Rorke's Drift. [QUENCHED]

[koontz1973]

Depends on your settings. You can switch between using large or small map. Some have smaller monitors so they play with the small, some play with the large.

Thanks natty, always wondered about that. nice bit of trivia that I did not know.

[natty dread]

Go to one of your games, there's a link on the right side of the map image that says "map size".

[koontz1973]

I know, it just never clicked that is the reason for 2 map sizes. I always thought it had something to do with the games programming.

Saying that, how does the small image look?

[koontz1973]

Current version of small map.

Click image to enlarge.

Added the triple 8's as I noticed some things may not fit. Moved around some of the men and names for better fit.

[koontz1973]

These 2 images are identical apart from the size of the little figures. One has them slightly larger.

Which one is better.
Smaller figures but a few pixels bigger than the official version.

Click image to enlarge.

These figures are even bigger.

Click image to enlarge.

Also some minor little fixes to do with the legend.

[natty dread]

Looks pretty ok to me.

One thing: I would recommend a slight drop shadow for the white territory labels. Use the grain merge mode for the shadow, it looks most natural that way...

My most common drop shadow is made like this: I take the layer I want to shadow, select alpha->selection, create the dropshadow layer under it, then selection->grow 1 px, selection->feather 4 px and fill selection with not quite black but almost - somewhere around 202020 in hex. Then set the dropshadow layer on grain merge and set opacity around 70-90. Oh and lastly move the drop shadow layer 1px to the southeast.

[Sniper08]

the larger icons look better on the small version imo.

eveything looks good nice job koonitz

[koontz1973]

Thanks guys. Added the drop shadow to the names natty but kept it the same way as the Chieftain names with colour and shape for consistency. The wet river warriors have a blue one and the dry river warriors have the dry river colour. These colours can be changed to anything for a mock up.

Still got the 2 versions, identical apart from the little figures. Need to find out what works better. If anyone thinks that large Zulus, small British works or any variation like that, I can quickly mock it up for you to look at.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

Yeah those aren't drop shadows, those are outer glows.

[koontz1973]

Yeah those aren't drop shadows, those are outer glows.

OK, outer glows then. Another noobie mistake by me but you get what I mean.

But what about the size of men. Large or small?

[koontz1973]

Latest Version [33]
Large (840 / 800)

Click image to enlarge.

Small (630 / 600)

Click image to enlarge.

Large image got the same glow as the small image. This ties the 2 together.
Small image has the glow staying.
Large men chosen as they are more clear than the small.
Fixed 2 small problems in legend.

Anything else needed now?

[natty dread]

I think, the glow isn't quite enough for the white labels on the small map. It works for the black ones on both, and it's ok on the whites on the large, but the whites on the small look a bit blurry.

I think, maybe you should redo the territory labels for the small map - it looks like you simply shrunk them from the large? Resizing text layers loses the vector qualities of them, including hinting (which is, aligning the vector points between the pixel grid so the letters look sharper)...

[koontz1973]

I think, the glow isn't quite enough for the white labels on the small map. It works for the black ones on both, and it's ok on the whites on the large, but the whites on the small look a bit blurry.

I think, maybe you should redo the territory labels for the small map - it looks like you simply shrunk them from the large? Resizing text layers loses the vector qualities of them, including hinting (which is, aligning the vector points between the pixel grid so the letters look sharper)...

All completely done fresh. If you look back a page you can see the shrunken image.
I might be from the glow that is causing this. I will see what I can do this morning.

[koontz1973]

Latest Version [34]
Large (840 / 800)

Click image to enlarge.

Small (630 / 600)

Click image to enlarge.

Increased the size of wording on the small version by 1. Because of this, some army numbers have to be moved and all of the glow redone. 2 dry river warrior territ names have swapped over because of the size change. Done on both sizes.

[RedBaron0]

Looking good kiddo, I might think you should dabble with a couple different fonts for the white text. What you have isn't bad now, but I think it could be a tad better. You could also try a a 1px stroke in black around the text.

I'm not in love with teh arrows either, especially on the small map. The 2 way isn't too bad, but the 1 way arrow don't look too hot.... try something with a little bit of an arc, and make the end look a little better 'arrow wise'

[koontz1973]

Looking good kiddo, I might think you should dabble with a couple different fonts for the white text. What you have isn't bad now, but I think it could be a tad better. You could also try a a 1px stroke in black around the text.

I'm not in love with teh arrows either, especially on the small map. The 2 way isn't too bad, but the 1 way arrow don't look too hot.... try something with a little bit of an arc, and make the end look a little better 'arrow wise'

New arrows on this map. You like?
With the names. I really do not want to try different fonts as I have done all that with the previous versions (not being lazy over this but I must of tried at least a hundred different ones) and found this one to have the best for clarity in this size that goes with the map. Other fonts became illegible at this size or did not fit within the territ boundaries. As you can see with the small map, some of the names go right across the territ. Saying that, all of the iButhos names have had a different styling done to them.
Mpande & Dabulamanzi have got a feathering effect with either black text and white glow or white text with glow the same colour as the chieftain.
Phunga has the same but with a black glow.
I think none of these work.
Bethelezi has the same effect as before but increased by one pixel.
Ndaba has got black text now with the same effect as Bethelezi.
Cetshwayo and Shaka have the same as before and not changed.

Click image to enlarge.

My personal preference would be for the Ndaba effect as it is in line as the Chieftains followed by Bethelezi which has the white wording.

[RedBaron0]

I like the Ndaba too, I think you main issue ends up being the variations in the background that distorts some effects you put to your texts. So you might have to mix and match to get the desired clarity.

The arcs and shape in the arrows I like, but other than that.... not really. The outline is very pixelly, and the color is meh.

You would be wise to take those arrows redraw them yourself, trace them really. The edges will be neater and you can pick whatever color you want.

[koontz1973]

Thanks for getting back RedBaron0. The arrows were a quick copy and paste job. Will get onto doing the arrows and names properly tonight. Will post new big and small images tomorrow.

[koontz1973]

Latest Version [35]
Large (840 / 800)

Click image to enlarge.

Small (630 / 600)

Click image to enlarge.

Names, colours and glows now match for both versions.
Arrows have been done properly.

Anything else?

[MrBenn]

The VC image in the title looks slightly out of place - try finding or making it look like it has been stamped in black ink to match the text in the title. Also see what the title looks like with straight edges rather then the jaggedy ones....

[Victor Sullivan]

First, let me say WOW. This has progressed very, very well graphically since I left for Michigan. According to the arrows, though, Sihlengosethu can't be attacked...

-Sully

[koontz1973]

The VC image in the title looks slightly out of place - try finding or making it look like it has been stamped in black ink to match the text in the title. Also see what the title looks like with straight edges rather then the jaggedy ones....

Having the VC in black ink or another style is not a good idea. The VC is what it is. Looked at images that were darker and found some that were blackened but the detail had been lost. The title with straight black lines, I might as well do a nice font title. Saying that, thought I might change the title to this...

First, let me say WOW. This has progressed very, very well graphically since I left for Michigan. According to the arrows, though, Sihlengosethu can't be attacked...

-Sully

Thanks Sully, changed arrows to double heads but I am sure people would of worked it out.

Click image to enlarge.

Only changed the big image. What do you all think? Keep it as it was or this.
The history and Rorke's Drift is mentioned in the story in the legend. This will be more recognisable than Rorke's Drift as a title as more people would of seen the film than heard of a obscure British outpost.


One of the things needed is the colour blind test so I thought I would do one quickly before the graphics get stamped so as I am not doing any major work after that. Can a mod please check to see if OK and if not, what do they recommend to fix any problem they see.

show: colourblind test

[isaiah40]

Do the new title in the same style as the old title. It looks way better that way.

[TaCktiX]

At first I was hostile to the name change, but when you mention the movie I suppose it's justified. However, the new title doesn't quite fit with the map. It might be I've still got the old title in my head, and I'm ignorant of the style of the movie's title. But the fiery ZULU just doesn't seem to match.

[koontz1973]

Latest Version [37]
Large (840 / 800)

Click image to enlarge.

Small (630 / 600)

Click image to enlarge.

New title in the old style. Both versions now done.

The movies title is done in a variety of ways. The new style which you did not like is the most common but with white insides of photographic flames (to few pixels to pull that of to be recognisable, I tried).