I am a new board designer and i have an idea but i dont think im skilled enough yet, anyone want to help start making it?

The idea is the map of "Alagaesia" from the "Inheritance" Book Series. I was thinking more of the corner of the map near the "Hadarac Desert" and the "Spine"

Im open to any ideas and comment's. Thanks.

How are you with graphic manipulation?  That's the hard part for many people (such as I).

If you have an image in mind post a link.

http://alagasiaonline.wikia.com/wiki/File:AlagaesiaMap.jpg

Here is the link and i have only just started to play around with gimp, here is my first map.

http://www.wargear.net/boards/designer/5978

I really like the crayon-y overlay on the board image - It might be a tad too heavy depending on the colors that you include with the board.  Really, there are a lot of elements that I think are very impressive for a first shot.  I think your +2 continents should perhaps be +3. The one in the south actually has more territories than the +5 above it.

The layout and spread of choke-points looks very playable.  I would look to thin out the territory borders a bit more and perhaps smooth them as well (No smoothing/aliasing on the fill map).

Looks like you're getting the hang of things.  Post here if you run into any troubles. There are a number of very good designers who are likely to be willing to help - and feel free to PM me if you like.

I also think you need to rework the bonus structure.  Usually you look at 1) number of territories & 2) entry points.  Right now you have:

Colour            territories         entry points          value

Red                6                     5                          5

Blue               6                     4                          5

Yellow            7                     2                          2

Green            13                   4                          7

Purple            6                    2                           2

Lets say that we were looking at it based on territory counts first.  So, if we use your biggest continent as a basis then 13/2 rounded up equals 7, then perhaps based on territory count they should be worth 3, 3, 4, 7, 3  But then due to entry points we might want to make the more exposed continents (> 60% of territories permit entry) worth +1 more for 4, 4, 4, 7, 3 or the ones which are easier to protect (< 40% of territories permit entry) worth less 3, 3, 3, 6, 2.  Or, if we were to exacerbate the entry point factor a bit more, perhaps +2 for exposed continents at 5, 5, 4, 7, 3, which is pretty close to what you have now, except corroborates what M57 was saying in that Yellow and Purple should probably be worth a bit more.

How do you think about the map idea? Is it to hard? Is it completely out of the question? Or do you think one of you could help me out with it?

XxNameHerexX wrote:

 

 

How do you think about the map idea? Is it to hard? Is it completely out of the question? Or do you think one of you could help me out with it?

What do you mean when you ask, "Is it too hard"?  Do you mean to play ..to understand ..to alter?

I'd say the map looks like it could play well, but it's nice to have a 'twist'; what is it a map of? Crayon Land?

Are you looking for help with graphics - or ideas for altering gameplay, or perhaps using advanced designer features?

Don't let me kill you thunder, I hope only to add some perspective to help you create an awesome board. 

Alagasia is ambitious.  

It will be beautiful once it's finished, but you're going to run into three major problems, that you should try to work out before you start.  

1. You territories are going to be all in a giant mass (meaning they will all likely end up bordering many other territories) Which makes for kinda-mediocre gameplay.

Choke points (single connections between territories) make the game interesting, add strategy and allow the player to make plans and have goals and whatnot. 

You have to work out how you're going to introduce chokepoints and a bonus structure above and beyond the natural landscape on the map. (plan this out before you start - there is not enough natural terrain to keep it interesting I think).

2. It's going to be a challenge to maintain the natural feel of the map, and still get the player colors underneath it.  It's been my experience that that soft color transitions (burnt orange and yellows) that make the map look old are hard to substitute for spaces (player color).

Maybe consider a dual layered map (where the board layer is semi-transparent) overtop a fill map (just the territory borders)

or perhaps a color replacement strategy.  Gimp should let you select all of the pixels of a certain color and tolerance, and you might be able to get enough of the right ones transparent to make the map look good. 

3. Lots of the interesting places on the map are small compared to the overall scale of the image.  Someone told me once "no territories smaller than the numbers" and this is a good rule of thumb.  If you can't put a 10x10 pixel number into a territory or somehow indicate that the numbers belong to a city - your going to have a hard time getting your map passed - and be frustrated when you put territories on it, and you can't see how many units they have. 

I created this board and abandonded the oldmap overlay in favor of solid colors- blending the edges in for effect:

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/7+Wonders

M57 kept the old map overlay on these territories, it's super light, but it's there and it looks pretty good: 

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Renaissance+Wars

Other boards to look at with the old map feel:

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Remember

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Deadwood (note how washed out deadwood has to be (distinctly not yellow) in order to look good)

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Pangaea%3A+Rise+of+the+Chimp

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Pirates+of+Pangea (this has a simple texture overlay and is very effective)

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Britain+of+Old

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/War+of+the+Titans

Point here is that others have tried with various levels of success for the old map Ilook too. 

I Hope that helps. 

M57 wrote:

XxNameHerexX wrote:

 

 

How do you think about the map idea? Is it to hard? Is it completely out of the question? Or do you think one of you could help me out with it?

What do you mean when you ask, "Is it too hard"?  Do you mean to play ..to understand ..to alter?

I'd say the map looks like it could play well, but it's nice to have a 'twist'; what is it a map of? Crayon Land?

Are you looking for help with graphics - or ideas for altering gameplay, or perhaps using advanced designer features?

I think he is referring to the Alagaesia idea not the crayon map.

Korrun wrote:

I think he is referring to the Alagaesia idea not the crayon map.

Oh..

Yeah - that map looks like it could be great - I'd say it would be quite challenging - I would be tempted to use a 7+ wonders approach - but I think making the borders clear would be particularly tricky.

If you are adept with image manipulation, this could be a great map.  It could be simple on the mechanics end of things and there wouldn't necessarily have to be a lot of territories.

Also, how might the mechanics support the backstory - For instance, are there advantages or disadvantages to being in the forests or the mountains?

Here is the New map i made tips are greatly appreciated thanks for all the help so far.

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/6013

I wasnt sure how to do the Continent bonus system so any help with that would be nice.

I tried using the the system berickf gave me but it didnt work for this new map I made. Thanks.

Here is a test game:

http://www.wargear.net/games/join/411986

Hey Xx, your map looks great.  I'm not sure how you want the bonuses to work, but if you want the bonus units to be placed by the player, you need to disable the Factory setting for each "Continent." Don't do it under "Type," Do it with the "Factory" pull-down menu.

I did a cursory check of your continents, borders and such - and all else seems to be in order.  My only suggestion is that you consider making the border paths and ocean lanes a little bigger. I was just about to suggest putting in paths - and it was only after giving the map a third look that I noticed you had them in there.

Really, this is a fine looking map! It looks to have a fine assortment of choke-points. Did you find it somewhere or did you make it? ..and if so, what editor did you make it with?  I don't recognize the land formations - are they inspired by a particular story, etc..?

thanks for the tips,i fixed the paths so they are more visible and im trying to figure out the point system still it seems to be working in the test game so far.

Thank you.

M57 wrote:

Really, this is a fine looking map! It looks to have a fine assortment of choke-points. Did you find it somewhere or did you make it? ..and if so, what editor did you make it with?  I don't recognize the land formations - are they inspired by a particular story, etc..?

I used Gimp for this map like the last map i made but i had a tutorial for old maps and i slightly modified it to be a risk map if you whant the tutorial the link is below.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=15011

now my map doesnt look as good as his because im a beginner at these things but this tutorial made me think alot.