Column #152; By Raingoon

February 4, 2001, 00:33

Raingoon stands by his conviction that since Firaxis is spearheading CivIII's development, it should play as it looks in his latest article entitled "What Civ 3 Should Look Like".

Comments/questions welcomed here, or you may opt to contact the author directly.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

Ralf · February 4, 2001, 05:48

Here my summarized view on the Civ-III looks-issue:

- CTP-2 had too many small managers & too many tabs - Civ-3 must have fewer/bigger managers & fewer tabs.
- Game-mechanics must be "transparently" designed, so one understand "how's" and "why's" behind the interface.
- SMAC graphics was too dark - Civ-3 graphics must be brighter; both the map-graphics and interface-graphics.
- As for the interface-graphics itself, I think the ultimate solution would be the MS Windows interface-conventions with added SKINS. Check out this link: Is Civ-3 game-interface with SKINS a good idea?

[This message has been edited by Ralf (edited February 04, 2001).]

Roman · February 4, 2001, 08:26

I don't mind too much how graphics in Civ 3 will look like, but I would also like them not to be too dark.

DarkCloud · February 4, 2001, 15:04

Civ III should have the right side bar as in Civ II or the bottom bar as in tropico and Call to power.

Perhaps it could have a bar on the left as well... I dont care; just dont

1.) Make it cluttered
2.) Make it dark
3.) Make it gloomy
4.) Make there be too many bars

Straybow · February 5, 2001, 05:21

Definitely good to have "real" windows that actually use the OS conventions (on both MS and Mac platforms) instead of popups that follow their own rules. City view or lists that one could shift wherever one likes, jump to via [alt][tab], minimize, or even have multiple cities open. That alone could relieve much tedius clicking.

Hueij · February 5, 2001, 15:50

One of the best collumns I have read here. I could actually see what he was describing and I got even more impatient than I already was... This guy should be a poet...

vonManstein · February 5, 2001, 18:48

quote:

Civ 3 is a role playing game. Pretend the monitor is a magic window and history itself is pulling me in. That's good. It LOOKS like history.

I think he captured the way I feel about the Civ series in this paragraph.

I didn't mind the graphics of AC in theory, they were smooth, efficient and detailed. But the colours reminded me of cotton candy dipped in melted caramel. The actual interface graphics were good for the futurish setting.

That won't do for a game like Civ3. Sorry, I can't articulate my opinion any better.

Civ2 is still better than CTP2 IMO, the scale of CTP seemed skewed.

[This message has been edited by vonManstein (edited February 06, 2001).]

Changmai Beagle · February 6, 2001, 01:12

vonManstein - Why did you give such a graphically accurate description of the AC landscape? I'm not sure I'll ever be able to play it again without thinking about that. Sort of like "Be kind to your web footed friends....."

vonManstein · February 6, 2001, 18:49

quote:

Originally posted by Changmai Beagle on 02-06-2001 12:12 AM
vonManstein - Why did you give such a graphically accurate description of the AC landscape? I'm not sure I'll ever be able to play it again without thinking about that. Sort of like "Be kind to your web footed friends....."

Sorry, I've changed it to something more pleasing.

Edit: Missed an "e".
[This message has been edited by vonManstein (edited February 06, 2001).]

February 10, 2001, 03:08

I'm sure Firaxis has taken a look at TOT and said "my God" what have they (Hasbro) done to our game since a fair share of Micro Prose people left with Sid and company.
The one thing that bugs me is how do you start a game company (and one of the best company in gaming) and then loose it. Do you guys realize how many Micro Prose games I have bought in the last 18 years?

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Slingshot · February 11, 2001, 01:14

[Seeing] history itself ... pulling me in. That's good. It LOOKS like history.

- History is the stuff we're made of. It's why we expect stories to have a beginning, middle, and end. History is the lens though which we define ourselves.

Around the edges, it's the color of old parchment. In the midgame I see rich purples and the cardinal red of royal coronations. The rivers are vivid blue, and plains of green grass have sunlight glinting off them. When I sail that caravel to the west, rolling back the Black Unknown, I sense gold shining just beyond what I can see. Pulling me ever closer.

- And that was the beauty of Civ I and II, I think. There was something fresh and full of potential.

"And it's about maps. Old world maps, the kind that evoke maritime navigational charts -- again, up around the edges of the screen -- perhaps in other windows -- But you get the feeling ships have sailed off using these charts and never come back."

- Amen, Raingoon! You have the words, and I hope they inspire Good 'ol Sid Meier.

jdlessl · February 12, 2001, 00:53

I'm almost certain this has been suggested before, but I can't seem to find anything on it.

Basically, you change what the interface looks like as your civ advances. In the beginning, the 'magic book' (cool mental image, by the way) is made out of wood or stone. As you progress through the various Ages, it resembles wherever you are in the tech tree. The Iron Age gets a metal skin, the modern age has electronics and looks like something from Star Trek computers. I can't think of what the Renaissance or the Industrial Revolution would look like.

You could even have variations on them for different civs, a la the different flavors of city icons in the other Civ games. It'd be eye candy, sure, but cool eye candy.

Doh! Found it.
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum6/HTML/002155.html

--
Jared Lessl
[This message has been edited by jdlessl (edited February 11, 2001).]

raingoon · February 12, 2001, 04:15

jdlessl, if there is an evolving look to the game maybe the Renaissance could be a sort of Classical Greek revival-meets-Intalian rococo. Industrial Age might be that Victorian type of "Imperialism II" look in the fields around the windows and screens...

If they bring back the Newspaper (or a new SimCity style news ticker), that should be specific either to the epoch or era of your technology. This would have the added bonus of giving you the ability to remind yourself what level of tech you're at simply by looking at the style of your newspaper, etc. -- I remember using the cities in Civ 2 for that same kind of reminder/reorientation.