Map Foundry Gallery

[thenobodies80]

Hello everyone,

As you will certainly have noticed in the recent weeks I have been a bit less active on the site, this because I've spent most of my free time to produce something that I hope you find enjoyable and useful.

It's with a great plasure that I'm proud to announce the



The site is divided in two separated, but also connected, parts.

The first part is the Gallery Index:



Into the Maps Gallery you can select any maps that is currently available on the ConquerClub site and, doing this, read some details:

• Release Date/Revamp Date
• Mapmakers
• Map description
• Map Features
• Starting Neutrals
• Starting Territories for games from 2 to 8 players

Additionally, you can also rate the maps. To do that click the rate button in the page.

All map images are displyed in 3 different ways: with thumbnails, a medium size preview and a full size showcase.

Let me say that the gallery page is not done for too small screens, so if you have a 1024x768 resolution you need to scroll the page to read all the contents.
At the moment the gallery still miss some info, I'll do my best to fill them in the near future with the time I have. Obviously If someone is willing to help me to fill the missing data, just throw me a pm!

The second part is the Rating Index :



With the rating index (more suitable for small monitors) you can decide to rate a map or, if you are a mapmaker, see what other people think about a map.
There are 4 categories that you can rate:

• Graphics
• Gameplay
• Complexity
• Enjoyment

Rate can be given with a value from 1 to 5, where 1 is the lower value in the scale. For complexity, look at the Classic Map if you want a parameter to start with. (it can't be rated for this category and its standard value is set to 2 stars)
The rating system is coded to not allow multiple votes, so for a map you can give one vote for each category. Once you have given your vote, you can't change it anymore. So, be careful in making your choice! From time to time (probably every 6 months) I will allow people to resubmit the votes, but in any case I will not delete votes under request.

If you want to browse the rating section, use the dropdown menu at the top of the page.

--------------------------------

If you need more datails or if you get lost using the site (I don't think, but who knows?) I've added also a FAQ section in which you can find some info that should put you back on track.

I hope you enjoy the Gallery and the Rating pages, it took some time to code it, I hope you like the result and that effort spent is worth it!
In case you are experiencing problems or if you have suggestions, don't be afraid to send me a pm!

Finally, with the occasion I would like to thank isaiah40 for the suggestion given. And last, but surely not the least, a very very very special thank you! goes to Dako, who helped me a lot with this project!

Now, feel free to use the site, enjoy it!I hope you'll find it a nice replacement of the, now lost, chipv's map database and I hope that this site could help people to know a bit more about the maps done on Conquer Club and their details. The gallery want to be a place where people can really look at the maps and understand how much the mapmaking community is important for the life of the Conquer Club website! Like I always say, mapmakers and their maps are the true heart of CC!

CC Foundry Maps Gallery

Nobodies

[Victor Sullivan]

So that's what you were doing with wcforums!

Neat! I like it

-Sully

[natty dread]

Looks nice enough, but why couldn't this be something that was integrated with the main CC site?

[DiM]

awesome work you've done with this.


however this really saddens me. this is probably the final nail in the coffin on a proper categorization system within CC.
why would lack bother to do something similar here when he has volunteers doing it on external sites.
i see he didn't even bother to post a link to your work on the browse map section.
so basicaly as long as this work will remain as a simple announcement here in the foundry it will probably die or remain in some sort of a coma


PS: also some pages don't work properly. for example this page doesn't allow scrolling.

[chapcrap]

however this really saddens me. this is probably the final nail in the coffin on a proper categorization system within CC.
why would lack bother to do something similar here when he has volunteers doing it on external sites.

Agreed with this. This is the reason so many suggestions don't get implemented. Because the tech volunteers already have an addon for it, so the main site doesn't really need it, right?

I am happy about it, but it's a shame it's not part of the site.

[chapcrap]

Sorry for a double post, but I was looking at the gallery and saw my favorite map, and the number of starting territories is incorrect. On King's Court, you start with 4 if it is a 2, 3, or 4 player game. And 2 if it is a 5, 6, 7, or 8 player game. It is listed as 2 and 1 instead of 4 and 2.

EDIT: Feudal War says you start with 2 terts for 4 players, that should be 1. Das Schloss is also wrong. Just checking a few favorites.

[thenobodies80]

I don't know what Lack will do with this.... i know he likes it and he was ok to have it directly on the site. Just, for now, I prefer to have it on my webspace because it allows me to manage things easily and keep it updated.
I hope Lack will add a link in that page or also in the gamescreen, like we can rate players maybe it would be nice to able to rate maps.
Anyway I see this like a first step in the right direction, in the future we will see! If we will have a map categorization on the site we will have at least some starting data and criteria to do that in the right way. Think positive guys!

About scrolling the page, it's not a mistake Read Here, it's done for a precise reason. But if you think it's better I can add the the scroll bar in 2 seconds. Now.

edit: i'll change teh number of starting territs in kings court. As said considering the number of data i had to collect not everything is totally finished.

[chapcrap]

edit: i'll change teh number of starting territs in kings court. As said considering the number of data i had to collect not everything is totally finished.

Make sure you check them all. The first 3 maps I looked at were wrong. I editing my post as you were making yours.

[natty dread]

Sadly I don't think this will go anywhere unless it gets integrated with the site in a way that people who don't visit forums will also be aware of it. Chipv's map database was up for a long time, but eventually it just sort of faded away because most people didn't even realize it existed...

There should be links to this on map browser, game pages, game finder, etc... then I could see a future for this thing.

[thenobodies80]

edit: i'll change teh number of starting territs in kings court. As said considering the number of data i had to collect not everything is totally finished.

Make sure you check them all. The first 3 maps I looked at were wrong. I editing my post as you were making yours.

If you tell me what are the maps I can fix them!

edit: ops i noticed your previous post now! Anyway I'll check them, but if you found something wrong, please tell me.

[thenobodies80]

The two maps were fixed, and I added teh scroll bar in the rating index page, DiM let me know if you prefer in this way.
btw Can I have the description of your maps now?

[DiM]

The two maps were fixed, and I added teh scroll bar in the rating index page, DiM let me know if you prefer in this way.
btw Can I have the description of your maps now?

the scroll bar is good.
without it my screen could only fit half of the rate button and i didn't even see the back to top page link.
thus it made browsing maps really difficult.

as for the description, i'll go do it. but this is only because you've worked so much. i still think i shouldn't do it because lack won't implement this

[DoomYoshi]

OptimismYoshi says: maybe lack will implement it?

Clickies got added even though there was already an addon.

[cairnswk]

tnb80, do you have access to chipv's database portal?
I know i have completed many more descriptions etc in there than are completed in your Gallery. Das ScloB, Rail Europe, Jamaica and Forbidden City are a couple i am certain were completed, and i know other mapmakers had completed their's also. Perhaps yopu are still in the process of migrating this over - yes?

Pros:
1. good work to get something like this back up again
2. yes the scroll bar is good on the subsections
3. the ratings tool looks good (although i think i had trouble getting one of the complexity ratings to work on Canada, British Isles)
4. yes i hope lackattack implements this somewhere in the menu system and on the site.

Cons:
1. i think the images are too big, especially since you can click on them and get the larger version anyways
2. I won't go to the Rating's index again...it takes forever to download all those images - i really think this needs to be re-worked into something more manageable for download bytage and easier access.

Nice work overall though.

[greenoaks]

i think the concept of this is good but have no interest in helping with it as that discourages lack from implementing it

[thenobodies80]

tnb80, do you have access to chipv's database portal?
I know i have completed many more descriptions etc in there than are completed in your Gallery. Das ScloB, Rail Europe, Jamaica and Forbidden City are a couple i am certain were completed, and i know other mapmakers had completed their's also. Perhaps yopu are still in the process of migrating this over - yes?

No, it was the first thing i tried to do when i started this thing.
Unfortunately I have no way to see it nor to contact chipv...i think that the portal is dead and all the data we put in to it lost.

although i think i had trouble getting one of the complexity ratings to work on Canada, British Isles)

Fixed, thanks for spotting them!

1. i think the images are too big, especially since you can click on them and get the larger version anyways
2. I won't go to the Rating's index again...it takes forever to download all those images - i really think this needs to be re-worked into something more manageable for download bytage and easier access.

As said, it's not done for small monitors. I wanted to implement medium size images because it gives you a real preview of the map, more than a small thumbnail or a dropdown list.
About the gallery Index, you don't need to visit it....I added the button on the gallery map pages exactly for that reason. But I don't understand why take so long to load the images, maybe your connetion is really slow. I've also added a javascript to load the images only when displayed exactly to not slow too much the page.

i think the concept of this is good but have no interest in helping with it as that discourages lack from implementing it

I think that instead this could push lack for the opposite, lately there's too much pessimism around on this site..... Anyway thanks, I'm happy you think it's a good thing.

[Flapcake]

really good job done thenobodies80 this would be nice see integrated in the frontpage of CC, maby in the menu of "Interaction" ?

[cairnswk]

tnb80, do you have access to chipv's database portal?
I know i have completed many more descriptions etc in there than are completed in your Gallery. Das ScloB, Rail Europe, Jamaica and Forbidden City are a couple i am certain were completed, and i know other mapmakers had completed their's also. Perhaps yopu are still in the process of migrating this over - yes?

No, it was the first thing i tried to do when i started this thing.
Unfortunately I have no way to see it nor to contact chipv...i think that the portal is dead and all the data we put in to it lost.
...

OK i'll get onto them all

[CJ Lues]

Excellent Job guys!!!! Bravo!

One minor mistake i saw, in the Rating page, New York City's name is "WWII "Gazala"... but sure it can be easily fixed.

Well done again!

-CJ-

[Ffraid]

Wow, nice work nobodies! I used chipv's map database whenever I wanted to play a new map and have really missed it. This looks great.

[AndyDufresne]

Lack is watching the Gallery closely, and has already communicated some improvements to thenobodies80 I believe that could be done so we could investigate more about integrating something like this into the website.


--Andy

[Gillipig]

You sneaky lizard nobodies ! I like it a lot ! Especially if it'll be linked in the game finder menu. It could turn into a very useful tool if it also helped categorize maps after complexity (as voted by the players).

[DiM]

if it also helped categorize maps after complexity (as voted by the players).

too bad some people don't vote on complexity like they should. i've seen simple straightforward maps rated 5 stars.

[Sniper08]

if it also helped categorize maps after complexity (as voted by the players).

too bad some people don't vote on complexity like they should. i've seen simple straightforward maps rated 5 stars.

people always think 5 stars is better, they like a map they rate everything 5 stars which is stupid.

its a shame this wasnt done as a feature of the site, there is far too many add-ons around lack should seriously start converting some of them to on the site.

[Gillipig]

if it also helped categorize maps after complexity (as voted by the players).

too bad some people don't vote on complexity like they should. i've seen simple straightforward maps rated 5 stars.

I voted on almost all maps myself and didn't notice many ratings that were way off. And when it was it was because only 1 or 2 had voted on it. I think when we get more players to vote this won't be an issue.