UFO:Alien Invasion
Development => Artwork => Topic started by: Mattn on June 13, 2008, 10:10:07 am
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Hi, we've recently implemented a tactical radar (see attachment)
What we now need is a nice background the radar is rendered on. That's where you can help.
An idea:
A table plate with things lying on it like a compass or something like that. But the radar map size can differ from map to map - so it would be nice if you could work with layers and send in the source image, too. Maybe we will create more than one background out of them. The license must either be GPL or CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
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What we now need is a nice background the radar is rendered on.
So is there any need for that stuff that's shown ghosted? Or is it the only thing on the screen?
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More importantly, how would you handle different map sizes? Does the radar scale to fit a certain area or does it scroll?
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What we now need is a nice background the radar is rendered on. That's where you can help.
An idea:
A table plate with things lying on it like a compass or something like that. But the radar map size can differ from map to map - so it would be nice if you could work with layers and send in the source image, too. Maybe we will create more than one background out of them.
Rather than create the appearance of a fake photorealistic desk, or command station, i would recommend something simpler and more flexible like the attached. I.E. a dark grey metal texture.
I don't know how much you want to allow the player to do from this view, but many (if not all) of the controls and info normally available would be useful in this screen too. For instance the control that changes the camera level, and (when you click on a unit) the normal info about his health and readiness. The simplest thing would be to keep the combat UI and simply "grey out" any function you don't want used from this view mode.
The ability to pan and zoom would be very useful especially on large maps, and when you don't try to make a photorealistic background, it's might not be very hard.
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the hud is completly hidden - the image should have dimensions of 1024x768 (i will later scale it down to 512x512 - but we need the 4:3 ratio.
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the hud is completly hidden - the image should have dimensions of 1024x768 (i will later scale it down to 512x512 - but we need the 4:3 ratio.
Did you make this non-sequitur reply because you didn't read my post, or because you read it, disagree, but don't choose to explain why?
I know the original intent was to completely hide the HUD. My point is that this is not necessarily a good idea.
At the very least IMHO you need the controls that raise/lower the level of the camera, or else you won't be able to see into buildings as in the example... or at least you won't be able to choose the floor.
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Did you make this non-sequitur reply because you didn't read my post, or because you read it, disagree, but don't choose to explain why?
I know the original intent was to completely hide the HUD. My point is that this is not necessarily a good idea.
Oh, i'm sorry, i've answered your first question.
* Imo it's not needed to have controlls here - you can always use the keyboard shortcuts (e.g. the radar level changes if you select an actor which is on a different level, or when you use the cursor up/down keys to switch levels)
* zooming is no option, too, because the radar is build out of screenshots, not 3d data, so it would look ugly at some point
* info about health and so on will be added to the radar - no need to show the hud here
the problem with showing the hud here, is, that the hud is a script file. it can easily be changed to look completely different. that's why i would still vote for showing a static background.
@BTAxis - that all depends on the size of the screenshot. The rest is autoscaling.
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So make a choice.m Either demand that all screenshots must be a certain size, or implement scrolling/zooming for them ingame. The latter seems preferrable, because of the aspect ratio issue.
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i would sugest something like they had in ufo enemy unknown (i tryed to take some print screens of it so that i could remind you of what it looked like but for some reason the pic dosent seem to work(probobly coz the game is in such a low resolution i don't know any ideas on how to do this))
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Something I thought would be neat is to enhance the 'halos' around actors and important objects as you zoom out, so your 3D view essentially becomes the map. Most of the map images are just renders of the 3D view from above anyway. When you zoom out far enough, you can't see the individual soldiers/aliens too well, so just intensify icons like in the tactical map.
This also has the advantage of rotating the map and stuff. I actually always play this level (farm01?) with Phalanx starting at the bottom, so this map confuses me until I get my head around it.
What about experimenting with making that desk/background a backdrop for the 3D view anyway? It might get rid of the lovely black abyss that's off the borders of every map.