about this map, and here's what I came up with:

The Reservoir in Central Park is too far east.

InkL0sed wrote:Well I looked hard to find something I didn't like about this map, and here's what I came up with:

The Reservoir in Central Park is too far east.

lol, are you kidding?!
you're busting my balls here man.

what do you think of the bonuses so far?

I like the idea of the graffiti...but I think it could be improved. The current color choice just turns me off (but I do suppose that is also what graffiti usually does...).

Otherwise, I'm really liking the way this map looks.


--Andy

benny profane wrote:

snapdoodle wrote:

Blitzaholic wrote:when some of these get close to done, is it possible to put it in general discussion, so more can view it?

c'mon guys...
what he means is post the map in the general discussion board in the forum, instead of just the map foundry.

benny profane wrote:

InkL0sed wrote:Well I looked hard to find something I didn't like about this map, and here's what I came up with:

The Reservoir in Central Park is too far east.

lol, are you kidding?!
you're busting my balls here man.

what do you think of the bonuses so far?

Yes I am kidding although it is true...

The bonuses still need work in my opinion. I'll look at 'em and come up with my own values, we'll see what you think.

YYYYEEEEEAAAAHHHHH GIANTS!!!

sorry. i had to do that.

This is what I think the bonuses should be. Obviously they aren't perfect either, but something to think about:

Manhattan: 12
Uptown: 3
Downtown: 5

Queens: 13
Inner: 3
Outer: 5

Bronx: 10
West: 5
East: 4

Brooklyn: 16
North: 6
East: 3
South: 5

Staten Island: 2

i'm sorry i just got sick i'll respond soon.

I imagined the map to have this modern metalic look to it .......it just doesnt appeal to me no graphics