I'm working on a Chrono Trigger map (
https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?PreviewMap=41740). It's my first map, but I'm going to take my time with it to make sure it's balanced and looks nice (I'm not an artist!). I'm still just getting used to the tools though.
There are 6 ages which serve as superbonuses and are only connected to each other via a few time portals per age. Each individual portal links directly just to one other, but The Epoch (time machine) is connected to all of them. The Epoch has a large negative bonus value (current estimate: -15), so it will probably only be beneficial to use it mid to late game. I expect The Epoch to be used mainly to stage a large surprise attack or to devastate the whole map quickly when you already have a huge advantage. Abandon, gift, and blockade cards make this element particularly interesting, so I'll have to play test it with various settings.
I think my biggest challenges are as follows:
- Making the portals visible and straightforward concerning how they connect. My initial approach is to make them large and color coded. I also plan to add explanation text to the map, but I know that too much of that tends to detract from visual appeal.
- Eliminating much of the linear nature of a video-game-style map, while keeping and leveraging some of it (such as the portal mechanism) to create clear strategic borders.
- Generally staying true to the nature of the original game without compromising playability
- Map look and feel. As I mentioned, I'm not an artist, but I *hope* to learn some vector graphic tricks to make simple map decorations which won't beef up the download size. I also don't want players to feel frustrated concerning the best/fastest path from Point A to Point B.
My aim is for uniqueness of play without being written off as gimmicky. The map is targeted at 3v3 play, but my current territory density suggests there will only be about 120 territories in the final map.
Edited 3/24/2015 19:27:47
