More City Styles!

[BeBro]

Yes, I know it is probably a little late, but I would like to see more different city styles.

I think we don´t need a special style for every civ, since for example many cities in Europe look very similar (generally - sure they differ in detail ) Perhaps there could be a mixture of styles that are used by all civs, some for several civs and some that are unique.

Some suggestion for special styles:

- ancient Egyptian
- ancient oriental (for Persians/Babylonians)
- ancient Greek/Roman
- medieval European (Germany/England/France)
- medieval Islamic (for Egypt/Persia)

More ideas?

[Ralf]

Originally posted by BeBro
Yes, I know it is probably a little late, but I would like to see more different city styles.

Yes, why not? In addition to this however, I want distinctive city-graphical changes when progressing from one era to the next; from ancient -> middle age -> industrial -> modern time. That enhances the feel of time passing by (a feeling that was so absent in SMAC), and makes it easier to compare/fit in part-goal achievements, against the inevitable progressing timeline.

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Ralf


Yes, why not? In addition to this however, I want distinctive city-graphical changes when progressing from one era to the next; from ancient -> middle age -> industrial -> modern time. That enhances the feel of time passing by (a feeling that was so absent in SMAC), and makes it easier to compare/fit in part-goal achievements, against the inevitable progressing timeline.

This is in, as are distinct city styles that depend on the culture group of the Civ. So Germans and French share the same style of map city look, but the Germans look radically different from the Japanese, for example.

Dan

[jsw363]

If you look at the Top 5 cities screen posted on civ3.com, you can see some of these styles. There is an ancient Mediteranean style featured as well as a medieval European style.

Thanks Dan, for your help.

[BeBro]

Yes, thanks Dan

What I don´t like in Civ2 and Civ2 ToT is that from a certain period on all cities look the same, e.g. in Civ2 ToT all cities are the same since the Renaissance, then they only change to Industrial or Modern, but without differences between the cultures. I hope your answer says that this is improved in Civ3...

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by BeBro
Yes, thanks Dan

What I don´t like in Civ2 and Civ2 ToT is that from a certain period on all cities look the same, e.g. in Civ2 ToT all cities are the same since the Renaissance, then they only change to Industrial or Modern, but without differences between the cultures. I hope your answer says that this is improved in Civ3...

Yes, this certainly is improved in Civ3. All cities change depending on what era they're in, but each city will look differently depending on its size as well as the culture type of the city.

Dan

[Gramphos]

Happy to have this confirmed by you Dan, but I had almost realized myself (unless you had played a lot with the city graphics )

On this screen you can see French Industrial cities, and some Chinese cities too.

[jsw363]

I'm glad there will be cultural distinctions that carry through to the modern age. It's easy to see that modern day Paris doesn't look like Hong Kong or LA, even though all are in the modern age.

On a side note, the French industrial cities don't look like really nice places to live (I suppose this accurately reflects the realities of the Industrial Revolution ), but what an dingy, grey looking city.

[Gramphos]

Originally posted by jsw363
On a side note, the French industrial cities don't look like really nice places to live (I suppose this accurately reflects the realities of the Industrial Revolution ), but what an dingy, grey looking city.

They may have changed them, but I guess that they will look boring how thy make them. It is that era

[Ralf]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
Yes, this certainly is improved in Civ3. All cities change depending on what era they're in, but each city will look differently depending on its size as well as the culture type of the city.

Great news! Also size/culture-depending city-graphics are great.

Compare these graphical "era-chapters" with driving on a motorway with regular side-attractions and shifting nature-scenerys to look at. The feeling of time flowing by is obviouisly much more apparent, then compared with if you are confronted with the same monotonous & bare landscape all the time.

[El hidalgo]

I suppose it would be too much to ask, but I'd like to city differences in individual cities of the same civ -- so that all my size 21+ cities don't look exactly the same. (Plus it was always too easy in Civ2 to make all your cities the largest size [large enough to get the largest city icon on the map], almost no matter where they were.)

[BeBro]

Originally posted by Ralf
Great news! Also size/culture-depending city-graphics are great.

Absolutely!

El hidalgo, I agree that even more details would be fine, however, I also think that there is a limit somewhere. Perhaps in Civ3 we have more than the 255 (?) cities from Civ2 , so when many of them are of the same size it would be a LOT of work to make so much different gfx for all those cities. And this would be only for one culture, at one age, the same amount of work would be needed for other cultures/ages too...

[Inverse Icarus]

i hope there can be more than 255 cities per civ, especially if the maps are 6x larger.

[dainbramaged13]

the only city style that was the same for all cultures in civ2 was modern, which i actually think SHOULD be the same, because the level of difference in city styles is less and less as time goes on in the real world, because this is one aspect of realism that would affect the gameplay absolut++++nada and therefore should be included.

im not trying to be cynical, just why are you guys so excited over this?

[red_jon]

Originally posted by dainbramaged13
the only city style that was the same for all cultures in civ2 was modern, which i actually think SHOULD be the same, because the level of difference in city styles is less and less as time goes on in the real world, because this is one aspect of realism that would affect the gameplay absolut++++nada and therefore should be included.

im not trying to be cynical, just why are you guys so excited over this?

So London looks the same as New York? And Hong Kong looks like Rome?

[El hidalgo]

Originally posted by BeBro
El hidalgo, I agree that even more details would be fine, however, I also think that there is a limit somewhere. Perhaps in Civ3 we have more than the 255 (?) cities from Civ2 , so when many of them are of the same size it would be a LOT of work to make so much different gfx for all those cities. And this would be only for one culture, at one age, the same amount of work would be needed for other cultures/ages too...

I agree, there does have to be a limit, for practical considerations. I held out some hope for the idea that wonders would be visible at the map level -- that way you could see, for example, the Eiffel Tower in the skyline of the city that built it. But I read that this was considered, but didn't make the cut. Oh well. I just hope there is more differentiation than in Civ2.

[dainbramaged13]

Originally posted by red_jon


So London looks the same as New York? And Hong Kong looks like Rome?

no, but the differences are not culture differences anymore. e: they all have the same TYPES of buildings, whereas in earlier times they style of the buildings differed. The only differences now are a few historical landmarks, which of course can be looked at with cityview

[El hidalgo]

Originally posted by dainbramaged13


no, but the differences are not culture differences anymore. e: they all have the same TYPES of buildings, whereas in earlier times they style of the buildings differed. The only differences now are a few historical landmarks, which of course can be looked at with cityview

That's not quite true. The Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong (pic: http://architecture.about.com/librar...nkhongkong.htm), for example, is based on the priciples of Feng Shui (as with so many buildings, perhaps most or all of them, in Hong Kong). That's cultural. And it really doesn't look like any other skyscraper out there. Also take the Chrysler Building in New York: again, culture plays a strong role, and that building functions as a symbol of New York, as does the Empire State Building. The Petronas Towers are as consciously Islamic as the Blue Mosque. So while there are all sorts of relatively anonymous glass boxes out there, there are also many signature buildings as well, which are unique to a particular culture, indeed to a particular city. It would be wonderful if Civ3 reflected some of that uniqueness in all ages, not just premodern, but it probably doesn't.

[red_jon]

Originally posted by dainbramaged13


no, but the differences are not culture differences anymore. e: they all have the same TYPES of buildings, whereas in earlier times they style of the buildings differed. The only differences now are a few historical landmarks, which of course can be looked at with cityview

Modern buildings vary wildly from city to city - London isn't exactly covered in skyscrapers and US skyscrapers look very different to Asian ones.

[St Leo]

Even more importantly, there should be more city style SLOTS.

[Roland Ehnström]

"The Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong (pic: http://architecture.about.com/librar...nkhongkong.htm)"

Whoa! That's one great-looking building!

-- Roland

[TCO]

-log cabins
-Mycenaean forts
-Minoan palaces (with big-boobed, bare-breasted girls jumping over bulls)
-log cabins
-teepees
-suburban houses
-igloos
-thatch roofs
-mideavel castles
-etc, etc. etc.

[marcuspeddle]

Originally posted by Roland Ehnstr?
"The Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong (pic: http://architecture.about.com/librar...nkhongkong.htm)"

Whoa! That's one great-looking building!

-- Roland

I've been there and it does indeed look great. A friend of mine living in Hong Kong told me the shadow of the building is shaped like a blade and the shadow falls on the British government offices. Well, I guess they aren't British Government offices anymore but in any case the Bank of China knows some pretty clever architects.

Sorry for being a bit off-topic.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Anatolia
I've been there and it does indeed look great. A friend of mine living in Hong Kong told me the shadow of the building is shaped like a blade and the shadow falls on the British government offices. Well, I guess they aren't British Government offices anymore but in any case the Bank of China knows some pretty clever architects.

Sorry for being a bit off-topic.

It was designed by I.M. Pei, one of the greats.

[BeBro]

Originally posted by dainbramaged13
the only city style that was the same for all cultures in civ2 was modern, which i actually think SHOULD be the same, because the level of difference in city styles is less and less as time goes on in the real world, because this is one aspect of realism that would affect the gameplay absolut++++nada and therefore should be included.

im not trying to be cynical, just why are you guys so excited over this?

1 - I think the industrial style in Civ2 was also the same for all, not only the modern.

2 - Well, in the same way one could ask why some players are exited about new unit graphics... More different city styles may not be the most important aspect of the game, however, they will add some atmosphere (not to speak about that it is not very realistic that all cities of a certain age look exactly the same), and that is always fine

[jsw363]

Originally posted by El hidalgo
I suppose it would be too much to ask, but I'd like to city differences in individual cities of the same civ -- so that all my size 21+ cities don't look exactly the same.

While it WOULD be ideal to have every city look different I don't think this is possible. Why would it matter if London was different from Birmingham if it was the same as Bejing? I'm just hoping that the differences between cultures are presevered through the modern era.