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View Full Version : Do you like the game Risk? Do you like making maps?


WidowMakers
03-30-2008, 11:39 PM
Hello everyone.

I myself an a fellow cartographer. I use CS3 and enjoy spending time producing digital artwork. I stumbled upon this website while looking for techniques and other cartographers methods while making my own maps for www.conquerclub.com

It is a turn based strategy online game based off of the game Risk. The cool part about this site is that there is a portion of the forum dedicated to new map production.

I understand that some of the contest/designs here are different from what I have made, but I am sure the abilities and ideas of the members here would be more that able to produce some very interesting maps.

If you are interested you can go here http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10

Here is the basic idea on how maps are made at Conquer Club

Come up with a map idea
Submit a draft for the community to analyze (both graphical and gameplay)
Tweak and modify your map until the foundry agrees the map is worthy of live play.
Play your map online against over 20,000 active members.



There are over 70 maps on the site now and all but 3 have been made by the community.

Here are the maps I have made. They range from pure geographical maps to abstract board games style.

I want to make this clear, I am not trying to sell anything. The site is free and the game is free. I just thought that this might be another creative outlet for some of the artists in this forum.

Hope to see some of you there.

If you do join, send me a PM. My id is WidowMakers

Have a great day

http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/8_Thoughts.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Canada.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Circus_Maximus.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Draknor_-_Level_1.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Great_Lakes.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Indochina.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/King_Of_The_Mountains.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Montreal.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Rail_USA.L.jpg
http://www.conquerclub.com/maps/Conquer_Man.L.gif

I want to make this clear, I am not trying to sell anything. The site is free and the game is free. I just thought that this might be another creative outlet for some of the artists in this forum.

Hope to see some of you there.

If you do join, send me a PM. My id is WidowMakers

Have a great day
Gamerprinter
03-31-2008, 01:29 AM
Nice collection of maps. Its great to see game maps for a completely different kind of game then what many RPG related maps found here.
I like how you used the planet earth as the backdrop for that Canada, Risk game board. Are all these for online "board" games?

Welcome to the guild!
ravells
03-31-2008, 05:07 AM
Some lovely maps/boards there, Widowmaker. I play a lot of boardgames and will check out the site. Welcome to the guild and thanks for posting!
Doirche
03-31-2008, 06:03 AM
WOW, those are some fantastic maps! Welcome to the guild Widowmaker :)

I remember playing Risk quite a bit back in the day but never online. That is a nifty idea. I'l be heading to that website for sure. Thanks for sharing!

-D
WidowMakers
03-31-2008, 06:26 AM
Hello again everyone.

Yes these maps are used to play a risk style game online.

One thing that is different that most of the maps here is the size.
Many of the maps here are over 2000x2000 pixels.

The real challenge at conquer club is that there are 2 maps sizes. Small (630x600) and large (840x800). These are needed so that virtually all monitor resolutions can see all of the map with scrolling.

Now this makes the design that much more difficult because every detail needs to be able to fit into the smallest map. Each territory has a name (so a player can determine which one they control) and each territory has to be able to display the number of armies a player has to attack or defend. This can easily bee seen by the Rail USA map I posted.

Like I said there are some rules about size which makes the development that much more difficult.

Again if anyone here joins drop me a PM and I will try to show you around if you have any questions.

WM
The Cartographist
03-31-2008, 08:08 AM
WidowMakers - Really nice maps. When I was younger, a group of us would actually hand-draw alternate Risk maps, based on all sorts of things. What software do you use to create your maps?
WidowMakers
03-31-2008, 08:27 AM
WidowMakers - Really nice maps. When I was younger, a group of us would actually hand-draw alternate Risk maps, based on all sorts of things. What software do you use to create your maps?Mostly Photoshop CS2

For the Indochina/Great Lakes/Rail USA I used Illustrator 10 then final touchups in photoshop

I also setup Circus Maximus/King of the Mountains in Maya for the perspective and shadows then adjusted the colors and textures in Photoshop.

For the Canada map I downloaded both Celestia and a NASA program called world wind. I got soem high rez images for several other sites and put those all together. I then added those to Adobe After effects so I could further wrap the textures over a sphere. Then by combining both the World Wind and AE files I made my base image to then edit in photoshop.

FUN STUFF!!!!

WM
torstan
03-31-2008, 11:04 AM
Have you seen the tool maptool? It's a virtual tabletop for playing RPGs online, however it can be used for boardgames with really good results. There's an example of a game of Axis and Allies posted here (http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?t=3644). It's free software and it looks like it would work really well with the great maps you have here.
NeonKnight
03-31-2008, 12:47 PM
Some truly astounding maps there.
Truly.
Midgardsormr
04-01-2008, 02:20 PM
That's really slick! I like the notion of laying new themes onto a classic game like Risk. Everyone already knows the rules, but new thematic elements and changing up the geography makes for a new and fresh-feeling game.

Your artwork is gorgeous, as well, though that resolution limit's gotta be frustrating at times, given the wide range of tools and capabilities you have.
WidowMakers
04-02-2008, 08:57 AM
That's really slick! I like the notion of laying new themes onto a classic game like Risk. Everyone already knows the rules, but new thematic elements and changing up the geography makes for a new and fresh-feeling game.

Your artwork is gorgeous, as well, though that resolution limit's gotta be frustrating at times, given the wide range of tools and capabilities you have.Thanks for the comments everyone.

Yes the size limits are a pain but it has helped me explor and generate new abilities to try and get a good looking image with limited pixels.

You guys might want to try to have a contest like that. Best looking map under 800x800 pixels.
I say you need to have a map making contest for a Risk styled map say on the counrty of Canada or the Great lakes region. I might be interested in joining those. :) :) :)


WM

P.S. Just to let everyone know. My basement flooded yesterday and my computer is dead. I hope that my hardrives are OK. They were not under water but the computer was plugged in.

Just wanted to let anyone who might have joined conquer club and PMed me. I can't log into that site at work. I am not ignoring your posts or anything. I will just get to them when the new comuter arrives.