Some ideas

Hi! Here, basically, the maps that I have been working for in the last month. Some of them are very old, older than the ones that have been added lately, but I just could not finish them. I am still working on them, so they are not finished, and they are in different degrees of completion. ANCIENT NEAR EAST: The oldest of the maps is a map of the ancient Near East around 700 B.C. [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/fCG4T69.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] DESIGN: In terms of design, the map is largely finished. I really like the color palette and the way I designed it. I really like it with the texture and the images in the back. So I would not change the main design and I would continue it. I would add texture in the same way I did and I would add shadow at the coast and the color palette of the regions would remain largely the same. Maybe I would change it a bit so that they are easily distinguishable from each other. But in terms of design, I want to keep it all the way it is. GAMEPLAY: In terms of gameplay, it is not finished. What you see now is just one version, and it comes from the time where the Assyrian Empire became very strong, around 700. to create the political entities with regions, I mostly use this map here: [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/VlSDiCh.png [/img] [/spoiler] Alternatively, I can make political entities, basically regions and territories, in a different way by using the following image: This comes much earlier!! [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/x8TWvJT.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] or [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/bFH5XaK.png [/img] [/spoiler] This image includes the Hittite Empire, the Babylonian Empire, and the Egyptian Empire. These are basically the three main players of the ancient Near East, and they remained in this region UNTILL the Christian, or Persian, or Arab expansion. So they are very old, and maybe the borders changed a bit through the time, but these entities always remained there. Later, the Hittite Empire crumbled, I think after the invasion of the Sea People/Bronze Age crisis, I don't remember the exact name, but you can Google it or read on Wikipedia. Basically, the Hittite Empire crumbled and it became divided into Lydiaia and Prygia, or Luwia, I don't remember. So, the political entities that you see on the first map in Anatolia are basically the followers of the Hittite Empire. The people are culturally, genetically similar people as the ones that were living in the Hittite Empire. SIZE: The difference in this map is that it will be smaller. And as much as I understood, we lack small maps, and maybe it would make sense to go for a smaller map or make the large map as small as possible. The first version of the map is intended to be middle-sized and this version of the map, if it comes to life, will be smaller with basically three main regions, Hittite Empire, Babylonia, and Egypt. PS: you can basicly tell me the map size/amount of regions and i do it.

Okay and here we have a map of the Crusader states in the Mediterranean Sea. This map is from around 1000 or 1100 after Christ. I think it is after the first crusade. We can basically see here the four or five Crusader states that were established, Antioch, Edessa, Jerusalem, and Tripoli, and the surrounding states. Some of them are Christian such as Armenia and Byzantine and some of them are Muslim, Damascus and Fatimid Caliphate. [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/VUH6Izf.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] The map is not finished, not in terms of design, and also not in terms of gameplay. First, I would like to clarify the gameplay. There are many possibilities available, like in the previous map. You can make the map the way I did right now, basically the Crusader states, the Christian states, and the Muslim states. Or you can delete the Muslim state, and you can delete the Christian state, such as Byzantine and Armenia, to make only the Crusader state. This kind of map will be smaller. The map right now is of middle size, but I can, if I get rid of the Muslim or Byzantine and Armenian regions, make the map smaller, if you want. So basically, you can tell me what size, what regions you want to be included, and I can do it. I am open to this kind of gameplay proposals. In my opinion, why this kind of map is good is because we have all Eastern Mediterranean covered. So from the design perspective, it looks good. If I would delete the Fatimid Caliphate or Byzantine Empire, it somehow looks cut off. But tell me your ideas, proposals. I am very open for how to make gameplay. One thing in terms of gameplay that I would like to keep is the port bonus. So basically if you control three of the ports you get additional bonus. I think it's a nice idea. TOPIC: I think in terms of topic, it will be a nice map, because Crusades are a popular thing in the Western culture. It was popularized through computer games, all kinds of movies. So I think it will be popular, especially among the people from America. I think they like this kind of thing, the Vikings, Crusades, and so on. They will enjoy it. (From the political perspective, they were of course not so successful, but it doesn't matter. I think from all European states, Russia was the only one that was able to conquer its Muslim neighbors in the south, east and on balkans, and maybe Spain was able to be successful in the Reconquista, but it was just getting back its own territory. I think France, England, Germany, the states from the Holy Roman Empire, they were not very successful in fighting against their Muslim neighbors)

TOPIC: I also was thinking about remaking the map that I made earlier, the Tsardom of Russia map. And the reason for the remake is because I think the current version is boring in terms of gameplay, and maybe this one could be more interesting. What you can see on the map are basically the main political players of the time of that area. We have Tsardom of Russia, we have the Ottoman Empire, we have the Swedish Empire, and we have the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Polish Kingdom and Lithuanian Kingdom, and we have the states that were created after the fragmentation of the Golden Horde. [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/YJ8t118.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] This map is not finished in terms of design and in terms of gameplay. CONSTED AREAS: The main thing about the new map would be the contested areas. I know we already have contested areas in some of the maps, but this map will take the concept of contested area to a whole new level. Right now, contested areas are not very important, even if you play capped games. But in this map, I think contested areas could be much more important if you want to be successful. Basically, they give a bigger bonus than they are not regions themselves. If you only control a contested area, you don't gain anything. They are empty regions. You get only the bonus if you control a contested area and an adjacent region. And the bonus differs between the adjacent regions. And also depending on what adjacent regions get hold of the contested area, you can get a different additional bonus. The reason for this is gameplay reasons. For example, for different regions it could be more difficult to gain and to hold a contested area, and it also reflects historical patterns. I tried to combine both things, gameplay and historical, and maybe it gives you some variation. The other reason is because contested areas were politically not so important or they tended to be aligned with one of the adjacent regions or they were simply contested among the adjacent regions. For example, I think there was a war between Tsardom of Russia and Swedish Empire on who gets Livonian and Teutonic Order territories. There was also competition between Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and the Tatars/Ottoman Empire on who gets the territories in the Pontic steppe, basically the Don and the Zaporizhiya. And there was a competition between Sweden and Russia on who gets this territory in the northeast. Also some tended to be culturally aligned with adjacent regions, for example the cossaks were of orthodox faith and tended to see themselves parts of " the orthodox world". And I think the contested areas just make the gameplay more interesting. And It's something different from the maps we currently have. Additionally, as the last gimmick, I can add some additional bonuses, the way I did in my past maps. For example, if you hold Poland and Lithuania, you will get Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which also was around at that time. So it would make sense politically, and it would make the gameplay maybe more interesting. You could also add all the Tatar Muslim states in the east and south of Russia into one and gain additional bonus for holding them, and it would reflect the thing that they were in the past part of the Golden Horde. And maybe you can even get additional bonus for holding the Crimean Tatars, I mean the Khaganate of Crimea and Ottoman Empire, because both were very close aligned with each other. So these additional bonuses would reflect the political alliances of the time, either the past ones or the future ones, and make the gameplay more interesting. And I forgot to explain the brown thick lines are meant to be mountains, basically the Ural Mountains, the mountains in the Balkans, and the mountains in the Caucasus.

Ah, and here I try to create a risk map with ChatGPT. What you see are, well, the attempts. the design it looks good. You can take it as orientation/inspiration, but gameplay-wise and the details, it absolutely sucks. But yes, I think it was interesting experiment. In terms of design, you can use ChatGPT, but creating an entire map with ChatGPT, I think it doesn't work. You need to change many, many details, and I think it is complicated for the system. [spoiler] [img]https://i.imgur.com/P7lHLrD.jpeg [/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/EYvimDq.jpeg [/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/ZNyroAC.jpeg [/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/EKn1d2J.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] By the way, in case you don't recognize it, it's supposed to be the Bronze Age map of Europe, basically all europeans genetically descend from these cultures. In addition, these cultures, although old, are not the oldest ones. The first Indo-European cultures are the Yamnaya and the Corded Ware cultures. Another possibility is to create a map of Eurasia with all European cultures, such as Corded ware, Yamnaya, Sintashta, Afanasyevo and Aryans!

WOW Dima! That's incredible!

[quote=Rockbert]WOW Dima! That's incredible![/quote] Thanks man! Hope you also Like the River basin map that is Being tested now.

haha, i've been experimenting with chatgpt lately, having fun with it

[quote=Hoodlum]haha, i've been experimenting with chatgpt lately, having fun with it[/quote] but i doubt it can make proper maps :/ anyway, still playing around with middle east: [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/q6N2Pq8.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler]

[quote=Dima][quote=Hoodlum]haha, i've been experimenting with chatgpt lately, having fun with it[/quote] but i doubt it can make proper maps :/ anyway, still playing around with middle east: [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/q6N2Pq8.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler][/quote] i would really be interested to know, whether the regions, bonuses borders etc are okay in terms of gameplay, so that i can proceed with design later. MOREOVER i forgot to mention that the oracles are connected with each other in this way: Diana->anshan->siwa->diana. i did it to increase the connectivity between the three tips of the star (basicly its a star shaped map, similar to jungle map). Ofc i can remove it, its optional. The most interesting feature are the contested regions in the middle, that you can battle over. they increase the warwafe probability between players because their bonuses can only be gained by one player and simultaneously exlude the other players in a "sum-zero" manner. And they serve as "big bonus" regions. Also unlike contested areas in other maps, these contested areas are really worth fighting for, cuz they give big bonuses and are easier to get than normal "big bonus" regions in other maps!! The problem with current "big bonus" regions is that many people dont really fight over them, cuz its not worth to start a war, invest troop to hold it etc. currently "big bonus" regions are not a good investment. Here its different. you can gain a normal bonus just as in other maps and then you can go for additional bonuses. they increase your strenght and are easier to get, cuz you already gain a normal bonus and thus more "start-up" troops, and also they dont have as much terrritories as a "big-bonus" regions. At the same time you have your neighbors competing over these "easy to get and a lot to gain" areas. So its like as easy and profitable investment, but because it is so, everybody is tempted to go for it and this might lead to conflicts. Also you cannot ignore your neighbors having these areas, cuz it gives them too much strenght! Therefore you are f o r c e d to intervene! So basicly overcoming all these dynamics and find a solution to all this makes the game mkre challenging/Interesting and different from normal games. Imagine playing it with 3-4 players. could be interesting! Also the contested area reflect the historical fact, that political entities in that area always struggled to gain control of these areas. ps: the consted areas dont gove any bonus by themselves! they are basicly 4 empty regions. you get their bonuses only when you control either babylon, egypt or hittites

no doubt AI will be able to create game maps. it's just a matter of time.

[quote=Hoodlum]no doubt AI will be able to create game maps. it's just a matter of time. [/quote] Well the ones you created are good and can be used as a basis or as an inspiration, you basicly create a map yoirself based on chatgpt design. But making a whole map.... i dunno.... its too much complexity. chess is okay for an algorithm, it has a limited amount of possibilities, but things such as a risk map or driving a car is too complex, cuz too much uncertainty and / or too many variabkes that are connected with each other not always in an obvious way. anyway, so far we have to rely on our own skills. here is the the map of the Outremere: [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/XBPsDQf.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] i decided to make the design in red-black-white colors and make it look like a used scroll of paper. the color palette reminds me of thetemplars. i know there were many more militias, but i choose the reddish templar colors, they look good imo amd fit well the yellowish-used scrool look. it has 10 regions and 51 teritories

[spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/7VgJWwN.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] small update. added jerusalem banner instead of templar banner. think looks better

*dont cars already self drive? i like that you have a different style, and you can tell it's a dima map. font is cool but hard to read, im guessing half of them. (talking about the big font, region names)

[quote=Hoodlum]*dont cars already self drive? i like that you have a different style, and you can tell it's a dima map. font is cool but hard to read, im guessing half of them. (talking about the big font, region names)[/quote] thank you for the compliment! now to the font: is it because the script looks so exotic (wierd gothic letters) or is it because of visual issues? and no, there are self driving cars untill now - at least as much as i know. i think it was tested, but they make traffic crushes from time to time and its not safe for the people around these cars. ps: i think i will need to add a bridge between kharga and cairo.

[quote=Dima][quote=Hoodlum]*dont cars already self drive? i like that you have a different style, and you can tell it's a dima map. font is cool but hard to read, im guessing half of them. (talking about the big font, region names)[/quote] thank you for the compliment! now to the font: is it because the script looks so exotic (wierd gothic letters) or is it because of visual issues? and no, there are self driving cars untill now - at least as much as i know. i think it was tested, but they make traffic crushes from time to time and its not safe for the people around these cars. ps: i think i will need to add a bridge between kharga and cairo.[/quote] [spoiler][img]https://i.imgur.com/tI3J1fK.jpeg [/img] [/spoiler] reduced opacy here and there and made some minor changes. i think its the best version so far.