Italy

I did a bit more than just put the tags in that area.
I put it back to the 1024 version and I toned it down for text contrast, changed the text to white with black shadow, changed the colours of the Regions slightly, added the river & bridge, added some texture, moved tags and circles around a bit for best fit, cleaned up some borders, added some dividers & coloured Corsica to see what the text tags would look like over the map.

The 1200 resolution definitely didn't work, as some players screens are not ready for HD, besides which, it didn't give us a great deal of extra size within the territories for name tags and it added more to the scroll.

I don't think we're going to get any better fit with the tags unless I size them down, which may be more readable in the new colour contrast.

Feedback?

I love the white text, and think they will work as well when a little bit smaller.
Mayeb the shadow should be moved a little bit closer to the text, and maybe even a bit bigger, but not sure on that one.

The river stops just before it joins with the sea, it should flow to it


So far its nice work.

Wow it looks great!

I don't think Piemonte region should be yellow because it's too close to Toscana, so let Piemonte to be blue please.
And I would say to invert yellow and blue between 'Trentino - Alto Adige' and 'Friuli - Venezia Giulia' and green and brown between 'Basilicata' and 'Calabria'... You know the name of the regions.

'Barletta Andria Trani' must be 'Bari'
'Bari Brindisi Lecce' must be 'Lecce'

Napoli circle and tag can be moved a bit over the sea in my opinion. The river it's good for me, but I would make a little modification that I am not able to explain with words. The bridge is very simple style and it is clear, I don't think you should do more, but I guess it should be half red and half green rather than all green.

I think mountains should be thicker than this, they seem to be a river. Also the mountain crest doesn't exactly correspond in reality to the region boundaries, those are rich of meanders but the mountain crest is supposed to be much more linear, that's why I drew it so thick in my draft.

The little state of San Marino between Emilia-Romagna and Marche (very little state) should be colored gray otherwise it looks like a lake. Just because the accuracy of this map is impressive!

Thanks for the feedback The_Bishop, I will make the changes tonight.

Matty has suggested that the name tags will probably look okay smaller in the new contrast colours, so I will try this, I will try to correct the shadow, but I think we're already down to 1 pixel.
I will also sort out the river end.

Looking good. Cant wait to have a go at this one. Didnt think it would change that much, I thought it was looking good in draft 1.. love the table thing.

I hadn't read Matty's post because we posted almost in the same time. Me too I think the river should be connected with the sea. And about reducing the font I'm not sure, as it is now it's true they are very readable. But put the case you want to add light effects or shade effects, those things might reduce the readability a bit. I wouldn't reduce the font more than 1 pixel in size.

Unfortunately, with Photoshop 7 you can't reduce or enlarge text by pixels, it is in text sizes like in Microsoft Word or HTML, i.e. size 1, size 2 etc. If I had Photoshop CS again, I could scale it exactly how I want it, but I lost it when my hard drive packed in and now I just have Photoshop 7.
I am at size 3 at the moment and will have to go to 2, which is what I had before when you said it was just too hard to see, but the colour, contrast & background were different then, it may work better now, I will try it and if not vastly improved in readability I won't change it.

To me the table top looks too zoomed in. The camera was too close. A real risk board would look much bigger in comparison to the table top. I also don't think the quality of the photo is very good.

I found another image of a table top and modified it. I think it looks much better. You are welcome to use it instead.

example:
http://dominating12.com/forums/Map_Creation_Forum_Images/Italy_alternate_table.jpg
File:
http://dominating12.com/forums/Map_Creation_Forum_Images/Table_Top.png

Okay, rushed at the mo', thanks Vexer, will get it later.

Here's draught 5.

Yes that was a better table to use as a background, thanks to Vexer for (a) Your time to find and post the image that is better suited to this map. (b) Showing a positive interest in this map, especially as all maps have to pass your scrutiny.

I have added the new wooden table.

I also require feedback on the required changes & requests above which have all been carried out?

I would say the river is all right now, the reduced font is readable and mountains are nice, they give me the feeling of the snow.

Vexer was right about the table, it seemed like we was watching it from 4 inches distance so that the whole map seemed to be large like a postcard. But really I would have never noticed something like that, but it's fine to let that to look like a real risk board.

@Aeronautic - Honestly I would have liked to first finish with drawing the dividers and fitting the tags and then care about graphics.

No problem, I was simply correcting & adding things that I had feedback for, you'll notice I have also changed the colours of the Regions you requested, but I will get onto it now, you'll notice I added a few more dividers this evening and was going to call it a day... but "hey this is war man, no time to sleep"!

Ok, just saying, those are my wishes. But thanks!
I have noticed also the color change : )

By the way I am not convinced about mountains. They are too much snowy I guess. I mean, actually those mountains are snowy in the winters but not in the summer, there is only 1 glacier in the whole range. I was imagine something brown.

And about colors, I suggested the change to give more equilibrium, but I am not sure they are okay. But I don't know what to suggest at the moment.

But I am thinking, if we want it to look like a real map, we should make a paper background and also no 3D mountains anymore, those are impossible on a real map.

Just thoughts... Maybe someone other can say something more.

I told you by PM that I had a two versions of mountains already done, if you want I can place the other here to show you what it may look like, bare in mind you can re-colour them too.

About the Region colour change for equilibrium, you were absolutely right and it was well thought out and considered, something I was glad of, as it all made perfect sense when you suggested it... so please do not start doubting your own considered opinions.

You have also made statements about the same draught like, "mountains are nice" and now you say "I am not convinced about mountains", okay but please say your last statement first if you have any reservations, I won't be offended in any way, just put-out when you later correct yourself after I think they are done and I can move on!

Here is a look at the Marche dilemma and an alternative mountain range.... but not the last option!