Raglan Castle, draft

by **Zardor** on Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:45 am

Map Name: Raglan Castle
Mapmaker(s): Zardor, Photo Andy F. ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 531723.jpg )
Number of Territories: 42
Outer Defenses: 4 (2 bonus)
East Wing: 4 (2 bonus)
Bridge: 6 (3 bonus)
West Wing: 8 (5 bonus)
Lesser Tower: 9 (5 bonus)
Great Tower: 11 (7 bonus)
Special Features: "3d" crossover (entrance-gate), photo based, similar to Classic map.
What Makes This Map Worthy of Being Made:
It should be fun ;-)

It has a lot in common with the Classic Map, with some twists. For example, the East Wing is equivalent to Australia. But it is connected to the equivalent of Europe. I also hope it provides a little more versatility compared to the Classic Map, without the complexity of the larger maps.
The goal is to make the map very clear and readable and esthetically pleasing at the same time. The map should provide well balanced play and lots of possibilities. The game should spout wonderful messages like "Bob assaulted the Royal Loo from the Queen's Chambers and conquered it from Alice".
Map Image:

Click image to enlarge.

This is a draft. I hope to find some better (more realistic) names for some regions and zones. Maybe the distribution and lines could be made more beautiful. Some connections may have to be tweaked for better gameplay. Let me know what you think :-)

by **grifftron** on Fri Jul 27, 2012 7:12 am

dots on castles... ive seen worse go thru.. gl

by **x-raider** on Sun Jul 29, 2012 2:51 am

'Tis a sound idea...
What feedback are you looking for?

by **Zardor** on Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:26 am

Thank you both :-)

The feedback i am looking for is:
- is such a map desirable
- suggestions for improvement: connections and names
- is the map clear and legible? How can this be improved?
but any comment is welcome ;-)

by **x-raider** on Sun Jul 29, 2012 1:26 pm

At the moment I'm just one opinion, but I'm all for this map.
Hence/therefore:

For a start you could move the creative commons text so it fits better in the corner rather than sticking out the side.
Next change the text on the left "Raglan Castle'" to better fit in with the colour scheme.
Space out the circles/paths in east wing a bit so that the text isn't covering the path so much i.e: the servant's loo is covering the "servant's loo<->lower servant's quarters" path.
Ease the lower walkway text off a bit so it's easier to see that path.
You'll need to tweak the opacity and layer settings for the paths and fix:
1. The bridges are still a bit hard to see.
2. The paths coming out of Miners is a bit messy.

I can see you've put a lot of work into getting it to this stage. Well done and Good luck.

by **Zardor** on Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:57 pm

Thank you: good points. I will make some improvements, probably next weekend.

by **AndyDufresne** on Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:33 am

When I first thought about this idea, I imagined it more like:

show

--Andy

by **Ragian** on Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:01 pm

Castle Ragian! ... ish. I'll have to check this out when I'm back from vacation.

by **Gillipig** on Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:26 am

If you want to make a castle themed map, look at the images Andy dug up. Making a map like that is not very easy though as it requires a lot of skill. If you're new I'd advise you to begin with a standard type map. Like a country, Kazakhstan maybe!?

by **Zardor** on Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:42 am

I apologize.
but I am unable to continue development in the near future.
thanks all for your input.

by **thehippo8** on Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:08 am

Zardor wrote:I apologize.
but I am unable to continue development in the near future.
thanks all for your input.

You know you can take a 6 month holiday ... I'd rather you did that than abandon this as it's a good concept.

by **Gillipig** on Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:11 am

thehippo8 wrote:
Zardor wrote:I apologize.
but I am unable to continue development in the near future.
thanks all for your input.

You know you can take a 6 month holiday ... I'd rather you did that than abandon this as it's a good concept.

Question is if he has the dedication needed to finish a map.

by **thehippo8** on Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:28 pm

Gillipig wrote:
thehippo8 wrote:
Zardor wrote:I apologize.
but I am unable to continue development in the near future.
thanks all for your input.

You know you can take a 6 month holiday ... I'd rather you did that than abandon this as it's a good concept.

Question is if he has the dedication needed to finish a map.

Dedication will come in time - look at the effort to date!

by **x-raider** on Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:46 pm

thehippo8 wrote:
Gillipig wrote:
thehippo8 wrote:
Zardor wrote:I apologize.
but I am unable to continue development in the near future.
thanks all for your input.

You know you can take a 6 month holiday ... I'd rather you did that than abandon this as it's a good concept.

Question is if he has the dedication needed to finish a map.

Dedication will come in time - look at the effort to date!

It's a good idea. The suggested layouts could be for a different map.
Just a side-note, for when this gets picked up again: the background colours need to be darkened to contrast with the white text unless the text (colour/shadow/stroke) is changed.

by **generalhead** on Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:42 pm

The map reminds me a little of the king of the mountains map. I actually like the look of this map better than the look of the king of the mountains. I agree that a more dimensional map would look a lot better.