Malazan Empire Map

[KingRat]

This map currently has 174 Territories which will be reduced as required to meet the magic number.
There are six main continents with 3 smaller neutral continents.
The three smaller continents when all held together, will offer a 9 unit bonus.
Connection points between the continents is yet to be decided.
Game play is basic but the scale is large.
I was hoping to get feedback before I go any further as to whether the design and idea are worth pursuing and how I can improve!

Thanks in advance for any and all feedback.

Please be advised this is map try #1!

[MarshalNey]

Interesting... draft looks pretty nice

There are some technical issues, you'll have to consolidate some of your territories, they are all way too tiny right now. Also, the theme is nearly non-existent, but never fear- this is what the Melting Pot is for! I'm not sure what the Malazan Empire is all about, but if you had some ideas maybe you could explain it in your next post.

Use the BigImg tags in front and behind your link to your image (just highlight the link and click the 'BigImg' button).

Some other questions you could answer that might help others give good advice:

(1) What kind of gameplay were you hoping to have... you stated basic gameplay, is this a goal or just a starting point? If just a starting point, how complex were you wanting to go?
(2) What era/fictional genre were you hoping to incorporate- medieval, space-age, apocalyptic, ancient, etc.?
(3) What sorts of terrain/impassibles were you envisioning?

Best of luck on the map, it looks like the start of something good.

[porkenbeans]

840X800 is the largest you can go. Which means that you can go a little taller.
You have way too many territs. Once you label and put the numbers on, you will not be able to read a thing. Not to mention that you will need to make a small version.

So my advise is to loose 2/3 of the territs. Then try to label them. Remember that you also need room for the army numbers. Also remember that when you reduce the size for the small version, you can not reduce the size of the army numbers. So try to leave plenty of extra room.

Good luck, and have fun.

[natty dread]

Well, first of all welcome to the foundry and good job on making your first draft. Most people never get even this far. That said, I have a number of concerns, to make it easier I will group them by category.

Thematic concerns:
What's the story of this map? Who is fighting who here? Is this happening in a fictional universe? Seems a bit vague to me. To be honest, it kinda seems like you just pulled some fictional continents out of your... sleeve... and slapped made-up names on them. I might be wrong, but this is the impression your map currently gives. It lacks a clear theme. Or if it has one, it is not very well reflected by the map itself.

Graphical / legibility concerns:
Your territories are way too small. You'll never be able to fit the army numbers in them. Let alone territory names, which are considered necessary here at CC. You need to make two versions of every map: small & large, and the maximum small map size is about 75% of your current image. Those territories need to be either cut back way down, or rearranged in some fashion so that army numbers and territory names fit on both versions. Your borders are also unclear at some places. Generally it's good to keep your borders clean and simple, and try to avoid unnecessary squigglyness.

Gameplay concerns:
How do the continents connect? You haven't drawn any connections between them. You have 3 small bonuses, and the rest are so huge they will very rarely even come to play except for the endgame. But like I said, you haven't drawn connections between the continents, so I can't tell how many borders your continents are supposed to have, so I can't say if your bonus values are even close to right. Even so, I can tell that you need to split up your map into more bonuses if you are going to keep this scale of territory numbers (in which case, as already said, you need to reorganize the whole map so that your territories are large enough. Although I would still recommend cutting back the territory count somewhat. )


Well, that's about it for now. Don't get discouraged, very few people learn the art of mapmaking right away. This is something that requires lots of patience and hard work. If you're up for it, try to address these concerns for your next version, and hopefully we'll see something excellent emerge from this. Good luck!

[KingRat]

Wow, great feedback already.
This map is based on the Malazan Books Of The Fallen series of fantasy novels. Very similar in genre to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series.
The naming although not complete, adheres to the series. The geography is slightly adjusted for gameplay as I envisioned multiple connections between continents.
The three small unaligned territories are Malaz City, Seguleh and Bael. The map will be interesting to fans of the series but as that is obviously a small constituency hereabouts so it will need to rely on it's merit as a interesting and fun map to play.

[Industrial Helix]

Wow, great feedback already.
This map is based on the Malazan Books Of The Fallen series of fantasy novels. Very similar in genre to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series.
The naming although not complete, adheres to the series. The geography is slightly adjusted for gameplay as I envisioned multiple connections between continents.
The three small unaligned territories are Malaz City, Seguleh and Bael. The map will be interesting to fans of the series but as that is obviously a small constituency hereabouts so it will need to rely on it's merit as a interesting and fun map to play.

Hate to say it but... copyright. Unless there is a way around it that you know of.

[MarshalNey]

Hate to say it but... copyright. Unless there is a way around it that you know of.

Yeah, taking the names and / or basing the map directly off of someone else's layout is a no-no unless you can get permission.

Sooo... can the names and layout (if necessary) be changed, and will you still be interested in making the map if you change them?

[KingRat]

The geography is only loosely described in the book so artwork based on a statement in a fictional work saying that X is somewhere east of Y does not infringe. The naming of course can be modified. This is about a fun map the Malaz theme was my starting point.

[KingRat]

2nd version with less territories and proposed connections between the continents.
Please keep the feedback coming.

Click image to enlarge.

[porkenbeans]

This is better, but you still need to make some of the territs larger. The largest of the territs that you have now, should be the smallest that you have. I do not advise that people start with the small version, but in this case I would do so. But just for the initial layout. Then when you get that worked out. Switch over and work on the large version. When you finish it it will be easy to shrink it down for the small version. You loose detail if you were to do it the other way around.

As you lay out the small version, just make sure that all of your territs are large enough to fit in the label, and army numbers. Getting this step done right, will save you much headaches down the road.

[KingRat]

Version with label styling.

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

Ok... you have a huge slice of unused space to the left. Why?

I'm thinking you could rearrange the continents a bit, enlargen them, so that they take up all the space, then you probably won't have to remove any more territories.

[Joodoo]

Unless you're going to make the individual territories bigger, it seems like you'll need to use abbreviations for the territory names (like the Hive).
I'm all for large maps, as long as copyright isn't an issue.

[natty dread]

The army numbers are 24*12 for the 888:s... thus, they will be equivalent to 32 * 16 for the small version, so here's what you need to do:

Make sure you can fit a 32 x 32 pixel square inside each of your territories. This way they will be large enough for the army numbers and at least an abbreviated territory name.

[The Bison King]

Hey guy's, I'm liking what I'm seeing here. This shows huge promise, especially in the fact that three version have already been produced, and each one is a vast improvement. I really like the idea of a map with huge continents that wield a large bonus. That's pretty exciting. As far as making space for territory names I feel like you could get away with naming territories Assail 1, 2, 3 ect... ect... and on the map itself all you would see is 1. 2. 3. ect... ect... I'm not usually a fan of numbered territories but on a fantasy map of this proportion it's going to take a lot of imagination to come up with that many original name, that most people will never bother to learn, also it solves the space issue.

Good luck!

[KingRat]

I like that idea we could even use the alphabet as well so as not to confuse the numbers with the unit totals. Ascent = AA, AB, AC,AD etc. (Name change as recomended above =) ...)
You hit the nail on the head as far as a large map with lots of room to maneuver and good bonuses.
I was toying with the following ide as well:
When holding the three neutral continents you receive a +3 Bonus on top of the +1 for each continent but in addition I was thinking that there would be a cross continent bonus where if you hold a territory of each colour Black/Pink/Blue/Green/Brown/Purple/Yellow you get an additional +1 bonus for each set up to a max of +7 as there are only 7 neutral territories in total.

Thoughts?

PS The large empty spot on the left is for the Map title, legend, bonus eaxplanation, etc.

[Teflon Kris]

Not sure if anyone has suggested this already but it would be cool, gameplay-wise, if the continents were connected by ports. It would be then easier to move around the map than the current connections system (plus it allows you to make very nice-looking seas). Moving around the map more easily is more important given that there are a large number of regions.

Maybe a ports system similar to that in the Oasis Sahara map (in development) may be worth looking at (ports connect to some other ports but not all) as an in-between option.

Nice work so far though.

[Victor Sullivan]

When holding the three neutral continents you receive a +3 Bonus on top of the +1 for each continent but in addition I was thinking that there would be a cross continent bonus where if you hold a territory of each colour Black/Pink/Blue/Green/Brown/Purple/Yellow you get an additional +1 bonus for each set up to a max of +7 as there are only 7 neutral territories in total.

I like these ideas, but I have a couple suggestions:
1. I'm afraid the additional +3 for the black continents might be a bit steep. Maybe like +2 instead?
2. The 1 territory of each color bonus should exclude the black continents, since they're already hotspots for their quick and easy bonus (compared to the giant continents). I wonder if you could cap it off at like 3 or something, so it makes it more worth it to go for the whole continent rather than for territories in each.
3. I think the 1-territory black continent should have more connections so it's just as hard to obtain as the 3-territory black continents.

Not sure if anyone has suggested this already but it would be cool, gameplay-wise, if the continents were connected by ports. It would be then easier to move around the map than the current connections system (plus it allows you to make very nice-looking seas). Moving around the map more easily is more important given that there are a large number of regions.

I agree with the ports idea, but there shouldn't be too many openings otherwise the larger continents would be impossible to hold.

Hopefully my three and a half cents is worth every penny.

-Sully