Ah, the problem was indeed that I couldn't see the walking tracks... the old color trouble again.
cairnswk wrote:The important point is that it has character and plays well.
Agreed, cairnswk - I think you put it well. I've had the same issue with other maps that have been a bit esoteric in terms of subject matter - Puget Sound being an excellent example. I think that Puget maps plays well enough, but until very late in its production the community obviously felt that it lacked character. Getting that map to the point where the colors and graphics gave the user some sense of what the region was about was grueling, but it paid off.
So if the criteria are that a map has character and plays well, I put it to you that at this point this map gives me little sense of the 'character' of this region. There are some neighborhoods near a coastline, but it could be anywhere and in any kind of climate; you could rename all of the territories with Egyptian names and call it the Nile Delta and I wouldn't be any wiser. Here is one very telling post from this thread that suggests that I'm not alone in my lack of understanding:
whitestazn88 wrote:is cairnswk actually a place? or did you name the territ after yourself?
I'm not saying you should drop this, and I never have. Just keep in mind that for you this is a region that is very close to home (or, actually IS home!), so for you the "character" of the region is a given. Your challenge in creating this map, as I'm sure you know, is to share that inside knowledge with the rest of us. I want to know what I'm playing.
I certainly don't think that for a map to be quenched it should be a region that I am personally familiar with, but I do feel that it is my place as a member of the foundry community to share my thoughts on the potential appeal of a new map. I would hope that if I came up with a draft that didn't capture the spirit of my subject somebody would let me know... it would've saved me a lot of time and energy back in the old Chinese Checkers days.
