# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Board Game Mapping >  New Somalia Map (WIP)

## timallen

Peter Schutz of Schutz Games asked me if I was interseted in redrawing a map for the game Somalia.  Here is the map he sent me.

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## timallen

And here is what I have come up with after starting in on this on Thursday night (not including the googling for other maps I did through out  the week on my coffee breaks).  I really managed to blitz through this one;  I its almost done already.  I still have to find a nice font that works for the city names...that one is kool, but not very clear.  I need something vaguely Middle Eastern looking.

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## Sapiento

Excellent!

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## Gamerprinter

My favorite Arabic looking font is called Samarkand, and you can find it at Acidfonts.com - note the alphabetically listing of fonts at the top of the page link to all the free fonts on that site - go to "S" and it should be in the first two or three pages. It looks very Arabic, but still readable.

GP

PS: I used that font for my February 2008 Map Challenge...

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## Ramah

Very nice map, Tim. Love the elements you have for cities etc. The only thing I don't like is the really heavy texture you have used over most of your landmass.

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## timallen

Well, the map has progressed rapidly and is now almost done.  I have been talking to the publisher (Schutze Games) about making the map 22x17.  He may or may not go for the larger format.  If not, then I just have to scale back to the original 11x17 and put the charts onto a seperate sheet.  About the only things that the map really needs now is a map-key, and a few more tweaks to the Mogadishu zone.  I have to make it clear that for movement purposes, you can go to any one of the 4 sub-zones within Mogadishu when you enter it by roads.  

And after looking at it for awhile, I dont know that I reall like the curled paper edges on the map- I think I will drop that.

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## Marken4

I like the update alot! And I hope your publisher will keep this size, looks great this way. I think the folds could be nice, if the quality hadn't been so poor... Or is that just here?

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## timallen

Thanks.  yes, the paper edges and curls are too low res...I need to either redo them or leave them off altogether.  The publisher wants it 11x17 anyways, so I will probably just not use them.  Oh well.

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## timallen

This one is Done!

*30*

I've sent it on to Peter schutze of Schutze Games.  Just waiting to hear back if the file format is OK.  I really like how this one turned out.  Its got a nice amount of decay around the edges, but I dont think it detracts from the playing area.  The roads could probably be a bit better, but you have to stop tweaking sometime and just say its done.

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## ravells

Looks superb, Tim. I'm curious, is there a reason why you chose a different font for the numbers in the table to the font describing the table? Are the numbers in the same font as the map label text?

I see what you mean about the roads (although I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't have pointed it out) - wouldn't this be an easy fix by having the town icons on a layer above the roads and extending the roads a little so they terminate under the town icons?

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## timallen

Thanks.

To answer the first question; no good reason... I started with the numbers font for everything, then decided the grungy title font was better...but I was too lazy to change everything!

As to the second question; because I had an "outer glow" happening on the town circles, when I placed the roads below them, the roads  tended to fade out just as they reached the towns, and it looked odd.  So I left them on the layer above.  Huh...now you got me thinking.  Maybe I could duplicate the town circle layer, turn off the glow and then place the road layer in between the two town layers, so the glowing layer is below and the non-glowing one above.

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## ravells

Ahh, thanks.

I'm guessing here, but if you've got the strokes on the road as a layerstyle, it might be easier just to continue the roads a little bit more using a hard round brush so the 'ends' are hidden under the town circle.. :: edit :: oops, sorry, I should read you post properly before engaging my fingers!

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## timallen

You know, Peter likes the map as it is.  yes I could continue to tweak away at it, but I dont think I will.

So, if this map is done, should I be cross-posting into the finished maps forums?  Is that what people normally do; start a WIP thread then post the same thing to the finished forums when you are done?  Just curious.

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## ravells

Please do cross post to the finished maps forum. That's the form.

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