Histories

[Tom]

We need to clarify the rules and also enforce them, i.e. automatically reject banners over (or under) a specific size.

But we should not make it too strict. There should be some room.

[Chenier]

If you don't know the game, then the names are meaningless. The banners provide the same function as the names, identifying that there are different political entities, but look much sexier while doing it. Any gamer will instantly grok the significance of the different banners and colors.

Names are easier for unfamiliar people wishing to communicate. "Darn, Bobistan is a big realm! Are they friends with Georgistan?" gets the message across bettter than "Darn, that realm with a blue-blackish flag in the North-West-West sure is big! Are they friends with that tiny realm centre-South of them with the yellowstriped flag?"

Having both sounds good to me, though.

[Chenier]

I don't. Like the idea of forcing everyone to use the same size/shape of banner. People should be free to use whatever size/shape they want, so long as it fits within the maximum size as specified by the game.

I don't mind a rule to force a specific image size and shape, as long as there's no rule to have the space fully filled. Would allow greater uniformity and standardisation, while still allowing people to pick the shapes they want and use lots of transparency if for some reason they like a smaller banner.

[Tom]

No, lots of free space around the banner is exactly what we do NOT want.

[Fury]

The current game maps have only icons. At that size, having room to have smaller icons is hardly noticeable. The banners in this map are much larger and having room makes them very noticeably inconsistent. Also, at icon size, the type of banner doesn't matter but becomes very obvious in this map.

What I can see:
Logo - Coria, Minas Ithil
Flag - Talerium, Suville, Eston (with pole)
Shield - Barony of Makar, Cagilan Empire, Tara, Strombran
Crest - Darka, Caergoth, Carelia (it has a crown), Minas Leon (it has a crown)

There should be some standardization.

[Chenier]

No, lots of free space around the banner is exactly what we do NOT want.

While unoptimal, are transparent pixels any worse than absent pixels? Blank space around the banner, imo, would incite people to enlarge their banners more than the possibility of submitting lower resolution (size) banners.

[Tom]

While unoptimal, are transparent pixels any worse than absent pixels?

Yes. For the map overview, we automatically scale all the banners to the same size.

[Perth]

A standardized size would be good, but people would still be free to be creative and use whatever kind of emblem they wanted be it shield, flag, crest, etc.

As with Fury's example, you would have a standard block size but your shield may simply not fill it all up in which you have transparency for that space. This way everyone retains the customization and creativity we all enjoy in realm banner's, but we also gain a more aesthetically pleasing map presentation.


And yes, these maps, and especially even the history videos could be great to help market the game. Exactly as Tom presented it: Check this out, a 8 year's worth (and counting) of persistent game world history.

[Ender]

I know I'm a bit late to the party here, but I wanted to throw my two cents in on the maps.

First, the color coding looks great. I like the idea of using names or banners, but honestly if you can find a way to marry them both I think that'd be perfect. That way, if someone sees a banner they particularly like, they'll already be able to associate a name with it. The names and banners may be meaningless at first, but if you see one or the other, the banner does next to nothing to identify the realm beyond "The place with the thing on the flag". The name at least identifies the colored block on the map, but having the banner with it gives it more identity from the get go.

[Tom]

I like the idea of using names or banners, but honestly if you can find a way to marry them both I think that'd be perfect. That way, if someone sees a

Here you go (full size this time, which is why I'm not including it):

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9638874/History/2012-09-17-0.jpg

[Eirikr]

I like the one with the giant banners.


Also, Eston looks SO NICE with that extra Duchy in the East. Can't we keep it pleeeaassee?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

More seriously, though, one of my ongoing concerns with the map has been the similarity of the yellows. For a while, I couldn't tell which was Minas Leon and which was Tara. I'm guessing those are the same as the color chosen by the ruler?

[Anaris]

Here you go (full size this time, which is why I'm not including it):

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9638874/History/2012-09-17-0.jpg

Oh, that's very nice.

[Telrunya]

Yes, you can try asking the Rulers to see if they are interested in picking more distinguishable colours, it would make the Dynamic Map look a lot clearer. Of course, for Coria you can do it yourself

[Eirikr]

Yes, you can try asking the Rulers to see if they are interested in picking more distinguishable colours, it would make the Dynamic Map look a lot clearer. Of course, for Coria you can do it yourself

The true challenge is picking a reason IC. haha

[Perth]

Here you go (full size this time, which is why I'm not including it):

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9638874/History/2012-09-17-0.jpg

Perfect!