Somebody break out the bubbly... four quality experimental maps all being upgraded and released in roughly the same week.

Can't remember the last time I logged on to 3 map makers launching new and exciting games!

To those about to roll... we salute you!

In the spirit of the season I have created a new unit for ze germans...

This unit is only good for today!

Unit name: der Weihnachtsmann

Att/Def/Mov : 0/0/400,000,000

Special Abilities :

-20 Att. & Def. to all units on map

Can SBR with "present drop" does 1-100 joy damage

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fight!

So a long time ago I had begun work on a variation to Domination as it seemed like a game with great potential.

I had used the original map and heavily modified it to work with some new ideas and mechanics that would solve some of the things I felt made the map hokey.

One of the map concepts involved creating a political system that made the game feel more like WWI and eliminate all the "farming" as well as making the Bolshevik uprising far more sensible to game-play.

Here is an example of the political landscape...

Now the original design also incorporated sweeping changes to how units functioned as well, but that can wait.

What I am offering here is for someone to partner with to make the game. Between work and life I do not have the time to commit to making this map by myself.

So if anyone who is proficient at map making wants to partner up... drop me a personal message and we can discuss the finer details of the design.

Otherwise if you have any questions... shoot away.

The first ever production of...

The game shall feature...

4 Major Entente Powers with 6 associated Minor Powers
3 Major Central Powers with 3 associated Minor Powers
2 Major Neutral Nations with 2 associated Minor Powers
18 Minor Neutral Nations
2 separate types of Production Facilities
Full arrangement of Tech Development for all Major Nations
3 or 4 Terrain types
6 Seasonal Weather Patterns
Limited Combat Rounds
Russian Revolution
Naval Mines
Global Shipping Lanes
and much much more...

Core resources for creating or updating a map

• Guide on how to create a new map: https://github.com/triplea-game/triplea/wiki/Map-and-Map-Skin-Making
• Reference and example game XML: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/triplea-maps/the_pact_of_steel/master/map/games/pact_of_steel_2.xml
• XML options browser: http://www.starlords3k.com/XOB.html
• Example map repo: https://github.com/triplea-maps/the_pact_of_steel
• How to add a map to TripleA in-game downloads: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FfF7N0srp9QG0_if5D-c1d1Aa1QTttdhxgm1GBh3pI4

Assets/Images for Maps

• Territory Effect icons:
  
• Unit icons: https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/918/map-maker-resources/6
• Resource icons: https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/918/map-maker-resources/10
• Assets included in engine: https://github.com/triplea-game/assets/tree/master/game_headed_assets
• Additional assets repository: https://github.com/triplea-game/map-maker-assets (please add any new assets here to share with other map makers)

If you want to use these for your map feel free. If there is something you need and want them kept in the same look, post a request and I will try to make one for you.

Cheers.

So here is my attempt at the main login page.

Even the vaunted German Wehrmacht are getting in the spirit...

Merry Christmas to all the Triple A warmongers. May all your offensives be merry and bright.

@cernel Perhaps we could just add everything to the POS 2 map.

I have been thinking for sometime now that we should rename POS2 and create a separate map folder for it to make it a purely fictitious instructional map. If we name it something like "A Map Makers Guide to the Triple A Universe".

Thus we would not need to front load the code with these kinds of things and that everything a map maker could need would be contained in one map that cannot be mistaken as a legit competitive playable game. Then only people whom have an interest in map making will need to down load it.

Additionally the map folder would be an ideal place to show-case ALL the different things that can be done in a map... all the folders, Txt files, etc etc. Then we could also place instructional files PDF, pics, links and instructions for the repository etc etc that guide a person through the map making process.

Ok so a bit more work than I had hoped for.

France is now done with a couple other isolated areas...

France before...

Taking a break and will get back to it later.

@beelee No problem... figure if the code developers can improve the engine... there might as well be a map developer who helps the map makers improve the maps.

Especially since I can't do what they do. Otherwise I'm just a "cone de l'orange"

@TorpedoA You'd have to test this... but I fear you may run into issues as there is no way trigger a unit change in the midst of the combat phase. Not sure how the scramble and Kamikaze attachments will interact when the unit remains in the territory it scrambled to.

@ebbe And I made this for you...

@ebbe I found this in an older folder...

@TorpedoA Also be aware that several of your images have their feet cut off... so it is important to account for that when you do the initial rescaling...otherwise those units will look very different from the rest. You can easily draw in feet after the images are shrunk.

@TorpedoA From there I separate all the unit images into their own canvas and then add a layer behind and fill with a uniform colour. This simply lets me see the details of the shrunken unit clearly as I continue work... refining details, balancing out brightness or contrast... etc. That coloured layer will be deleted before you save your final version of the unit. (It is also nice because if you are working on a bunch and have to save because you are tired... have to go to work... eat.. make love... it is easy to identify which images are drafts with a coloured background and which are completed)

@TorpedoA Now you can resize everything to the finished unit size...

For your unit images I chose to do it by width since several of the unit images were very tall when you look at spears and bows...

You can modify the individual images by shortening spears... shrinking the bow... so that all units become 52 x 52. Right now you will notice that they are 52 wide by 74 high because of the Agathoergoi and the Archer.

@TorpedoA said in How to properly handle unit images with high and different resolutions?:

@Hepps And after the rescale of the unit image itself by the layer thechnique you then go image -> change size, to downscale resolution right? If yes, which values you would aim for? 1600x1753 -> 52x52 (as example)? Because thats the only method that i was using till now, and would have used untill you told me a better solution.
Or i am wrong here? Because those resolution numbers are so much larger then common ones throughout most games.
I am quite noobish when it comes to unit images and resolutions.

Yes after all your units are scaled to each other and layered... crop the canvas to capture the tallest unit. (Which in your images will likely be the Agathoergoi)

@TorpedoA Doesn't matter. With the resolution you have it really isn't all that important.

@TorpedoA No problem

@TorpedoA If you want to get your units consistently sized... just put them into different layers of the same canvas...

Then shrink the larger one down (by holding the Cap button while you shrink it {this will ensure the image keeps its proportions while you shrink it})... sometimes you will have to expand the canvas so that you can move the different images around to line up with each other.

Once you have the images scaled to each other... simply cut the layer and paste it into a new canvas.

So in this example... even though the archer and legionnaire are the same height... the archer image will be taller (as a unit image) unless you do some modifications to the bow to make it the same height as his head.

You could layer all your images into different layers to size them with one another... then separate them into individual canvases once they are all resized.