District of Alaska - v14.1 [2015-25-05] pg16 [QUENCHED]

by **iancanton** on Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:14 pm

the starting regions (avoid using the word position in this respect, since that means something else) in the first post are correct, as i understand it, as long as u remember to set a maximum of 2 start positions per player in the xml. in the first post, make a note of the exploration routes starting as n1, so u don't forget!

in case i haven't mentioned it, i particularly like the fact that there are only 7 ports, so that players have to fight for them in an 8-player singles game.

ian.

by **Seamus76** on Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:50 pm

Excellent. That should wrap the gameplay up, it's been a long sticky.

by **Bruceswar** on Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:07 pm

Then if you do not plan to use the grid like an original map would have take out the survey part in the title?

by **dolomite13** on Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:32 pm

Bruceswar wrote:Then if you do not plan to use the grid like an original map would have take out the survey part in the title?

I wouldn't remove that ... The map may not be 100% accurate to an actual survey map ... but who cares ... It adds flavor.

=D13=

by **Aleena** on Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:01 pm

I agree with you - who cares - this is a game map - not a tourism map, nor will it ever be used for surveying....
I think it looks great and having the US Survey in the title - even if it is not an actual survey map gives the map some character.. I love it as it is - it should move directly to BETA right now with out passing go, with out collecting $200.00

by **Seamus76** on Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:25 pm

Bruceswar wrote:Then if you do not plan to use the grid like an original map would have take out the survey part in the title?

Nah, there are different types of "survey" maps, with and without grid lines. The map I stole that text from, as you can see, doesn't have grid lines. It's a big map, but if you look at the bottom right text you can see.

by **iancanton** on Sat Jul 13, 2013 12:56 am

Seamus76 wrote:it's been a long sticky.

it has indeed. onward and upward!

ian.

by **koontz1973** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:23 am

Seamus, mountains, a bit of fill in colour would not go amiss. Also, can you look at distressing the edges a bit. The map looks like a replica of an old map as it is now.

by **Seamus76** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:45 am

koontz1973 wrote:Seamus, mountains, a bit of fill in colour would not go amiss. Also, can you look at distressing the edges a bit. The map looks like a replica of an old map as it is now.

Thanks koontz. I did try some fill, which I initially didn't like, but I think it's just a matter of getting the opacity right. I'm working on it now.

When you say distress the edges, are you speaking of the black border, and the outer edges of the map in general? What would your suggestions be/technique? I know it looks a little too "pretty", but there is not much space between the edges and some part of the map. Thoughts?

by **dolomite13** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:06 pm

There are some interesting techniques on this site for making thinks look old or slightly worn. You might be able to apply one of these techniques to the edges of the map to make it look a bit worn. Provided you use photoshop.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10 ... tutorials/

=D13=

by **Seamus76** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:18 pm

dolomite13 wrote:There are some interesting techniques on this site for making thinks look old or slightly worn. You might be able to apply one of these techniques to the edges of the map to make it look a bit worn. Provided you use photoshop.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10 ... tutorials/

=D13=

Unfortunately I use gimp, but it looked like a lot of the stuff was blending modes, and burn/dodge, etc. which I can probably replicate in gimp with a little playing around. If anyone has any gimp specific stuff that would be great as well.

by **koontz1973** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:24 pm

Try to give it a used look. So a corner curled up and over, a slight rip somewhere, maybe one of your folds like you did for China running along at a diagonal. Maybe drop a bit of coffee over it somewhere. Anything that can get me to think that this is a map that has been used.

by **Aleena** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:53 pm

Guess Kootz1973 does not like new and shiny - - spilled coffee on the map - I can imagine how he keeps his desk organized..

I think it is a good, clean map - I think sometimes less is more...
Anything else might clutter up the map or change someone's focus off the map and onto the mess...

But if you do add a coffee spill or a rip in the map - work it into the map - as if it was apart of the map - units can be lost in the hole of the map or the rip is impassable - or spring board of the bent corner to bombard a location - or travel down the coffee spill.... (Adds a little humor)

by **Seamus76** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:03 pm

Aleena wrote:Guess Kootz1973 does not like new and shiny - - spilled coffee on the map - I can imagine how he keeps his desk organized..

I think it is a good, clean map - I think sometimes less is more...
Anything else might clutter up the map or change someone's focus off the map and onto the mess...

You make me laugh, I'm glad you're here Aleena. And I agree with you to a point, but to be fair, I understand what koontz is saying as well, and more so, he has never steered me wrong with a suggestion. Look at Three Kingdoms of China, with out his pushing I wouldn't have added that really nice paper background. Which did make the map look a lot better. I pushed back over and over saying, the same thing, that I didn't want to grunge it up, that I liked it pretty, etc. But in the end it does look better, there is no arguing with that.

Ultimately it's my call, but koontz helps me see the other side of things, and how it will look to the masses.

by **dolomite13** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:34 pm

I don't use GIMP but I did find this when I was looking around for plugins for colorblind filters for photoshop. It might help you check for colorblind safe colors on GIMP.

http://registry.gimp.org/node/24885

=D13=

by **koontz1973** on Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:31 pm

Seamus76 wrote:
Aleena wrote:Guess Kootz1973 does not like new and shiny - - spilled coffee on the map - I can imagine how he keeps his desk organized..

I think it is a good, clean map - I think sometimes less is more...
Anything else might clutter up the map or change someone's focus off the map and onto the mess...
You make me laugh, I'm glad you're here Aleena. And I agree with you to a point, but to be fair, I understand what koontz is saying as well, and more so, he has never steered me wrong with a suggestion. Look at Three Kingdoms of China, with out his pushing I wouldn't have added that really nice paper background. Which did make the map look a lot better. I pushed back over and over saying, the same thing, that I didn't want to grunge it up, that I liked it pretty, etc. But in the end it does look better, there is no arguing with that.

Ultimately it's my call, but koontz helps me see the other side of things, and how it will look to the masses.

Thanks Seamus for that, a nice pick me up this early morning. Aleena, my desk is really neat, in fact I am a neat freak. But the idea for Seamus was to try and add some wear and tear to the map. The coffee was OTT but he got the idea.

Also, I want to push you (Seamus) out of your comfort zone. Get you to try and add a layer of something you have never done before.

by **Seamus76** on Wed Jul 17, 2013 12:28 pm

CURRENT UPDATE INFO - 2013-07-17:
Graphics Changes Only:
- Added the folded paper lines. Played with the levels and mode, etc. Went around and touched up any places where text and a crease met up so as to make the text more legible. I actually think it looks pretty good. Thoughts, too much, just right?
- Added in a light snowy color for the mountains.

CURRENT MAP VERSION

v10.0 - Large (840x800)

Click image to enlarge.

by **koontz1973** on Wed Jul 17, 2013 12:45 pm

Seamus, that is exactly the same crease as you put into China. Get rid of it as it is. It works for China because of the rougher paper, this one does not. The map looks newer so the crease needs to be newer. Sharper and more defined. Also, 4 panels instead of the 6 you have now. If you cannot get that, then I would say to remove it completely and try to find a way to roll the paper as I see you have some added text in the top corner. US state dept would of rolled maps and not folded them.

As for the mountains, I think that works really well. Maybe a slightly more grey tone but I can easily live with them as they are now.

by **Seamus76** on Wed Jul 17, 2013 12:55 pm

koontz1973 wrote:Seamus, that is exactly the same crease as you put into China. Get rid of it as it is. It works for China because of the rougher paper, this one does not. The map looks newer so the crease needs to be newer. Sharper and more defined. Also, 4 panels instead of the 6 you have now. If you cannot get that, then I would say to remove it completely and try to find a way to roll the paper as I see you have some added text in the top corner. US state dept would of rolled maps and not folded them.

As for the mountains, I think that works really well. Maybe a slightly more grey tone but I can easily live with them as they are now.

You're right. It was the first one that came up in my folder so I just threw it on to test out. The more I played with it the more it stuck, but I can easily find another. I think I'll try scanning my own fold and see what happens. I did try using the Filter-Distort-Pagecurl, but it looked a little clipart-ish. But that upper right corner is about the only place it might work, and even then it looked a little small to really didn't add much. I'll keep playing with it though. I'm also trying to maybe put a burn hole in it or something, but making that look authentic is a little more advanced than my skill set at the moment so it might look like crap. We'll see.

by **koontz1973** on Wed Jul 17, 2013 1:04 pm

The page curl effect is not good and does not work in gimp at all. You need to do it yourself. It took a few tries but I managed to get it pretty decent in Cairo map (bin). It is all down to the cutting, blurring, deleting, shading and drawing to get a decent effect.

Try a new crease, I do like the look of it but as I said, it is an old crease on new paper. So you need to get the same type of crease.

by **dolomite13** on Wed Jul 17, 2013 1:31 pm

I loved the map without the crease. I would dump the crease altogether and keep the distressed edge around the map.

=D13=

by **Seamus76** on Wed Jul 17, 2013 1:33 pm

CURRENT UPDATE INFO - 2013-07-17:
Graphics Changes Only:
- Changed the folded paper to be more crisp. (from v10.0, see OLD MAP VERSIONS for difference)

CURRENT MAP VERSION

v10.1 - Large (840x800)