they say that they intend for everything that could be done on the regular 3D map to be accessable from the cloth map.   Building things and directing troops is on the list of things that can be done for sure.  

I'm not really sure what wouldn't be possible from the map.  Perhaps entering dungeons?

Everything.

Take in mind that this is Alpha and early beta. Far from all functions will be.. functional. But for all intents and purposes, it's been said that absolutely everything that you can do in the watercolor world will be doable in the cloth-map world.

So don't worry about that. They just want to see that everything works as it should in the cloth-world, so that people don't get distracted by all the fancy colors.

I'm sure there will be scrolling or minor zoom to account for screen size.  you just won't be able to zoom 'in' for 3D.  In theory, a crappy PC could turn of 3D graphics all together and still be able to play the game, and if they have a locked zoom for map-mode that would be a little annoying.

Still I think it adds an awesome immersion factor to the game. Did Frogboy say in one of the journels your would be able to rename the landmarks on the map?

The cloth map is so that elemental gets the correct "game" feeling with out dedicated hard core art work.  Keep in mind more work has gone into elemental so far then the earler game Master of Magic had total.  That said the game needs to have the "fun" element figured out at the macro level before working on the micro level.

Its really a great idea to build the game and then add detail.

Bear Ridge. Meadow of the Ursaris. Shrine of the Bear-King.

Stardock has this as well.

See in the top left corner, there are some minimal details for this (FPS etc). Those in the Alpha Beta nd more will be most likely submitting machine info and log files for errors etc.

Lots of fun! Looking forward to the cloth map as well.

I don't think those black thingies are rivers. Maybe they're roads of some kind.

The cloth map will be a very nice first test. Noting fancy but all the tools available. I think it's the best way to start testing something that is so complicated. Start with something simple and then add to it.

We have to admit the cloth map is beautiful. It should not be to hard for us to use it

@ scoutdog: Naw, I think the roads were really straightish. You can see them in the second image in reply#2.

I'd rather have roads meander more, but that is just cosmetics again, possibly having abstracted straight roads will help in differentiating them from the rivers. Esp. if both will be pitch black.

edit: yeah, cool graphics are overrated. they do add to the value though, as does a great soundtrack.

Roads rarely take a perfectly straight course. Anything from a large boulder to a steep grade could cause a road to change directions. Especially in ye olde dayes. They're still faster though as you know exactly where to go and don't have to deal with many obstacles.

heh, tell that to anybody around here (I live in Arizona)  where all the roads are straight (and evenly spaced.  Major roads are almost always exactly 1 mile or 1/2 a mile apart)  

They should be curvy lines until you reseacrh dynamite or earth-moving-wands or something that would let you move things that would make roads not-straight  (I'm joking, that would be too much effort for very little actual aesthetic value)