Animation

[Jason Beaudoin]

This is a message to those Civilians out there who are the wise sages of the Internet and all things regarding Civilization III.

Can you tell me what animation will be like? I'm not talking about animated units, because I already know that they're animated and not static images. I'm talking whether events will are animated.

For example:

If a volcano erupts, will we see it happen? When a typhoon rolls over my beatiful city, will I see water poor over my buildings? Will I see villagers flee in panic?

When a nuclear weapon detonates will it create a mushroom cloud? Will there be animated fallout?

When a fighter straffs another unit, will we see bullets being pounded into the dirt? Will se see the units burn? I'd love to see a unit burn! Will it explode in a million pieces with parts flying all over the place? I wouldn't mind seeing that too!

When my opponent retaliates with utter distain for my fighter who just gave his unit the dirt-nap... will I see my fighter go down in a dramatic, spinning, flaming reck and explode on impact? Oooooo baby!... that would be nice.

Give me death... give me destruction! I'm in need of some devestation!

Please... educate me!

[Diablo, Bro. of Mephisto]

THe one to ask this question is the Firaxis team itself (namely Dan Magaha, since he is the one that seems to respond to our questions the most), none of us know what the animation will be like in civ-3, only that there WILL be animation.

[Brent]

The most important part of a game is the gameplay. I wouldn't mind if they made the units simpler than in Civ2, maybe even like in Civ1. I want the units smaller so I can see more of the game at the same time. Animations only raise the system requirements. As I've said before, I'll buy the game no matter what, my computer probably will handle it, but I don't see the point in focusing on graphics. One gamer's humble opinion. Naturally if an opinion is only that of one person, that opinion shouldn't be paid attention to.

[bagdar]

quote: Originally posted by Brent on 01-13-2001 03:26 AM The most important part of a game is the gameplay. I wouldn't mind if they made the units simpler than in Civ2, maybe even like in Civ1 ... Animations only raise the system requirements ... I don't see the point in focusing on graphics.

Absolutely right!!! My computer probably won't handle it, so I'm even thinking about saving money for an upgrade when civ3's sys. requirements will be announced. Too much animation does turn into an irritation quite soon, and what's worse, if your pc is not a very fast one and you want to play with a big map and numerous civs, gameplay becomes insupportably slow in the later stages... In fact, having seen the units on the website, I can more or less imagine how gorgeous the map will look. By the way, have you got anything to say about how there can be a *running* infantry unit? Does this mean that there are profound changes in the [go] command of civ3? Otherwise, guys running from tile to tile would look very funny. Also, is there a under attack animation? You can't stand still as that guy with the axe butchers you up!

[This message has been edited by bagdar (edited January 13, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by bagdar (edited January 13, 2001).]

[cpp]

I hope there will be as little animations as possible. They are cool to watch the first time, but after 20 games they’re just annoying. If animations are included, they should at least be possible to turn off.

[JosefGiven]

I'm afraid I disagree.

The more flash-bang-whallop graphical effects there are in Civ III, the less likely it will be that users will be able to customise their game to the extent that they were able to in Civ II.

The only exception to this is the nuclear mushroom cloud. In all the scenarios in Civ, there is usually a super-duper weapon of mass-destruction as a constant. I felt that, in Civ II, the nuclear explosion was a bit of a damp fart. In Civ III, the use of nuclear weapons should be pretty rare, so that when they are used...

The screen flashes a brilliant white...
As this fades, a brilliant fireball appears, rising ponderously above ground zero...
Then the shockwave hits...and the player's view of the screen shakes uncontrolably...

The cooling mushroom cloud continues to hover over it's ruined target for the rest of the turn...


------------------
Josef Given
josefgiven@hotmail.com

[This message has been edited by JosefGiven (edited January 13, 2001).]

[Diablo, Bro. of Mephisto]

quote: Originally posted by JosefGiven on 01-13-2001 11:46 AM I'm afraid I disagree. The more flash-bang-whallop graphical effects there are in Civ III, the less likely it will be that users will be able to customise their game to the extent that they were able to in Civ II. The only exception to this is the nuclear mushroom cloud. In all the scenarios in Civ, there is usually a super-duper weapon of mass-destruction as a constant. I felt that, in Civ II, the nuclear explosion was a bit of a damp fart. In Civ III, the use of nuclear weapons should be pretty rare, so that when they are used... The screen flashes a brilliant white... As this fades, a brilliant fireball appears, rising ponderously above ground zero... Then the shockwave hits...and the player's view of the screen shakes uncontrolably... The cooling mushroom cloud continues to hover over it's ruined target for the rest of the turn...

you forgot the blast radius (the expanding wall of flame that desimates everything the shock-wave doesn't). there should be 2 types of nukes, atomic bombs, and nuclear missiles. the atomic bomb should be just as you said in your quote, but also it should have a blast radius of 4 squares away from the city. everything is desimated within that radius. the agriculture included, except it can be re-used after engineers clear away the atomic waste (which should take a darned long time). Nuclear blasts would do the same, except the blast radius would be 6-10 squares radius, the nuclear waste could NOT be cleaned up, leaving that area a black spot on the board for the rest of the game, and there would be a fallout radius, 3-4 MORE squares beyond the blast radius. the fallout would stay there for at least 20 more turns, and any units entering would die within 5 turns. unless of course those units were wearing special equipment.

[Ralf]

quote: Originally posted by JosefGiven on 01-13-2001 11:46 AM The screen flashes a brilliant white... As this fades, a brilliant fireball appears, rising ponderously above ground zero... Then the shockwave hits...and the player's view of the screen shakes uncontrolably... The cooling mushroom cloud continues to hover over it's ruined target for the rest of the turn...

Great! I like it - as long as its not for real.