Jump to content

New Screenshots


Guest Big Time Software

Recommended Posts

Guest Big Time Software

The heads animate to give the figures some life. There are some other "idle" animations in there too, like HQs waving their men on. These subtle motions mean don't actually convey any information.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest John Maragoudakis

The hands waving are a death knell for the HQ. I want the feature for sure. The Lt. does wave his hands alot. He'll be the first targeted. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest John Maragoudakis

You guys have done amazing progress. The trees are very realistic. I say that portraying the atmosphere of being out in the nature is very important. Strange but it is memories of being out in the forest that stick in your mind too, (from training). I remember birds tweeting, I even remember thier song. Over and over I would hear that song. Any birds to be heard in CM? I know that really sounds picky but if you really want to surprise people, throw in the sounds of mosqitoes when your point of view is really close to the ground near bush(from time to time). Yep those little insects don't care about the war, they will pick at you constantly. The camoflage on that tank is kick ass. Nice detail on the weapons too. Will you include tents too? You know, tied to the trees. Oh and another thing, will there be varying elevations in the forest too? Don't the Americans have that netting on thier helmuts sometimes? Are all the faces going to be pink? How about some cam paint, green and black will look gung ho.

The sense of distance in the second screenshot is convincing too. That's exactly how a long open space feels like. A cold open barren space. Tank heavy machinegun fire will look nice coming from a about kilometer out, (50 cal). Not sure they would fire from that far out but I'm pretty sure that a 50 cal can shoot from that far out.

I can't wait for your modern version of Combat Mission.

[This message has been edited by John Maragoudakis (edited 03-15-99).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Big Time Software

There will actually be some ambient noise. Birds may be included smile.gif

Forest can be at any height.

Plain jane faces for all. The only thing the average WWII soldier had on his face was dirt. Grease paint was only used in rare circumstances.

In general we can't go nuts with having oddball stuff for textures. There are VRAM and art time issues that rear their ugly head. So if each troop type (para, SS, rifle, etc.) has its own look and that is all. No variation within the type.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, first let me say that I think the graphics are looking great. Second, I also think that the individual men look great: they have a more serious look to their faces. But one criticism remains: the colors of their faces (and hands)! They're too pink. They should be tanned from exposure to the sun (yes, even in winter), and darkened from all that dirt and grime. Same with their hands. The last time I saw hands that pink was when my mother made me wash my hands for half an hour after I had played in the mud all day - I was six or seven years old. smile.gif

To repeat: Polygons are perfect, colors need tweaking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest John Maragoudakis

I guess the little chickadees will stop chirping if enemy tanks approach eh? I'm not sure about that. The birds do keeping singing when soldiers walk about. Or perhaps some birds stop while others keep at it and so it seems that the sound is constant(more or less).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know, but one thing I always found a little strange in Close Combat was that there could be the most intense shelling of artillery and AT guns, the cries of the dying squads could already not be distinguished, and still you would hear a bird singing happily like nothing happened.

Yes, birds sing BEFORE a battle, but I can imaging that the sound of 150mm howitzers ripping through the landscape would scare them for at least some time. Hell, go and fire a rifle in the woods and THEN try to listen to the birds... it'll certainly take some time...

Oh, and I forgot: GREAT screenshots. Geez, these soldiers look amazing from even close up. I personally would have been happy with half the detail smile.gif

Especially interesting the different weapons that each men in a squad carries. MP43, the rifle and a MP - great!

Two questions:

- what is this big flag in the background of the first screenshot? Looks like a flag or some, but it seems pretty oversized

- in the second screenshot, I can not really see very well where the slope starts. The background has the same green color, the slope is not visible (but can be imagined because of the partially hidden trees). Is this because the picture has been compressed for the iNet?

[This message has been edited by Moon (edited 03-16-99).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Big Time Software

Misc responses to above:

Names are randomly handed out when the unit is created in the scenario editor. So if you have "Sgt. Santos" in a particular battle, he will ALWAYS be there each time you play the battle.

We added some names from our previous games. Never thought of that until we were putting in Chris' names smile.gif

Every sound takes up a sound channel, and there are NEVER enough to go around. So we certainly aren't going to waste one on birds chirping when there is an 88 that needs to be heard smile.gif

The Flag in the background is a Major Victory Location. Minor ones have a smaller flag. All flags can be toggled off with one hotkey.

The slope is a bit hard to see in shot #2, primarily because of the compression. Higher elevations are lighter in color than lower ones, but the compression minimizes that difference. Plus, when you are in the game you will be moving the camera around, which gives a GREAT sense of depth and height.

Steve

[This message has been edited by Big Time Software (edited 03-16-99).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest John Maragoudakis

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Every sound takes up a sound channel, and there are NEVER enough to go around. So we certainly aren't going to waste one on birds chirping when there is an 88 that needs to be heard.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The two events shouldn't happen at the same time though. If an 88 was firing(or anything else that takes up a sound channel), the little birds would stop(They get scared).

The only thing I was worried about is how someone might look around to see where the birds stopped peeping in order to locate enemy tanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Big Time Software

You're letting your imagination go a little too wild smile.gif The birds (or whatever sound we have) is there simply to fill up dead time, just like Close Combat. That's all it does. If the birds stop it is because something else is going on. If there is something going on, well, you will SEE it plain and clear (spotting levels). There is no information to be gained from the noise, none. In fact, you could play CM with all sound turned off and the game would play exactly the same, except it would be much more quiet smile.gif

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you guys change the hill screenshot? Now I can see the ground texture MUCH better and the slope is easily visible against the background. Great!

A couple more questions:

- the victory location flag: it seems to be very big. Is that because the Germans are virtually standing in the VL? The flag seems to be behind the multistory building...

- In the hill screenshot, the selected US rifle squad is located in woods. Obviously they are within the "woods" floor texture. However, they are clearly visible because no trees block the LOS. Just to make sure I understand: they will still receive a defensive bonus if shot at, right? Will the bonus depend on how deep they are in the woods (if shot from the outside) or will this only affect the LOS?

- In the hill screenshot, it is hard to see where the bazooka team and the HQ are. Am I right to assume that the bazooka team is on the left hand side in the background? (dang jpg's...)

- In the upper screenshot, it's nice to see the "broken HQ contact" sign. That's great! These two grenades in the ammo box - I can't really see if this is rifle grenades or Panzerfaust rounds? Which types of ammo would we see in this box (e.g. smoke rounds for tanks) - obviously hand grenades are left out.

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Big Time Software

Nope, didn't change a thing smile.gif Maybe you looked at it on two seperate computer systems? This could make a big difference, especially if one was Mac and the other PC.

The flag is big because it needs to be visible from anywhere at any view. The Minor flags are smaller though. All of them can be toggled off.

A reminder about tree graphics -> they are visual only and have no bearing on gameplay. In fact, you can toggle all trees off, yet the game will play EXACTLY the same way. So if it is on the woods "floor" texture, and the display says "woods", that's what terrain it is on.

Correct about the bazooka and HQ placements.

The graphic shows two Panzerfausts. Tank/gun rounds are displayed in text where the "Ammo" box is.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just wanted to let you guys know the game looks great so far. I am a WWII re-enacter and I don't understand the big deal about charts and graphs and huge instructional booklets. Having read and studied a lot of World War II I think the biggest thing to have in the game is a feel or emotion. Like in Close Combat when you hear your men dying it takes you into the game and you are almost there! That is the best part. Of course gameplay is very important and without it you have nothing but from the way it looks if CM has feel and emotion it should kick ass in every way! By the way everyone should check out a WWII public display battle- They are usually excellent! One more thing there is no better feeling than riding into a battle on the back of a sherman!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I assure you, easyred44, that I would feel *much* better than you riding into a battle on the back of a JSIII or a King Tiger. smile.gif Of course, in the real world, I would feel pretty sick to my stomach riding anything into a battle. wink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, flogging a dead horse here greatly, but just when I thought I understood your LOS calcs, you post the comment:

---

A reminder about tree graphics -> they are visual only and have no bearing on gameplay. In fact, you can toggle all trees off, yet the game will play EXACTLY the same way. So if it is on the woods "floor" texture, and the display says "woods", that's what terrain it is on.

Which confuses me when compared to the comments in the LOS page stating:

So if your LOS is blocked by a solid object, you will not be able to see any further. When you look at the picture above, take a look at the little wooden house. Areas directly behind the house are not visible, yet the eas to the immediate (we are talking 1 pixel here!) left and right are.

So are the trees considered solid objects, or what am I missing here? I know this has been covered ad infinitum, but I got thrown for a loop by that statement.

Additional question: I presume as you move the camera around you will be able to see all enemy units that ANY of your forces can see. Will there be a way of telling which of your units are actually in LOS of a particular enemy unit, or is it sort of a dead reckoning thing?

Regardless of this or any other posts, BTS looks to be doing an amazing job. Guess I gotta go install that 3D accelerator card sometime before this summer... Thanks for carrying the torch for us who grew up on AH and cardboard counters and have been waiting for what looks to be the next big step.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Big Time Software

Don't worry Adam, we can see how you were confused smile.gif

The bit you are missing is that we don't simulate individual trees. This would be impossible at CM's scale. Thousands of real trees would require, uh, thousands of simulated ones smile.gif Maybe in 2-3 years we can do this!

This is why I picked the house to illustrate the exactness of the LOS system. Buildings of all sorts, hills, vehicles, etc. are easier to describe using a screenshot. Trees are figured in just as "exactly" as the house, but the trees are abstracted so there is no great way to show this.

All spotted enemy units are displayed on the screen. Moving around the camera will allow you to see these, but obviously will not reveal hidden units. There is a LOS command that allows you to "point and check". Tells you all sorts of information, like distance, unit name, strength of contact, chance of hit, and terrain. The targeting command also gives this same information.

We just got ourselves an ATI 128 card and couldn't be happier with it! But the older cards (don't get a 3Dfx 1st gen!) are pretty darned cheap now. Personally, I would go with a second generation card, or 3rd if you have the money.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...