Official Brazil REVAMP competition [Done! - RJbeals wins]

[whitestazn88]

WOW. These are great. G or H will win.

i think g or h is his....

[InkL0sed]

I'm almost positive about three of them.

D. is RjBeals (text font is the same as Iceland)
G. is wcaclimbing (anyone look at the banner for Oasis...?)
H. is WidowMakers (look in the thread...)

[gimil]

You know guys, you are all guess who did what by there past works. Although many of the people you speak of are known for not doing the same thing twice. Just a thought to put in mind

[whitestazn88]

I'm almost positive about three of them.

D. is RjBeals (text font is the same as Iceland)
G. is wcaclimbing (anyone look at the banner for Oasis...?)
H. is WidowMakers (look in the thread...)

dude... but h is the same exact stuff as oaks war of the triple alliance....

[InkL0sed]

I have an idea about the impassables. Since I won't be competing, I may as well throw it out there -- do it USA style and break up the continents.

Shhhh. I was thinking about that already.

WM

[Mjinga]

I think rjbeals did G. The only one I'm even guessing at right now.

EDIT: Or it might have been wcaclimbing. Those trees look suspiciously like his brushes from the Layer Battle...

Gah! This is why I shouldn't guess!

[WidowMakers]

WOW. These are great. G or H will win.

i think g or h is his....

I will not win this revamp.

[edbeard]

WOW. These are great. G or H will win.

i think g or h is his....

I will not win this revamp.

is that because you did not enter?



I'm quite fond of F. it's totally unlike any other map on the site.

[WidowMakers]

WOW. These are great. G or H will win.

i think g or h is his....

I will not win this revamp.

is that because you did not enter?

No. It is because mine is not one of the best maps here and the voting will show that. I would be very surprised if I won.

[l3eater]

I chose H since it look the damn awesome best map with a book in the background and also the graphics.

[Kaplowitz]

I dont get it....F looks so much cooler than H!

[whitestazn88]

I dont get it....F looks so much cooler than H!

well i guess no one else really agrees with you

[Kaplowitz]

no kidding.

[InkL0sed]

I agree!

I couldn't help but vote F... definitely the most original of the bunch, and that's saying something.

[ZeakCytho]

F is the coolest looking, but I honestly don't think it would play well as a map - the playable area is too small, IMO.

I'm only sure about two of the maps - one is Marv's, and one is the one Mjinga and I worked on. I have no idea who did the rest

[edbeard]

A few random thoughts on the ones I believe to be the contenders (F, G, and H) and some others


The Pretenders:

One thing I like about B is that it keeps some of the different sizes for text from the original. I'm not sure if this was unintentional or meant as a nod to the original but I thought it was kinda cool. Other than that it's a good solid map but doesn't have that 'it' factor that makes for a revamp winner.

C is very unique. I think this map could've been a lot better if they took the mosaic technique to another level. It might've made the whole thing look like crap though. I'd like to see mosaic type graphics on a map though. At the moment it doesn't do it for me and unless it underwent a major change like I said above, I don't think it'd work for me. Remember it's not about what's best now but what will be the best.

Two major things I don't like about D. The impassable borders and the title. Everything else was very well done but these two things ruin it for me.


The Contenders:

Both F and H are doing the 'comes from a book' idea. I think F accomplishes this better. H just doesn't look like someone hand drew that. That's a pretty jarring contrast to the actual book it is placed. We printed this book on 1700s style paper but used photoshop to make it. Also this person doesn't know east from west


G is the best of the standard style of maps. That's why I put it here. Like I said I see parts of many mapmakers in this map: RJ, oaktown, wca, widow. I think it's just the surroundings but the look of the impassable borders is different on the legend than on the map itself. I prefer how it looks on the legend. Maybe put a darker border around it to mask the colours of the playable areas?

With F you actually get to consider spacing issues since they gave us a small image. I think this is an advantage to them because we don't know how they'll look with the small map. This one looks very good I think. Some of the text doesn't look as handwritten as the others. I think none of it should look like text since that's the whole theme. And, it separates itself from H in that way as well.



I'd say I'm definitely leaning towards F at the moment because the whole thing I went on about H is bothering me more. It is a very good map though. I think this issue can be solved but since there's not a 2nd edition before voting ( ) I can't really think about this too much. G is obviously very good but I think I like taking this map outside the standard box in which we make our maps so I doubt I'll vote for this (unless it's a tie vote and it's between G and any other map that's not F or H for 2nd place).

[edbeard]

F is the coolest looking, but I honestly don't think it would play well as a map - the playable area is too small, IMO.

I'm only sure about two of the maps - one is Marv's, and one is the one Mjinga and I worked on. I have no idea who did the rest

ahh but who else actually gave us a small map?

C tried to but went over by 20 pixels on the width


G and H might have the same if not worse problems. Now, when I look at F, I think it'll be fine with spacing. Many of the problem areas are solved by tight areas being by the non-playable area which is quite a neutral colour.



If anything the size issue is NOT a problem for F but it might be elsewhere.

[oaktown]

wow, just got in and I have to say I'm impressed by the entries... I'll address them all!

A: very clean and easy to follow. if this doesn't make it I can see this look being used on another map.

B: easy on the eyes, but it lacks some element that really catches our attention like some of the others.

C: the most fun of the entires. Brilliant using the brazilian flag element as army circles!

D: also easy on the eyes and would be easy to play, but like B it doesn't grab you.

E: well, glad to see somebody is having some fun with us.

F: I agree it does a fantastic job of looking hand-drawn. At first glance I thought it was a tattoo on somebody's arm, which would be an even more brilliant background for a CC map than a piece of paper.

G: the background looks fantastic, and by turning the map 30 degrees or so the mapmaker has given himself more space for army circles, so I don't think space with be an issue. In fact I don't think any of these maps will have space issues because there seems to be room to play around on all of them.

H: another book entry? Funny that two of our mapmakers were on the same "page." (Sorry.) I like the region info - very 19th century world atlas.

I: darken up the land a bit so the white text and lines don't get lost and this would be considerably easier to read. Double line as region border is a nice idea.

Any of these would offer a nice visual improvement over the original... let's all give ourselves a collective Foundry pat on the back!

[ZeakCytho]

One thing no one has mentioned is the geographic accuracy. With the exception of D, I believe every map copied territories directly from Marv's map, which a few people had said wasn't 100% correct.

[oaktown]

One thing no one has mentioned is the geographic accuracy. With the exception of D, I believe every map copied territories directly from Marv's map, which a few people had said wasn't 100% correct.

it was my understanding that Marv wanted it that way... this isn't a gameplay revamp, just a graphics revamp.

[edbeard]

so nobody else cares that H 's image doesn't really fit into the book on which it has been placed?

it feels like someone put a piece of paper from 1808 and placed it into a printer and printed out an image from 2008

[ZeakCytho]

One thing no one has mentioned is the geographic accuracy. With the exception of D, I believe every map copied territories directly from Marv's map, which a few people had said wasn't 100% correct.

it was my understanding that Marv wanted it that way... this isn't a gameplay revamp, just a graphics revamp.

The gameplay is the same, but the territories have been renamed after things that are correct, for example, major cities in them rather than ones...not in them.

so nobody else cares that H 's image doesn't really fit into the book on which it has been placed?

it feels like someone put a piece of paper from 1808 and placed it into a printer and printed out an image from 2008

That's how I felt, so I didn't vote for H.

[WidowMakers]

so nobody else cares that H 's image doesn't really fit into the book on which it has been placed?

it feels like someone put a piece of paper from 1808 and placed it into a printer and printed out an image from 2008

I am starting to agree.

The more I look at it, it seems to clean and perfect for the age of the book that it is in.

Also, the image of the map should be distorted at the middle of the pages (spine of the book)

Like the picture above shows, the map would not appear to be flat if the picture went across 2 pages.

[oaktown]

so nobody else cares that H 's image doesn't really fit into the book on which it has been placed?

I'll agree with you as well, that the map elements need some serious weathering to match the weathered book background. But then none of them are perfect. We're used to seeing maps go through months of graphics feedback, and these haven't had that. There are differences in text weight and potentially confusing impassables in F, the east-west region goof in H, a weird blotching effect on the flag in G (not to mention the outlines which usually signify water in old maps, but surround the landlocked sides as well), army circles that get lost in the background colors in C, and typos on a few maps.

What it comes down to is which of these maps has the best raw materials to become a really great-looking CC map? I'm torn between three of them, but I think most any of them could be quenchable with some work. And it's nice that this is a two-round competition, and the top two mapmakers will have a chance to make changes based on feedback.

[edbeard]

Do you think that you I mean whoever did H is going to make the effort to make the whole map more fitting to that book? And, will doing that not take away from the pleasing graphics it has at the moment?

It seems like G and H are the top runners at this point. But, only a few hours have passed so that might not mean squat.


I wish the second round was open to everyone so they could react to a large amount of feedback (and we could see how they react). Not too hard to extend it by one round. Oh well.