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Elemental: Updated screenshots

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Elemental: Updated screenshots

from JoeUser Forums

As we reach the end of June we’re racing ahead towards trying to get an alpha out sometime in July along with the beta at PAX.

Here are some screenshots of where things are (some old, some new):

Note: Shadowing isn’t in yet so these are not representative of what the final game (or even the beta) will look like.

Elemental_1244234779

Cities exist on the map itself. Clicking anywhere on the city will bring up the city menu.

 

Elemental_1244581844

Players can zoom in and out as they see fit.  Players design roads ala Simcity but they are built automatically by workers (similar to Civ IV).

Elemental_1244144182 

Players can zoom in very close to cities. Eventually you’ll be able to see your population at work. It’s purely cosmetic but it’ll cool to watch your cities grow and thrive.

 

Battle_lightning_Wide

The tactical battles are very different than what we’ve seen before in these types of games.  The best way I can describe the battles is that they’re tactical with XCom being a major inspiration but designed to be relatively short.  Depending on how well they turn out, we may make the tactical battles an optional mini-game that people can play online if they just want to play a simple arena-style strategy game.

 

Battle_Close_Up
Players will be able to zoom in and watch the battles very close up.  This screenshot is of an internal technology demo so it’s designed to show you what our goal is.

 

We’ve been hesitant to show too many screenshots until the shadowing is in.  Those of you familiar with this stuff know how weak modern games look if you turn off the shadows.  We’ve been working on a shadowing system that scales really well but still looks good.

Also this week we’ve been developing a new type of font system that is compatible with DirectX 9 (we’re not using DirectX 10 or 11 and won’t be until Windows XP is very legacy).  Ironically, DirectX 11 has a pretty decent font system but few cards support it.  But the font system we’re doing will let us have really cool alpha blended fonts on a variety of textured backgrounds.  If you look at most PC games, they either have few fonts or have them on a black background. But we want players to (optionally) be able to read a lot of information on the world they’re creating. Each game will play very differently.

The beta version should be ready in around 60 days. Hard to believe that we’re finally getting close after all this time.  Players who pre-order it will get access to the betas and qualify to have access to the alpha version.

More to come.

193,110 views 103 replies
Reply #101 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Wahngrok, reply 22

I admire your ability to tell that from just one screenshot.

And I don't admire your reading comprehension.

Quoting pigeonpigeon, reply 25

How could you possibly conclude the that combat looks indistinguishable from MOM, AOW, HOMM, and KB from that one screenshot - especially considering combat in MOM and AoW is totally different than the combat in HoMM and KB. Your post makes no sense.

Settle down fanboys. You two are embarrasing yourselves.

Maybe your responses might be warranted if I had claimed that the battles are or will be the same as the games I mentioned, but I didn't. Stop taking my pointing out the abscense of evidence as proof of a claim I never made.

I merely stated that I could not pick out any fundamental mechanics that make the tactical combat unique from that specific screenshot. When you break those games I mentioned down to the basics there are only a few major differences (stack based vs. single unit/squad, hereoes being present on the battlefield, etc.). These games are different, but they still all similar when compared to the tactical, squad based games like X-Com and Jagged Alliance. X-Com has been specifically mentioned. I do not see anything in this screenshot that could make me think of X-Com instead of the other fantasy games. The X-Comish thing that I can think of (which is from dev journals and not the screenshot) is that many of your units will likely have their own inventories.

 

Reply #102 from Elemental Forums Top

Dont get me started on the heavily stylised gfx, I said from the the beginning that the gfx were not to my liking. I aired my thoughts and then had my ear chewed for about a week! ;)

I am though willing to now wait to see the finished product, so that I can either gloat at my 'correct' observation or eat humble pie.

We shall wait and see!

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #103 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Anomander, reply 2
Dont get me started on the heavily stylised gfx, I said from the the beginning that the gfx were not to my liking. I aired my thoughts and then had my ear chewed for about a week!

I am though willing to now wait to see the finished product, so that I can either gloat at my 'correct' observation or eat humble pie.

We shall wait and see!

 

I play ascii games so I could care less if they were stick figures or not. My only concern with the graphics is how easy modders find it to add in new artwork that fits into the style. It's not hyper realistic so that should save modelers/skinners time.