New Multiplayer Map

[caykroyd]

Hi guys, im working on a new multiplayer map, and it looks quite ok. it's my first map though.
i began working on it today, so i still have a lot of work to do, but ill keep you guys updated at my progress. i called it stranded, but its not final.

My description:

The map is a 4 player map, 2on2 or 1v1v1v1.
The players have each three entrances, so its quite easily defendable. The players are cornered on each side of the map and surrounded by lakes and rivers, so they have hard access to each other. However, each player has an entrance leading to his neighbour, eg. the top right corner player has an entrance that leads to the top left and to the bottom right players, and another entrance leading to the center portion of the map, where all the entrances sort of converge.
The map is basically dirt filled, but has bits of snow (on the top) and desert
(on the bottom)... i dont know if the contrast will look okay, but anyway, i can always remove it.

I have roughly sketched the map on the editor, and began developing the bottom part, with iron, gold, hills and terrains. I havent made much of the relief yet.
I could gladly post the early development here if you guys wish to see. however i remind you that i will have to spend many more days working on it before it is playable, so theres no need to criticize it much because its not close to ready. Let me know if you think its complete rubbish, that way i can just forget about it and not waste my time
i hope you guys like it (and i dont know if i posted this too soon on the development of my map)
i will be updating u guys with images soon enough.

enjoy!
caykroyd

[caykroyd]

im tired for today...
posting the results of a few hours progress


Feel free to suggest and criticise.

NOTE: THE FULL MAP DIDN'T QUITE FIT ON MY PRINT SCREEN, BUT I THINK THE IMAGE IS "UNDERSTANDABLE"

[T*AnTi-V!RuZz]

Which editor are you using?

[caykroyd]

kroms... it may not look much like his, but thats because i removed the buttons from the toolbar.

[Lewin]

I like it
If you keep working on it and allow us to give you feedback, it could be included one day.

[krisdw]

There, you have Lewin's seal, now go get your ass to work on this map and create a gem for us all! good luck!

[The Dark Lord]

It's an interesting 'sketch'.
I think you'll be able to make something good out of it. This is quite good for a first map!

[caykroyd]

Thanks a lot, guys!!
all these positive comments have lifted my spirits

I worked on it a bit today. Things that still need to be done:
Add gold to player 3;
add stone to player 4, 3(? - it was hard to even put it where it is now, bacause of the snow)
Add trees/forests to player 3, 4, 2(?) and middle(?);
Add fishes/animals;
A few tweaks here and there;
balancing;
hearing opinions


Now here is the latest image. I havent done so much since, but thats because i didnt work on it yesterday or the day before. FEEDBACK if you can! thx!

[Lewin]

Nice work
When you've done more upload the map and post the link here so we can take a closer look and give you more feedback. This map is different to other ones we have, it's less open than most (and I like maps which are less open)
Don't forget to add map objects like mushrooms, rocks, sticks etc. (although you can't see them in screenshots zoomed out that far)

[T*AnTi-V!RuZz]

I like the lay-out very much This could be a great map!

I hope you'll spend enough time on it to make it really good. The only things I think can be better are some of the mountains, and the weird 'dirt corner' in the water (middle bottom).

[caykroyd]

Iron is balanced - 3 mines each player.
Gold is balanced - 4 mines each player.

The grass seems a bit out of place on the northern half; i don't know how to improve that.
the top bit relief looks strange(?)

: Do pines grow on snow (i mean, do woodcutters plant them there?? otherwise it would seem strange to put a pine forest in the snow and the woodcutters' only be able to cut the trees down.) - By snow i mean all three types (snow with earth, snow, "deep snow")

: A question concerning the shrubs/mushrooms: can they just be randomly placed across the map? (taking the terrain into consideration, of course, that means, i wont put a mushroom in the desert...)

link to map file
http://www.4shared.com/file/jTRLMgQA/Stranded.html

[GreatWhiteBear]

1. Only put trees on the snow with earth aka dirt snow.
2. Mushrooms not in snow.
3. I call "deep snow" packed snow, ice snow or glacial snow, though I don't know what it actually is called

[caykroyd]

1. Only put trees on the snow with earth aka dirt snow.

Ok, thanks for the info.

2. Mushrooms not in snow.

Yeah, that i know... my question was if i should randomly place them on the map or if i have to ponder on the location of every one.

3. I call "deep snow" packed snow, ice snow or glacial snow, though I don't know what it actually is called

Yup, it really doesn't matter

[GreatWhiteBear]

I put my objects random but check for impurities and put rocks on/trees in front of not matching adjacent tiles to hide the ugliness.

[Lewin]

Thanks for uploading it
GreatWhiteBear is right, trees will only grow on snow with dirt in it. If you open your map in the Remake map editor you can use the "view passability" option to see this. (select canPlantTrees) But don't save the map using the Remake map editor! All of the tile data will be lost and you won't be able to use the terrain brushes in Krom's editor any more.
I think you will get better results if you think about where you place the objects, and make patches of flowers and mushrooms rather than just randomly scattered across the map. Obviously don't spend 10 minutes deciding where to place each one but just think "hmm maybe a patch of mushrooms would look nice here".

My comments/suggestions:
- There is not much stone at all, especially for the top players. (remember it is only mined from the bottom, so some parts can't be mined) This means people won't be able to build long roads for mines, towers etc. You'd be surprised by how much stone is used in multiplayer games.
- There are some grass tiles along the very top row of the map
- Because of the ice, the top left position is very open and vulnerable. His village can be attacked from all sides and defending all his entrances will be almost impossible because they are so far away. I think you should put more water in the ice, and make it so there are only a few entrances where players can cross it to his village. You could sort of have a moat of water around his village so that players can walk around behind his village, but only attack at certain points where the ice connects.
- I think you could make the iron more dense in places. (use the tiles to do this, not terrain brushes) There is not much iron in the hills so it would almost not be worth mining it. Also I think dense iron looks better to start with. (it's like that in the original maps)
- This iron hill is unusable because you can't build a road to the entrance. Also you shouldn't elevate the "reflection" in the water so much, I think it should be more like this.
- Some of the water doesn't flow the right way, for example the bottom right pond and some water surrounded by ice.
- Tile transitions like this which cannot be fixed should be covered by a rock or tree (use a tree that cannot be cut down, e.g. the biggest pine or a dead tree) Take a look around the map for more these, I saw a few.
- Your coal looks great! Well done.
- Some of the hills could look more interesting if you cut cracks and holes into them with elevation. Example: Original; Improved. (not the best example, I did it quickly. Take a look at some of the original maps too)
- A lot of the hills need more elevation. For example, 3 of the hills at the very center of the map, and the gold hills at the bottom left position could be a bit higher/more elevated.
- Experiment with using specific terrain tiles in some places, for example bumpy sand which looks good instead of flat sand near hills. (but it is not used on the beach)
- This flower cannot be walked or built on. (you can tell by the red X) There are two kinds of that flower, one can be walked on one can't.

Sorry for writing such a long list, but I hope some of it helps. I really like the map, these are just the things I noticed while looking at it.

Have you considered making an 8 player version of this map as well? (players grouped together in twos, similar to Warfare in the Wilderness 8P or The Northern Province) I think it would work well. There is certainly enough space.
Cheers,
Lewin.
P.S. I'll put this map in the new version if it's ready in time. We're planning to release next week (if all goes well)