Fractured America [Quenched]

[danfrank]

I really like the water.. It almost looks like you blew a drop when it hits a puddle.. One thing i would like to see you somehow blend the land and the water together. Just because it looks like the land is over the water..

[isaiah40]

OK! Here's the new revision.

Changes made are as follows:
- Removed bonus names from within their respected areas
- Outlined the bonuses so hopefully they can be seen easier
- Made Iowa to be attacked and attack from all directions

I am thinking of making it to win you must hold all capitals. To start the game all capitals would start with either 5 or 10 neutrals to make it harder to get those bonuses early on. Also, I am thinking that all capitals would be able to bombard every capital (I don't know of a map that you're able to do it on), thereby making it an unique map. Combining holding all capitals to win, neutral start, and every capital can bombard every capital should make it interesting and hopefully prevent stacking of armies.

Let me know what you think!

[captainwalrus]

The outline works well, it makes it very clear. I like the mountains, they are not over donee at all, which I like.
You still need some why of making it so people know what area is each bonus, perhaps have a key with flags or something?

[sailorseal]

It feels odd that only one area gets a thick black outline, can you try and keep the areas more uniform

[isaiah40]

Ok here's the new revision.

Added an inset to show the bonuses and listed the bonuses with their respective little flag (Idea from captainwalrus). Changed the background to try to not make it look like the map was on top of the water. Removed the black outline around the Islamic States and made it more uniform (thanks sailorseal!)

Any other ideas?

[sailorseal]

Can you darken the colors a little, the whole map feels a bit washed out

[isaiah40]

Version 2.3 here!

Darkened Flags.

[thenobodies80]

Poll Result

Would you be interested?

Yea?.....34.....85%

Nay?.....6.....15%

Total votes : 40

[isaiah40]

Perfect, I love it

[thenobodies80]

Hi isaiah40
Good start
Some quick suggestions/critics:

New colors looks are better , now it's easier to distinguish the different zones
Maybe you should use a softer blue for the water, this one hurts the eyes.
Increase the trasparency on the army circles, it could help to have a less white map.
The coloured border (like bible belt) it's nice and helps to understand zones but i think that it makes more sense if you have a border for all zones
I suggest you to work a bit on the legend on that dark blue background the black text isn't easy to read.
It's possible to move havana (cuba) a bit to north, in this way it will be out of the legend (or have a smaller lagend)
Maybe add a sort of border around the minimap to "limit" the dedicated space.
Just a personal choice, but i'm not a big fan of different text for michigan and las cruces.
Why the islamic flag in the lengend doesn't have the white background? (same thing for republican party)

i'll leave more comments tomorrow, I need just enough time to understand exactly your current gameplay
Keep it on!
Have a nice day
Nobodies

p.s. some useful links

How to make a map
Mapmaker's guide to the foundry
Mapmaking tools
Giving and receiving feedback

[colton24]

Hmmm. The solid blue looks too dull/ordinary. The map on the water background looks a lot better. Of course, that is just me.

[soundman]

The blue you have for the water is too bright for me so maybe darken it.
Also you have a red route line over "Havana" so it's hard to read.
A few of your borders are darker and thicker than the others, like the one between San Diego and Baja Cali, Nuevo Arizona and Las Cruces. I think you should make all your borders the same.

Awesome map so far! Can't wait to see the next update.

[jefjef]

Can you darken the colors a little, the whole map feels a bit washed out

I agree. The only shade I like on this map is the blue. And the flag type graphics are a little dizzying to me.

[soundman]

Could you put the newest update on the first post and continue to put the newest up there? That will make it easier to find.

[Mr_Adams]

The storyline deal reminds me of US apocolypso, or whatever it's called. I like how California is clearly marked as communist though

If you'd just remove AZ from that section, I have no objection to the idea

[isaiah40]

Version 2.4

Changes are as follows (though not many):

- Took out the cracked rock legend area to make the print easier to read
- Changed a couple of borders (need input on them) Two I did with different colors, tow others I did with a black outline. Need to know which would be better to do.
- Changed the boldness of Las Cruces and Michigan to normal italics
- Put a white background on the Islamic States Flag and the Republican Flag in the ledgend
- Outlined the map inset
- Toned down the water a bit

Things I'm working on:

- Going to make some little bridges to represent the attack routes - which will be implemented hopefully in the next couple of revisions.

Need input on the borders.

[isaiah40]

Could you put the newest update on the first post and continue to put the newest up there? That will make it easier to find.

Whenever there is a new revision I will change the first post to tell what revision and what page. That way any first timers to this thread can read everything and not miss anything.

[isaiah40]

Maybe you could have a secret society nation or sumthin.

It would also be cool as a feature to have a special gameplay tidbit of a small, maybe four territory area (possibly swine flu quarentine) where people can go in, but cat come out? I'm not sure, but it seems a pandemic of sorts would cause all of this ruckus in the first place, no?

As good as the idea is sinc, I think the map already has enough going on as it stands. I also don't want it it leaning too heavily towards US Apocolapse then it wouldn't really be a unique map. As it is now, I believe it is an unique map with unique gameplay (all capitals can bombard each other while needing to hold all the capitals to win).

[soundman]

I like the black borders better than the color ones. But I noticed that for some reason the top points of the capitals are black... Are they suppose to be like that?

[WidowMakers]

I am not sure if this has been suggested yet but...

I really think you need to work on teh small version. There is a TON of stuff going on here.
Right now you are 800x600. If you keep it at that size and then scale down to the small, the small would be 630x473.
And it would look like this.


But here are some issues with the small:

1) The army circles and 88's don't scale down. You need to make sure they are still the same size and have room
2) Teh territory font and names still needs to be readable
3) Some borders might now be harder to see.

Just wanted to make sure you were aware and did not spend a bunch of time working on a map when you might have to start over when the small map is started.

Also, I understand that the flags and symbols are being used to represent the bonus regions but it is very hard to follow and confusing. I ran into the same issue with Great lakes. The solution was to pick general colors for each group and then have the flag in the background with a slightly lowered opacity.

WM

[isaiah40]

I am not sure if this has been suggested yet but...

I really think you need to work on the small version. There is a TON of stuff going on here.
Right now you are 800x600. If you keep it at that size and then scale down to the small, the small would be 630x473.
And it would look like this.


But here are some issues with the small:

1) The army circles and 88's don't scale down. You need to make sure they are still the same size and have room
2) The territory font and names still needs to be readable
3) Some borders might now be harder to see.

Just wanted to make sure you were aware and did not spend a bunch of time working on a map when you might have to start over when the small map is started.

Also, I understand that the flags and symbols are being used to represent the bonus regions but it is very hard to follow and confusing. I ran into the same issue with Great lakes. The solution was to pick general colors for each group and then have the flag in the background with a slightly lowered opacity.

WM

Thank you WM! I took a look at Great Lakes and I see what you mean. Question though. Did you do a color overlay on the flag or the other way around? Looking at it it looks like you put the flag over the colored background then increased the opacity. I guess it's time to play again

Concerning doing the small map, yes I was thinking about having to start doing last night. So hopefully my next post I'll have both versions up.

Also the army circles, I gather I have to physically put them on the small version? I gather that is what you mean by they have to be the same size (just making sure I'm thinking on the same page)?

I like the black borders better than the color ones. But I noticed that for some reason the top points of the capitals are black... Are they suppose to be like that?

Will be fixed next revision.

[ben79]

Can you darken the colors a little, the whole map feels a bit washed out

I agree. The only shade I like on this map is the blue. And the flag type graphics are a little dizzying to me.

same here, and you can't call french canada -> parti québecois. You need to call it the québec republic that's what the parti québécois would call it

[WidowMakers]

Thank you WM! I took a look at Great Lakes and I see what you mean. Question though. Did you do a color overlay on the flag or the other way around? Looking at it it looks like you put the flag over the colored background then increased the opacity. I guess it's time to play again

Concerning doing the small map, yes I was thinking about having to start doing last night. So hopefully my next post I'll have both versions up.

Also the army circles, I gather I have to physically put them on the small version? I gather that is what you mean by they have to be the same size (just making sure I'm thinking on the same page)?

NP.

1) In Great lakes I had my territory/bonus region shape. I used a layer mask in the shape of the region to hide the outside edges of the flag. I put the flag layer on top of another colored layer below. The lower layer was the same shape as the flag mask but I added an inner glow for my color. Then I lowered the opacity to make the flag drop off into the background but still be noticeable if a player studies the map.

2) For army circle you will need the basic same size. I now always use 20x20 (for large and small). This big issue will be where you have smaller terts and possible borders would get covered up when you make the small version.

Good Luck
WM

[soundman]

It's a hard to see one of the territory names case of the background picture. I think it's "Motoni"? Right below Ida.

[isaiah40]

Redone Version 3 here with small map finally!

Changes made for this revision are:
- Took out the flag backgrounds
- Used softer, pastel type colors to be easier on the eyes
- Deleted the small map inset
- Changed the attack route symbol to be easier to see
- Increased the font size from 10 to 11(Can read the territories on the small map)
- Put a black border around all bonuses
- Bonus names are color coded to map colors
- Made the special game play instructions stand out so they are easier to read
- Renamed map from Fractured America 2050 to just Fractured America (easier to remember)
- Removed the shadow that was on the tops of the stars
- Realigned a couple of borders that had gaps in them
- Finally did a small map

Things to do:
Only one thing right now, and that is to put larger army circles on the small map so you can read the numbers better.

Here is the large map:



And here is the small map:



That's all folks (for now)!