South Africa Districts map

OK well I would like to know if you guys think this is better

I will turn like I had before unless you guys like it this way
My biggest question is the text...is it good should I make it smaller???

Please comment on this:
[IMG]http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/3558/southafricadistrictsmap.jpg[/IMG]

it is looking much better pntbttr. but i can't handle the slanted text. in fact i am going to make it a requirement that the majority of the text be normal on all maps. Someday i will update and completely redo the map makers guide and i will include this.

You also have the option of abbreviating the text. For example on the map it would say Thabo M. instead of Thabo Mofutsanyana and when you get a card, the card would read "Thabo M. (Thabo Mofutsanyana)"
and Umzinyathi could be Umzin. and the card would read "Umzin. (Umzinyathi)"

that way players will have a uniform way of abbreviating the long names when talking about certain territories in the chat. and the map would look cleaner.

I also think that the text is hard enough to read as it is. using a fancy font just makes it worse. you could try the font we used for the world expanded map. I think it makes a good default font for maps. I plan to try it on all my maps first and then only change it if it doesn't look right. you can get the font here:
http://fontzone.net/?q=Androgyne

i am also more than willing to help you with the text. Paint.net is terrible for text because it doesn't have text layers. it turns the text into an image so that it is no longer editable. you can't just change the font, you have to retype every single label. whereas with photoshop you can select all the labels and change the font, the size, add an outline or glow and many other options all at once. and you can also easily move the text around.

I agree with Vexer, the text is to much but I like the color of the text and the amount of text for the name...please abbreviate them.
I don't like the slanted text...it just doesn't seem right.
Map looks great!
GOOD JOB!

thank you for the comments.

I agree about the text when I started it looked right but when I finished I felt like all you could see was the text. I will make the text straight and use the text you gave meI will also do some more abbreviations.

I still would like to know if you want me to rotate the maps like I had it before.

I am also having some trobale getting it on Paint do net....How do where should I save it???

i assume you are talking about the font. it depends on your operating system. do a google search stating your version of windows and install font. i know in windows 7 i can right click on the font file and select install. This will make the font available in all programs on your comp including paint.net

and definitely don't rotate the map like you had it before. the new version is better.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3558/southafricadistrictsmap.jpg

Ok I am not sure how many abbrviations I should do so give me a few ideas. I also have not done anything with texture so I would appreationate some help maybe a link to a tutorial???? 

I am still working on mountains and rivers........

 Oh looks very good. I think is better if you make bottom of ocean dark blue instead black.
 Texture that vexer have used in nanoteks map is good one.

text looks about a million times better.
i know that you think that the bright colors and all the glow effects look cool, but you need to tone it down a bit. it's too much for us older folk. the texture will help will that but you'll need to adjust it as well. i especially don't like the grey parts. it's way too much there.

noxon is right. the texture i did as a suggestion for the throes of perdition map would look perfect on this map.

here's a link to the post where i explain what i did
http://www.dominating12.com/forum/?cmd=topic&act=view&id=447&page=3#post-3910

i left out saying how to render clouds in paint.net. go to the menu, click effects, then render, then clouds. play with the sliders until you get clouds like i described in that post.

i can do this for you if you can't get it to look like mine did for nanotek's map. but i would like you to try first.

i found a great site with a ton of textures that are 100% free for any use.

http://www.texturegear.com

they put their website name on the texture, just crop it off. that's fine with them as long as we have a link to their site here.

the textures would need some modifying to remove detail. you can also try overlaying one texture on top of the other to get an even better one.
make the textures black and white and use the overlay layer option and then reduce the opacity until the texture no longer dominates the colors. make sure the texture layer is above the color layer.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/339/southafricadistrictsmap.jpg/

Is that kinda what you meant????

yeah, that is basically the texture but you will have to play with it and the colors to make it look right. the texture won't look right until you tone down the colors and the glow a bit. you may also have to tone down the texture. if you don't like it then try some of the marble or pavement textures from that site i mentioned. I would also delete the texture off the ocean and take noxon's advice about the ocean. you may want a different texture for the ocean. you may also want to delete or replace the texture over the grey area cause it doesn't look as good there--probably cause there is way too much glow effect there.

and with the mountains and rivers please only pick major ones. not creeks but real full sized rivers. it would also be ideal if the river separated territories for most of the length if not the whole length of the river. you may not find any real rivers that separate these territories though.

But for example the columbia river separates oregon and washington on the north and the snake river separates oregon from idaho on the east. i don't know if south africa uses rivers to separate their states though.

i also have a question. are the regions based on real life or made up? and i am not talking about the territories, i mean the regions.

OK I will play around with the textures and fix the black corner. I think the Orange river seperates a few territories (I am pretty sure it separetes Siyanda so I wont need a fake border) and there are a few moutain in there I am haveing a little trobale with them though. How should I make a river? I have them seperated into provinces but I have changed a few (Gauteng was its own province and Bojanala was part of the red region, Alfred Nzo was part of the orange region on the bottom and the lower red region was part of the light blue region right above it but thats it).

we have examples of rivers on other maps. it shouldn't be too hard to copy.

i personally don't care if the regions are completely made up and not based on provinces. because your map is one big lump of land the regions have many borders and are hard to defend so i would choose regions that are as easy to defend as possible. for example the orange region in the lower right side currently has to defend 4 spots but if you move ukhahlamba to another region and include cacadu and nelson mandela bay then that region only has to defend 3. The majority of the regions should have only 3 places to defend if possible. the better job you do figuring out how to reduce the places to defend, the less rivers and mountains you'll need.

so you mentioned you'll fix the black corner, but what about the brightness and the glow. those are my biggest concerns. it's just a tad too flashy. your med. sea map is the opposite of flashy, the colors are dull but it works cause they have to be dull to match the background. This map is way at the other end of the scale and overly flashy. it would be better if it was in the middle between where it is now and the med. sea map. What you really need is a cross between the style of the panama map and the USA map. It's a difficult task to make it perfect. good luck buddy.

to help with the brightness and colorfulness try this: in paint.net go to adjustments -> hue/saturation and change the saturation from 100 to 70 on at least the colors layer. i am not sure how you are doing the glow effect around the borders but i am sure you know how to reduce it.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/535/southafricadistrictsmap.jpg/

Update:
added some more texture
I think I got rid of the glow you were talking about
I changed the regions but I don't know where to put the territories in the brown region
I also decieded to get rid of the North South territories except for Siyanda which I will have a river goin through



I think that the regions wont work until I have gotten the rivers and mountains in so I really just want comments on colors, textures, glow/brightness, text and the North/South thing......