Antarctica [Quenched]

[natty dread]

Of course. Colourblind filters were used when the colours were chosen in the first place.

That's what I like to hear!

Ok, I think I'm having some difficulty telling the difference between shelves and ice. Perhaps up the contrast in the texture on the shelves a bit to make it clearer.

I'll try but it's not easy without making them look weird.

The minimap... look at the words amundsenland and wilkes tundra. Now look at the words Antarctic Peninsula. Amundsenland and Wilkes Tundra are faded and their blacks aren't as dark. It looks like there's a translucent layer hovering over them. The same thing is happening with the word impassables in the adjacent legend.

The text itself is fully opaque, but they have a dropshadow which is probably what you're noticing. Of course the drop shadow looks darker on top of the dark ocean. I'll increase the opacity of the dropshadow somewhat, I hope it helps.

[natty dread]

Ok, as of now, things that were previously discussed have been actualized in visual form.

Additionally, the map has been smallified.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

[Industrial Helix]

But why would the drop shadow be less dark when its over the land. I swear, it looks like some layer is over top it. However you do it, you need to make it consistent between words hanging over the sea and those over the land. It's particularly bothersome on the small map.

Outside of that, nothing is apparent to me that is out of order. I'll get some other eyes on it and hopefully we can wrap this up in a timely manner.

[Victor Sullivan]

But why would the drop shadow be less dark when its over the land. I swear, it looks like some layer is over top it. However you do it, you need to make it consistent between words hanging over the sea and those over the land. It's particularly bothersome on the small map.

Outside of that, nothing is apparent to me that is out of order. I'll get some other eyes on it and hopefully we can wrap this up in a timely manner.

Ah! I finally see what you're talking about now. Hm, that is weird... I don't find it terribly distracting, myself, but whatevs. What I do still find distracting is the contrast between HL and pretty much all the other colors of the bonus areas - it stands out way too much for me. I'd say make it paler, less dark. Also, the white lines (for lack of a better description) in MBL could stand to have lower opacity, they stand out a lot more there than anywhere else.

Anyways, just my humble opinion. Take what you will.

[natty dread]

But why would the drop shadow be less dark when its over the land. I swear, it looks like some layer is over top it. However you do it, you need to make it consistent between words hanging over the sea and those over the land. It's particularly bothersome on the small map.

There's no layer on top of it. The drop shadow is the same colour, but it is, like dropshadows usually are, transparent. The difference in lightness between the land and the sea is so large that the drop shadow is noticeably darker on the sea.

[natty dread]

What I do still find distracting is the contrast between HL and pretty much all the other colors of the bonus areas - it stands out way too much for me. I'd say make it paler, less dark. Also, the white lines (for lack of a better description) in MBL could stand to have lower opacity, they stand out a lot more there than anywhere else.

Anyways, just my humble opinion. Take what you will.

Victor, I know I've turned down a lot of your suggestions lately, and I don't want you to feel like I'm snubbing you... it's just that sometimes you don't seem to grasp the priorities of graphical design in maps. But hey, you're still a bit new at this, and we all have to start somewhere, right? Don't take this the wrong way though.

In this case, your suggestion to change the colours based on that you think the colours should be more uniform is a bit misguided. The main priority for choosing colours is a utilitarian view: the colours need to be visible and clear, for colourblind people as well as everyone else. For Antarctica, the colours have been carefully choosed to be distinguishable for both of the most common colourblindness types, and they even work with Tritanopy... so any further changes to them would be counter-productive.

As for the texture standing out more in MBL, it is natural for textures to be more prominent on darker areas. I think it's cool that they show better there. Gives the map some flavor. If an overwhelming consensus arises that this should be changed, then I'll look for other solutions, but as of now I feel it should stay as is.


So, here's with another dropshadow fix. I think this is the best I can do for them.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

The names for losing conditions give interesting opportunities to mess with game logs.

When someone is eliminated via losing condition, the game log shows:

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds <name of losing condition>

As this is the only instance where the name of the losing condition is shown, we can do funny things with it. For example:

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds a Base - sucks for him!

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds a Base and freezes to death.

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds any Bases, all his Bases belong to us

[theBastard]

I like this map. just, I spoke about this - I think that striped impassable could be redraw as other impassables.
and are "Selfs" passable/regions?

[natty dread]

On another note, the XML is finished.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/2/7/2 ... ctica2.xml

Here are test results for:

show: large maps

show: small maps

show: colourblind test

Thebastard, the penguin habitat stays. A map of antarctica must have at least one penguin. Shelves are killer neutrals.

[theBastard]

I have nothing against penguin. only stripped area does not fit with the rest of map...

[natty dread]

What would you have instead of stripes then?

[natty dread]

Oops, seems I forgot to align the central territories on the small map. Here's screenshot of the corrected small map:

Click image to enlarge.

[theBastard]

What would you have instead of stripes then?

in legend you have two types of impassable (except mountains). why the stripped area does not could be as other impassable?

[isaiah40]

The names for losing conditions give interesting opportunities to mess with game logs.

When someone is eliminated via losing condition, the game log shows:

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds <name of losing condition>

As this is the only instance where the name of the losing condition is shown, we can do funny things with it. For example:

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds a Base - sucks for him!

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds a Base and freezes to death.

Code: Select all

PlayerX no longer holds any Bases, all his Bases belong to us

How about:

Code: Select all

This is a crying shame that PlayerX no longer holds two bases and freezes to death

I think we can come up with something to play around.

[carlpgoodrich]

It seems like it needs to start with "PlayerX no longer holds ..." but I like "PlayerX no longer holds a Base and freezes to death." Give some spice to the otherwise boring game log.

[natty dread]

You can't modify the beginning of the sentence, only the name of the losing condition...

So if we set the name of the losing condition as "a base and freezes to death" then the game log will show

"Player X no longer holds a base and freezes to death".

Thebastard, the other (white) impassables are ice shelves that are too small to be territories. The penguin area is on the land, so it can't be the same as the impassable ice. Diagonal stripes are universally used to signify that something is off limits, but if there are better options, I'm willing to listen.

edit: fastposted by carl. I will make it so that it says "and freezes to death".

[Industrial Helix]

Ok, so what happens if you make the letters black? You need to find some way to make the letters uniform in the minimap.

[natty dread]

Black doesn't really work, it's too hard to read on that background.

[ender516]

Personally, I don't have a big problem with the look of the minimap and its text, but if something must be done, would it be possible to add another layer with extra shading only where the text is now, and inversely proportioned to the brightness of the map underneath?

[Industrial Helix]

Well, I'm pretty ambivalent on what exactly gets done, that's up to Natty, but something needs to be done.

[natty dread]

how's this then

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

[Victor Sullivan]

"Player X no longer holds a base and freezes to death".

Amazing! I love it!

[natty dread]

So how are the latest images? Is the text ok now or does it need further tweaking?

[isaiah40]

Further tweaking. It looks as if the text is slightly transparent. If you look at everywhere the text is on top of the mini-map it is subdued.

[natty dread]

OK, how about now?????????

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.