Apolyton CS: Civilization III: The List v1: Graphics

GRAPHICS
-Summarized by Thread Master: evil conquerer-
alphac@flashmail.com

1. CITIES    TOP

1.1) Many people: City architecture should be civilization-specific. Implementation: Provide a setting in the civilization's text file to determine the architecture style. This could be the same setting that determines the throne room and unit(?) styles.

1.2) evil conquerer: Bring back the city view! It gives the user a sense of satisfaction, even if it is completely useless.

1.3) Andy B: Make cities look different based on their position on the globe (e.g. glacier cities have little igloos, etc.). Potential problem: May conflict with the idea to have unique cities for different civilizations. Solution: Pick one, Firaxis. If you can combine the two, that would be awesome.

2. CIVILIZATIONS    TOP

2.1) Eggman: Change the monocolor shield to a flag with a symbol on it. For example, the British would have a union jack, etc. Potential problem: Customization would be hard. Solution: Leave a space in the faction file for a customizable flag.

2.2) Kris Huysmans: All these civilization-specific graphics will take forever to edit (custom flags, custom units, custom cities, etc.). Solution (evil conquerer): The user can, in the civilization's .txt file, either specify which type of graphics to use (i.e. oriental, middle-eastern, European, etc.) or include a 2D graphics file in a common format (.pcx, .gif, etc.) that has all the custom graphics for that civilization in it.

3. GRAPHICAL STYLE    TOP

3.1) Trachmyr: A style of graphics similar to Lords of the Realm II.

3.2) Bubba: Make the graphics like AoE.

4. MAP

4.1) EnochF: The map should have different styles depending on the age it's in. For example, it could be a papyrus scroll during the ancient ages, a map with a compass arrow and fancy European script during the renaissance, and a viewscreen in the future (JT). Potential problems/caveats: May make map hard to read.

4.2) Ecce Homo: Animate the water tiles. Problems: May make it hard to customize the map tiles. Suggested fix: Have an animated format for the default that is replaceable with a common 2D (.pcx?) format for customization.

4.3) JT: Show wonders in the map grid somewhere within the city's radius. Problems: May make it hard to see what's in that square. Solutions: Make the wonder show up under units and special resources(?), make wonder invisible with terrain viewing key (T in SMAC and Civilization II).

4.4) EnochF: If terraforming can be done from inside the city, there should be an icon that indicates work in progress on that square. Potential problem: Might obscure the resources in that square.

4.5) Debate: Should the world be 3D too?

4.5a) 2D isometric map, flat terrain (a la Civilization II): Would be easier to edit, would be faster to draw on the screen.
4.5b) 2D isometric map, 3D terrain with altitude (a la SMAC): Altitude is an important concept that the game must have. It looks cool, too.
4.5c) Would be hard to edit, sometimes obscures units behind a mountain.
4.5d) True 3D map: Two words. Awesome graphics.
4.5e) May be hard to get a good sense of proportion or distance. May make terrain really hard to edit. Note: I don't mean a 3D spherical map (that's not my department). I'm just talking about how the map looks.

4.6) Icedan: Check out http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Keep/3402/Civilization.htm for a quick sketch of what the 3D graphics could look like. Potential problem: No sense of distance at all. Solution: Maybe some kind of gridline system.

4.7) Rusty Nail: If fog of war is on, don't make it too hard to see the terrain through the fog of war. For units and terrain, clarity is very important.

5. SPEED or GLITZ?    TOP

5.1) Many people: The graphics should not slow down the game too much or require ultra-fast machines in order to run acceptably. For example, the animation for founding a new city in Civilization's I and II (something unfortunately missing in SMAC) would just be a pain if there wasn't a way to skip it. The high-res graphics in SMAC ran unacceptably slow on my machine (PII-300 w/ 64 MB, in case you're wondering), but the low-res units looked just fine and ran much better. Solution: Make the graphics as good as you can without slowing down the game.

5.2) Fugi the Great: If the graphics are unbearably slow (i.e. C:CtP) then have a key to speed up the animation of units when they're on a long GOTO, by skipping frames, substituting a 2D unit graphic, or by something else. Make sure you can still see where the unit is going, though.

6. THRONE ROOM    TOP

6.1) Many people: Bring back the throne room! But make it customizable according to which civilization you have (for example, the Japanese have samurai armor hanging on the wall, the Europeans have knight armor, etc.). Some people also support the palace instead of the throne room, or something completely different. Problems: May make it hard to customize civilizations. Potential solutions: In the civilization's text file, have an option to say which kind of throne room is used.

7. UNITS    TOP

7.1) Many people: Either make the units 2D (unacceptable in a modern game) or have an alternative 2D format to customize the units with. In SMAC, for example, a historical MOD pack is impossible because there is no way to modify the unit pix ("those chariots look pretty silly with particle impactors" ). Suggested fix: Provide an alternate 2D graphics file (.pcx?) to provide for the customization of units.

7.2) evil conquerer: If the units are modular (as in SMAC), the different sections of the unit should be clearly visible. Some people complained that the different weapons and special abilities were hard to tell apart. Possible solution: Weapons and special abilities may have to be exaggerated slightly on the map screen.

7.3) Debate: Should the units be 2D or 3D?

7.3a) 2D isometric: Would make the units easier to edit. Would also make the units move faster.
7.3b) True 3D: Anything less would be unacceptable for a new game. The units would simply look better. An alternate 2D format for editing could be made available relatively easily.


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