weathertop- that looks amazing! thanks for all your help btw. I just decided to start from scratch on that one...but ya you're right about the original quality and size of the pic. i've been messing aroud at work (probably more than i should ha) and was able to make a fully fuctional good looking map in less than two hours. I think the it's the dawn of some really impressive looking maps as everyone starts pushing the limits that we've seen on most of the other maps on here. exciting stuff!

Also, i've been looking into the plug-ins for paint.net. but some are just confusing to me owing to the fact that this is all pretty new to me and i don't have the technical knowledge built up yet. does anyone care to provide a list of ones that really help for map making?

Also i think a big part of the "secret" is just having some time to really play around with tons of options to find out what really looks the best.

nadroj wrote:

does anyone care to provide a list of ones that really help for map making?

I've grabbed some of the Packs on the plugin forums, those can gt a lot of the necessities.  Then surf through and if I see anything cool or search for something needed.

Some things I go to a lot:

Outlines are usually helpful.

Drop Shadow is great for text/subtle graphics that really help "integrate" a map from multiple pieces.

Render stuff (Diagonals, Mazes, Clouds) is good for texture or custom Fog images.

Bevel and Feather can make some cool borders.

Mainly this is true:  "Also i think a big part of the "secret" is just having some time to really play around with tons of options to find out what really looks the best."

I forgot all about drop shadow... 

Both of the maps linked to in this thread... wait wtf was that.. real time game notification invites?  sweet!  but I digress... are awesome.  The artistic level is being stepped up a whole bunch of notches.  I can't wait to get my butt kicked on both these boards!

OK, Nygma has always been an inspiration for me.  EN, you are always pushing the boundries and you also always giving praise and advice to other map makers.  You were the one who promoted Duck Hunt and I remember the game very well because you were interested in the idea and also how else it could be used.  I've wanted to steal your idea for Dungeon several times but have never been able to come up with the graphics and gameplay that would do it better and I can't live with that.

So, Edward Nygma, I challenge you!

The player of YOUR choice must come up with a map theme.  The gameplay and every thing else is up to either of us.  I respect you a great deal, but you are no RiskyBack and I intend to prove it.

Hey EN..........Don't sing it........BRING IT!!!!!!

Oh, and not a duel map...we've both proven we can do cool things that way.

I want to see a WarGear map based on a courtroom trial, with a judge, jury, lawyers, defendant, audience, even the evidence, testimony, and verdict. Can you make that happen?

RiskyBack wrote:

The player of YOUR choice must come up with a map theme.  The gameplay and every thing else is up to either of us.  I respect you a great deal, but you are no RiskyBack and I intend to prove it.

i'm in!

I would throw my hat in the ring, but I'm not in Ed's league.  I think better might be for a number of us to come up with some theme/designs, either individually or by committee(s), and challenge EN to choose one and execute it. 

Choose a Ghostbusters theme, we know RB has failed making that!

Don't know if you guys have played the board game Settlers of Catan, but i think there is potential for an awesome board based off of it. 

i was trying to find an idea for a group of theme'd maps. nadroj is going to be doin some Robert Jordan WoT maps. so i can't steal that one, but would be interesting to come up with some group theme. currently i'm hoping to do some with Diablo games but haven't had enough time to pour thru images.

I'm in Risky.  How about we decide together on a theme.  We have to choose from themes selected by other players on this forum though.  In 3 days we'll pick one and go.  Or they can vote together on one.  I've never played Katan, but I have an idea of how it works.  I like the courtroom idea too, but I'm up for anything.

I also wouldn't mind doing graphics for somebody else's map, since I'm better at graphics than gameplay anyway...

i think it'd be great to get some teamwork going between great mapmakers!

Edward Nygma wrote:

Depends on the graphics I can find.  Usually I can get pretty close by messing with the tolerance until it grabs the shape...  some websites have great, easy to grab pictures.  As for the territories, in starcraft for example, I trace a border on a separate image, and then grab the space in the center, and use that selection on the proper layer.

this is what i've been doin since my 'born again' moment, but i'm having a helluva time trying to keep things under 1024kb...without sacrificing size. on that first attempt at DIII, i got what i wanted but it was small, so i started over trying to increase size, but now i can't get the half-faded board image to fit without shrinking it again...hints?

Save as PNG8 with Alpha Transparency

I use "Posterize"  It works well. 

Wow, that is pretty amazing, using optiPNG with Posterize, I took a >1 MB file down to 271 kb without any noticeable loss.

I could never get optiPNG to work.