Spell icons - anyone want to help?

[Horem]

There's a lot of good stuff there. Some could transfer. Others maybe would take a little alpha work to "fade" at the edges

I have them all as single images, so they will be quite easy to work with. I have a fair amount of others too, been looking through my old HD's I found these while looking for a bit of software, they are left over from my NWN/NWN2 moding days.

 

[Pazyryk]

If what you need is someone to vectorize those and put them on you spell templates, i can do this. However, i can probably guess that either the purification or magnet icons can make nice magic arrows

But for some of the icons/spells, i really can't say what to put on what as they are pretty abstract. I can go for total random or you can tell me what you want.

Yes, this is exactly what we need. BrokenSky started a list above that looks good to me. I'll extend that out with all spells late tonight (if I'm not too deep in programming).

 

[Civitar]

More importantly, anyone can make these. You are one of exactly two people that have the ability and interest to produce fantasy unit art. So I don't want to see you in this thread .

Makes sense, I should really stick... to... fantasy units. But I keep trying to sidetrack myself with Colonialist Legacies' units (fortunately pretty easy and quick for the most part), Éa testing (well, playing and trying to remember whatever didn't look like it was working), this, etc...
So, you will not see me in this thread again. As an aside, the elf chariot (melee) is finished, I'll upload once I have screenshots.
Finally, do you mind my using those scrolls as a base for my own spells (unlocked by Policies)?

 

[Pazyryk]

Finally, do you mind my using those scrolls as a base for my own spells (unlocked by Policies)?

Absolutely! Go right ahead and take anything you want!

 

[Lplate]

Hi,

Just a rough draft to see if something along these lines would fit within your expectation. Basic idea is each school; Necromancy, Transmutation, etc. would have a base symbol on the scroll (e.g. upturned open triangle, closed triangle, diamond, arch, eye shape, circle with a dot in its centre). Then there would be an additional symbol to distinguish the individual spells, e.g. the ankh type shape is supposed to represent self or person.

In the examples, the upturned open triangle is Abjuration and the Full triangle is Conjuration.

The spell examples would be:
top row; Shield, Banish, Time Stop, Protective Ward and then the base Abjuration scroll.
bottom row; Teleport, Conjure Monster, Flame Arrows, Summon Arch Demon and then the basic Conjuration scroll.

 

[Pazyryk]

@Lplate,

Sorry for not getting back to this for so long. I think these are great! Especially using some sort of system for the schools. And I can see them very well at game size. Can we have a full set?

You might still pull some specific parts of your images from the alchemy symbols (linked above) or take inspiration from them. There's a certain authentic occult look in them that appeals to me.

 

[Lplate]

Here's a few more icons. I was completely lacking in inspiration for Necromancy so if there's any suggestions, I'll stick them in.
The layered xcf files are in the zip so a more talented artist can polish these icons up a bit or add more as more spells are created.

EaSpellScrollAtlas1

Row 1 (Oval for Divination): Identify; True Seeing; Know World; Locate; Seeing Eye Glyph; Detect Glyphs, Runes and Wards; Scrying

Row 2 (Diamond for Necromancy): Become Lich; Death Rune

Row 3 (Downward V for Abjuration): Shield; Banish; Time Stop; Protective Ward; Dispel Glyphs, Runes and Wards; Dispel Illusions; Dispel Magic; Dispel Hexes

Row 4 (Triangle for Conjuration): Teleport; Conjure Monster; Flame Arrows; Summon Arch Demon; Hex; Summon Abyssal; Phase Door;

------

EaSpellScrollAtlas2

Row 1 (Six pointed star for Enchantment): Greater Geas; Charm Monster; Sleep; Dream; Nightmare; Cause Fear; Cause Nightmare; Lesser Geas

Row 2 (Crescent for Tranmutation): Polymorph; Slow; Blight; Water Walking; Enchant Weapons

Row 3 (Arch for Illusion): Invisibility; Fog of War; Phantasmagoria; Obscure Terrain; Prestidigitation; Simulacrum

Row 4 (Circle with a circle in its centre for Evocation): Mage Sword; Explosive Rune; Magic Missile; Crushing Hands; Breach; Wish; Chain Lightning; Fireball

 

[Pazyryk]

Thanks Lplate! I'll start adding these in v6.

 

[Lplate]

You're welcome.

Just in case anyone glancing at this thread thinks it's finished, I thought I'd point out that there's still a load of spell icons to do.

I didn't even look at the divine spells. I think they should have a slightly different feel to the alchemically inspired arcane spell scrolls. Someone else will probably have to come up with the right look for them.

 

[Pazyryk]

Sorry, didn't get these into v6. It was a long time getting that version out and it seemed like there was always one more thing to do. But I'll get these into v7 or maybe a hotfix before that...

 

[Bhaal]

Hey if you still taking suggestions for this I would recommend taking a look at the spell icons used in CRPG games like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale etc. Both of those game's have a large number of spell icons that could fit nicely with some of current spells and any future ones in the works.

 

[Doopliss]

I took a crack at a few divine spells. The Holy/Unholy spells are based on Zoroastrian imagery, and the Pantheist spells are based on assorted Futhark runes. These are mockups (particularly the ugly-ass Bless/Curse set), and I'll definitely need to work on them a bit more to get them looking decent at a Civ resolution, but I figured I'd post them early in case I'm barking up the wrong tree.

 

[Pazyryk]

@Doopliss, Awesome! And they shrink just fine.

I think Xavion333 had a better recolor of green scroll back on the previous page (alas, I think I scared him away with my criticism of his line art ). But that's a non-issue anyway because you can keep the line art and the scroll in separate layers.


Sort of related to this thread:

For gameplay reasons I need to add one or two spells not listed in the Manual. I'm not even sure what they are yet, but the gameplay need is for 1 or 2 arcane spells at Armageddon Rituals that use massive amounts of mana and do something very bad. It's a gameplay need because there is already a "religious approach" to Armageddon, which is basically the evil Temples (plus plenty of altered Divine spells). But we also need a "non-religious, arcane approach" to this same VC without those temples (since Thaumaturges can't build them). There are already a good number/variety of spells at evil arcane techs below this. But we need one or two over-the-top spells for this final evil tech. One idea:

Consume Souls (Armageddon Rituals; instant) Reduces a city to half its current population, consuming 100 Mana per population point reduced. [use nuke graphic ] [I'm not even sure this is that "over the top". Well... it would be if it could be done at a distance from caster's tower.]

 

[Doopliss]

Consume Souls (Armageddon Rituals; instant) Reduces a city to half its current population, consuming 100 Mana per population point reduced. [use nuke graphic ] [I'm not even sure this is that "over the top". Well... it would be if it could be done at a distance from caster's tower.]

It would definitely have to be more than 100 mana per-pop if it's supposed to be a big world-breaker. By those standards it takes 1,320 devoured pops to singlehandedly end the world (on Quick, if the Sum varies across speeds), and the Temple of Aŋra Mainiiu devours an equivalent of 18.5 pops a turn. It would definitely be fun combined with lichdom and teleport magic, though.

EDIT: Also, maybe a name like "Soul Inferno" to strike home that it's destroying, not taking.

 

[Calavente]

(and maybe a bonus for the caster / caster's civ ?) like : +5xp/pop consumed for caster ?
or +10 xp/pop spread around all units of civ?
maybe long cast time, so ppl still have time to react ... and the caster canno't win in only 10 turns

otherwise, real nice icones Doopliss.

 

[Pazyryk]

I'll have to think about name, but that spell will be in for sure.

The bonus here is all going to the spellcaster in the form of xp (equal to the amount of mana consumed). There's no reason for a pop or tech bonus to player... too late for that to matter now. And really it is all about your casters -- not your cities -- if you are going for this particular VC. But your caster is almost certainly a high level Lich by now and needs 100s (or even >1000s) of xp to advance more. So it kind of works out.

To make it "world-ending", I think I'll allow it from the caster's tower at any range. The evil temples will get nerfed somewhat for mana consumption, --just so that spell casting plays a greater role. As a "back of the envelope" target calculation, let's assume that a civ targeting this VC reaches Armageddon Rituals with 4 high level casters. If, say, we have spells allowing them to burn 500 mana per turn (typically) from tower (so no travel time), then that's 2000 per turn. Well, that's still too many turns I guess. Perhaps I'll reduce total mana back to 100,000 when I nerf the evil temple burn rate. The other factor is that breach itself burns mana, as do undead and demons (whenever they fight), and all of this should increase a lot as you pass 50% (some of that re-balancing went in last hotfix). So I think we are getting into the right ballpark. [All this discussion should be in Balance thread, but oh well...]

 

[Doopliss]

If, say, we have spells allowing them to burn 500 mana per turn (typically) from tower (so no travel time), then that's 2000 per turn.

So long as we're close enough to apocalypse that the balance thread is spreading into other hexes on its own, I'd point out that if you're doing 3-4 of these spells per-turn you're going to run out of size 10 targets really fast on smaller maps.

 

[Pazyryk]

So long as we're close enough to apocalypse that the balance thread is spreading into other hexes on its own, I'd point out that if you're doing 3-4 of these spells per-turn you're going to run out of size 10 targets really fast on smaller maps.

That's why we need 1 or 2 other spells at this tech that don't depend on any big cities remaining. (Hence the on-topic part of the conversation is that we will need 2 or 3 more spell icons.) Maybe the 2nd spell should target units in a bad way...

 

[Doopliss]

That's why we need 1 or 2 other spells at this tech that don't depend on any big cities remaining. (Hence the on-topic part of the conversation is that we will need 2 or 3 more spell icons.) Maybe the 2nd spell should target units in a bad way...

You could turn a target unit into a powerful demonic barbarian. That would certainly cause some delightful chaos, especially casting en masse, though it might make you too unbeatable even by unbeatable standards. With city-nuking you could at least rush your existing troops in for a last-ditch effort. Maybe if it took 2-3 turns to cast...

If you wanted a "City, unit, land" trifecta of doom you could have something like "Breaches random tiles across Ea equal to casting mod / whatever"

 

[BrokenSky]

You could do something which sacrifices the caster and inflicts damage to Ea (breaches anywhere in the world plus massive mana loss) based on the magnitude of the caster's modifiers (I mean square root of sum[ (caster mod)^2 ] of all mods). Call it Worldrend or Worldwarp of something... Sacrificing a powerful sorcerer doing massive damage and causing breaches to spawn up everywhere?