Check this Out http://www.pcgameplay.co.uk/home.htm

[jglidewell]

Kwel

[shuttleswo]

NEW SCREENSHOTS!

http://www.pcgameplay.co.uk/newscentre.htm

[Nemo]

ummm, the forests and marshes look like tey used a sponge and some paint
but i know they arent finished, and i am sure they will make it look very nice when finished. i mean, hey, look at the details of the mountains

can someone fed-ex me a copy of PC GAMEPLAY ? i have never seen that magazine in the states, but if they do sell it here, can someone let me know which nat'l chain store sells it? thanx
[This message has been edited by Nemo (edited April 26, 2001).]

[Nemo]

the "city queue" under the city name is sweet, but that and the city name are hard to read. i hope you can resize the map, like you could in civ II.
what are the little "F" by the cities? mybe a placemarker for the "F"lags?
and it looks like the national border ends where the city radius ends i was hoping the national border extended a few squares beyond the city radius (by maybe 2 squares or so), becuase the way it currently is forces you to put your cities on top of each other to maintain a connected nat'l border. how were borders in smac? i forget, did they stop at teh city's edge or extend beyond it?
[This message has been edited by Nemo (edited April 26, 2001).]

[jglidewell]

Does any one have the magazine yet?

[shuttleswo]

What is the second screen shot? my guess is a wonder movie, but for which wonder? Maybe the apollo program?
[This message has been edited by shuttleswo (edited April 26, 2001).]

[Nemo]

shuttleswo: i think so too, either wonders movie or intro (not likely though imo) or space ending (hmmm, could be that). yeah, probably wonder movie or space ending

[Fiera]

Hmm, I can't say I like the colors very much, especially the blue/green they've used for the ocean...

And I don't like neither the city icons nor the fonts they're using at all... If they don't change these things, I know I'm gonna feel nostalgy when playing Civ3...

[jglidewell]

In terms of color I can not tell? compare to the CGW screenshots.

[The diplomat]

The screenshot looks really promising.
I like the style of the interface. It is very minimal which is good because the more of the main map that we see, the better.
-The buttons on the bottom seem to be to fortify, settle, move. It looks like we will get different buttons for whichever unit is activated.
-I like the little windows for the mini-map and the unit info. Again, I like how they are discrete and do not hide the main map.
-I also noticed that the units will have colored circles to identify them instead of flags.
-We will probably access the other screens through our advisors in the top. Clicking our science advisor will bring up the science screen etc...
-I also noticed that below the city names, seems to be the current queue and the time to completion. Knowing the time to completion on the main map is very good!
-Last, on top we see the name of the civ, the govt, the total gold and the amount of gold each turn. Knowing the amount of gold each turn is very important info. This is really good to see on the main map. The player will be able to directly see how his/her economy is doing. great!

The interface seems to be designed to be as invisible as possible but still give us the necessary info. This is very good. keep it up Firaxis.

[The diplomat]

To those who have the mag, what other good info is there?

[SerapisIV]

The advisors are in the top right.

WHERE'S ELVIS??????

[Fintilgin]

Looking interesting...

I don't think those are swamps by the way, they look like irrigation. Look how they overlay the tan `plains' in the lower right corner. I agree with those who think they look awfully boxy and artifical. The hills and forests and coastlines are very nice looking though. I'm kinda upset with the `boxy' look though, overall, as with the snowy terrain and dryer terrain. The squares look big enough that they could put smoothing diagonal `fill' to round off the squares and still have be clear what terrain your unit was on. The ninty degree angles need to be smoothed off a lot more.

And honestly, I hope we get flags and not little colored circles. They make it look more like a computer game then a picture of a mighty empire, and seem really unnatural and unattractive. Europa Universalis has these wonderful little waving flags for all the units of all 90 odd nations. I think CivIII can do that or better. I really want flags, even if they're colored flags instead of national ones. National ones would be best though. They could fly over every unit and city, and be as clear, if not more so, then colored flags or circles ever could be.

Actually, it makes me wonder. Everyone keeps saying they're going to change these a lot, but are they? I wonder if they'd even BE releasing screenshots if they weren't /fairly/ close to the final product. Now, my impression of the graphics is a mixed bag. Some parts look very nice, and some look a little iffy. On the other hand, this is not a game I'll be buying because of the graphics, I'll be buying it for the gameplay. The truth is 2D tile-based graphics can only look so good, and these are fairly up there. I think Firaxis might have been better off going with a true 3D map which then had artifical `square' zones of movement superimposed over it.

Here's a thought though, I hope Firaxis sees this. If the advisors are featured so prominently on the interface, they presumbably they're being designed to be very useful. I'm sure you can see lots of info and tweak lots of things with them. However, may I suggest using symbols instead of faces on the main screen? The advisor heads would still appear once you opened them, but they strike me as counter-intuitive on the main interface.

In other words, the military advisor should be crossed swords, economic a pile of coins, diplomacy crossed flags, science a lightbulb and so forth. Then it would be /extremely/ easy to know where you're going immediately. Advisor access should be as intuitive as possible. We shouldn't be guessing which guy is the science advisor, and which is the economic advisor.

Wow. That message sounds much more critical then I intended, I'm actually very enthusastic about the game and seeing more screenshots.... I think there were some funny compression blurriness/scaling issues with that shot. I'll wait until I see some offical Firaxis shots before coming to any final judgements on the graphics.

Joe
[This message has been edited by Fintilgin (edited April 26, 2001).]

[SerapisIV]

quote: Originally posted by Fintilgin on 04-26-2001 02:30 PM Here's a thought though, I hope Firaxis sees this. If the advisors are featured so prominently on the interface, they presumbably they're being designed to be very useful. I'm sure you can see lots of info and tweak lots of things with them. However, may I suggest using symbols instead of faces on the main screen? The advisor heads would still appear once you opened them, but they strike me as counter-intuitive on the main interface. In other words, the military advisor should be crossed swords, economic a pile of coins, diplomacy crossed flags, science a lightbulb and so forth. Then it would be /extremely/ easy to know where you're going immediately. Advisor access should be as intuitive as possible. We shouldn't be guessing which guy is the science advisor, and which is the economic advisor.

Thats a great idea !! Simple and efficient. That or maybe the symbols behind the face, with the faces smaller. The faces do kinda add character to the advisors

[Fintilgin]

quote: Originally posted by SerapisIV on 04-26-2001 02:36 PM Thats a great idea !! Simple and efficient. That or maybe the symbols behind the face, with the faces smaller. The faces do kinda add character to the advisors

Oh, well, I suspect those little faces are just a sample of a larger one we'll see when we actually access the advisor. As such, they really shouldn't be on the main screen I don't think. I /know/ I'd be confused by having to pick between a bunch of faces to get info on my diplomatic relations. I'd probably end up messing with my economy instead!

It's interesting to note that the team working on Master of Orion III is trying very hard to add a `Fifth X' to the tradional 4X Civ style game genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate). That of eXperience. As such, Firaxis should ask themselves if having the faces up there adds to the experience and feeling of ruling a mighty civilization or detracts from it. I think dramatic symbols would do the job better.

Of course with my luck, they're just place-holding pictures right now, and they've always fully intended to put appopriate symbols up there in time.

Joe