May Entry: Hotel Eighth Floor

[Midgardsormr]

Just a sketch so far at somewhat higher than final resolution. My intention is to take advantage of the PNG compression algorithm to significantly reduce the file size by using repeating elements (the individual hotel rooms), limiting my use of angles and round objects, and using a simple black-and-white style similar to the building maps from old ICE modules.

### Latest WIP ###

[Baziron]

I smell heavy ShaowRunning on this. I can't wait for the finished result.

And, as a wise man once said: Have some Rep!

[Midgardsormr]

Thanks! It's inspired by an adventure I prepped for Unknown Armies that I never got a chance to run. It was shaping up to be such a good campaign, too!

I figure it will work for any contemporary game and some sci-fi. ShadowRun does seem like an ideal place to use it.

[Midgardsormr]

Here is part of the first hotel room. The other half of the window is in the outer wall layer, which I did not turn on for this export. This is a 1-bit PNG coming in at only 3.2 kb. My goal for now is to see how small I can make the entire image. Once the first room is done, I'll simply copy it several times to make the other rooms, giving the compression algorithm plenty of work to do. If I have time at the end of the challenge period, I'll see how much of a difference adding color and effects makes.

### Latest WIP ###

[Midgardsormr]

All of the basic rooms are finished. There is no furniture indicated--it can be added later with tokens designed to match the map. My file size is increasing faster than I had hoped, but I think I'll still make it underneath the limit if I resize a bit.

### Latest WIP ###

[Midgardsormr]

I didn't do much with it today--just added a hallway and windows in the conference room and business center. It suddenly occurred to me that I forgot to leave room for the elevators and vending machines, so they'll replace the four southernmost interior rooms.

I trimmed off most of the extra whitespace, giving myself some significant savings. I can trim it all the way down to black, but never having used a VTT, I'm not sure how valuable the margin is. Is it better to leave a bit of a border, or should I lose it?

### Latest WIP ###

[dorpond]

I like your logic and approach with this one. I too am very interested how large this file size will get. The overall map size is well beyond the minimal for the contest also. Great idea!

[Midgardsormr]

Thanks!

I have added the conference room with restrooms and a small bar, business center, elevators/vending, and utility room. The utility room is absurdly large, but maybe they store tables and chairs for the conf room in there. And you've gotta have enough room for five or six PC's to hide while they wait for their quarry to go to sleep.

So that leaves the suites and the stairwell, and then I will probably start making stamps to go with it--beds, chairs, tables, desks--anything that could conceivably be moved.

### Latest WIP ###