15 player Cap. Long term only

There will be a lot more contrast on all the circles, both current & proposed when placed over land only examples, because 90% of circles on maps don't sit over sea or border lines and therefore e.g. Black shows up a lot better on actual maps.

It should be noted the two on the right of that have added shadow for even more contrast so they don't blend with typically darker map colors.

@aero, not really, black shows up quite badly for example in the pink region of Caribbean (if I remember well it actually fits in Georgetown, it's difficult to see over the purple/pinkish colour, can't be sure now as there are no games for me to check.

In any case I agree with your point, that's why we'll test them on maps, as they would be if they were accepted.

@cbt, I believe that, whatever we do to the circles (shadows, glows, etc.) we have to do it to every circle. Moreover, when adding the shadow on regions that don't actually need it (see maroon on green region) it looks a bit blurry.

@Psymon, yes I know and it's exactly what I said above "90% of circles on maps don't sit over sea or border lines and therefore e.g. Black shows up a lot better on actual maps."
Caribbean's Bahamas region is part of the 10% of Maps where circles overlay border lines.

My point was only that using a piece of a map in the background and putting the orderly group of coloured circles in front of it, doesn't actually give a good reality of map contrast and suitability of colour and in some cases, it worsens the case!

I made a file with the slightly meaner shadow, but it's saved at home. I did NOT add it to black though. It made it blurry like Psymon said. And obviously would not help contrast it on any map since it's already black.

And that background is specifically for green, because it's the hardest on map contrast. It wasn't meant to contrast any of the other colors.

That lavender circle (I think that's the one I'm referring to) is way too close to the Neutral Grey.
You can see it on cbt's example above.
It just too difficult to form any game strategy at first glance in a 2p game with lots of neutrals around the map. If you were up against the clock as well, it would be near impossible.

Yes it is too close.

Making the rings 1 pixel thicker might make it easier to tell the colors apart and I think they will still fit on most maps. You could also use that extra pixel to make the new ones two tone, meaning two shades of the same color. For example the inner 2 pixels are lavender and the outer pixel is either a darker or lighter shade of lavender. Then it would be easy to tell apart from neutral even for the color blind. I haven't tested this idea so it could be crap but it might be worth a try.

I have another suggestion too, which might also help with coloured blind players.

What about having a full set of coloured circles, PLUS the same set with much darker shadows and only show the ones with dark shadows for the player that has that colour?

Therefore your coloured circles will stand out on the map and it wouldn't matter if there were similar colours around the map, also the Map territory colour contrast will be increased due to the shadow separation & distinction.

I agree with you Hero, but I would like even more...

I would like to be able to click on one player name (including myself) and highlight all the territories he owns with darker shadow.

It's a way to stay confident to not forget one territory when you set a kill on someone, especially in very large maps with large number of players.

Hehe, I always count the territories and check if it corresponds with the territory counter on the bottom... Usually I miscount and can try again xD

Personally I never counted the territories really. But my suggestion was mostly for colour blinds: to make them able to see all the territories of a player in one shot; without the need of hovering with the mouse one by one.

Good point.

That would go well with the team highlight as well I guess. Not that we have that yet (except with that chrome plugin).

Yes, it would have many advantages as I see it, but for now the main point in the suggestion is due to the lack of clarity and contrast with the new colour circles. This may help a lot with the colour similarities and map camouflage.

I guess you would assign the client side to show RedCircle2.png (circle with dark shadow) and server side to assign RedCircle1.png (normal circle) for example.

Soo, we have been able to test some colours... Did any of them work?