Episcopal Lab

Yep @God_of_War it's an idea, I'm collecting comments and trying to do my best. Work in progress...

I feel that having all of the Saudi oil bonuses be in 1 region kind of overpowers the region. Now, if you control Saudi Arabia, you are getting a bonus of 9. I know that this would make not all of the Saudi oil wells not be in actual Saudi Arabia, but maybe if you could move 1 of the wells south into Oman a little that would change it? And if it still bugged you, then you could rename the Saudi oil Bonus to something else. This is not a very large problem, and I would still have very much fun playing on this map even if it does not change. Great map! :roll:

In fact, Oman is a state where oil is extracted in abundance. However it is not one of the greatest exporters. This means that Oman crude oil is sold to other countries (most likely Saudi Arabia) who refine it and then export it. So it would be perfectly realistic that some of the Saudi Oil is actually mined in Oman. The idea is therefore not bad, however I would prefer to keep it as it is, +9 looks correct to me, it is a very difficult region, practically impossible to defend. Anyway it will be tested. ... No graphic update at the moment, sorry.

Nice map :) It would be good if we could recognise the strategic importance of gas as well as oil - for Qatar in particular. Also, the Straits of Hormuz are so critically important it seems a shame not to highlight the Musandam area of Oman and have that enclave linked to Iran and the rest of Oman.

actually yes, looking at the map again, +9 looks fine

Also, UA Emirates should be referred to as UAE

Okay, well I would recommend the use of dots though: U.A.E.

Middle East update. Here is one version, I hope you like the camel riders [spoiler=Middle East][img]https://i.ibb.co/tbGbvBz/Middle-East-036.jpg[/img][/spoiler] Border and divider lines have been redone from scratch, and colours too. I am also working on a second version according to Maafi's proposals which I find interesting but a bit hard to do. [quote=maafi] It would be good if we could recognise the strategic importance of gas as well as oil - for Qatar in particular. Also, the Straits of Hormuz are so critically important it seems a shame not to highlight the Musandam area of Oman and have that enclave linked to Iran and the rest of Oman.[/quote]

[quote]5. The title... I don't know but for me it doesn't scream middle-eastern. What do other people think of the title font? Regardless of what font is chosen in the end, I think it would be really cool to put the title in Arabic underneath or maybe silhouetted in some fancy way over the title. In Arabic it is الشرق الأوسط according to Google translate. (generated text) [/quote] I don't agree with this, not all these states are Arabic nor indeed speak any Arabic and the title correctly states that this is the Middle East, not Arabia. Colours are better, but for contrast, swap over the Green & Brown of Yemen & Saudi Arabia and also the Teal & Purple of Iraq & Egypt. I suggest getting rid of the tiny islands that don't show any internal colour, as the black outlines are too heavy for them, or make the outlines 1 pixel thinner.. I suggest making the Oil Symbols smaller and keeping them all in black silhouette with a Red, Blue & Dark Yellow solid colour Rectangle.[i] I will edit in a suggestion example[/i]. There is some white noise behind the "Saudi Oil +3" key text.... perhaps it's a signature, a date or a Sea label?? Oh, it's gone in the latest update... ignore! Bahrain, Dammam & Qatar are all 3-way connected, so you could simply cover the small Bahrain island with a circle and don't use the zoomed image. The Camels should be mostly transparent, see Texas map. Also, post a link below the image, so that it can be viewed full size (100%) in a new window. North, Gulf & Saudi Oil should be left justified with no colons and the bonuses can remain as right justified, I think it would look a bit more aesthetic. [spoiler][img]http://www.the-inkstore.co.uk/map_resources/MiddleEast/Middle-East-036-small-icons.jpg[/img] I placed them over the top of the current icons and they will be a little smaller when on the 100% size map. I also tried sending the Photoshop layers for the icons to the email address that I used to use for you, but it no longer exists. If you want this file please send me an active address by PM[/spoiler]

[quote=aeronautic][quote=(non quoted Virtuosity)]5. The title... I don't know but for me it doesn't scream middle-eastern. What do other people think of the title font? Regardless of what font is chosen in the end, I think it would be really cool to put the title in Arabic underneath or maybe silhouetted in some fancy way over the title. In Arabic it is الشرق الأوسط according to Google translate. (generated text) [/quote] I don't agree with this, not all these states are Arabic nor indeed speak any Arabic and the title correctly states that this is the Middle East, not Arabia.[/quote] I partially agree with Aero, Turkey and Iran speak a different language, but still Arabic is the most spoken language in the Middle East as a whole. Whatever the language honestly I find that that writing is nice and cool, it gives not only a Middle-eastern feeling but also a sort of oil effect which is the theme here. However I wasn't focusing much attention on the title until Virtuos mentioned it... I like as it is now, but many other solutions are possible. The Oil Symbols suggested by Aero are a great improvement, they are more visible and clear, I'll copy them. [quote=aeronautic]There is some white noise behind the "Saudi Oil +3" key text.... perhaps it's a signature, a date or a Sea label?? Oh, it's gone in the latest update... ignore![/quote] LoL yes, a piece of layer of something, it's weird I don't know when I pasted it, sometimes I edit while half asleep. [quote]Bahrain, Dammam & Qatar are all 3-way connected, so you could simply cover the small Bahrain island with a circle and don't use the zoomed image.[/quote] I'm not sure to like this but let's try, basically I prefer simple things. What been proposed by Maafi is extremly interesting and realistic, but it implies some major changes. I post an image below to show how the map could possibly be with the new features added (not intended to be graphically perfect, just a draugth). I hadn't precise suggestions though, so I did it the way it sounds logical to my brain. I excluded the possibility to have a territory representing Musandam (Oman exclave) because it's really too small and you can see Bahrain is already causing problems for that reason. [spoiler=Middle East (current)][img]https://i.ibb.co/tbGbvBz/Middle-East-036.jpg[/img][/spoiler] https://i.ibb.co/tbGbvBz/Middle-East-036.jpg [spoiler=Middle East (with Gas and Strait of Hormuz bonuses)][img]https://i.ibb.co/sVWRCnK/Middle-East-036gas.jpg[/img][/spoiler] https://i.ibb.co/sVWRCnK/Middle-East-036gas.jpg I think to go on with the original version following the graphic directions that I'm receiving and at the same time keeping the "Hormuz version" possible/available, if people like it more. About the territory labels. I followed Virtuos proposal but another problem came up. Egyptians speak Arabic with their own prononcation, I mean each country really, but Egyptian is a very special one. This causes no problem when writing in Arabic but it does when you pass it to a Latin script.. Question is: -- Al-Wadi Al-Jadid (classic Arabic) .. or -- El-Wadi El-Gedid (Egyptian Arabic) .. ? Can also be translated as the "New Valley Governorate", but honestly I liked my White and Black Desert initial proposal. As I said I didn't follow administrative divisions for Egypt, so probably better not to use administrative names. Appreciating any comments. :) Maybe I should start a new official thread for this map when we will be almost done with design and graphics.

You should start a new thread now, but you should decide which bonuses version you plan to use first, otherwise you will have two versions running and things would get very confusing very quickly. BTW I would not use a realistic graphic for Strait of Hormuz, if that's the version you choose... I thought it was a mountain-top monument. :D Also, on the Arabic thing, you have Israel, Palestine & Lebanon, as well as Turkey & Greek islands in the middle east, do they speak Arabic? Persian or Farsi regions use the following languages... Kurdish, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Luri, Arabic, Balochi, and Turkmen; smaller languages such as Qashqai, Taleshi, Tati, Baadi and many other local languages.

I don't know, I'm really undecided. However the idea that prevails in my mind is to keep the oil bonus only, because it's less confusing and because I don't like to have so much focus on the eastern part of the map. In the Hormuz version I presented, there are 8 territories around the Persian Gulf giving a +7 bonus in "four small slices" i.e. 2+2+2+1. I don't know how hard or easy it is to hold all the area but being 4 small bonuses it can be done little by little, and who has all his troops in the western part probably can't stop the guy who is eating all the pizza. So yes, it could be fun, and maybe I'll regret, but also it could causes unfair and unbalanced games, so I do prefer to stick with the oil bonus only. I think there is already enough focus on the Persian Gulf. I explained my reason in detail to Maafi and also told him that probably would be good to have a map of Strait of Hormuz and UAE area, more or less like this: [spoiler=Strait of Hormuz][img]https://i.ibb.co/99yFwP7/Persian-Gulf00.jpg[/img][/spoiler] Consider this one above as a map suggestion for the future. So, next Middle East update will be in its own thread but give me time please, I'm trying to solve the small island issue i.e. redoing the outlines once again. The new oil icons work very well and with the image in transparency many cool things can be done, but the camels there, with that black line behind, they don't look great in my opinion, so I'm looking for something different.

Here another project I'm trying to develop, it's a [b]Chessboard[/b] "map". 52 territories and 9 regions. A few special connections following the move of the pieces as in the game of chess (but it is not needed to know chess to be able to play the map). [spoiler=Chessboard draft (Not draughts!)][img]https://i.ibb.co/dkrVMHf/New-Chess-Risk-Board03.jpg[/img][/spoiler] https://i.ibb.co/dkrVMHf/New-Chess-Risk-Board03.jpg The picture on the right is from the world chess championship match, Spassky vs Fischer in 1972, actually an event of the cold war between Soviet Union and United States, still at present the match with the highest political tension in the history of chess. Some pixelations giving a touch of retro style. :P Probably the graphics needs a complete remake, and I don't know if it is the case, in fact I'm running some "pre--tests" to see how it plays. The feedback for now is that most of people say "cool, nice idea" but then when the game starts "Ho no, I understand nothing". So this is the problem, at the first round you feel lost, but then you begin understand how it works.

Looking at the map I think it is hard to read. That is my biggest complaint about it. I think the board needs to be lighter, the pawns (impassable) more pronounced, etc.

Yes you are right dough_boy. Pawns originally had a red contour line then I (almost) removed it because seemed unnecessary. The more I look at the map, the more I see what dosn't work. I think the board needs to be bigger than that, no need of such a large frame for example. Mini-map and special connection key can stay smaller. Colours also need some more work. All the graphics is provisional atm. I'm sorry with the testers if it is causing some headaches.