GAME ATMOSPHERE (v 1.0) hosted by Dominique

[CormacMacArt]

Gee, and I thought I was the only one who didn't try to conquer the world. I usually play Ireland, so as you might think, I max out at 3 cities-colonies (I hate micromanagement) and spend most of my time using politics to stay on everyone's good side (or I am very quickly toast). If the councilors were expanded (along with my diplomatic options), I would be happy.

[Eggman]

Being able to see a POLITICAL map would be a lot of fun. I don't mean the regular map with lots of dots for various cities. No, I want a standard atlas type map where all land inside your borders are colored in and the capital, major cities and natural/wonder landmarks possibly shown as dots with their names next them. This would be very graitifying to see your nation as it spreads across the world. Personally, I am fascinated looking at old maps and seeing how the borders used to be (Rome extended from England to Mesopotamia, Europe circa 1815, etc.) Big ego booster, this one is, and probably not too hard to implement.

A more realistic looking geographic map would also be nice but not necessary.

As in SMAC, there should be natural landmarks. The Grand Canyon, Angel Falls, Mt. Everest, etc. The longest rivers should be named (the Nile and Amazon or whatever) as well as other major geographic sites. Perhaps even have the option to name them. Also big ego boosts. They could also serve real functions as bonuses or just a sort of localized tourist/morale bonus.

[NotLikeTea]

Some people want a spherical map, and this would likely be impossible, without massive changes.

Still, why not approzimate it, as a little goodie? Just take the standard rectsangular map, and project it onto a sphere Yu couldn't play the game (move units, etc) from here, but it would be fun to see borders, cities, etc on a rotating globe. Not too too hard to do, either, I imagine. SimEarth did it in the very early 90s.

[Atahualpa]

Depp: Dont agree with sounds and animations. Sounds and anims should be in the way you dont notice each of them, but notice a harmony when they are played altogether.
For example the sound that was played in Civ1 when another civ spoke with you. i still can see Stalin standing infront of me when I hear his music.

If those sounds and anims are well placed, you wont notice them, but you would feel atmosphere.

eggman: agree with the landmarks!

ATa

[monolith94]

Two things I feel I should note:

1: Interface. I think that not only should the interface be easy to use, also give it some style, pizzazz. Juice it up a little. For example, if you're playing an Oriental, country, give it an oriental flair. SMAC's interface was just plain dull.

2: Movies. In my opinion, Civ 2's movies have yet to be matched. Not those lameo cgi things CTP had, but real-life, high quality movies that give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. I remember building Hanging gardens JUST so I could watch the movie .

[Harel]

We said about city sound, how about city graphics?
The civ series always had a rather bleak way to picture the cities: some buildings, roads, and the special buildings jumping in random.
did you notice, that every time you look, the temple is in another place of the city?
I suggest a colorful image of a city... a panoramic view. I won't say full 3D, beaucase we do want the game to run fast. However, add the bustling roads, people going up and down the boulvards. Animations! Lot's of them! People trading around the market place, priests in front of the temple, maybe an eternal fire burning.
What I suggest, is a simple grid-like map, that every building will have it's spot on the city ( randomly selected, I wont say you have to go and micro-manage the spots ), but a temple should stay put!
Add either panormaic view, or some sort of a limited 3D area ( that will be very nice with a zoom-option... zoom right on the market place and see a goat being selled )

[Chowlett]

The people in the cities should be customized to the nation you are playing - ie, the Greek citizens are depicted in tunics, the Romans in togas, the Indians in Saris, the Japanes in Kimonos, the Zulus in loin cloths, that sort of thing. Woyld give a real feeling that your nation had an identity. If you captured another nations city, maybe they would retain their dress for a while, gradually changing into your dress one by one as period of occupation increased

[Dominique]

Alright, I jump in again to get some things nailed down:

MAPS seem to be of the ssence, yeah? I think so, too - combie a nice political / geographical map with the replay function of CIV1 - THAT's it, hm?

As far as the other ideas (animations, sounds, movies etc.) are concerned, we should keep one thing in mind: All these use MANPOWER to be done, in other words: money. The less time-consuming a feature is, the more can we expect to see it realized in CIV3.

So, e.g. the idea with the 3D map: Would be nice, really, but it would be quite a bunch of programming just for this liitle "mini-feature" which - admittedly - has no influence on the game NOR will it give you better information (more likely, just the opposite).

As a whole, it seems like most of you would like to explore their own empire a bit more, right?

[Carolus Rex]

First post in this thread.

The High Council is cool, the wonder movies are excellent (the music to Leo's Workshop and Women's Suffrage, oh man!) and I sure would love to have an end game replay sequence.

About sound. Is it too much to ask for "optional"? The sound when you found a new city or build a temple wears out really fast, I want to be able to turn it off. It's pretty much standard in any computer game, so that shouldn't be much of a problem.

Carolus

[Imran Siddiqui]

There are many things in SMAC that can be used to add atmosphere. In SMAC after discovering a tech, a quote would be shown and that quote would be read by an actor. Yes most were fictional quotes, but some were actual quotes. They added MUCH flavor to the game. I could just see a German actor readed off something of Einstein when you discover Relativity, or an Italian actor reading something by Mussolini when discovering Fascism. The possibilites are endless!

Oh, and the SMAC Wonder Movies were AMAZING! Even better than Civ2s!

------------------
Imran Siddiqui
Moderator SG Forums - www.sidgames.com/forums/ ,

"Sir, I would rather be right than be President."

-Henry Clay

[EnochF]

Here's how I view things, graphics-wise.

I would be willing to dispense with all graphics that take place during gameplay for some truly kick-ass graphics when I decide to look at a City View or take time-out to review my civilization as a whole or speak to my advisors. No animated units, animated resources, or "talking" units. Instead, concentrate the Graphics Department on the High Council, the City View, the Civilopedia (or "Great Library"), the Wonder Movies and the Throne Room.

If animated units are deemed by the marketing department to be essential for sales, then do your best to keep the animation fast.

[Eggman]

As an addendum to the political map idea, someone in another thread mentioned making maps that look like their time frame (medieval maps have sea serpents and blowing wind, ancient maps use a Heiroglyphic type of font). Though this may be unsuited for the regular map, it works wonders on the political map.

[Atahualpa]

Graphics is only one part of Atmosphere. Ctp has good graphics, but still some say that it has no atmosphere.

Imram: Better make it an option too. I think this is the kind of sound you will switch off after hearing it too often.

Ata

[Icedan]

I don't agree with newspapers. Although they were good, I don't think they were accuarate.

First, how can you have newspapers in the year 3000BC?

Second, why am I relying on some other company to tell me what my best scientists in my Civilization have invented/discovered. shouldnt the scientists themselves be coming to ME, and telling ME first!?

[Icedan]

Graphics has quite a lot of responsibility to create a good atmosphere.

The reasons I can think why CtP's graphics failed to give good feeling to the player is because it was too "messy"
In one square you have a mountain, then the next is forest, then plains, then forest, etc. And you KNOW its just one square, and each of your units covers the entire square! And we KNOW that doesn't really make sense.

The other thing is the fact you only see one image of the entire army, it looks like you have one legion, but really there is about 300? or whatever. To the eye, that doesnt make sense!

That drops a lot of feeling of Battle planning and feeling of power and leadership. Its SO limited!