Directional Marker

[marol]

Map makers also could notice that colour problem is gone - until today colours on the map often changed and produced unpredicted results.

[DELGRAD]

I have different map makers among my characters and this change made me curse.

There's no need for direction markers. Once you've sailed for a few days, you should be used to the Cantr navigation. For map making they form ugly little stripes that I have to edit manually, which is not really something I look forward to. I agree, it's not worth cursing for.

The other change (was it even asked for?) is much worse. The circular map view with non-transparant borders. Using these views to construct maps is going to be worth cursing, since I'll have to delete a circular area on each picture I add to my map.
Could this change be reversed, or if there's good reasons for having a circular view, at least make sure the borders of the bitmap are transparent.
The current implementation will end the effort of some good map makers.

I completly agree. Map makers are screwed. I have some very large maps in progress (one with about 60 cities). I have tried so far with no success to add the new circular images to the previous square maps (looks like crap and doen't align properly). I guess I'll have to toss decades worth of work and give up on map makeing entirely.
That isn't exactly the way I wanted to say it, but I had to think of the children.

[formerly known as hf]

I'd have had your guts for garters, marol, if you'd done this whilst I was making my map...

Who asked for it to be circular anyway?

Who asked for a different resolution giving a fuzzier map?


You've really just screwed over lots of map makers now marol
- Few accurate maps exist in Cantr, and as more sailing is done, accurate maps become more important - currently there is no better way than using in-game images.

And circular images are going to be MUCH more difficult for making maps.
And fuzzy images are USELESS for aligning accurately - I used to be able to align the in-game images pixel-perfectly. That's nigh impossible now with the new style.
Edit: It is possible to change the resolution of the new images, so it matches that of the old bitmap (use Photoshop of GIMP) but that's a lot of hassle...

Map makers are severely shafted now, if the cirle and fuzziness/resolution change must be kept, then
PLEASE make it so that you click on the image, and it displays a square image and only displays locations (and roads if they are going to be added to the map) and using the original resolution?




The circular dots are crap too.
If you were trying to dock to a moving boat before, you could arrange it pixel-perfect so that you could get on top of a moving boat and dock.
I doubt the circular dots are accurate enough to accomplish that...




I like the directional markers at least...

EDIT:Do the directional markers/wakes only appear for your own ship? If so, that's bloody useless and pointless. Any sailor worth her salt is gonna know what bleeding direction her own boat's going it. It's seeing the direction and speed of other ships that's important...

[Mykey]

I agree, no need for a change... Very hasty in my opinion... However I like it, and find it amusing, graphically all the boats resemble tadpoles, or sperm now.

[yigit]

Map makers also could notice that colour problem is gone - until today colours on the map often changed and produced unpredicted results.

This may not be the right place for a bug report, but I'll tell it while it's warm. I have a character in the middle of a desert, and his map might be wrong. I strongly believe he should be seeing a completely yellow circle, but his circle is divided into two with a horizontal line passing through a point a little below the center, the upper part being pure yellow and the lower part being pure sea blue.

I don't suppose mirages are implemented. Could this be a result of fuzzification?

[Sho]

I have a character in the middle of a desert, and his map might be wrong. I strongly believe he should be seeing a completely yellow circle, but his circle is divided into two with a horizontal line passing through a point a little below the center, the upper part being pure yellow and the lower part being pure sea blue.

That sounds just like a bug I saw a few times, before all this change. Rumors of its demise exaggerated?

[Sho]

Things I (and various other people in the IRC, who were nice enough to show me their map pictures) don't like about this change:

Maps are harder to make. If you're moderately skilled with image editing software you know how to scale down the resolution to fit, or scale up the resolution on your old map, but mapmaking is no longer on the MS Paint level. Scaling it up also makes your files larger and harder to work with.

Wakes only appear on your own ship? That's demented. Most people know how to read angles. Most have a rough idea of how fast ships go. Therefore wakes serve no significant purpose on your own ship. Wakes on other ships, on the other hand, would be quite nice and useful. Perhaps too useful, but that's not my problem.

The wake looks ugly. A one-pixel white line on the blue background looks like . . . well, nothing natural. Something wider and more faded out might look better.

It's harder to tell when your ship is on the same "pixel" as another. Makes (counter-)pirate docking difficult.

[Rusalka]

I think it is just a kind of bigger change to which we all have to get used to, but I'll admit this impementation needs some minor fixings. You guys already noticed

[Sho]

Agreed. On the whole this could be a pretty neat thing; it just seems not to have been completely thought through. If the kinks get worked out this will be pretty shiny, possibly shiny enough to attract newbies - I've had new players complain to me that the map graphics look stupid, and this will be an improvement. It would have been nice if there had been some discussion or at least a heads-up before this showed up - people get jumpy when staff implement significant changes only a day after they are suggested, with no real chance for players to get in their feedback. Nobody saw this coming.

The best thing for mapmakers would be if there were some way of getting the map graphic in the original 1 px/distance unit resolution, and without the wakes. A button or link would be good and shouldn't be too obtrusive on the interface.

Wakes on other ships would be a good thing. It's not necessary and not urgent, but it would be useful - much more so than the wake on your own ship.

I'm not a visual person. I have no idea what you could do to make wakes prettier. But you've got all this extra resolution, so it must be possible to make it look halfway decent.

I don't know what you can do for docking. I don't actually know if there is a problem - what I said in my last post is just a guess. It's not a big problem in any case.

[javacougar]

For what it's worth, I've been able to see wakes on other ships for a few hours already. There may be a few glitches, but overall I think it will be really good for the game.

[DELGRAD]

I use PaintShop Pro8 and am fairly skilled at using it for making Cantr maps. Well not any longer. Been trying to find the easiest fastest way of getting the new images into the old square map with no luck. Comeon put the resolution back to what it was, and put the city back to 1px with the rest. Circle sh** don't fly.
I have no problem with the circular image. It is just the resolution, the cities, and for the love of GOD the edges.
Good current maps are hard enough to come by already. That is why some of my characters (hate the charrie term ) are map makers.?

[Vindalf]

During my first session of Cantr, I was a bit annoyed by the square maps, as it wasn't realistic. But I got used to it. So I guess I find the circular ones more to my taste. It makes mapping harder, however, as has been pointed out, although I don't have big problems with that when making maps, nor the border. In fact, the border helps me, as it is continuos around the view. I save the pic and then, using Paint Shop Pro, I mark the border with Magic Wand, and then invert the selection. All done i a few seconds.

The fuzzy enlargement of the map is worse, though. It too can be coutered, but it takes more work.

The best thing for mapmakers would be if there were some way of getting the map graphic in the original 1 px/distance unit resolution, and without the wakes. A button or link would be good and shouldn't be too obtrusive on the interface.

This is the best suggestion I've seen, so far. I support it wholerhartedly!

yours
/Vindalf

[marol]

For all those complaining mapmakers... guys, please click the map!

It's harder to tell when your ship is on the same "pixel" as another. Makes (counter-)pirate docking difficult.

I don't see why it is harder to determine. Your circle has to cover with pirate circle. IMO now it's even much more easy, because you can anticipate where the other boat goes.

Edit: Map cutout is transparent too... but I can see browsers can have some problems with saving transparent images.

[Agar]

Marol, I did some experimenting, and my characters in town can click the map to see the square map, but my people sailing boats or on roads can click all day long and are stuck with circle maps. Am I right in thinking those are different than the locations for the towns?

I ... sorry about all the flak you're taking from this. Know that we apperciate everything anyone in ProgD does, even if it's not to everyone's taste.

[Talapus]

For all those complaining mapmakers... guys, please click the map!

Thanks marol! One problem is that you cannot click on the map if you are travelling or in an undocked boat. Will it be easy to make that the same as the maps in locations?