What Should Civ IV's Graphics Look Like?

[Solver]

What was wrong with Civ3 graphics? The units were distinguishable, so great. They were perfectly functional graphics.

Why do Firaxis need to make it 3D anyway? Because everything is 3D now? Well, I'm fine with it as long as it's not a resource-hog that needs a 2GHz machine to run.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Solver
What was wrong with Civ3 graphics? The units were distinguishable, so great. They were perfectly functional graphics.

Compare Civ3 graphics to the screenshots I posted above and tell me what right about them...

Well, I'm fine with it as long as it's not a resource-hog that needs a 2GHz machine to run.

A lot of FPS and RTS games can do with half that much, I seriously doubt you'd have to have any worries for Civ4 in that regard...

[Solver]

Compare Civ3 graphics to the screenshots I posted above and tell me what right about them...

I'd take Civ3 graphics anyday. Each unit there looks different and I have no problem telling which tile is which and what's in each. Screenshots you posted have a lot of confusion for me, I can't tell which tile is which, and looks like units would need some time to get used to as well.

I am extremely poor in spatial orientation and 3D perception, so 3D maps are hard for me to perceive, it's a personal weakness of mine. Rome:Total War map is rather confusing to me.

[Epistax]

Let the graphics be whatever-- I can get used to them. There should be some way that the game runs smoothly (except between turns) on my old 900 MHz laptop. As long as that's possible, I'm happy.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Solver

Compare Civ3 graphics to the screenshots I posted above and tell me what right about them...

I'd take Civ3 graphics anyday. Each unit there looks different and I have no problem telling which tile is which and what's in each.

Not really, Civ3 has the exact same problem: I can never tell what units are on what tile, where one tile ends and another begins. Strategic resources sometimes impossible to find. It has both the most confusing and the ugliest graphics of any game I've ever seen (much more so than RTW or similar games). Well, at least as far as uglyness goes Civ2 comes pretty close...

[Solver]

I can't honestly understand that complaint. Alright, strategic resources may be hard to find sometimes, but Civ3 map seemed very easy to understand to me, both as far as tiles and units go. I guess this is really individual - I could, for instance, never tell adjacent tiles in Civ2. So such map perception does appear to be individual.

As for ugliness, Civ3 graphics were cartoony, but not ugly. A tank looked like a tank - although a cartoony version of one. At least it wasn't Civ2 or SMAC where you couldn't understand what the heck is that thing on the screen.

[Locutus]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by Solver
As for ugliness, Civ3 graphics were cartoony, but not ugly. A tank looked like a tank - although a cartoony version of one.

At least it wasn't Civ2 or SMAC where you couldn't understand what the heck is that thing on the screen.

For SMAC I agree, but Civ2 Are you mad? They were not even proper units, they were icons. Pretty hard not to be able to distinguish between those...

As for Civ3, those units were NOT cartoony. CtP graphics are cartoony. Civ3 units were indistinguishable blobs on the map. Only on low resolutions could you really see the difference between similar unit types.

[Solver]

Well, Civ2 units were distinguishable as in it was usually possible to tell which unit is which unit type, but it didn't help at all if I could never tell if my unit is adjacent to the enemy one or not, that isometric view only gave me headaches.

Well, I am glad then that I played Civ3 on low res, as I usually do - never had any problems with units there. And how come CtP graphics are cartoony? A CtP tank looks like a tank, a Civ3 tank looks like a cute toy version of a tank.

[Locutus]

Well, I am glad then that I played Civ3 on low res

Well, some of us don't. It would be nice if we could play the game as well...

And how come CtP graphics are cartoony? A CtP tank looks like a tank, a Civ3 tank looks like a cute toy version of a tank.

The Tank is a bad example, that does look more cartoony in Civ3 than in CtP. But any infantry, cavalry or future unit OTOH...

[Solver]

Well, some of us don't. It would be nice if we could play the game as well...

You would better feel sorry for laptop users who couldn't play at 1024 that was the minimum requirement.

The Tank is a bad example, that does look more cartoony in Civ3 than in CtP. But any infantry, cavalry or future unit OTOH...

No future units in Civ3... I think the CtP2 marines look more serious than Civ3 ones, same goes for planes, etc. The CtP2 bomber is a recognizeable B-52, and the Civ3 Bomber is what? A comic version of the German Gotha, or what?

[Harry Tuttle]

I think the most important part about Civ 4 graphics is that they are clearly distinguishable. Blending, and 3D shading are just fine, but there is an extent to which the graphics interfere with how you can manipulate the resources of your empire.

If a tile ends at one point, but you have the graphics in a way that it is not easily distinguishable, any planning on your part will be not a question of "go here, plant city", but of "Go here, define where the resources are, make sure you can identify the city placement square, place city".

The uniqueness of the graphics have to come hand in hand with being able to identify a course of action.

Remember, squigly roads may look nice, but you need to be able to see how the roads will improve your method of unit transportation.

This is a strategic game overall, not an art showcase.

[Master Zen]

Anything as long at it is hex-based

[Max Sinister]

Civ 1 graphics were OK, though very simple. I had no problem with Civ 2 graphics either. SMAC was too dark and indistinguishable, I agree with that. I guess the new game will have a lot of blue and green too - heck, it's the colors of sea, grass and forest, of course there's a lot on our planet.
RTW looks good, but where are the tiles?

[Nikolai]

Civ2 graphics? No thanks...

[Nostromo]

You would better feel sorry for laptop users who couldn't play at 1024 that was the minimum requirement.

My Toshiba's native resolution is 800x600, but I can still play Civ 3. Of course, when I set my screen at a higher resolution, the number of pixels on screen can't go up (after all, I'm stuck with the native 480 000 pixels). To solve this problem my laptop creates a virtual screen.