Information On Some SMAC Pictures

Sprayber · June 13, 2002, 11:19

I was wondering around the internet and found this site with some pictures of AC on it. These particular pictures caught my attention. Are these from the early versions or are these in the game somewhere? My only clue is that they are from early versions that were redesigned.

1 http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/011.html

2 http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/012.html

3 http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/007.html

here is the main menue

http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/pictures.html

edit. this picture makes me think it's some kind of mod or something

http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/016.html

Sprayber · June 13, 2002, 11:22

Check out those PK tanks

http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/017.html

Panzer · June 13, 2002, 11:26

Wow! That's.........different. I think these pics are indeed from an early version of the game. Pretty spiffy

!

Sprayber · June 13, 2002, 11:28

This is most bizarre. Look down at the lower right hand corner at the map that shows the entire planet. Is that a feauture that shows mosture or rain fall

http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/018.html

Apocalypse · June 13, 2002, 11:38

Silly newbies.

These are from prebeta or early beta. If I had to make a bet, I'd say June or July of '98.

Sprayber · June 13, 2002, 11:48

Quote:

Originally posted by Apocalypse
Silly newbies.

These are from prebeta or early beta. If I had to make a bet, I'd say June or July of '98.

Ah didn't we both say that they were probably early design pictures? I was just interested if anyone had information about the specific items such as features they dropped. It appears that some features were dropped.

Provost Mango?

Apocalypse · June 13, 2002, 11:55

I'm just joking with you. It is just that you didn't even recognize the old unit design system.

Various features were dropped for a number of reasons Either they weren't useful, too buggy, slowed down the game too much, or just didn't fit in well.

Ogie Oglethorpe · June 13, 2002, 12:24

Quote:

Originally posted by Sprayber
Check out those PK tanks

http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/017.html

I agree I think they were early pre-release pics. Also I beleive the tanks you refer to are in actuality crawlers if I had to guess.

Og

Clear Skies · June 13, 2002, 13:27

Personsally, I think they should've kept the old base design for the University...

Method · June 13, 2002, 15:39

i dunno ogie... the lasers on the front lead me to believe otherwise...

i actually like that old unit workshop. plus the old mining platforms from SMAC(they're different in SMAX) are better IMO. in the 018 picture what do you take that thing in the water SW of hawk of chiron to be? a unity pod?

Apocalypse · June 13, 2002, 18:08

Yep, it's a unity pod.

Ogie Oglethorpe · June 13, 2002, 20:44

Definitely a unity pod. Looks pretty much like the break up pods of unity from the intro movie.

Og

Apocalypse · June 13, 2002, 20:52

I forget why they were changed. There was a very interesting reason for it. It escapes me at the moment though.

Mr. President · June 14, 2002, 00:22

Those old graphics are really cool, I wonder why they changed them all.

aaglo · June 14, 2002, 04:40

I have posted these same pics about half year ago... and I was wondering the same thing...

Shame.. this pre-beta versions look better... or different...

Apocalypse · June 14, 2002, 09:09

Now that I had time to sleep on it, I think the unity pods were changed because the original look was like the pods the factions came down in. If you look at the unity, there isn't a whole lot of them. For this reason, they were made to look different.

BustaMike · June 14, 2002, 16:20

Picture #19 is the most interesting to me. It appears to be from a cinema scene that didn't make it into the game maybe. This is possibly because of the infantry chassis shown isn't the one used in the game ('cept for crawlers & formers).

Here's the link
http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/019.html

The diplomat · June 15, 2002, 10:56

http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/007.html

I really like the terain in this one. Why oh why did they change it? IMO, the terrain here looked so much better. The current terrain is so unrealistic. In fact, if there is one think in SMAC, I actually can't stand, it's the terrain! They should have kept the old stuff.

Apocalypse · June 15, 2002, 11:14

That terrain is less detailed and it doesn't flow as well as the current one.

The diplomat · June 15, 2002, 11:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Apocalypse
That terrain is less detailed and it doesn't flow as well as the current one.

I am not saying that it did not need any improvement. They could have fixed it but keep the overall style the same. IMO, they did not need to completely throw it away. I hate the new terrain graphics!

Apocalypse · June 15, 2002, 11:35

It still didn't blend as well as the current one. The resource graphics are also much worse in the old set.

Chowlett · June 15, 2002, 19:56

Re: the unity pods in 018 - anyone else think they look like "messages in bottles"?

Apocalypse · June 15, 2002, 19:59

Kinda by the way they are just floating in there. I would think they'd have some floaty ballons or something to make them do that.

Sprayber · June 15, 2002, 21:09

I agree with Apocalypse in that I like the terrain that the current game has. But I think the old interface is kind of cooler. Who knows why they changed it. Maybe they felt it just didn't work good enough. As to the base graphics. They don't look as futuristic as the current ones do. Maybe they could have included them as replacements to provide a little variety.

What would have been kind of cool was if each faction had it's own interface scheme. If of course it didn't take away from the performance of the game.

http://www.all4games.com/pc/alphacentauri/011.html

Sprayber · June 15, 2002, 21:53

This page shows a picture of the old faction display screen. It's small but you can tell the difference.

http://www.crus.com/software/previews/alpha2.html

Apocalypse · June 15, 2002, 23:37

The reason for the interface change was because that original interface was too bulky. There were also going to have separate interfaces for each faction, but due to time constraints, they decided just to make one really good one.

Apocalypse · June 15, 2002, 23:38

If you have any other questions about graphics, feel free to ask. I can probably remember the answer. If not, I might be able to look it up.

The diplomat · June 16, 2002, 13:34

Note: since the link is from geocities, you have the cut and paste the link to see the pic. Cut and paste just the link. Apolyton might paste the link after the apolyton adress in your adress bar, don't let it.

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionC...basescreen.jpg

here is a screenshot from the old base screen. pretty cool if you ask me! I can see why they changed it: it was way too crowded. With the interface completely surrounding it, the base in the middle feels claustrophobic

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionC...ac/council.jpg

old council screen

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionC...c/Datalink.jpg

old datalinks screen. You'll notice weapons that were dropped from the final game. for ex, the nanomissile battery. But I like the close-up pic of the weapon.

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionC.../smac/ss15.jpg

here is the diplo screen that Sprayber linked to.

Maniac · June 16, 2002, 16:20

Are there any pictures of the other faction's interface? I sure would like to play some games with those.

Apocalypse · June 16, 2002, 16:29

None that I know of. I think the old one in those pictures is kinda like their idea for the Spartan's interface though.