Re: [Help-liquidwar6] Re: Questions about graphic

[Kasper Hviid]

Hello again - I wanted to post this a while back, but never got around
to it ... but here it is...!

> Basically, any 4x3 map will fit (be it 320x240, 200x150, whatever...).
> Square and moderately flat maps with a ratio up to 2/1 should fit too.

I *could* use the "no requisites" to make a 320x240 pixels map, but
when the player boost the resolution to 1600x1200, fullscreen, he will
feel quite a bit cheated. What I mean is, I don't think the players
will benefit from the designers freedom.

I'll just decides my own standard: 1280 x 960 pixels. Still, 1280 x
960 might look a bit wacky, with the fighters moving on a logical 356
x 508 map ...

> The first map renderer I'm coding, the simplest
> one, displays a "floating" map in the middle of the screen, resized so
> that it keeps it width/height ratio but fits 90% of the screen on its
> longest edge.

Yeah, it was the same in LW5, right? This is one solution to the
aspect ratio problem.

However, to sacrifice roughly 20 % of the actual play area just to
make the aspect ratio "fit", is not the most subtle of methods ... in
my opinion, "framing" the game area like this will spoil the visual
experience quite a bit.

IF the aspect ratio is going to wobble gleefully around, the maps
could be designed to accompany this. If the map had maybe 20% extra
space at the left, right, top and bottom, this could be used in case
the GUI required the map to be wider/higher. Of course, the extra
space would need to be wall only.

I think the game would benefit a great deal from having a "standard"
aspect ratio. The designers could then choose whether they want to
follow it, and players can of course chose to customize their HUD.

Hey, I think we have some "religious differences" here ... you want
the game to be user friendly and adjustable - I want the game to
follow some standards and be pretty. We can't have it all ...

> As a(n intermediate) conclusion, I'd say, if you have a nice idea for a
> hud -> go ahead

The total number of fighters are constant. So the color tube could be
vertical only, with the different colors stacked on top of each other.
This would take up less space, and look cool.

A floating HUD would be nice. However, it would be quite frustrating
if the critical part of a war got obscured by a HUD element.

Personally, I'd prefer just to have a floating timer in the top-right
corner of the screen. I don't need a tube of colors to the left, since
I can see how many fighters I have by looking at the screen, and I
don't want to be bothered with network details or other stuff in the
middle of a fast-paced game.

> But well, this should be much clearer when "meat" will be here, I mean
> up and running code 8-) I could take some screenshots from the current
> work in progress, to save you the hassle of compiling all this.

Oh yes ... Please do!

> > I think a nice feature (In non-network games) is to be able to let the
> > 356 x 508 be replaced with the current screen size, so 1 logical px =
> > 1 px.
>
> Mmm, yeah, resizing the logical map according to display capacities. Is
> that what you mean? I didn't think about it but I like the idea.

I think that's what I mean, yes. Resizing with OpenGL is good, but no
resizing is better ...

> As of today, only "map.png" (ie walls) is read, but the idea is:
> whenever there's a new property, make a new png file which represents
> it. If the map designer wants a global view of all the properties, let
> him use layers in Gimp or run the game.

Sounds good!

I don't know if this already is on the wish list, but some Sacred
Areas on the map could, once conquered, give certain bonuses: Better
defence, better attack, or faster speed.

- Kasper