office wars.

[WILLIAMS5232]

Click image to enlarge.

i know it's been a while, but i've not given up on this. just been slow going.

so what i have now is a completely new floor plan for each floor. i'm sure hoping to keep this the basic plan now. and just making adjustments to what i have.

although i was sold on the folder for the background, i think if i were to remove it i would have much more room. i just don't know what to put as the background. it would be pretty bland.

so the new territory count is,

78 total territories
6 auto deploys, all starting neutral
11 no bonus territories, 7 of which reset to neutral, and all 11 start neutral
17 total territories start neutral

i also see that i have two "REC." bonuses. i will change that on my next update. one was meant to be reception, and the other was recreation.


my last drafts;
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/4552/officewarv31.jpg
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4994/officewarv30.jpg
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9104/officewarv20.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/9155/officewar1.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9571/officewarsdraftimage.jpg

[natty dread]

Some previous incarnations of the "office war" idea:

viewtopic.php?f=63&t=136446&p=2980120&hilit=office+wars#p2980120
viewtopic.php?f=63&t=122710&p=2698100&hilit=office+wars#p2698100
viewtopic.php?f=63&t=112856&p=2512870&hilit=office+war#p2512870

You might want to check out those threads to see the problems the previous attempts ran into in order to avoid them.

[Riskismy]

Haven't read up on the threads, but I like it!

Shouldn't there be a bonus for holding an entire floor (minus the resetting areas)?

[WILLIAMS5232]

i think what the previous attempts lacked, was a follow through, or a solid effort.

should i change the name to something else, or can i still go with "office war"?

my layout is a bit different, being the fact that is has different floors. the others were a single floor platform,
i can always call it something else,

i did think about having a single floor bonus. but i was afraid it would be too bonus heavy. of course there is still plenty time to change it.

thanks for the input guys.

[WILLIAMS5232]

Click image to enlarge.

so here is my first draft.

i did not include the floor bonus, but it's something i would like to hear more imput on. origianally it was in my mind.

also, i would like to know if the gameplay here has the makings to become a map. and also some ideas on how to make the appearance better. i know it's kind of bland, but this is kind of my idea on what direction i'd like to go.

thanks,

[No Risk No Fun]

The new draft you just posted really helps me comprehend the map better. I don't think a floor bonus is necessary. Controlling a floor already gives you the advantage of all the smaller bonuses within it (+7 bonus and +1 auto deploy I think) and you only have to worry about covering the choke points.

[natty dread]

Why are all the floors exactly the same? I would think there would be at least some variation to the floors. And why is there only one "office" per floor, but a huge "lobby" to each?

Also try to avoid the grid like territories, with 4-way borders. Those always confuse players (can I attack the diagonal territory?) I of course speak of the lobby territories here.

Other than that, nice first draft.

[Riskismy]

re: Bonus for entire floor:
I think you guys are right, enough bonuses to be had as it is.

I'd put one of the 3 access-ways between floors in the north of the building to avoid making it too hard to get around the map.

Out-grown paint, have you? I gotta get to slapping the Gimp around as well

[WILLIAMS5232]

Im not against having a unique floorplan for each level, i'd just need to figure out a way to keep balanced gameplay and being able to keep one legend for all the bonuses.

As far as the offices go I think you're right. I should swap the office and lobby design within itself. Since it is after all "office wars". That would mean have 1 lobby per floor with the hold 3 get +3, and hold all four offices on any certain floor get +3 bonus. Rearranging this may also help with shifting thestairs to a better location on the map to make moving through each level more accesible. This does not help with changing each floor design though. Which is why I think it should stay the same throughout.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback

[DarthFrog]

Really like the idea. The theme is great. Here's a few things I thought of when I saw this:

1) Stairs should not be killer neutrals, but elevators, yes, because they can only be on one floor at a time. Although, I'm not sure having two sets of elevators is needed.

2) Use the idea from Operation Drug War. Within your floor if you hold the reception and the main office, you get a bonus. Hold two stairways, get a bonus.

3) Like Natty said, the floor plans should be different. And why not have a basement where the service area is. What the service elevator for if you don't have a service area? Perhaps even a loading dock that gives you an auto deploy if you hold it.

Overall I like the idea.

[WILLIAMS5232]

alright,

i like these ideas, this is what i'm going to try and work with for a new draft here;

1. the only beef i have with changing up the floor plans on each level is there will be so many different bonuses, i'm trying to keep this somewhat simple, and easy to understand. other than that i do think it would be "nifty" to have each floor plan different. it's what i originally thought of in the first place.

to do this now instead of having a lobby, reception area, hallway, washrooms, offices, and closet. i would also have to include, meeting room, break room, mailroom, ceo office, electrical room, janitorial room,.....etc. i think you get the idea.

in order to keep it simple, and more interesting my solution would be,

A; make a basement, and a first floor. then have three like top floors.
a, the basement would be different and would have basement type rooms ( mailroom, service area, i do like the loading dock with the autodeploy, also i'm thinking to have the only access to the basement be the stairs and the service elevator, and countering this by decreasing the overall value of bonuses in the basement.
b, the first floor would be set up more like a main reception area with no offices. probably have some sort of recieving and outgooing dept, just odds and ends stuff.
c, the top three floors would be set up similiar to what is in my draft. of course the layout would be different to accomadate the stairs and elevators being moved around. i'm thinking of putting the stairs in the center of the floor. and making it a claimable territory, but maybe start at a moderatly high neutral.

thanks guys, and keep the suggestions coming.

[WILLIAMS5232]

Click image to enlarge.

alright, here are some changes that i thought about,

first off, let me get the spelling errors out of the way, i do realize they are there, but i'm sure there will be more changes than just that so i was not concerned about fixing them. mainly because i had already merged the text layers by the time i caught the mistake.

i took the regular elevator out of the basement, and put a +2 auto deploy on the service elevator guarding the basement,
i did modify the first floor so if you were to go from a higher floor to the basement, you could dodge the +2 guarding the serv. elev. by going through 2 halls to the stairs.

also i stripped the basement of large bonuses and only have 3 starting spots down there. also the first floor has less than the top 3 floors, but they have more auto deploys, and i think it would play good like that. i'm not sure how that will work as i have no experience with creating balanced gameplay. which is why the foundry is here. to help me out with that.

so all the auto deploys would start neutral. as well as the stairs and elevators. i'm still not sure about having the stairs claimable, mainly because if they were, then it creates more choke points. i kind of like keeping them resetting.

anyway, that's what i have, thanks for looking it over.

[Riskismy]

Looking better by the version!
I'd make halls +4 at least, maybe even +5. If you hold offices you'll want to move into hall and shiled your bonus with just 2 terts (in stead of 4). It has more territories and is much tougher to hold. Gotta have a strong presence everywhere.

[WILLIAMS5232]

I'd make halls +4 at least, maybe even +5.

you may be right, 4, or 5 would be better, hall would be hard to hold without holding the whole floor.

maybe even pick the bathrooms up to a plus 2 or so...

[Hank44Soccer]

I hope this becomes a map because Im hosting a dilbert tournament

[DarthFrog]

Have you thought of making it just 4 floors? Reason I ask is because you could make them larger, and 4 would fit a lot better on a map and it would be a lot less confusing to look at if they were set up 2x2.

[WILLIAMS5232]

Have you thought of making it just 4 floors?

hmmm, actually i started with 6, then when i found i would not have enough room, i changed it to 5. but i think you may be right, 4 would not be so bad either. i think i will try that. this weekend i will create a new draft with 4 floors.

should i make a basement, 1st floor, and 2 identical top floors?

or what do you think about a basement, and 3 identical top floors?

i'm also considering ( if there is room ) having a roof access through the stairs, and maybe putting 3 territories up there. with like an access through the stairs that attacks 2 halves of the roof. then inside one of the halves have another territory, that when all 3 are held get a bonus, but if you lose one of the halves then you get a negative bonus. kind of like the gas chamber on prison riot.

this is just a premature thought that will probably not be acted on, but just thought i'd put it out there to see what anyone may have to say about it.

thanks.

[natty dread]

Please make sure that the 1st post of your thread always contains the latest version of your map. So people won't have to hunt through the thread for it...

[Riskismy]

i'm also considering ( if there is room ) having a roof access through the stairs, and maybe putting 3 territories up there. with like an access through the stairs that attacks 2 halves of the roof. then inside one of the halves have another territory, that when all 3 are held get a bonus, but if you lose one of the halves then you get a negative bonus. kind of like the gas chamber on prison riot.

I like it! Increases the excitement of the game when more is at risk (i.e. not only losing your bonus, but getting a penalty to boot).

[WILLIAMS5232]

ok, so my next draft will be similiar to my current draft.

i will just take out one of the floors, leaving 3 different floorplans, so there will be a basement, 1st floor, and 2 like upper floors.

plus, i'm going to try and creatively add a roof floor, without taking up a lot of room. i don't think it will need much room since it will just be 3 territories. it will be something like, roof 1 and roof 2, and satellite dish. holding the satellite plus both roof terts. will give a plus 4. holding the satelite with one or less roof terts. will be a minus 4.

i'll probably start on it this weekend.

thanks guys for the input.

[isaiah40]

Giving this map another look over, and you're going to have problems having the army numbers in the territories along with the territory name. Here are some suggestions:

1) Right now you are sitting at a size of 800x800. Go ahead and make it the max size of 840x800, this will give you the extra 40 pixels in width to work with.
2) Get rid of the building with the missile, and use that space for the Legend and title. You can reduce the font size in the legend down a bit.
3) Move the gameplay instructions in with the legend and change the wording to read as follows: Elevators can attack each other; Service elevators can attack each other. This shortens down the instructions and yet still makes it clear, and thus using less room.
4) Remove one floor as you will not have room for it when you enlarge each of the other floors.
5) Enlarge each of the other floors so that you can place the numbers and territory names together in the same territory.
6) For the bonuses, remove the word bonus. Just say Washroom +1, Halls +3 etc. You will save a lot of room this way. For the Lobby bonus I would suggest wording it so that it reads as follows: Hold 2 Lobbies for +2, each additional Lobby +1. See how you can save room just by rewording it and have it say the same thing?
7) Elevators - Reword to read "Elevators revert to 2 neutral"

Anyways that's all I have for now. Looking forward to your next update.

[WILLIAMS5232]

i have posted my newest draft, it is on my original post.

i took away the fourth floor to make more room, but i added a roof. it is smaller, but i don't know if it is a good idea or not. it seems kind of awkward.

also i reworded the text to make it easy to read, and a better fit.

i took away the bulding on the background, (happily i might add) i only put it on there because i thought there had to be some representation towards the "theme" of the map. but i guess it carries itself without it.

also, i brought the size up form 800x800 to 840x800

so take a look, let me in on your ideas...

thanks

[DarthFrog]

The one thing you need to do on your draft now is to add the army circle. It will help you a lot in figuring out how your sections are working out size wise. Also, remember that you are building the big map right now. It will be very hard for you to fit those in the small map. I think you need to make your rules A LOT smaller.

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but the colour scheme, I really don't like it. It just doesn't give me the feel of "office" so to speak. Perhaps browns and grays and softer colours would look better. That's just my opinion though.

But overall, it's getting better I think.

[QoH]

Overall, I like it!

I'll adda few comments.

1. I agree that the colors need to be more office based; browns, whites, maybe the background is a clipboard? Maybe the office floors background should be a crumpled up paper background?

2. I think that the office layouts themselves need to be reorganized; jumbled up. 3rd and 4th floors are basically identical. I don't know if thats how you want it, but I personally don't like it. They need more variety.

3. Maybe instead of making the bonuses different colors, use the City Mogul idea of outlining the bonuses in a more faint color. That way it gives it a more office-y look.

Hope this helps!

[natty dread]

Make the map out of cardboard