A few battlemap previews

[Colmarr]

That doesn't necessarily work because maps are commissioned by page size and DPI (eg half page, 300 DPI).

Ah, I didn't know that. The economics of it obviously affect viability.

I think what OnlineDM says is correct, that the scaling isn't such an issue. We can pretty easily do that ourselves, so long as the squares on the map are in fact square.

Pixel to square ratios (if you can get them from the artists) would help immensely, otherwise I suppose I can guesstimate by measuring in MS Paint.

@OnlineDM : I'm not even really sure if the rescaling needs to be done. Unless I'm mistaken, you can set a Maptool grid to 20px or 50 or whatever, and tokens will automatically size to that grid. It's then just a matter of zooming in or out until the map is usable. If that's the case, we really just need the pixel to square ratio to make it easier to get the scale right.

Oh, and [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION], thanks for liaising with us like this. It's thrilling to be able to interract with the publisher like this and it builds a hell of a lot of brand loyalty.

 

[OnlineDM]

@OnlineDM : I'm not even really sure if the rescaling needs to be done. Unless I'm mistaken, you can set a Maptool grid to 20px or 50 or whatever, and tokens will automatically size to that grid. It's then just a matter of zooming in or out until the map is usable. If that's the case, we really just need the pixel to square ratio to make it easier to get the scale right.

This is true, but what if you have more than one JPG on the same MapTool map screen, and they have different grid sizes? That gets to be a huge pain. I'm a big fan of standardization, and I like to be able to grab a map and plop it down in MapTool and go with it without having to ever touch the grid scale. It makes the maps much more re-usable.

Personally, I've found it to be easier and more worthwhile to re-scale the maps in Paint.net rather than mess with the grid scale in MapTool, but that's just me.

 

[Morrus]

I don't think I understand.

Obviously making an existing map bigger is 30- seconds in MS Paint. But it loses the resolution.

To keep the resolution, you need a bigger original image. That's what costs money. Lots of it!

If you don't mind half page maps enlarged to enormous blurry sizes, we can do that happily. But to commission a 100 square across map at the size of a poster (to make it 50px per square) would cost us thousands for each map. We'd blow the entire campaign's budget on one adventure (or have to charge $100 per adventure, but then nobody would buy them, defeating the point).

If resolution isn't an issue, and it's just a question of enlarging them despite the loss in clarity, that's easy to do. It takes about 10 seconds. But images blown up like that do loom awful for the simple reason that the artist didn't make it that big and detailed in the first place.

 

[OnlineDM]

Yep, somewhat blurry is fine. Naturally, there's a limit to the level of blurriness that's still tolerable, but I generally end up enlarging maps to 2 or 3 times their original size in order to get the scale right, and it's just fine in MapTool (we can always zoom in).

It's a small thing, but providing pre-formatted battle maps for use in programs like MapTool is a very nice touch. If you don't provide it, we can hack it ourselves from the PDFs, but like you said, it's not hard for you guys to do. It's a small "nice to have" that would further cement our loyalty to EN World. Just saying.

 

[Colmarr]

For my part, just having the image files available for download (just like you have done here, @Morrus ) is enough to make me happy.

In general, I'd actually prefer that they not be adjusted before they're published, because I anticipate using the maps 1 by 1 rather than pasting them together into one MapTool campaign file.

As an encounter on the docks map isn't likely to spill over into the hedge maze map, there's no real need for the maps to be to the same scale.

The only time that general preference would not apply is where encounter areas are adjacent to each other, and I'd like to build one overall map. That becomes difficult if the map for encounter area A is at a different scale to the map for encounter area B.

Of course, catering for us MapTool users might affect layout for pen & paper players, and I respect the balance that needs to exist there.

Thanks again for the discussion. It's easy to come off as a whinging consumer in these circumstances, so let me say again that anything you can offer us (whether significant or otherwise) is much appreciated. And even if the answer is that you can't offer us anything at all, then thanks just for the discussion and explaining why.

Edit: I just noticed that my post isn't showing me as a Community Supporter (silver). Is that something I need to turn on, or has something gone wrong with my subscription? I have access to the subscriber area...

 

[OnlineDM]

Colmarr is right - it's really not necessary to do the rescaling if that's going to be a problem in any way. I'm happy to do that myself. Just having the JPGs outside of the PDFs is awesome.

And since I haven't spelled this out yet, the maps in this thread are fantastic! I can't wait to use them.

 

[Cyberzombie]

Edit: I just noticed that my post isn't showing me as a Community Supporter (silver). Is that something I need to turn on, or has something gone wrong with my subscription? I have access to the subscriber area...

I was wondering that, too. I still say registered user. I've poked around, but haven't found anything to click to make it show Community Supporter. Probably something obvious, knowing me.

 

[Morrus]

It's a setting buried somewhere in your settings, but I can never remember where it is (it's one of those annoying non-intuitive loactions).

 

[Morrus]

If you liked those, you might like this...

(A prelim draft only).

 

[Cyberzombie]

That is neat looking, indeed.