Proteins 101 <v.24 - new gameplay? *POLL!*> p1, p13

[danoprey]

Looks great!

One graphical issue is that in the large image it is a bit fuzzy. Do you have a high res image of the protein?

[slowreactor]

Definitely like the new background, adds a new dimension to it.

IMO though, the background should not protrude into the legend. It is separate from the map, after all.

[natty dread]

Looks great!

One graphical issue is that in the large image it is a bit fuzzy. Do you have a high res image of the protein?

Thanks. The program I used to render the protein couldn't make it into a higher resolution. So I'll just need to work on this, remove the fuzziness manually. But I'd like to get all the other details worked out first.

Definitely like the new background, adds a new dimension to it.

IMO though, the background should not protrude into the legend. It is separate from the map, after all.

I'll fix that in the next update.

[natty dread]

Click image to enlarge.

Update.

[monster10]

u can hardly see some bonus spots

[natty dread]

which ones do you mean?

[AndyDufresne]

Nice to see some new faces working in the Foundry.

That said, I've never been a fan of any of these similar molecule-esque maps. I'm not sure what is about them---perhaps they are even too abstract for my taste, and leaving me asking "why should I bother?"

I think that may be a hurdle that you have to overcome. You'll need to have your map stand out, and answer that question definitively why people "should bother."

Good luck!


--Andy

[natty dread]

I think that may be a hurdle that you have to overcome. You'll need to have your map stand out, and answer that question definitively why people "should bother."

Well, I believe I have some nice gameplay features on the map. The map should be great for 3-5 player flat/no card games, since there's lots of features that should help keep the game from stagnating into a build war.

I know there's actually nothing really revolutionary about this map, it's actually quite simple and straight-forward. Then again so are most of the good maps I enjoy to play.

Anyway, as I said in the first post, there are no other maps currently featuring the microscopic scale. This map actually takes you to the atomic level. I hope the future updates will convince you and anyone else who might have doubts about this map that the idea is worth pursuing.

[natty dread]

Here a small update. Nothing major, just tweaking some minor adjustments to colour & contrast & stuff.

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

Version 15 - for this version, I completely overhauled all of the graphics almost from scratch... re-rendered the molecule, new-ish background (the microscope is the same though) modified the size (large image is now 800x600) it could still use a bit of work here and there... like tweaking the placement of continent/territory names and such.

Click image to enlarge.

[slowreactor]

I like it. It has a much more "cartoonish" look to it, and the molecules don't blend into the background. Keep up the nice work!

[natty dread]

Thanks. The molecule image should be much sharper now as well, as I decided to start from the large version this time...

Here's a quick semi-update, with some army numbers. Also fixed: Proline was missing the continent label.

Click image to enlarge.

[danoprey]

Big improvement! Makes the whole map look a lot more polished now, great work.

Ready for the main foundry now, I think.

[natty dread]

Thanks danoprey. A draft stamp would be cool, although if the mods decide I'm not ready I can churn out a few more updates still...

Anyway, I decided now to reduce the histidine bonus to +5 since you'll get +6 anyway from holding the 2 blue nitrogens in it.

Another thought: maybe the bonuses on glutamate and tryptophan should be the other way around? Glutamate has the most borders of all, yet tryptophan has the highest bonus... Maybe I should swap them.

Another idea I had was to change the link between T1 and G1 into a one-way attack so you could only attack from glutamate to tryptophan. This would balance out the continents, making tryptophan earn it's +7 bonus a bit more. And glutamate would be easier to hold.

What do you think?

[slowreactor]

Background's still portruding into the legend...

[natty dread]

Oh yeah, I forgot to fix that in the new version... will do in next update.

edit. done, but I'll wait for more suggestions/feedback/criticism before I release the next update.

[slowreactor]

This is the geeky side of me speaking, so you don't have to take this too seriously:

I know the dotted lines are connections, but what type of intermolecular forces are they? Hydrogen bonds? Dipole forces? Maybe just a note in the legend about that?

Also, considering you have bonuses for holding certain amounts of Nitrogens and Oxygens, maybe a bonus for Amide nitrogens too?

1 last thing: I don't think you need to say 4-5 oxygens for a bonus, just saying 4 is enough, since the next step is 6 anyways.

[natty dread]

They are supposed to be hydrogen bonds... Although some of the distances (ie. tryptophan-glutamate) are a bit extreme for h-bonds

[isaiah40]

Looking a lot better from the last time I checked in I'll take a closer look at it later and post any comments and/or suggestions

[natty dread]

v16 update.

Click image to enlarge.

and thanks isaiah, comments and/or suggestions would be welcome

[danoprey]

Maybe tone the background down a little so that you can see the territory border colours more easily.

Something like a black fill at opacity 10/15%?

[natty dread]

Maybe tone the background down a little so that you can see the territory border colours more easily.

Something like a black fill at opacity 10/15%?

I could try it, although I might rather just redo the territory glows so they are more noticeable. I think if I darken the background further the microscope would be hard to see...

[natty dread]

Something like this...?

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

New font on territory names.

Click image to enlarge.

wow, already version # 17... think I'll get to #100 before this gets quenched? (if it indeed ever does...)

[natty dread]

another small graphics update

Click image to enlarge.