News for Map Makers

From now on the Head Cartographer will only comment and give guidance on one map per map maker at a time. The first map must be in Beta before the Head Cartographer will comment on your next map. You can make multiple maps at a time and rely on the rest of the community for help if you want but it's possibly that you could waste a lot of time that way. It's possible by the time the Head Cartographer gets to your map you may have to scrap the whole thing and start over if you haven't followed the guidelines properly.

This means what? When is the map in Beta...ready to test the game-play right? You must finish one map at a time right! And what about shared maps? Does this mean you will comment on just one per map maker whether it is shared or not? Do they need to tell you which one they would like to have you look at..if so? If not then they could team out with other map makers and bog you down again.

There are two phases, Test and Beta. During the Test phase only the map maker can create games on the map. During the beta phase only players who have been on the site longer than 2 weeks can create games on the map. I will post in the maps thread when it has switched from Test to Beta and at that point I can start commenting on the next map. You don't have to finish one map at a time but you won't get any comments or help from me on the second map until the first one is done. I can comment and help on shared maps as long as there aren't too many of them. I will post on a maps thread stating whether or not I will comment on it and if not, which maps need to be finished before I will comment on it.

Please Please Please include the name of the font you have used in the label for your text layer. It makes it so much easier and faster to fix spelling issues. Also, if you are duplicating your text layers to increase contrast or sharpness, do not merge the layers, leave them separate. If you add a glow or outline to the text then keep a copy of the original text layer as a backup (it should be a non visible layer right next to the current text layer) so that the glow or outline can be redone without having to retype all the text.

I hope I don't make those mistakes again! It took forever to fix that on the San Francisco map...

I found a plugin that will let you create editable text layers in paint.net With this plugin you can change the text, size, font etc without retyping the territory name. Here's the catch, each territory has to be in it's own layer and you can only change the font one layer at a time so it would still be time consuming to change the font but at least you wouldn't have to retype the name as well. You can modify the layer by adding glow or an outline using a plugin or a blur but when you go to make a spelling correction you will lose everything but the text. What would probably be the best method would be keep a second file for your original text layers. The second file would just have a flattened version of your map as the base layer with all the text on top. Disable the base layer so that only the text is showing. Then flatten the layers (don't save the file after flattening, save before!) and copy and paste it into your main file. Then you can add the glow or outline. If you need to make a spelling correction then open up your text layers file, make the change, flatten it and copy and paste it into your main file and redo the outline or glow. That way you can keep the outline or glow consistent and not have the spelling corrected ones looking a little different. The plugin comes in a pack. Get it here: http://www.isimonbrown.co.uk/plugin-pack/?autodownload=1 and here's instructions for installing plugins: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/1708-how-to-install-pluginsgeneral-plugin-troubleshooting-thread/ Once it's installed to add an editable text layer, first create a new layer, the go to Effects->Tools->Editable Text.. All the options for font, size, color, bold etc are in the popup window. You also change the position and rotation of the text in that same window. All this being said, it is still 1000 times easier to do the text in photoshop and the quality is much better. You are still encouraged to find someone who has photoshop to help you with your text. In photoshop you can select all the editable text layers at once and change the font in all of them instantly. You can also add glow, outline and shadow using settings that can be adjusted. Want the outline thicker? just change the 1 to a 2 simple as that. The new version of Gimp will do editable text layers without needing a plugin but Gimp doesn't have the text options for outline, glow, shadow etc.

Please, please, please map makers when you do the text for your territories copy and paste it from the wikipedia article about the territory. There is a far less chance of spelling errors that way.

A new graphics editing package has just become available free in Beta for Mac users. It is listed as an alternative to Photoshop, called Affinity. https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/ I'm not sure how long the Beta will be available, so get it while you can Mac users.

New policies have been added to the guide. All maps must be posted in the map suggestions thread before they get their own thread. The Head Cartographer will approve the creation of a thread for your map only if there is sufficient interest in the map idea and only if the map has potential to be suitable for the site according to the standards. Only maps that you can imagine someone using to plan a battle will be accepted. We reserve the right to remove old maps for the following reasons: 1. The map isn't getting played. 2. The quality of the map is now below average due to the increased quality of newer maps. (Popular maps will get a graphics update instead of being deactivated.) 3. There is a newer map that is very similar but better quality. Our goal is to make it easy for new players to find a good map without having to scroll through a long list of mediocre ones. This site lives or dies based on new membership. We choose, therefore, to make it more user friendly and attractive for new players rather than cater to the old players who want to keep all the maps. That being said we are considering an option that will allow old players to play all the old maps in private, invite only games.