help with identifying city inset maps

[RjBeals]

Hi all – I’m here looking for some mappers experience and brain powers.

What I'm doing is creating a map for a risk-style online game site. This particular map is Africa, and has inset maps along the side based on the conflicts and struggles within. There’s a lot still to be done - there will be region names, and army digits displayed over all regions, so there will be quite a bit of information on the map. There’s also mouse-over graphics showing active regions and such, but I’ll not get into that.

What I’m having a problem with is representing the side (conflict zone) maps back to the main africa map. See some are very large zones (like Congo) and some are really small (like Algeria). My attempt on the map linked here is skull/mask’s on spears in the ground, to at least visually call out where the conflict zones are. Both others think that doesn’t help, that there needs to be a clearly visual, unique way to see each one.

So maybe some of you have an idea, or had this same problem before? Or can recommend a map that has similar inset maps all around it?

Thanks for any help.
RJ

[tilt]

a normal way to show insets are tracing thin lines from the top and bottom of the large version to the top and bottom of the small version - this would mean you'd have to shift the regions around so they don't get in the way of each other though

[tilt]

by the way - I do like the idea with the masks - but you'd need a legend to tell what they represent - and perhaps a small banner with a name under the mask so you know which mask fits which inset

[Ascension]

Personally, I think your skulls need to stand out more. Maybe do them semi-cartoony cuz that blackline stroke is a good way to make things stand out.

[RjBeals]

Yes thank tilt. I also like the masks, and there will be a separate legend off this map, explaining bonus amounts and such. At one point I tried flags to link each smaller map to the main one - it just didn't look great, and it also covered up too much of the playable board. i can't really block the view of borders. I may try the banner suggestion. Thanks for the quick feedback.

[RjBeals]

Personally, I think your skulls need to stand out more. Maybe do them semi-cartoony cuz that blackline stroke is a good way to make things stand out.

Hmm.. the map does sort of have a cartoony feel as it stands - so that may not be a bad idea. I think I'll try something like that. Thanks Ascension (nice maps btw).

[NeonKnight]

It 'looks' like you may be able to get away with the masks entirely if you rotate Africa 90 degrees on the size board you are representing, and then only mask a few areas. I know most board I have seen with masks (Axis & Allies original springs to mind) used the masks to allow more for holding more games pieces rather than merely expanding on a game board battle space.

[RjBeals]

Well.. thanks for the feedback. As far as rotating the map/board - i'm sort of limited a bit to the overall map dimensions. The masks are cool, but don't really represent the conflict zones - so instead I went with a tall banner with the name. I went with tall instead of waving flag shaped so it wouldn't block as many underlying borders. Also - I've only worked on the left side of the map (conflict zones that is on the left side). I've added some color to the outside of the borders on the conflict zones, to help identify who can attack into those regions. I've also added some semi-transparent names for those outside borders (again, left side of map only).

I think it will work. Also - it's for a game site that's still in alpha, and not quite ready to launch yet. so I can't divulge all the game play details and additional hover-attack stuff. However, the regions name will be able to be toggled on / off - so really the armies will be the only thing that is always displaying. It will not be as crowded on the map if the player chooses to turn off names. Gameplay will be mouse clicks on the actual map, not drop-downs or anything.

(i still can't get the 'manage attachments' to work with google chrome, so i'm img tagging the map - sorry it's 1000 px wide).

[tilt]

that works perfectly... and by the way.. .very nice map.. really like the coloring and the graphics ... good luck with your project

[RjBeals]

that works perfectly... and by the way.. .very nice map.. really like the coloring and the graphics ... good luck with your project

Thanks - as soon as we are public, I'll post a few more maps I've created. I have much respect for the artists on this site, and have learned a great deal from the tutorials.