Hey there!
Great work over here. Far deeper than what I'm used to do personally. Gratz on that!
I'd like to see a video of the few starting minutes, I could start the map by myself and try it out but I figured out a lot of people would prefer to just click a Youtube thumbnail.
Here's a quick feedback:
Map Symmetry
I have the same level design constraints than you for my map 'Avenheart'.
Oddly enough (or not) we seem to have settled on the same solutions: a circular map and different maps (melee-style). I have even drawn a overview of a typical level design:
Seems familiar, doesn't it?
As
@Xeryxoz mentioned, the symmetry is making the map kind of "bland".
One of the solution I implemented is to split the map in four parts, giving each a theme:
Of course, balance should not be broken and each quarter uses the same "division pattern", which do not necessarily all appear on this screenshot.
Rivers are specifically unbalanced and that's my challenge right now (but I don't think it's a problem for your map).
I have the feeling that balance is the most important long-term but visual appeal is the most important short-term and imho, shouldn't be disregarded.
In addition to quarters, I'm adding variations in the "division pattern" - as you can see in the desert, alternating between straight division, and two-chokes divisions.
But once more, this should be balanced. These two division patterns are therefore used all around the map in an even way for each player (each of them has one of these division pattern on its left or right).
This "even alternating division pattern" logic can be applied everywhere else on the map and allow us to create fake "differences" in the symmetry of the map.
Combined with the quarter division and you end up with a Grove, a Swamp and a Rock Waste serving as "boarders" of your different areas (but being the same thing fundamentally).
It's not
the solution, it's just
a solution.
To give you an example about your map: you have gigantic rivers flowing from the middle. Some of them could be impassable mountains and others forests (or not if you want ships to go through).
Slow Pace
This is one of my main concern about my map: I want games to last for about ~40 minutes but I still want it to inspire that "epic strategy" map feeling. It might seems contradictory but I think it's feasible.
When it comes to pace, here's how you can monitor it:
(I don't know how teching works in your game, but I'm going to assume there's some kind of age-technology, if not, translate the mechanic to your map)
Decide of arbitrary times at which you'd like your players to reach the different "ages" of your game. IE: I want players to reach second age at minute 4, then 10, then 20 etc.
Then see how much it costs to reach these ages (tech cost but also required structure costs and any other related costs), then how much resources they should have at the different stages of the game (you will have to check out how much income / resource they generate). You can also add up building/researching times (and how much of it can be built/researched at once).
See if numbers match, if not, tweak the income / time / cost numbers to match your needs.
It's not only about teching, it can also be about armies. How much resources does it cost to raise a 50 food army? How much time? Then once more, you can tweak the numbers (training time, resource costs etc.).
Complex Structure System
Of course I should be playing the map to see by myself. But I just wanted to point out the fact that tutorialization might be the key.
Maybe you can try to force the player at taking some actions at the beginning of the game which will forcefully teach him how to build.
One of the example of this would be: force the player to build his altar / train his hero before being able to do anything else (other structures require the altar, or the selection system forces the player to select a builder, or anything else).
The hero is just an example here, in your case it could be "building a farm". It shouldn't be something that gets in the way of more advanced players though.
In any case, there's always a fight between the complexity to learn a system VS the strategy/tactical depth this system adds in the game.
If you realize your system doesn't add much depth but adds a lot of complexity, it should likely be lighten up.
Keep up the good work!
PS: I really like the reference pictures you chose for your terrain
