Map Design Poll

[Eggbell]

Thanks to Loramin, I've found some interest to make maps for EQ. I will probably aim to do them all over a long time.
https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=334356

But before I really start, I want to know what map design color choice is preferred.
The maps are stitched together screenshots(like a patchwork quilt) taken from EQZoneViewer(a program that allows users to view EQ maps in 3d).
By default, the background is black in this program.
But I can change it to white with image editing.

Which of these 2 maps would be preferred?
(North Freeport)

[Niedar]

Black

[soronil]

Is it really going to be easy to see POIs on that map with all the colors/textures? I kind of like the existing maps on the wiki (mostly just wall outlines) for the ability to easily see the POIs. Most is the time I am using a map I am trying to find things on it.

[Seungkyu]

Black looks so much better. Thanks for your contribution EggyBelly. :)

[loramin]

Is it really going to be easy to see POIs on that map with all the colors/textures? I kind of like the existing maps on the wiki (mostly just wall outlines) for the ability to easily see the POIs. Most is the time I am using a map I am trying to find things on it.

I thought about that too, so I did a quick experiment:

http://wiki.project1999.com/images/thumb/Nfreeport_example.png/681px-Nfreeport_example.png

I think there's a lot of room for artistic license to do something better (different colors or whatever), but I think it proves that at least theoretically we should be able to show where POI are on such maps.

EDIT: To anyone wondering "what's wrong with the EQ Atlas maps?" ... in a lot of zones, nothing. We've used those maps to power the "loc map" project, and about half the zones in the wiki now can show you where any NPC is, reasonably accurately.

But the EQ Atlas Freeport maps were ... they must have been the guy's first he ever did, because they're just very inaccurate. And I don't just mean a little stretched or skewed; I tried to stretch the EQ Atlas map to match Eggbell's, and it was impossible: too much stuff was just wrong (eg. building #3 is a square with no fountain in front).

So at the very least, any loc-accurate map is better than none for the loc-mapping part. But if we can get better maps in general, that actually make it easier to find what you want when you go to the Freeport page in the wiki ... I'm totally in favor of that too :)

[loramin]

Which of these 2 maps would be preferred?

Whatever you decide, keep in mind that if you make the background transparent in the image, the wiki can have whatever color people want (purple even) behind it.

So like (purely hypothetically) let's say everyone agrees that the maps look better in black, but then someone is like "I still play like it's 1999: I print maps ... and a black background wastes ink."

We could use a transparent image for the map, put it on top of a black background in the wiki, and then add a print stylesheet that says "change that black to white when someone prints".

But no need to go through all that trouble unless there's a need; I'm just mentioning what's possible.

[vetia]

they both look good!! i would just do the default to make it easier on you. thanks for doing this!

[gredoo]

Whatever you decide, keep in mind that if you make the background transparent in the image, the wiki can have whatever color people want (purple even) behind it.

So like (purely hypothetically) let's say everyone agrees that the maps look better in black, but then someone is like "I still play like it's 1999: I print maps ... and a black background wastes ink."

We could use a transparent image for the map, put it on top of a black background in the wiki, and then add a print stylesheet that says "change that black to white when someone prints".

But no need to go through all that trouble unless there's a need; I'm just mentioning what's possible.

def keep it transparent and do the grid lines as a separate layer.

[Eggbell]

Whatever you decide, keep in mind that if you make the background transparent in the image, the wiki can have whatever color people want (purple even) behind it.

So like (purely hypothetically) let's say everyone agrees that the maps look better in black, but then someone is like "I still play like it's 1999: I print maps ... and a black background wastes ink."

We could use a transparent image for the map, put it on top of a black background in the wiki, and then add a print stylesheet that says "change that black to white when someone prints".

But no need to go through all that trouble unless there's a need; I'm just mentioning what's possible.


def keep it transparent and do the grid lines as a separate layer.

In terms of what you mention on the wiki functionality:
If I let the background be transparent and a user opts for the black background,
then we need to have contrasting grid lines. They would likely be white colored.

If the user opts for a white background, then the grid would be black colored.

So how would the wiki dynamically change the grid layer so that it contrasts the background?

[loramin]

In terms of what you mention on the wiki functionality:
If I let the background be transparent and a user opts for the black background,
then we need to have contrasting grid lines. They would likely be white colored.

If the user opts for a white background, then the grid would be black colored.

So how would the wiki dynamically change the grid layer so that it contrasts the background?

I'm not sure the transparent grid lines would work, but they might. Basically you can think of "transparent" as being like a color (if things are setup properly in your image program; you may need to add an alpha channel or something first, depending on the program)

If you "paint transparent" (ie. erase) the grid lines, or anything else, it'll either show in the wiki as white or black based on whatever color is behind the image, and we can set that color. But we'd still need a way to switch to a different color, which is why I suggested print vs. normal.

Even more importantly, the map needs to look good. It has to be readable, and clear, and doing fancy stuff to let people switch the background color will likely make that a lot harder. I think picking one background color makes sense, and picking two (and using transparency to make it happen) could make sense ... if it's not too much trouble and is actually useful (eg. maybe the print idea or something like it).

[Jibartik]

Just a thought that maybe someone else posted, we have white maps but we don't have complete black maps, so the black ones are a valuable asset that we need!

:)

[Vidar]

...scratch that

[Jethrayne]

The black background makes the map pop more and it's easier on the eyes.