New Zealand

Oops, missing connection lines, adding them back in -> http://i.imgur.com/kqKMubv.jpg

i like the land textures. now you just need to do something about those mountains...

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/dm5x.jpg/][img]http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1060/dm5x.jpg[/img][/IMG][/URL] Just a thought for those added things so they blend more

Here are some small comments on graphics: - The anchors are flat. Everything is very 3D-ish, super awesome, and then suddenly there are some paper anchors glued on top of it, looks kinda weird. I guess adding a shadow or bevel would sort that. - The black shape in the top-right is a complete contour, where the ship and the leave are much more detailed. That's a bit weird. - The glow around the text is huge. I think a little bit less glow would look better and less cluttered. - Maybe you can get 3D-ish bridges that don't need a glow around them. - I'm curious on the mountains. It's a bit waiting for Vexer, as he's pretty busy right now, but I think the gameplay is fine. Overall it's a really nice map already, wow!

The game play has a lot of limitations due to the shape of the land and the fact that ronalchn wants to use real ports. But I think for the most part it's ok. I will need more time to think about it though. I think the bonus for Canterbury should be a 5 instead of a 6. I'm not sure why but the formula for determining region bonuses isn't in the guide. I'll post it here and update the guide later. region bonus = number of territories/3 + number of territories to defend/2.5 you round up or down by taking into consideration how many regions there are nearby. If it's isolated then round down, if it's in the middle and close to many regions, then round up. You also have to consider the bonuses and number of borders to defend when taking multiple regions. Using that formula I get a 5 for the Canterbury Region. I get a 3.26 for Waikato but I'm ok with it being a +4 since there are many other +3 regions and no other +4's. I also wish that the Canterbury region have a port that is already a border so that there are only 5 borders to defend. Is is possible to move the port off of Christchurch and over to an adjacent territory? Otherwise it's a pretty useless region. Now about the graphics... I agree with Matty about the text glow. For a sharper look you could try a 1 pixel stroke at half opacity and then reduce the glow size and opacity. And I agree with everything else he said. The HMS Endeavour icon doesn't meet the quality standards it looks like a small image that was resized. There isn't enough detail and it's too pixelated. It looks like clipart from the 90's. Try using this instead: http://www.dominating12.com/forums/Map_Creation_Forum_Images/hms%20endeavour.png The outline around the rivers does not look anti-aliased. I think the title has too much bevel, almost to the point of being cheesy. I also think the title would look better as black text just because there is so much red and orange on the map. That's also why I don't like the border. Just too much red and orange. Does anyone else have an opinion on this? I like the texture you added to the land. The land overall looks pretty good though I think the colors are a bit too saturated. The mountains would be better if they weren't just simple lines. If you don't know how to do them better then maybe ask marcoxa for help. We collaborate a lot on our maps so don't be afraid to let someone to a part for you if needed. Our cartographers have spent many frustrating hours on mountains. They are not easy to get right. That is why we generally recommend not using them on your first map. But in this case they are pretty necessary for New Zealand. The mountains on the left side of Southland can be deleted now because they don't do anything for game play and the texture now shows you that there are mountains there.

This update is only to change the mountains. I'll have more time to make other changes later. http://i.imgur.com/AM57lEW.jpg I think the general shape of the mountains looks alright, but I'm not convinced I have the colours quite right. I am also considering having only the peaks of the mountains further to the north covered in snow, and maybe make it green or grey at the base of the mountain.

They really look like ice mountains, like on the north or south pole. I don't know much of new zealand, but I don't think they have those. Mountainst with snow on top are different of course (though not all mountains have). Their overal shape is pretty good, but you need to align them with the territory borders - they usually don't go around a little bit of mountain. Also the mountain beside Grey should be a little bit longer, because like this it looks almost like Grey could be connected with Hurunui.

Well, I guess they would only be fully covered in snow during winter, (though there would be lots of snow in Queenstown, which is where people go for skiing). That's why I am looking at how to best change the mountains further north, because I don't want it to appear that there is so much snow further north. I'll need to look at what colours work best. I studied photos of mountains for quite a while just to get the shape looking as it is now. Look at these photos and you'll see lots of snow on the mountains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South_Island.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_Alps_from_Hamilton_Peak.jpg or this photo, which is the basis of the general angular shape of the ridge used: http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/p-6746-pc.jpg I guess there are spots of green in some places, but I'll have to see how I can put those in.

Or this: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/typical-view-pyrenees-mountains-ariege-france-23075544.jpg http://www.peakretreats.co.uk/graphics/library/Samoens%20summer%20village2.jpg Depends on winter or summer, but in summer mountains can sometimes be without any snow at all. Your map feels warm (because of orange/red as main colour).

i love the map! it looks great!

Can we send Ronalchn an email for the PDN file, because I really love the map and it's sooo close to being done :S

He's pretty busy right now coding a website. He's still interested in finishing the map but had procrastinated too many other things and needs to finish those first. If he doesn't finish it by the end of January then I'll ask him if he's willing to let someone else finish it.

Bumping because we got a request for a New Zealand and I accidently read "end of January" :)

k, i'll send him a pm.

I had started outlining an NZ map meant for 2 players when I saw this. It had taken me about an hour to outline everything and then I saw this and I'm like, "NOOOOOO!" Well, that was an hour of my life wasted. Oh well! I'm going to be outlining a Pacific 1942 map right now.