GRID V3.1 & Poll

[Riskmaster101]

1. learn to use a proper graphics software (photoshop/gimp)
2. the map is symmetrical hence it will suck

This was done on gimp.... and is there something we could add to the symmetry that would make it 'suck' less?

if you're using gimp then you need to brush up on your skills. natty has some tutorials posted in the foundry on top of thousands of others that can be found on the internet.

as for the symmetry there's no way to make it suck less. symmetry simply sucks. if you're keen on keeping the scrabble theme then perhaps a cool idea would be to have various letters scattered across the board and give bonuses for holding certain words.
also create multiplier zones that once held double/triple any continent bonuses that you have. it would get rid of the symmetry and be truer to the scrabble theme.

Ok, I see what you're saying. We were trying to avoid the scrabble theme due to the fact that I personally hate cheesy risk maps based on other games (conquer4 conquer man etc.) We were trying to lean towards just a basic grid map that would have very even, fair game play, and leave winning up to the person with best strategy/dice. I agree the graphics need some touching up, this is our first time using gimp.

[DiM]

the map was called scrabble at first and i thought you renamed it just to avoid copyright issues.
anyway, symmetry is a big no-no around here.
do what you will but avoid it at all costs.

[Riskmaster101]

Ok mate. You have any thoughts then other then just scrapping the map? Going to route of scrabble would be really quite tough considering we have little-to-no interest in that game other then the lay out of a symmetrical grid.

[Vinc]

exactly like a scabble bord, could/would be a nice map if you get a license for that.
definetly play this one.

So set up to CC and I`ll see if this "GRID "will be welcome 2.

Well done guys

[jefjef]

The only major imbalance I see are the corner bases in relation to the golden tiles. It's the same distance to 1 tile that the other bases are but much further away from a 2nd tile.

Do you plan on offsetting that with neutral values?

[Riskmaster101]

Interesting point jefjef.
Option 1. I'm not sure that we'll offset it much with neutrals, we were planning TB's (3 neutral) and DB's (2 neutral). We will be implementing next update a winning objective that you can conquer 4 golden tiles to win. So maybe this would increase wanting a TB?
Option 2. We put a few neutral 2's around each golden tile.
Option 3. We remove diagonal attacks, add impassables as pre-suggested, and add certain amounts of neutrals to even out the paths.

[natty dread]

The problem with this is that if you only want to take the "grid" element from the scrabble board, all you're left with is... a grid.

Not very exciting. What's the theme of the map? A grid?

So. If you want to make a map with a grid layout, that's cool. That can be good if made right. But the map needs a theme. There are lots of themes that could function well with a grid layout. You could use some historical battle, similar to cairnswk's Spanish Armada map (check it out, it's on this forum somewhere). Or you could make a city map, maybe a futuristic urban battle... Or something like that.

The point is, the theme should be one that can be supported by the gameplay. A good map is one where the theme, graphics & gameplay all support each other to create a fun playing experience. Currently, you're kind of doing this ass-backwards, in that you're starting from the gameplay design without having a proper theme... that's fine, if you have a novel, fun gameplay idea, but if the idea is nothing but "a grid" then there's not much to build on.

My advice is, figure out what kind of a map you want to make, what kind of theme you want for it, then fit the gameplay around that.

[Riskmaster101]

Ok, So if we were to go the fun scrabble direction, adding words.. corresponding bonus, etc. You think that this would have more success?

[Riskmaster101]

We're going to overhaul this map. We'll make it more like scrabble, adding words as bonuses, tiles that can be conquered to multiply bonuses. It will be completely different and will be posted in a week or two. Hopefully this version will get better reactions. Please be patient as this will be a tough process.

Cheers,
-Risk

[natty dread]

It doesn't have to be a scrabble map. There are many things you can do with a grid layout. But there has to be more to the map than just "a grid".

[Riskmaster101]

The overhaul is going smoother then planned. Posted map rules in first post on thread, still gimping all the graphics for the map so that it will have that scrabble-y feel. Its going to be based on scrabble just without the name to avoid copyright. Hope ya'll enjoy! (map will be posted by the end of the week, please ignore first two versions.)

Cheers,
-Risk

[ender516]

You may need to change more than just the name to avoid the Scrabble copyright, as the Agarwalla brothers, of Scrabulous/Lexulous fame discovered. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexulous , particularly the Lawsuit and Launch of Lexulous sections for a quick guideline to what should be different. Keep in mind, you will need to be different from Lexulous as well.

[natty dread]

You may need to change more than just the name to avoid the Scrabble copyright, as the Agarwalla brothers, of Scrabulous/Lexulous fame discovered. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexulous , particularly the Lawsuit and Launch of Lexulous sections for a quick guideline to what should be different. Keep in mind, you will need to be different from Lexulous as well.

I don't think it applies in this case. However closely the board layout resembles scrabble, the rules of the game would be fundamentally different - seeing as this would be a CC map. So apart from the name I don't think there can be any copyright issues.

[AndyDufresne]

You may need to change more than just the name to avoid the Scrabble copyright, as the Agarwalla brothers, of Scrabulous/Lexulous fame discovered. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexulous , particularly the Lawsuit and Launch of Lexulous sections for a quick guideline to what should be different. Keep in mind, you will need to be different from Lexulous as well.

I don't think it applies in this case. However closely the board layout resembles scrabble, the rules of the game would be fundamentally different - seeing as this would be a CC map. So apart from the name I don't think there can be any copyright issues.

Could you copy something similar to Geico's commercial that used a scrabble-esque game? I don't know if there game board is wholly unique, or if it is a legit/real game all together...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc- ... _blog.html


--Andy

[Riskmaster101]

Its not going to look completely similar. Colors and lay out will be different. ESPECIALLY bonuses will be different. I see no copyright problems seeing as we would be playing risk on gridded board with bonuses in certain places?

[ender516]

Its not going to look completely similar. Colors and lay out will be different. ESPECIALLY bonuses will be different. I see no copyright problems seeing as we would be playing risk on gridded board with bonuses in certain places?

You will likely be okay, as long as the artwork differs sufficiently. Despite natty's comment about different rules, I think that if I use the artwork from a Scrabble board and sell it as a Go board, I'm pretty sure Hasbro would shut me down. Different colours, different positions of the special squares, things like that should keep this clean.

[Riskmaster101]

Version 3.0 will be posted tomorrow night and should give everyone a better idea of the differences between scrabble and this game board. Please check back then and give us your feed back on everything (especially copyright infringements)

[Swifte]

Perhaps I'm getting a bit ahead of things here, but suppose player hold two DBs... is the word bonus tripled (1 + 1 + 1)? quadrupled (2x2)? Or no extra for multiple DBs?

[Riskmaster101]

Bonuses can only be doubled once*. We forgot to add that into the initial post. Will re-edit it. Thanks for reminding us! For future reference a player can hold more than 1 DB, but bonuses will still ONLY be doubled. (if bonuses could be doubled more than once, it would be extremely unbalanced)

[OliverFA]

Hi!

I have to agree with Natty. Right now the map doesn't seem very insteresting to me. I find many similarities with the Conquer 4 map which is, basically, a grid. It also has some similarities with the Crosswords map.

I suppose that you want to make a grid. Isn't it? So the concept has to revolve around the grid. But it also needs to have something else. So here is my sugestion. You make a grid map, but instead of making it around Scrabble you make it more like a maze map. The map would have resurce areas (the words) that would provide bonuses, and some other areas that would multiply those bonuses (the DB cells). Then, between the paths, you place killer neutrals instead of making those cells impassable. A player with high income would be able to cross through the killer neutrals to attack the other players, but a player with not so many troops would have to follow the geography or slowly take down the killer neutrals. Imagine a FoW game. You would not know if the other player is seeing that you are slowly destroying the neutral wall between you too or not.

Just my 2 cents

[Riskmaster101]

Adding a wall (some form of high killer neutrals) would require players dropping on different sides of the wall to make fair game play correct? I'm mildly confused on the concept, unless you are considering making people start on the words and move throughout them, and make the middle til some sort of killer neutral to get to the other sides (personally I don't like the idea)

[Riskmaster101]

I do, like the idea of impassables along the way, something to add a twist to the very basic conventional map we have here. Any thoughts where or to what extent?

[Riskmaster101]

I really really like the map so far as is. (V.3.0) There's only a few things graphically that need adjust as far as I'm concerned.. its a basic, fair map. Definitely nothing like stalingrad but there are alot of other bland maps on here similar to this that get played. Soooo I'm not sure what we need to do to next to get this moving?

[crazymilkshake5]

I cant make an update if nobody posts on the thread, lol

[ender516]

I hadn't realized that you had put up version 3.0 of the graphics, because you only posted it in the second post. Normal procedure is to post updates in the first post and here at the end, so people following will notice the new post, and people just joining can get the big picture right up front without reading the entire thread.

Here's a quick suggestion: maps that use grids (like Hive, ConquerMan) typically use letter-number coordinates to identify regions (territories), and it looks like you plan to do that too. You should try to avoid the following common flaw.
Region names: A1, A2, A3, ... A9, A10, A11, A12, .... A19, A20
Order in drop-down menus: A1, A10, A11, A12, ... A19, A2, A20, A3, A4, A5, ... A9
This is confusing and annoying.
The drop-down menus will be sorted better if you remember to use leading zeroes so that all numbers are the same length.
Region names: A01, A02, A03, ... A09, A10, A11, A12, ... A19, A20
Order in drop-down menus: A01, A02, A03, ... A09, A10, A11, A12, ... A19, A20