-Civ 4 Screens-

-has anyone seen the January PC Gamer? they have some screens from Civ 4 and, phew, THEY ARE UGLY! i really hope this is just a prototype that Sid's banged together to test things. hopefully his art department will freak out and set him straight.

Someone mentioned that the screen previews for Civ 3 were horrible too. I think they concentrate on mechanics first and use 'scratch' graphics as templates. Then they go back and work on better detailed graphics.

Don't worry, it's over a year from release. I bet the Art department has barely even looked at it yet.

If it comes out still rubbish, then I'll hold you accountable

Ok, first off, a million people have said they are horrible. And it gets kind of painful to keep hearing this.
Two things;
1. The game is not finished yet
2. The screenshots were scanned and were not of top quality. I did some little editing in Paint pro and the screenshots really did look pretty good. Definitely not what they first used to look.
First, let’s wait till some official screens are released at the bigger gaming sites.

Again, if anyone has the screenies saved, do some editing and get them to look as natural as possible, and you’ll see that they don’t look bad at all (even though the stage of production is early and they will get improved either way).

3. There's a stickied thread about this.

[/ybbor]

doolally said:

i really hope this is just a prototype that Sid's banged together to test things.

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So, you actually think it might not be a prototype?

Well, I can tell you a thing or two about prototypes. They in almost all cases morph themselves into the final shipping product.

Is there anywhere we can see these screenshots? Or are they limiting the release to the magazine itself?

Pirate said:

Is there anywhere we can see these screenshots? Or are they limiting the release to the magazine itself?

Click to expand...

The link is in my signature.

Trip said:

3. There's a stickied thread about this.

[/ybbor]

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if you wnated to do it the true way, you would scream at the top of your lungs, Read the Sticky!!! and be tempted to go on a flaming rant, you would then provide them the link:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=106420

you want something done right you gotta do it yourself

doolally said:

-has anyone seen the January PC Gamer? they have some screens from Civ 4 and, phew, THEY ARE UGLY! i really hope this is just a prototype that Sid's banged together to test things. hopefully his art department will freak out and set him straight.

Click to expand...

Well in this thread there are a few pictures of Civ3 before it was released. They look pretty different. So those PC Gamer shots definetly not even close to what the final artwork is going to be. Any way, I think they work on the programming first and the Graphics later on

It's a given that they will be revised, but let's not forget one simple fact:

the programmers knew they were going to place a screenshot into a popular gaming magazine, knowing full well of sites like CFC here & their patrons who will raise hell if it's unsatisfactory, thus encouraging them to release presumably their best pictures to date for feedback - most likely hoping they are mildly acceptable or better.

With that, I think there's plenty of reason for people to be upset. The game is only months from completion and the graphics are universally disappointing. They should be 75% or more completed at this point, with only minor revisions as being planned - yet many feel they are strikingly similar to Civ3 units.

Time will tell, of course, but I'm guessing they will be scrapping much of their current graphical work -or- they know full well of this minimal change, but rather spend their time on something more important. I remember several months back that Jeff_ATARI told me they wanted to make a major change (like small wonders, culture were in Civ3 from Civ2) - not just fine tune (though there's always fine tuning).

You might want to checkout some of the more recent threads with screenshots, rather than bumping this 4-and-a-bit month onld one (that said, the screenies haven't changed that dramatically....)

This thread was on the first page (and I've never been in this forum before - didn't want to overhype the new release, ya know?) so it didn't occur to me it's older. Of course, then it's also something with limited updates, so there will be gaps between postings as months go by between new screenshot releases.

As for the shots themselves, I think I saw those others (scanned from a magazine?) too, but they aren't impressive.

Let me be clear too, here, I'm not cutting Civ4's graphics so much as I'm poking criticism at all those who rather have poor 3D graphics than excellent 2D graphics - simply because it's the new thing. I'd rather see another step in the 3D arts world before having games like Civ utilize the graphics further. Civ leaders, wonders, etc okay - but tiny units, 2D would be better.

Bottom line, though - civ is more about gameplay, and always has been. Let's hope they don't screw it up too much with these new changes (battles, non-governments, etc)

I'm starting to have Moo3 flashbacks...