Graphics for Freeciv 2.0 and beyond...

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by vodkakov
One AWACS...

Thanks, that one is in.

[CapTVK]

Here's a new update. Mostly ships from Captain Nemo's WW2 collection and his US civilwar scenario (was that ever released?), Bebro's collection of historic ships. The carrier is from Fairline, although i'm still dubbing about Curt's version.

Now I'm looking for :
a) one hot spy
b) a merchant (camel not required but welcome)
c) a big freight truck with ('GPL' on the side)

[CapTVK]

CapTVK takes to the canvas

Btw I've also been trying my hand at some unit work. I've decided to do some work on a barbarian leader I found in one of Leonidas's scenario.

Here he is (and he's loaded with goodies)

[Yog-Sothoth]

One important thing that should be mentioned I think, just so there are no doubt about it. There some pre.reqs for gfx to be included in freeciv:

It has to be licensed under the GPL license. It can therefore not be based on or derived from gfx from a proprietary game which do not allow it to be released under the GPL.

This means the gfx needs to be drawn from scratch, or be based on gfx already licensed under GPL (or any license that is compatible with GPL).

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by Yog-Sothoth
One important thing that should be mentioned I think, just so there are no doubt about it. There some pre.reqs for gfx to be included in freeciv:

It has to be licensed under the GPL license. It can therefore not be based on or derived from gfx from a proprietary game which do not allow it to be released under the GPL.

This means the gfx needs to be drawn from scratch, or be based on gfx already licensed under GPL (or any license that is compatible with GPL).

Thanks for the reminder YS. Having done earlier work for Freeciv and related projects I'm well aware of that fact.

Luckily a number of authors like Captain Nemo, Alex Mor and Harlan already have given permission. So I don't have to track down three or more authors for some graphics (Quite a number of other units have their origin in Nemo's WW2 scenarios). Knowing you have access to the "base of the tree" makes things a bit easier.

For the moment I'm concentrating on finding original* units for a good set. Because I have the full set of Civ2 games at home I'm also vetting any units for possible infringement. Once that is well underway I'll ask for permission from the other authors for their work to be included under the GPL.

*Note: This means that commercial graphics and rips from other games (like imperialism 2, AoE, Warcraft, etc... ) are a nono. Unless they've given permission, very unlikely but it happens .

[typhoon]

Originally posted by CapTVK



Luckily a number of authors like Captain Nemo, Alex Mor and Harlan already have given permission. So I don't have to track down three or more authors for some graphics (Quite a number of other units have their origin in Nemo's WW2 scenarios). Knowing you have access to the "base of the tree" makes things a bit easier.

You sick sorry man...

[Vasc]

Originally posted by CapTVK
Here's a new update. Mostly ships from Captain Nemo's WW2 collection and his US civilwar scenario (was that ever released?), Bebro's collection of historic ships. The carrier is from Fairline, although i'm still dubbing about Curt's version.

Now I'm looking for :
a) one hot spy
b) a merchant (camel not required but welcome)
c) a big freight truck with ('GPL' on the side)

IMO the Explorer looks more out of place.

The boats are just plain fantastic. Diplomat also looks good. Ditto for the Artillery and Catapult (actually a Trebuchet I think). That Carrier is excellent.

Regarding the planes, I think you should select WWII planes for Fighter and Bomber. e.g. the Messerschmitt Bf 109 in the bottom left of the planes you posted and the Avro Lancaster, second from the left, third from the top. That Stealth Fighter is actually not a Fighter plane at all, but a Tupolev 22M Backfire Bomber IIRC. You should get the Rafale or Eurofighter instead IMO (Rafale is 3rd from the top, 3rd from the right).

- Vasc, who knows more about military hardware than perhaps he should.

[fairline]

Originally posted by typhoon


You sick sorry man...

Seems a bit harsh. What's your problem Typhoon?

[fairline]

I'd agree with some of Vasc's points. He's right about the Tu-22 I drew - it's a bomber. I'd go with a piston-engined first-generation fighter and bomber. (BTW, there are better drawings of the Lancaster and B-17 available ). I'd lose my super-carrier and replace it with Curt's edits of Nemo's WW2 version - seems a bit odd having a US super-carrier as a generic unit.

CapTVK, you said earlier that far more slots are now available, but your final unit compilation has the same number of slots (?)

IMHO you should go with a consistent style for the planes/ships/tanks; either stick to isometric or the side-view you have for some of the units. Just my 2-p's worth

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by typhoon


You sick sorry man...

What did i say wrong?

That statement wasn't meant to be degrading. I need to be sure that the creator has given permission for use. Some graphics still have CapNemo's sig next to them, *meaning* i must have his permission as well apart from the other artist.

I'm sorry if i caused offense.

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by Vasc


IMO the Explorer looks more out of place.

The boats are just plain fantastic. Diplomat also looks good. Ditto for the Artillery and Catapult (actually a Trebuchet I think). That Carrier is excellent.

Regarding the planes, I think you should select WWII planes for Fighter and Bomber. e.g. the Messerschmitt Bf 109 in the bottom left of the planes you posted and the Avro Lancaster, second from the left, third from the top. That Stealth Fighter is actually not a Fighter plane at all, but a Tupolev 22M Backfire Bomber IIRC. You should get the Rafale or Eurofighter instead IMO (Rafale is 3rd from the top, 3rd from the right).

- Vasc, who knows more about military hardware than perhaps he should.

Your right, I retrospect having a F15 and a B52 bomber instead of a piston based airplanes is a bit odd.

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by fairline
I'd agree with some of Vasc's points. He's right about the Tu-22 I drew - it's a bomber. I'd go with a piston-engined first-generation fighter and bomber. (BTW, there are better drawings of the Lancaster and B-17 available ). I'd lose my super-carrier and replace it with Curt's edits of Nemo's WW2 version - seems a bit odd having a US super-carrier as a generic unit.

Thanks, I'll replace those in the next update.

CapTVK, you said earlier that far more slots are now available, but your final unit compilation has the same number of slots (?)

This version is based on Freeciv-Hires, a tileset (GPL) which has the same number of slots as the original. I'm planning to do a bigger version later but the official FC release might be closer than i thought.

IMHO you should go with a consistent style for the planes/ships/tanks; either stick to isometric or the side-view you have for some of the units. Just my 2-p's worth

Good points, my intention is to go for consistency. So all the units will be isometric and look about the same in style.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Originally posted by CapTVK
Thanks for the reminder YS. Having done earlier work for Freeciv and related projects I'm well aware of that fact.

Yes, I know that you are familiar with the GPL license. My intention was to inform other participants in this thread which might not be so familiar with it

Good to here that you are screening stuff diligently, I think this will turn out very nice.

[typhoon]

Originally posted by CapTVK

What did i say wrong?

That statement wasn't meant to be degrading. I need to be sure that the creator has given permission for use. Some graphics still have CapNemo's sig next to them, *meaning* i must have his permission as well apart from the other artist.

I'm sorry if i caused offense.

oops I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it that way. I meant it as a compliment for being so devilishly clever. The phrase was supposed to have looked like this:

You sick sorry man

I apologise for the misunderstanding caused by using the wrong smiley.


In any case, here is a great units set by Reno ('Womoks') from Civfanatics. A very nice consistent style, and an innovative way of modifying vanilla Civ2 units by adding an outline and sharpening so they all look unifrom

[Vasc]

Originally posted by typhoon
In any case, here is a great units set by Reno ('Womoks') from Civfanatics. A very nice consistent style, and an innovative way of modifying vanilla Civ2 units by adding an outline and sharpening so they all look unifrom

Those look very nice, I like the black outline. But a lot of those come from Civilization II (some boats, musketeers, etc) and we need to get the authorization to license under the GPL from all of that graphic's authors, from bottom up.

Regarding additional unit slots, in Freeciv you can have upto 200 different units. By default, we still use mostly the Civilization II set + AWACS + Worker, but for e.g. Hirisov has made a different ruleset which changes the boats to be more balanced. See:

http://forum.freeciv.org/viewtopic.php?p=2939

I made a ruleset mod that added, besides the plain old u-boat submarine, fast attack subs (high attack) and strategic subs (large missile carrying capacity). But I haven't managed to convince everyone so I could sneak them into the default set yet.