pulkownikarnold wrote:Also, the location map looks weird. Are these radio buttons with image ovelays? How are you going to make that mobile friendly? Why don't make one big map, throw it into a div and make an overlay with anchor links (just like dawn2055 and some other games did).
Location maps each have four png files that they are based on: altitude (where red is major altitude, blue is medium altitude and green is minor altitude), rocks-water-organic, plants-bushes-trees and sand-silt-clay. When viewing the local map while traveling, the colors represent altitude. Basically the more red it is, the higher the location is in general, and green represents local variation. They are based on presets that have green color only, while the amount of red and blue remains the same for the whole local map. 255 green means 8 m height difference compared to 0 green. One square is 10x10meters, so technically I could have a 255 green square next to a 0 green square and it wouldn't mean that the square was linearly 8 meters higher with 90 degree angled incline, but more like a 45 degree angle incline where the hill would reach it's highest point at 8 meters. However when I was making the presets, I only had small altitude differences, so there are no drastic shifts. This was originally meant to affect combat, so that if you are higher than your enemy, you gain an advantage, but it might be removed from the final version if it proves out too complicated.
If the value for rocks (red) is bigger than 38 there is the low rocks icon, if bigger than 115 the medium rocks, if bigger than 191 the high rocks. If the trees value (blue) is bigger than 56, there's one tree symbol, if bigger than 122 two tree symbol, if bigger than 188 then three trees symbol. 64/128/191 for bushes. Building icons represent buildings in the database. Paths are background image for the div and they are semi-transparent so you can see the background color (altitude).
The farming view that hasn't been implemented yet uses the sand-silt-clay map instead of the altitude map, so you can see which squares are optimal for planting which crop. A sort of a golden color is optimal for everything, while some plants like carrots prefer a sandy soil (reddish), and others like broccoli prefer a silty/clay loam (greenish/blueish).
The png files are only 100px by 100px, so if I was to use them directly instead of just affecting the background color of divs, I would need to blow it up a lot so that the squares would be bigger than 1 pixel. Handling images is still pretty new to me, currently all I'm doing is reading the color value at a given coordinate and generating new files by specifying the color of each pixel separately through a for loop. It might not be the best way to do it but it's what works currently, and all I can do with my level of knowledge.
The bottom line is the colors don't represent the actual color of grass or other things on the ground, it's either altitude or soil quality. It's symbolic.
As for usability on a cellphone, I am aware that the local map isn't compatible with cellphones. It would be very awkward to use on a cellphone. Currently I'm developing the game for normal sized screens, not miniature ones like cellphones. If you were to view the local map on a cellphone, the divs would wrap to the next line and it would no longer be an x, y grid. In order to be playable on a cellphone, it would need to be scrollable sideways. And even then, the squares would be so small that it would make little sense. In that case, it would be better to allow the user to jump to any x or y within 100x100 grid by typing the numbers in a box instead of going through the trouble of clicking on squares repeatedly. Assuming there are no barriers that prevent the user from moving from x1,y1 to x2,y2, the move could be completed in one click because local movement doesn't cost AP.