More community ideas to promote Genesis

[Trutblemma]

What you did there Cherek looks really good.
For future, there are just 2 beefs I have with it:
1. Green Oaks is way closer to Sparkle (as in, more SW from Sparkle than W).
2. I don't think adding too much land around things is a good idea... Despite it looking good, it may confuse people into thinking that there's something there while in fact there isn't.

Overall, great job

Uhm.......it was an EXAMPLE of A map.... not how Sparkle looks

[Cherek]

Thanks Trutblemma. Guess he just looked at the picture and didnt read my post...

Anyway, input is still valid, and I agree with both. Not that this was going to be the Sparkle map anyway, but still nothing bad in adding thoughts.

[Cherek]

I like it. It looks alot better than the AutoRealms ones, and a solid foundation to build upon.

Still not quite monochrome enough for me, and I think it needs a bit more...stuff on it. Mountains/hills/castles, not much, just some. Also a new font. Lighter colours of the "parchment" would be nice too.

Anyways, I got some good ressources to include, both fonts and brushes, so if you can convert what you have already to GIMP and still have it be a simple way to create maps, I think we're just about in business.

As I said in my post (doesnt anyone read anymore?:)) I have brushes for forests, hills, mountains etc, which I havent tried yet. I think it would work. But, there are tons of ways to make it better. I could do a better-looking map in many aspects for sure, however I gotta try to balance it. Its gotta be very easy for anyone to add/remove/update stuff. The more details I add, the more complex its gonna get to make more maps and maintain it aswell.

So I am gonna leave those details out for now and see if Tapakah finds my template simple enough. If he does, perhaps we can try add more items... But it all depends on how much work people are willing to do... No matter how we do it, there are still many maps to fix...

Colors are a matter of opinion and everyone will have a different one. I think its impossible to say what will work best without knowing the website design.

[gorboth]

Cherek,

What did you use to draw the coastlines? Is that just your own skill with fine-line artwork?

G.

[Cherek]

Cherek,

What did you use to draw the coastlines? Is that just your own skill with fine-line artwork?

G.

All you do is draw a simple line with your mouse, the temple automatically makes it look like a map-coastline. Using a reference is probably helpful. I just drew something random though.

[Sharn]

Ideally the maps on the website would be convertible to ASCII maps in the game and vice-versa.
So if a wizard changes the area within the game, it automagically updates the map on the website.
Also ideally the ASCII maps within the game would be created automatically (to some degree) based on the settings in the code of the rooms.

Cherek's map look quite good in my opinion but are hard to maintain.

Could we stick to realastic suggestions perhaps?:) You wanna rewrite room code for entire genesis and then work on a system that converts that to ascii maps, AND, to graphical ones? Uh...

I might be wrong, but I guess that you have to edit (not completely rewrite) all the rooms for ASCII maps in game to work.

And thanks for judging my maps as hard to maintain. I assume you have very good knowledge about Photoshop/Gimp templates and how they work? Then please explain WHY my maps are hard to maintain, perhaps I am missing something? (Not mocking, I'd like to know, since you seem so sure).

Yeah, I should not be so sure. I have no idea about graphics and that is why I have assumed it is not possible to maintain. Impossible for me at least.
I like how the map looks, would prefer monochrome map, though.

Thanks, Cherek

[Cherek]

Okay, so I've made a template and a guide for map making. It took a little longer than expected since real work came in the way. But... I've sent it to Tapakah to try it out.

I wont be posting it for everyone to try just yet though. Too much input from too many people will just be messy!

Here is how the maps would look, created using only freeware software. Gimp didnt work as expected since it just doesnt have the features Photoshop has. But I found another way using Autorealm and pixlr.com which are both completely free.




(click image for larger version.)

I made one "old map" style, and one in basic coloring. Both are as simple to create and massproduce, its just a matter of what style we want. Oh, and I have only added cities and villages yet, no icons for guilds, clubs, etc, and no roads or borders, or icons for hills, mountains, and other terrain. But we can have those too if we want, how much detail to add is also a choice. Too much and it may look cluttered and cramped.

Anyway, I'll add more icons if this type if maps are acceptable, and share the template with everyone if Tapakah thinks its a good way to do it.

And yes I know Ansalon doesnt look like that at all. This is just a random landmass with random names!

[Laurel]

stupid me - always thought Balifor was south//south/southwest from Flotsam (in Genesis) ...

[Cherek]

Laurel: Sorry, it doesnt. What you see above IS indeed the official map now. So they will have to recode that area. Changes to that will be in place after next armageddon.

[Laurel]

no can do! I am unable to recode the paths/quicktypers I have in my brain for the last 10+ years