Maps, maps and more maps.

[jack54]

These maps look excellent, will there be different Zoom levels?

I am really looking forward to this game.[:)]

[Mad Russian]

Yes, they zoom.

Good Hunting.

MR

[CapnDarwin]

We have set zoom levels to zoom out to see more of the map.

[Mad Russian]

Each scenario has it's own map except one.

Here is where the battle areas are located. They are the FPRS locations named on the map.

Good Hunting.

MR

[JohnOs]

MR, the maps to me look great, however there is one thing to me is I have a hard time reading the names of the towns, the lettering is white, can I change it to black or is it hard coded in the game for the map?

[Mad Russian]

The maps have the white names hard coded I think. It wouldn't take much to create maps with black names. We might include those in the game if that would be something people would want.

Good Hunting.

MR

[JohnOs]

Couldn't HexDraw be used by a player to change the color of the names of the towns from white to black?

[CapnDarwin]

@ JohnO - No. You would need to have the native map file for that. Right now all of the game maps are graphics images (PNG format). You could use a paint program to swap colors though.

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: JohnO

Couldn't HexDraw be used by a player to change the color of the names of the towns from white to black?

Yes, I could that in HexDraw. Unless you had my original file you would have to create the entire map to do it.

Good Hunting.

MR

[cbelva]

I would recommend that you wait and get the game before you decide the map names are hard to see/read. They are easy for me to read in game. In fact I find that the pictures posted of the game are not as clean as the maps look in the game. Remember you design your own tiles fonts etc to use to make your own maps.

[JohnOs]

RgR that, will wait and see when I get the game.

[Mad Russian]

When were you going to get HexDraw?

Good Hunting.

MR

[JohnOs]

I have it already [:)]

[Mad Russian]

Would a thread of how to create FPC maps be of value at this time?

Good Hunting.

MR

[JohnOs]

Its up to you and Capn Darwin, if it's just me then maybe off site, if there is interest from other players then maybe.
I don't want to hold you up on finishing your scenarios, because I would like to know how to make maps

[Mad Russian]

If we are going to have guys start to work on their own scenarios I can put together a tutorial in about 2 hours.

It takes far less time than that to create the map. The biggest issue for me is finding the ground I'm looking use in the fight.[X(]

If I'm going to work with one of you I might as well do the documentation at that time. Saves from having to do it later. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other, sort of thing.

Good Hunting.

MR

[JohnOs]

Then sure, looking forward to it. Just printed out the user guide for Hexdraw 1.1 and was playing around with it.

[BeirutDude]

I have looked over the Sinai area of the 1973 Yom Kippur War in Google Maps and the terrain has been completely changed both physical and man made features. Many of the IDF roads are now buried in sand dunes and the Chinese Farm area and the Suez Canal (After the widening) look nothing like the area during the war. Google Maps would be a decent first guess but historical maps would be key for that theater. Much the same applied to the man made terrain of the Golan Heights, but less change to the physical geography. I do have an IDF battle Map of the Sinai (don't ask how I got it) that I will have to see if I can dig out. Its not a great copy but functional, I used it when designing "Yom Kipper" for The Gamers. After this much time and these many changes to the theater of war can't see where anyone would care anymore, so would be happy to share it with the designers should they wish.

[MikeAP]

I guess I'm confused....

The map is just a png file? Thats cool
Players have to draw hexes on? Not cool.

You guys ever play Panzer Korps? Check out the editor.

[CapnDarwin]

MikeAP, Maps are build using a set of custom artwork in a third party software called Hexdraw. A nice shareware program for making hex maps. Once the map is made you export it to a graphics file. That image is what the game displays and is used for adding map values in the in-game map values editor. A number of comments have been made about colors and such and we are saying you can go in and hand edit the map in a paint program if you want.

Never played PK. Only so many hours in a day.