Vancouver [Quenched]

[Blitzaholic]

looks great


when can we start playing it

[nagerous]

Is there any reason why the West Coast Express bonus is +4 but the Canada Line is only +3 ?

They both have the same amount of territories.

I was to think, if one was to be bigger it would be the Canada Line as it actually transgresses 4 land bonuses as opposed to the 3 the West Coast Express covers.

Thanks.

[shakeycat]

Pardon me! Those titles are wrong. I must have mixed up the name for Canada Line and Expo Line when shuffling things. Will fix that soon. Expo line is the blue line that runs to Surrey.

[iancanton]

So you're saying there will be three sets - separated in the code? I close a tag then start a new set? - with each one having a different set, say Dundarave-Southarm Station-Seymour, Ambleside-Downtown St-Cypress etc.? And when the game starts, set 1 goes to player 1, set 2 to player 2, set 3 to neutral or player 3, then players 4-8 just get randoms from all the rest?

in 2-player or 3-player games, set 1 goes to player 1, set 2 to player 2 and set 3 to neutral or player 3. in games that have 4 or more players, all regions are allocated normally and there are no preset start positions.

Code: Select all

<positions>
   <position>
      <territory>Horseshoe Bay</territory>
   </position>
      <position>
      <territory>Cypress Mountain</territory>
   </position>
      <position>
      <territory>Kerrisdale Station</territory>
   </position>
</positions>
<positions>
   <position>
      <territory>Dundarave</territory>
   </position>
         <position>
      <territory>Seymour Mountain</territory>
   </position>
      <position>
      <territory>Southarm Station</territory>
   </position>
</positions>
<positions>
   <position>
      <territory>Ambleside</territory>
   </position>
   <position>
      <territory>Grouse Mountain</territory>
   </position>
      <position>
      <territory>Downtown Station</territory>
   </position>
</positions>

updated

i'd do it as below, pairing cypress mountain with ambleside instead of with horseshoe bay, since ambleside (unlike horseshoe bay) isn't adjacent to cypress mountain.

Code: Select all

<positions>
   <position>
      <territory>Ambleside</territory>
      <territory>Cypress Mountain</territory>
      <territory>Kerrisdale Station</territory>
   </position>
   <position>
      <territory>Dundarave</territory>
      <territory>Seymour Mountain</territory>
      <territory>Southarm Station</territory>
   </position>
   <position>
      <territory>Horseshoe Bay</territory>
      <territory>Grouse Mountain</territory>
      <territory>Downtown Station</territory>
   </position>
</positions>

ian.

[shakeycat]

Thank you Ian, that makes sense now Everything should be up to date:

http://www.atomation.com/~thazzard/fun/gva/vancouver.xml

Click image to enlarge.

[iancanton]

without further ado...



ian.

[shakeycat]

Thank you Ian

Now to earn the next stamp!

[lzrman]

Congratulations, I am proud of you Shakeycat on your achievement for Game Play1

[jako]

Hooray, the map can move forward.

[Bavarian Raven]

can't wait to play it

[MrBenn]

Congratulations on the stamp!

I'll sit down and give a proper graphics review over the next few days - I can't do too much right now as I'm checking in via WAP

[General Bradley]

Congratulations on the stamp!

I'll sit down and give a proper graphics review over the next few days - I can't do too much right now as I'm checking in via WAP

chirp... chirp... (crickets)



(smart-assedness comes so easily when I'm not the one having to do the work )

[shakeycat]

Yeah, I noticed we sunk to the bottom of the page! I'm not sure what I can really do in the meantime, unless I see some glaring things I really want to change. I'm fine waiting till Mr. Benn has the time to do what he must

[MrBenn]

Click image to enlarge.

This map has developed nicely, and is very clean and crisp. Getting a map to this stage is no mean feat, so you can be proud of your achievement over the past however-many-months :-p

Anyway, here's my take on the graphics - the intention here is to help you put some thought into making some tweaks to bring the map up to the next level... please take any criticism in the constructive manner in which I mean it

1. Territory Borders

For the most part, the borders are crisp and clear; but in some places there is pixellation/fuzziness (eg. Newton/Cloverdale).
In a couple of spots, the borders don't meet cleanly (eg. Boundary Bay/Burns Bog or Aldergrove/Campbell Valley/Glen Valley).
Where territory names overlap the borders, it might be worth moving some borders to make it more clear where the name blongs (eg you could redraw the bottom of UGC so it isn;t overlapped by the K of Kerrisdale; or in Edmonds, you could move the border to be above the text). There are countless examples of maps where the borders have been slightly distorted to assist legibility, and I think you may have to make some similar geographical sacrifices here

2. Territory Names

As mentioned before, there are a number of places where the text overlaps territory names. You could either resolve this by moving some borders slightly, reducing the font size a little, or possibly even finding a new font altogether?
Some of the text on pale areas of the map (Burnaby) is difficult to read. It might be worth playing around with an outer glow on the text instead of just a drop shadow.

3. Textures

The sea/rivers feels a bit fluffy - have a look at some other maps around (Charleston springs to mind) for some ideas of how to highlight the transition between land and water
In spite of the texture on the land, the map still feels very flat; the texture doesn't feel very 'landy'... it might be worth having a bit of a play around a bit...

4. Train Lines

The purple (pink?) line runs very close to the coast in the yellow area; if you can pull it away from the terrtory edge a little, it will be more obvious that the territry extends beneath it, and that the train line isn't a border. You could possibly add (or increase the distance) of the drop shadow, to make it feel more like the line is above the territory space.
The colouring you've used on Downtown is a little bit confusing, and really doesn;t help visibility of the army number. Consider extending the colour around parts of the circle edge (you could split it almost three ways) - check out the train lines on NYC to see how the double-line-stations are done on there; I'd suggest trying to emulate that style as much as possible as people should be familiar with that concept.

5. Title

A good title should feel like part of the map, and at the moment it feels like it doesn't really belong there and is just filling a convenient space. If you're happy with it, that's fine, but It would be nice to see if there's any way to make it come alive a little bit

6. Legend

The legend is broadly functional, although I'm not sure how easy it is to match up the coloured blobs with the region colours.
The train line symbols aren't clearly differentiated from the other blobs - at first I was looking for another railway line across the Coast Mountains
The order of regions on the legend doesn't seem to correspond with their positions on the map.
The ports symbol doesn;t do a great deal for me, and looks more like a snowflake - this is entirely subjective really I know (think?) you had an attack line over the sea in an earlier version, but it would be nice to see how a narrow dashed/dotted line works now - you could use the current border line colour instead of white?

7. The Small Map

The train lines (at least the stations) will have to be moved a little bit on the small map in order to keep the army numbers centered properly. At some point it would be helpful to see a small version (even if it's just a shrunken large one) to get an idea of any further adjustments that are going to be necessary

All in all, your doing well. Keep up the good work

[shakeycat]

Click image to enlarge.

Here's where I'm at today. Most updates have been made, some tweaks still needed, and small map needs to be updated.

Still need to make land look more "landy". Somehow.

[Danyael]

that looks sweet i really like how the land touches the water i think that helps the overall look immensely
The legend its nice and clean and not cluttered
i was wondering if cypress mountain would look better if instead of having it so straight and box like in the upper left
you made the border go diagonally parallel with the mountain behind it
if you don`t understand what i mean let me know

[oaktown]

Looking fabulous shakey. Visually I think you've put together a fantastic addition to CC. Everything is clean and easy on the eyes. Now just a signature on their so everybody knows who is responsible for this (unless it's there and I'm just missing it?).

My only gameplay concern is that there are going to be a lot of misdeployments on this map by attention-deficit players such as myself. In some places you're limited by geography, but there are a few circles/names you could adjust that would improve clarity. Guildford's army circle could be moved up closer to the correct name (and away from Fleetwood name). Sea Island isn't a major offender, but since you have space to bring the army circle in I think you should. Belcarra's title could be brought down to get it away from the Seymore Mountain circle. Deer Lake's number will get really close to the Edmonds title in three digit counts or when using color codes - there is space to bump it left a few pixels. And if the Edmonds circle can bump left/up any it would be nice to get it away from the New Westminster title.

Port Coquitlam is problematic the way the title and circle are on opposite sides of the subway line... short of re-routing the subway line I'm not sure what you can do there.

Again, beautiful work. Looking forward to seeing this one quenched someday soon.

[shakeycat]

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Thank you Oaktown Here is the latest.

I moved the West Coast Express (purple train) so it no longer splits names from their circles. Shifted a few other army circles, names. Will need to update XML to reflect this all.

Anything else?

[TaCktiX]

The dotted line connecting the ferry terminals is way too dark to be noticeable. Try either a lighter shade of blue, or perhaps a semi-transparent white. Also, the mountains in the top right of the map look really weird when split by the river. Perhaps a different way of representing the northern-ness of the area?

[Danyael]

i like the dark ferry route and making in more noticeable might throw your attention away from the main map
i think the legend makes it clear that they connect and having the connection so subtle its notice able if you look at it but it does not smack you in the face just my opinion

[AndyDufresne]

Perhaps a nudge from black to more of a lightened gray or silver (as opposed to white) to help the connection lines.

Coast Mountain connections could possibly be confusing.


--Andy

[jako]

Why have a dotted line stretching from top to bottom in the first place? The legend clearly explains that the ferries can attack each other so why not remove the line all together and give the map a more clean look.

[shakeycat]

I hear some from all sides - get rid of it, lighten it, keep it as is.

I'm fine with no line or a subtle one. I like it there as a reminder to players that YES, those two attach. It's easier to follow the line than matching pictures. In which case, pictures and explanation are not entirely necessary if there's just a line from A to B. I always feel a fool when surprised in a game where things connect without lines. I'll test out some lighter options on Monday, see what I like.

I split the mountains at top by the river because it was just a dead end in the earlier drafts, but that is actually how it goes. There seemed a lot of support, when I made the split, to make it match the other river heading up.

The mountains are not there to represent northerness as a general concept. They are what you see when you look northward from Greater Vancouver.

Coast Mountain connections? Do you mean - do coast mountains attack one another, or just the territories they touch? Is this not clear somehow, do I need to explain? It's a straightforward play - they attack the territories they are touching in either North or West Vancouver.

[iancanton]

i like the dark ferry route and making in more noticeable might throw your attention away from the main map
i think the legend makes it clear that they connect and having the connection so subtle its notice able if you look at it but it does not smack you in the face just my opinion

I'm fine with no line or a subtle one. I like it there as a reminder to players that YES, those two attach. It's easier to follow the line than matching pictures. In which case, pictures and explanation are not entirely necessary if there's just a line from A to B. I always feel a fool when surprised in a game where things connect without lines. I'll test out some lighter options on Monday, see what I like.

i think the understated nature of the current ferry route, if lightened just a touch, is ideal for our purposes. anyone who's tried the poison rome map will think that any more than this will smack of stating the obvious.

ian.

[shakeycat]

Would this work? The glow keeps it subtle. Large image on the first page.

Click image to enlarge.