Nordic Countries [Quenched]

[alster]

Here''s a shot

Wanted to check in your map and so...

My two cents:
1. I agree with the color issue raised, the map comes out pretty strong (not Hive strong that burns out your eyes, but almost). Now since this is in graphics and all - what about very very light background colors? E.g. the countries' flags. But very light, just background. The bonus areas are clearly marked anyways in your map, and by putting a light background (non-chewing gum like) you would put the areas in focus. Could be nice.

2. I notice Torneå älv. To be honest, I don't think it flies. It looks like the Baltic sea extends up north. I'd go with a mountain range for the northern areas and keep the southern areas open instead. That decreases the number of symbols with one as well (if you necessarily want to block that route).

[natty dread]

Thanks for your input, alstergren. Nice of you to stop by, I've been waiting to hear from you...

Check out a couple of posts back for issues with the flag colours. I won't be going with the flag colour route, it's just not feasible... also, very very light colours have the problem that they make the bonus areas very hard to tell apart. I had very light colour scheme a few versions back and was forced to put in more dark colours.

If by light colours you mean decreasing saturation, this is also problematic, the colours are pretty much as desaturated as they can be made without making them all grey...

Too light colours would also be problematic for the colour blind.

To be honest, this colour issue is driving me bonkers. Everyone seems to be wanting something different from the colours, and I don't know who to listen anymore...

Also, I will be keeping Torniojoki, it's something I want to keep on the map. I might be willing to make it narrower again (just when it was asked to make it wider...) if people really want it, but I won't be replacing it with mountains... The map has enough mountains already, also mountains don't really fit into Finland, our country is mostly flat...

I like a map to have some variation in impassables.

Something I could try would be to raise the opacity of the sea glow, this would also have the effect of differentiating the river from the sea.


edit. repost to keep latest version on the last page...

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[Industrial Helix]

Well, I think that dark blue looks nice for northern norway and still cool. Perhaps a more colonial blue for south norway over sky blue?

[natty dread]

Well, I think that dark blue looks nice for northern norway and still cool. Perhaps a more colonial blue for south norway over sky blue?

what is colonial blue? If it's different enough from sweden I could try it...

[natty dread]

Ok I tweaked the colour of south norway a bit. The difference probably isn't very noticeable, but I couldn't make it any closer to blue, it would have been hard to distinguish from north norway.

Also upped the opacity of the sea glow a bit, this should make the river look a bit better.

Click image to enlarge.

[MarshalNey]

OK, here's what it seems you're looking for from the first post (nice add, btw):


- bridge between Finland/Sweden, which is best

I looked at the flat bridge vs. the curved bridge, and I definitely think the flat bridge seems to blend in better.


- bonus areas: are they clear enough now?

Very very clear for the most part. The text for the Svalbard and Foroyar bonuses is a bit hard to read (or even notice), it gets obscured by the sea a bit too much I think. It does look cool though.


- fonts, army circles: do they look good

Army circles are fine, the instructions are easy to read and the territory names are crystal clear.

But... one little thing. I think that having a different font color for the capitals is a mistake, since they are part of the bonus region in which they reside (if I'm reading the legend correctly). In several places, I have to use the font color to determine which bonus area it belongs to. I only know that Aland, for instance, belongs to South Finland because of the green font- the territory color is nearly impossible to distinguish... but then I see Stockholm, and I begin to wonder if using font color is reliable... why is it not purplish? Finally I realize that the capitals have a white color.


- territory borders / connections: are all of them clear enough?

Very clear. No problems at all.


Btw, I think Helix is right about more vibrant color- it looks better to me now.

I really like the bonuses on this map and the attack routes. Hopefully it goes through soon.

[natty dread]

Thanks 'Ney! You may have a point about the capitals. Although someone said they need to stand out from the other territories, I think the different army circle is doing it already. I'll be changing the territory labels.

And the text for Svalbard & Faroe... Now that we don't have this information anywhere else, perhaps it's time to rethink the transparent text.

As usual, I'll be posting an update shortly...

[natty dread]

Yay, I made it to v.50! So high version numbers... does it mean I'm really productive, or does it mean I'm a crappy mapmaker when I can't get a map quenched before 50th version...


anyway, changes... south norway colour was ever so slightly tweaked to the blue end... Now it matches north norway quite well, but shouldn't be too hard to distinguish since north is darker. Various border & bevel layers were adjusted slightly, this is probably not very noticeable but it makes the coastline look neater. Finally, capital names were changed to same hue as other territory names (hue being in the drop shadow here) but they were put in italic to make the capitals stand out. Oh, and also the bonus text for the islands was made to stand out better.

v.50 large

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v.50 small

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[ender516]

Good move on the bonus text.

Perhaps the word "Capitals" in the legend should be italic as well, to echo the usage on the map?

[natty dread]

Good move on the bonus text.

Perhaps the word "Capitals" in the legend should be italic as well, to echo the usage on the map?

Great minds think alike...

Click image to enlarge.

[ender516]

Good move on the bonus text.

Perhaps the word "Capitals" in the legend should be italic as well, to echo the usage on the map?

Great minds think alike...

And fools seldom differ!

[natty dread]

Wasn't happy with the mountains. Redid. Again.

Click image to enlarge.

[Gillipig]

Wasn't happy with the mountains. Redid. Again.

Click image to enlarge.

Well it doesn't look better now unfortunately!
Try making the mountain chain more stretched out. I would suggest you cut down on the number of moutain peaks and mold bridge them with each other. (so that not all of them look like mount everest .) It's okey to have a few high ones but I think you've overdone it a bit !
And I think you should keep the previous colour! This one look like a sand desert!

[isaiah40]

Personally I like the ones you had previously. They looked a whole lot better and blended in more.

I say stop tinkering and let's get this map moved on!!

[natty dread]

Well, I adjusted the mountains somewhat. Better?

large

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small

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I say stop tinkering and let's get this map moved on!!

Hmm, that's an idea

[Industrial Helix]

I've been thinking about the colors... are they produced by inner glow or are they overlaid layers? I think you should try the current color scheme with an overlaid layer style then decreased in opacity. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but something along the lines of 13 Colonies.

[natty dread]

IH, IH... you need to keep in mind that I work with Paint.NET, which has no fancy stuff like vectors, layer effects & such. I can only do bitmap layers, change their opacity & blend modes, and apply effects directly on the layers, there's no adjustable "layer styles". The land colours are on a single layer, with the texture multiplied on top, then bevels, territory borders, mountains, etc etc. So if you would try to explain what you're suggesting, in more general terms... then I could give it a shot.

Also, here's yet another try at new mountains. I kinda like these ones, they look really cold:

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edit: the same mountains, but even brighter - more snow?

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[natty dread]

Moar minor tweaks... 2 things:

- added shadow for the mountains.

- having the ocean composed of 2 layers makes it fun to play with the blend modes of the 2nd layer. This one has it on Colour dodge, while the previous versions have Glow.

Click image to enlarge.

[isaiah40]

Can you blend the bottoms of the sunny side of the mountains a little more so that they look like they are not pasted on the map? Maybe use the blur tool on the bottoms. That is what I did to my mountains on Fractured America (as IH said, "not to toot my own horn)!

[natty dread]

Can you blend the bottoms of the sunny side of the mountains a little more so that they look like they are not pasted on the map? Maybe use the blur tool on the bottoms. That is what I did to my mountains on Fractured America (as IH said, "not to toot my own horn)!

Hey, toot your horn all you want, but don't do it too much or you'll go blind...

Seriously though... I could apply some smudge on the light side. On that note... you think these mountains have something or should I just go back to the old design? I think the old mountains looked a bit messy, and these seem to fit the map better...

Also how about the sea? Compare the two latest versions, the sea is slightly different in them... Which looks better?

[isaiah40]

Can you blend the bottoms of the sunny side of the mountains a little more so that they look like they are not pasted on the map? Maybe use the blur tool on the bottoms. That is what I did to my mountains on Fractured America (as IH said, "not to toot my own horn)!

Hey, toot your horn all you want, but don't do it too much or you'll go blind...

Seriously though... I could apply some smudge on the light side. On that note... you think these mountains have something or should I just go back to the old design? I think the old mountains looked a bit messy, and these seem to fit the map better...

Also how about the sea? Compare the two latest versions, the sea is slightly different in them... Which looks better?

LOL!! The mountains look fine, just blend them into the map a little more. AS for the water, both look good to me so ... the ball is now back in your court.

[natty dread]

Ok so how's this?

Click image to enlarge.

ps. IH (or anyone else) if you want to try your hand with the colours, here is the colour layer.

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

A big thanks to isaiah who helped with a finishing touch to the mountains.

Here's version 51 with improved mountains.

v.51 large

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v.51 small

[isaiah40]

Not a problem! They do look much better IMO now!!

[natty dread]

Not a problem! They do look much better IMO now!!

You know, I think so too. Again, much thanks.

I'm still not sure about that ocean change though, I'm thinking the new colour may be a bit too... well... strong. Then again, it does look nice...

Now let's just wait if IH wants to try improving the colour layer (which I posted on the thread)... because I can't think of any more things to do to them...