Hi, I'm looking for some feedback and/or playtesters for my first map:
http://warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=30483

I know it's a little plain-looking at the moment, but I want to make sure that it'll be fun to play before I invest too much time in the visuals.

The borders are a bit sloppy, ask Moros (you'll find him in the Map Development forum a lot) for advice on that. The territories are also a little too simplistic, but considering this is your first map it's pretty well done. Also, from a glance it looks pretty well balanced, nicely done.

Thanks Hauptmann. Could you clarify what you mean by 'the territories are too simplistic'? Are you talking primarily about visual aspects (ie too many straight lines and arbitrary curves), or gameplay aspects (ie not enough interesting connections)?

Edited 3/8/2014 17:55:09

Nice map, especially for a first try :)

I agree with Hauptman, the territory lines are too simplistic - Yes, too straight and blocky, but I guess you can't do much about that if you traced over the image of a State or what have you.

Have you considered connecting the ports to make it a little more interesting? I don't know what effect that'd have on the gameplay though, more fast and dramatic?

Chro, pretty much what Discord said. Straight lines and arbitrary curves give the overall feeling of being a tad simplistic, you did nicely with the islands and waterfront territories, which is why the transition is more apparent.

Those aren't necessarily heavy criticisms though since the overall look of the map is good, especially for a first map. The borders running into each other (the lines and colors that is) when you inspect it more closely would be the biggest thing to fix at this time, imo.

Thanks Discord. I actually have a fairly free hand for drawing the borders - the map's centered on a city, but around the edges is a lot of untouched forest (irl) that I just cut up into chunks arbitrarily. I can try to make them more visually interesting, find some streams or trails to use as borders.

I'm not inclined to add any more water connections because irl the water is the dominant geographical feature and a major traffic constraint, and I'd like to preserve that feel in the map if possible.

I'm not sure if it will be helpful but you still have Unnamed one of the "Bridges". The one between "Saint John Center" and "Saint John East".

And I agree with all, it looks good, and if you draw a little more twisted borders it would look better. And also, in my personal opinion, I always like to see a blue background where there is water or something like that. Something that makes you feel that this is a real map and not just floating territories. But this is just a personal opinion.
And you can also do that the border of different bonuses don't overlap.

But it looks good I think.
And sorry for my English.