Fractured China - [Quenched]

[cairnswk]

... Yes I've done the check on the colored numbers, but I'll do it again.

i see you've checked the numbers in a previous version 1h, but that was different brighter territory colours. Sorry to ask again

[macbone]

You know, it may already have been said, but I love the attention to folks who are color blind. Spiffy!

[isaiah40]

... Yes I've done the check on the colored numbers, but I'll do it again.

i see you've checked the numbers in a previous version 1h, but that was different brighter territory colours. Sorry to ask again

Not a problem, it never hurts to ask, and it never hurts to double check things.

You know, it may already have been said, but I love the attention to folks who are color blind. Spiffy!

I gather you are and that you can read the map easily enough? If you can, thank you!

[isaiah40]

Okay here's to hoping this version is a'okay!

I put the 888's on the small for color comparison and to make sure they still fit.

[bigimg]http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/8785/fracturedchinav3d.png[/bigimg]

[cairnswk]

isaiah40, i know i'm probably a late comer to this grafix process, but better get this done now in gfx rather than in FF IMHO...and apologies if something is already covered.
1. the numbers are somewhat lost on the small maps in areas: dark-blue on the sea and dark-blue in Vietnam. i would have prefered to see a smattering of each colour in each continent (as you've done in some places) but i can't see any grey numbers
2. Because you've used black font in these dark background regions, is there any way you highlight the territory names to make them more legible, perhaps with a glow or offset...it would help lift those names.
3. Legend stuff

• Russian Federation: a suggestion to change to Fed. of Russia +5...would probably fit better
• I understand where you're coming from with Nam Viet, but it's lost on that purple background and needs either a background glow or perhaps change it to Vietnam +5 so that it is well within the colour surroundings
• I'd experiment a little for the region bonuses. I know for the sake of consistency you got "tert name bonus" structure, but perhaps try and mix that up a little to see if some of those names and bonuses would fit better within their surrounding colour.
• I'd do something special with your name and Gilligan's and perhaps move it out of that bonus region to up with the title in all that real estate you have up there. That will give you some more room to re-arrange/enlarge the continents bonuses area.
• small map - the capitals bonus for +3 for 2...the 3 is lost and not quite clear enough.
• some of the barbed wire spikes stick into the legend and interfere with the text....can these particular spikes be flattened somewhat so they don't stick into the legend

I hope this is somewhat more constructive for you, but i feel a little more experimentation is possible to slightly adjust some gfx aspects and this should look a whole lot more legible.

[isaiah40]

isaiah40, i know i'm probably a late comer to this grafix process, but better get this done now in gfx rather than in FF IMHO...and apologies if something is already covered.
1. the numbers are somewhat lost on the small maps in areas: dark-blue on the sea and dark-blue in Vietnam. i would have prefered to see a smattering of each colour in each continent (as you've done in some places) but i can't see any grey numbers
2. Because you've used black font in these dark background regions, is there any way you highlight the territory names to make them more legible, perhaps with a glow or offset...it would help lift those names.
3. Legend stuff

• Russian Federation: a suggestion to change to Fed. of Russia +5...would probably fit better
• I understand where you're coming from with Nam Viet, but it's lost on that purple background and needs either a background glow or perhaps change it to Vietnam +5 so that it is well within the colour surroundings
• I'd experiment a little for the region bonuses. I know for the sake of consistency you got "tert name bonus" structure, but perhaps try and mix that up a little to see if some of those names and bonuses would fit better within their surrounding colour.
• I'd do something special with your name and Gilligan's and perhaps move it out of that bonus region to up with the title in all that real estate you have up there. That will give you some more room to re-arrange/enlarge the continents bonuses area.
• small map - the capitals bonus for +3 for 2...the 3 is lost and not quite clear enough.
• some of the barbed wire spikes stick into the legend and interfere with the text....can these particular spikes be flattened somewhat so they don't stick into the legend

I hope this is somewhat more constructive for you, but i feel a little more experimentation is possible to slightly adjust some gfx aspects and this should look a whole lot more legible.

Well considering I'm still in graphics, this is not a problem. I will work on these and a couple of other things.

[isaiah40]

Okay, here are a few changes, hope these are better.

[bigimg]http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5455/fracturedchinav3e.png[/bigimg]

[natty dread]

Looks great! The deep blue sea is beautiful.

I'd like to see the dark inner glow on the bonus areas... it worked on FA, I wonder if it would work here too... maybe you could try it?

[cairnswk]

isaiah40, that look fab!
there are two small issues and then i'll leave alone.
1. both maps - can you increase the glow on the names on the dark blue sea, they still aren't visible enough; the rest are puuuurrrrrfect
2. both maps - the line connections on the dark blue sea aren't visible at all

the legend is much better now on small map, i can read it.

[isaiah40]

isaiah40, that look fab!
there are two small issues and then i'll leave alone.
1. both maps - can you increase the glow on the names on the dark blue sea, they still aren't visible enough; the rest are puuuurrrrrfect
2. both maps - the line connections on the dark blue sea aren't visible at all

the legend is much better now on small map, i can read it.

Thank you! As for the glow on the Sea names, well I will be changing them to white text with a possible dark outer glow to them to make them stand out more. The sea attack lines, um, yea I forgot to do those.

Looks great! The deep blue sea is beautiful.

I'd like to see the dark inner glow on the bonus areas... it worked on FA, I wonder if it would work here too... maybe you could try it?

Thank you, as for the dark inner glow, I'll try it but I can't guarantee anything.

Here are your updates!!

[bigimg]http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/6774/fracturedchinav3f.png[/bigimg]

[cairnswk]

Forget to mention the story above legend bottom left over that dark blue sea, but will understand if you choose to leave that alone. Otherwise...Excellent!

[isaiah40]

Forget to mention the story above legend bottom left over that dark blue sea, but will understand if you choose to leave that alone. Otherwise...Excellent!

Yea, well, I forgot about it to. Now that I look at it, I think I'll just leave it be as the white text is not readable on the Indian color. Well now hopefully everything is good to go so I can get this into FF!

[natty dread]

The inner glow looks perfect! It brings the map to life, so to speak.

Not too keen on the white text though... It looks a bit too bright, and looks sort of weird... It would look better if the text was all uniform. Maybe try that increased glow on the ocean thing? That's what I did on Transsib.

[isaiah40]

That's what I tried earlier, it just looked blah IMO. I'll do some more experimenting and see what happens.

[natty dread]

A couple other things...

- The sea territories: you could add slight blurs there; now that you have a dark ocean, blue numbers probably won't show too good on it.

- Sea routes: Might look better as dashed lines, not sure. The opacity could be lowered (more transparency ) somewhat, and make them so that they connect to the shorelines.

Also... did I mention I love that new deep blue ocean? Definitely much better than the old ocean colour.

[isaiah40]

Okay a slight adjustment, large only for now.

[bigimg]http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/7655/fracturedchinav3g.png[/bigimg]

[natty dread]

Good otherwise, except for labels that are halfway on land... Make the glow so that it is stronger only on the ocean, and the same as the other glows on the land side... (a layer mask is great for this) and maybe reduce opacity by 10-20%.

[isaiah40]

How's this?

[bigimg]http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/1323/fracturedchinav3h.png[/bigimg]

[natty dread]

It looks good.

Now, the sea routes - I think dotted or dashed lines might work better, rather than solid lines. Also, the way they abruptly end just before the shoreline seems a bit odd - can you make it so that the lines connect with the shores?

Also, some kind of troop circles for the sea territories might be worthwhile to try - they would give the sea routes something to connect with, and make the sea territories more obvious... although I do have to say the blue numbers show up surprisingly well right now.

[isaiah40]

I don't know, it kinda looks funny to me.

[bigimg]http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5300/fracturedchinav3i.png[/bigimg]

[natty dread]

I actually meant something more like this:

[RedBaron0]

I like the dashed lines like natty has there rather than the solid lines, whatever you decide there Isaiah!

[cairnswk]

Dashed lines is also my preference. but i think they need to be reduced in opacity.

[natty dread]

I'm not sure if photoshop has a "grain merge" layer mode, but I've found it's pretty good for glows and other things that need to be somewhat transparent.. I used it on my example.

[isaiah40]

I'm not sure if photoshop has a "grain merge" layer mode, but I've found it's pretty good for glows and other things that need to be somewhat transparent.. I used it on my example.

No it doesn't. I believe the closest is Hard Light from what I read in one GIMP Tutorial. If I remember correctly it said that Grain Merge was similar to GIMP's hard light.

I'll fart and fiddle with them today.