An Orchestra/Symphony Map

[ArtAboveall]

What would you think if we had a "Battle of the bands"? That would be neat too, but I thought if we set up a map a lot like how a conductor would organize a symphonic orchestra. And instead of countries, we'd have instruments. And instead of continents, sections (Brass, Woodwind, Strings ect.).

http://evanderheide.demon.nl/images/orchestra.jpg

^This is something what I think the map could look like. Except add some colour and decorations to it.

Input please?

[Rih0]

well, the image looks like U.S senate.

[ArtAboveall]

That could make an interesting game too.
And I'd have to make it more like a real orchestra too. So instead of one of each instrument there could be 4 violins, 4 2nd violins, 2 oboes ect. to make more places. I drew out a map and there are 15 "Countries" (instruments). So by making doubles, triples, or even quadruples based on the instrument, you could create a better game, and a more realistic symphony.

[ArtAboveall]

Also if you counted the conductor as a place that makes 16 countries. And maybe if you owned the conductor you could get a bonus. Feel free to give any ideas at all. The more we come up with the better we can make this.

[natty dread]

Conductor can bombard all instruments?

[00iCon]

instruments can attack the first note in the stave then one way attack other notes in order. the last note attacks the instrument again. notes can also attack the corresponding notes of other instruments. No idea what could attack the conductor...

Click image to enlarge.

positions are arbitrary, very rough MS paint draft.

[ender516]

This is quite a workable concept, ArtAboveall.

I believe this comment

well, the image looks like U.S senate.

was referring to the existing Conquer Club U.S. Senate map. So i think it was intended to suggest that you need something to make your map distinctive.

I think adding multiple instruments to increase the region (territory) count is a good idea, as is making the various sections of the orchestra the bonus zones (continents). Using the conductor as a focal point in the way natty_dread suggested could work, but now I see this going down much the same road as the [ur=http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=241&t=122594l]Baseball Map[/url]under development right now. It has a good layout, but since you are coming after, your work may be seen as unoriginal. Bringing the musical score into the gameplay could be the gimmick that sets this idea apart and really sells it.

P.S. It's nice to see a newcomer to the site jumping into the Map Foundry with both feet. Do look around and comment on other people's work. It is one of the best ways of drawing attention to your own (especially if you put a link in your signature to this topic, so people can find it).

[ArtAboveall]

Thank you. I'll check out some of the other maps, though since I am new, I don't know which ones are in a developmental stage I can usefully input in. I also saw one or two of the baseball maps rough drafts, and didn't quite understand them, so I don't really see how this is unoriginal compared to that. But I agree that if we used sheet music to affect/direct attacks it would make it extremely unique. It might make it a bit harder to use if we actually use music theory in building it, especially for those who have no training in music. I don't quite understand the earlier explanation of using the music notes to attack other than they'd be like portals or bridges. Also I was originally thinking of using the conductor as a bonus territory. Something like if you owned it you could receive an extra troop or two for every section controlled. So if you controlled the whole string section and would normally get, say 5 troops, you'd get 6 or 7 troops instead. And if you controlled two sections you'd get even more extras with the conductor, but I do like the idea of the conductor being able to attack any instrument, as that adds a very new strategy to the map.

Also do you know any good free upload sites for pictures? I drew up a staring map and coloured it in for each section. I rearranged it so that way the territory grouping make more sense, and the bigger ones are harder to control.

[Army of GOD]

Hold the conductor for a turn to win?

[Victor Sullivan]

Idk AoG, I feel like that objective would take away from the concept as a whole. If you want to make this an objective-style map, then it should be "hold the conductor and all staves to win" which I think would work much better, plus it'd make sense (if one person has the conductor and all the music, what are the instrumentalists gonna do? ). 00iCon's idea seems like a great place to start.

-Sully

[Army of GOD]

Also, in addition to the basic "continent" bonuses, you could do section bonuses, like a "brass quartet" (hold a trumpet, baritone, trombone and tuba) or a string trio or something like that.

Also, if it were up to me, you would just have to hold tuba to win considering it's the best instrument.

[ArtAboveall]

In your dreams! Viola's clearly the best. And I don't think there's a baritone. So we could add some singers to the map as well. And I like the idea of extra bonuses like a string trio. Great place to start. Another could be a jazz section too. I also like the idea of holding the conductor and sheet music to win, although I didn't really think of this as having objectives. I was thinking of having this as a music based map with some unique bonuses. So if we could do both that'd be great.

[Army of GOD]

And we can have even larger bonuses, such as "hold all strings", "hold all winds" or "hold all brass" which are like holding an entire continent in World 2.1

[wisemanpsemc]

I can see this being a good map. If you are going to incorporate a choral aspect then you might be able to take this to a pit band idea and then have a stage behind with some sort of act going on and use that as part of the map. Maybe people are singing in the act. It would also give additional regions to work with.

[Army of GOD]

Looks like we should get a map-artist in here, unless you can do it ArtAboveAll. If you can draw us a rough draft of what you're thinking so far (or we can just use 00iCon's map for now. Just throw it in the OP because I hate scrolling down =P ). It'd help with the brainstorming.

If you want to post a picture in your post, use

Code: Select all

[img][/img]

tags instead of url.

[ArtAboveall]

OK, I'd have to draw it by hand, cause i have a mac and no software to create images. But I do have a scanner, so this is what The general rough draft I was thinking of. The pic is small cause it was a doodle on a sticky note just to re arrange the sections to make a better game.

[img]Orchestra%20Map[/img] (Do I need to upload it to a site first?)
Pink is Percussion/Other
Blue is Woodwinds
Green is Brass
Yellow is Strings

[Army of GOD]

Haha yea, you have to upload it to a image hosting site first. Photobucket or Image shack will do. I'll let you use my account if you want.

[ArtAboveall]

Thanks. Though i was hoping for a free site so I can upload when I need to without a problem, I'll take you up on your offer.

[ender516]

Also do you know any good free upload sites for pictures? I drew up a staring map and coloured it in for each section. I rearranged it so that way the territory grouping make more sense, and the bigger ones are harder to control.

I use fileden.com for my XML files, but it can handle images too, and you can use it for free. Others use Flickr, or Photobucket, or Imageshack.

[img]Orchestra%20Map[/img] (Do I need to upload it to a site first?)

Absolutely. The [ img ] tag must contain a URL which the forum will render as a picture. A [ url ] tag around the same URL would produce a document link which, when clicked, would take you to that picture.

I don't think there's a baritone.

Maybe not in an orchestra, but my dad played a baritone horn (or possibly an E flat alto horn) in the Little Britain Marching Band many years ago. (Yes, there is a Little Britain in Ontario, and no, it is nothing like the British character-based sketch comedy show.)

I guess this map only resembles the baseball map in that a central location (the batter there, the conductor here) would assault out into many locations (the infield and outfield, or the various sections).

I like Army of GOD's idea of different bonuses like string quartets, or jazz combos. Adding a choir of vocalists gives more combinations as well, like barbershop quartets. With vocalists and an orchestra, perhaps we should look at this as an oratorio. Perhaps a performance of the Messiah? We need to get a Handel on this. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Perhaps the score should be used as the interconnection between the various sections: instruments written on the bass clef would need to conquer a note there, then pass through middle C to reach a treble clef note, then ultimately attack instruments written on the treble clef. This might be hard to convey on the map, though, without a complicated legend.

[Army of GOD]

Think we should put a legit music piece in the score?

Beethoven's fifth?

[ender516]

It might be nice, but I think the connections needed for gameplay will need to be considered first.

Factoid: Those first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth, (bu-bu-bu-bah), can be heard as the Morse code for the letter V, which is the Roman numeral 5. But this music was written in 1804-1808, and Morse's telegraph didn't go into operation until 1841.

[Army of GOD]

Some other gameplay suggestions:

The "first chair" in each section could get a +1 autodeploy?

Instruments can attack any instrument in its section, and connections between sections can be made on the map?

Factoid: Those first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth, (bu-bu-bu-bah), can be heard as the Morse code for the letter V, which is the Roman numeral 5. But this music was written in 1804-1808, and Morse's telegraph didn't go into operation until 1841.

[ender516]

Love that pic, AofG. I was thinking about first chairs as well. Maybe the conductor would only attack first chairs, but bombard other players? Or only bombard 1st chairs?

[ArtAboveall]

So to recap:
-We have a map based on an orchestra and maybe some vocalists.
-The sections can be like continents and the instrument are countries.
-We can add more than one instrument to increase the game length and to make more interesting combos.
-Unique combos to the map could be string trio/quartet, jazz band, barbershop quartet, ect.
-Also the "first chair" could have an extra 1 army per turn
-There is the idea of using sheet music to affect attacks, or as countries.
-This could be a mission map, the mission being hold the conductor and the sheet music.
-Or the conductor can have special attack privileges.

This is the map I first came up with.
http://s747.photobucket.com/albums/xx115/ArtAboveAll/?action=view&current=OrchestraMap.jpg

[ender516]

So to make it easier to see, I will reconstruct your earlier post which included a legend for the colour codes. I will use [ bigimg ] tags, because they put larger pictures into scrollable windows. Not a problem here, but a good habit.

Click image to enlarge.

Pink is Percussion/Other
Blue is Woodwinds
Green is Brass
Yellow is Strings

EDIT: Just for everyone's interest, I found two older topics pursuing similar ideas, but both have been idle for about two years (not sure why they haven't migrated to the Recycling Bin):
Marching Band
Full Orchestra [idea]