Map of New York City

you must have already figured out the text cause it looks way better and more readable. It doesn't have to be black, i like it how it is. you must have set the layer to overlay instead of normal, but this works good for what you are doing with the text so keep it.

i think you should try a whole different color scheme with more pretty colors and less pukey colors. Colors are the hardest thing to get right but the most important. Be warned, it might take several tries in order to get an improvement. I spent hours on modifying pntbttrs colors for the Mediterranean sea map and i still think they could be better, i just can figure out how. good luck.

look at the difference in the colors from the first color scheme for the south eastern asia map and the current colors. try and figure out why the current colors are better. look at all the maps. maybe you can pick colors from some of them.

Hello.

First off, Good work Leedog and Thorpe. Nice to see another map that is based of a city.

I like where you are going with the text but I must admit, it is a bit hard to read in some areas, like the yellow region. I have to dive into the screen to be able to see what some of the terr. names are. And also, if its not too much trouble, try to use a different font, one that is a bit thicker and befitting. The outline of the map makes some of the text hard to read in some areas.

The colours are ok. Especially some that are on the right side of the map (Brooklyn, Queens and Levittown) The left side, not so much. Try to use colours that complement each other and are more appealing.
Here is a great site that can help you with that: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
The lines on the purple region stand out too much, try to make them blend more with the background colour like the ones on the pink region. The airport lines are also the same, maybe make them more grayish.

I dont know if I am too late with this but I would like the ocean to be a bit blurred. It kinda looks pixelated and sharp. The bridges still needs some work, maybe make them more like ordinary terr. lines..?

Other than that, great work. Looking forward to the final version. =)

Take care. 

Thorpe, I followed Vexer's text outline advice in a message on this thread, only because I was able to get it to work a little. I need more practice on that and maybe Butters could put that in his tutorial.

Fendi, I'll try making yellow area a little darker to text stands out... if there are any other areas you have trouble not being able to read let me know. The goal was not to have the text stand out too much because there are so many names close together. I'll redo purple region and try to work out airport runways. Thorpe was in charge of ocean and needs to get back to me on changes and trying to make the connections lines look a little like bridges... I'll see what can be done?

Vexer, I'll work on colors again, Butters had me redo the colors in S.E. Asia that you thought were improved and I'll try something along those lines. Though, it's not easy trying to come up with 13 separate colors.

that was also the challenge with the Mediterranean sea map. lots of regions so lots of colors needed. We went with groups of two similiar colors next to each other, one darker than the other.

the unfortunate thing about not using a mini map is that you can't reuse the same colors. Africa 1890 reuses colors and is perhaps our best looking map. Mini maps are definitely preferred. it's much faster to figure out what the region is worth.

New updated colors for New York City:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/832/1024x690bayarea.jpg/

Here's the old version for comparison:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/190/1024x690bayarea.jpg/

too much magenta
text on ridgewood is hard to read.

are you sure you can't make the map a little longer so you can fit a mini map? that way you could reuse colors on opposite sides of the map. You're having difficulty because with legend every region has to be a different color.

I feel I'm close and seem to only need to change a couple of colors.

Though you didn't state it, I feel the color scheme has improved, would like a couple of more tries.

If you feel the map would look better with mini-map... I guess I could make the map a little longer height wise?

The "Ridgewood" text seemed to blur when I downloaded map to imageshack. Looks much better on original version on Paint.net.

you are using wrong textures

Looks Great!

The grey lines blend in more...I like that
Two airplanes on J.F.K.?
You improved the text but I think it still needs something...
bottom of Teaneck looks really weird...what happened there?
Laconia has a few white dots near the outline (below the last A in Laconia)
I think the outline is still to blurry...you can hardly see the water in parts of the river...
I think Newark on Bronx are too similar but the color scheme is much better...
I think you could do better on the texture but it has deffinatly gotten better...

great job hope to play on it soon...

how come the road texture is on some regions but not others?

your texture layer is making all your colors too bright. try adjusting the brightness and contrast on that layer.

I would like to make it a requirement that all maps have a mini map but i won't make you redo the whole map to make it fit. but please do try and see if you can get one to fit without having to redo everything. you'll still need room to explain the airport's +1 as well since it can't be represented on a mini map. you can increase the height by 78 pixels and still be considered a normal size map. we do have maps that are even taller though.

I still think the colors need a lot of work. Let's hold off on working on them though until we find out if a mini map is possible cause a mini map gives us more options with the color. I think you should also leave the text alone until we get the colors nailed down so you don't have to change it all the time.

pntbttr is right about the missing color in laconia. the bottom of Teaneck looks weird cause of the text from hackensack. maybe it can be moved. the color on an island between pleasant plains and bloomfield appears to be wrong.

Newark and bronx don't look too similar on my monitor. in fact those are the only two colors that i like. i think the color scheme should build out from there. Meaning start there and work your way out when deciding colors.

Not being able to see the water in the river is a huge problem. either the black outline needs to be thinned there or the rivers need to be thicker.

It is typical to have to do the outline for the rivers separate from the territory outline to make it thinner and sharper.

I know you have put a lot of work into this map and you want it to be done. but there is still much left to do. I can help you with the colors but I want to see if you can fit a mini map first. It gets easier. The first map is the hardest and you picked an extremely challenging location so it will probably take more work than normal to get it right. I'm gonna guess that this map will end up taking 2-3 times as much time and work as the falkland island map took.

yeah I asked him if he wanted a smaller map. All I did was give him a base to work from and from there he has done it all and I think he is getting it though.


Just remember all the hard work will pay off and I think Leedog you can have all the credit on this map, I just now feel I helped you a little. I really don't mind if my name is on the map or not cause it is your map and look at all the learning you are getting and you will not even need help to start your next map....That is if you do another one after this one...hehehe.


Keep up the good work though... it is starting to take shape...look how long the map you did with pntbttr is taking! I would say that map is more pntbttr than you and this one is more you than me, so congrads!

Noxon: Maybe you could elaborate further?

Butters: Figured 2 planes on JFK because it is a huge airport in real life... 1 can be removed. Seemed Image downloaded blurry on Imageshack and caused some text problems. I'll fix Laconia dot problem. Also work on rivers and texture again.

Vexer: I'll try expanding map to include a mini-map. Though, I don't know how to put a mini-map on the map. Roads were only put in the most populated areas - Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan and Newark to represent population density/highway system and to actually set New York City apart from surrounding areas. Willing to spend as much time as necessary to get it right.

Thorpe: Your name is definitely staying on map... would not be what it is if you didn't set it up like you did. You and Butters have helped in my learning process a lot!! Also, I like playing on the bigger maps, so I figured should try making one.

Note to self: Staten Island spelled wrong!!

Vexer, when I tried to resize map it started to become distorted.

I worked on rivers.

Worked on texture.

Worked on colors. Looked at all the other maps for color ideas and used some. The last color added to map was Manhattan... my last attempt, you liked 2 out of 13. Let me know if you like more and what you don't like and feel a change should be needed.

I would say Manhattan color my least favorite but felt there was room for 2 variations of purple.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/1024x690bayarea.jpg/

to get the image bigger without resizing/distorting what's there go to Image -> Canvas Size

colors and texture are an improvement but still not quite there. more details tomorrow.