2D Leaderheads!

[Teabeard]

Alot of you are probably wondering why anyone would want to go back to the plain old fashioned 2D leaderheads of Civ 2 when we have the great 3D heads, well hear me out. The 3D leaderheads take up alot of space on the CD which means there is less room for other features we might want to see added. Furthermore the 3D leaderheads take alot of time and effort to do which Firaxis could be spending making the game better.

So while I do agree 3D leaderheads LOOK nice, I would much rather see resources focused on game play. Therefore I say bring back 2D leaderheads!

Oh, and you can get rid of the build your own Palace too.

 

[norwegianviking]

NOOOOO!!! Someone close this thread, this is horrible!

 

[Teabeard]

NOOOOO!!! Someone close this thread, this is horrible!

Wouldn't you rather have better gameplay instead of just eye candy?

 

[spammikone]

I'd say that remove the whole leaders, and replace them with flags or other symbols. I don't want to see same face from stone age to the modern days.

 

[sir_schwick]

NOOOOO!!! Someone close this thread, this is horrible!

Many people would disagree with you. Gameplay over silly leaderheads anyday. In fact I prefer the flag idea, since leaders don't reallly do jack in the current civ model.

 

[Zarn]

I would actually like multiple 2D leaderheads for each nation.

 

[rbis4rbb]

Teabeard wants to take up space with male and female leaders for each Civ too.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Mmmm. I kind of like the 3d animated leaderheads, it's fun making a leader furious and grimace at you. That said, I would like to see some better tools released for making these, a powerful FLC editor and a set of generic templates for face creation would really help modders.

More than 1 leader per civ would be nice, WHERE APPROPRIATE. I don't think a male and female leader for each civ is necessary, add them in where historically appropriate.

 

[norwegianviking]

Okay fine, how about this, they get 2D leader heads, but have one for each age, takes up the same amount of space, losses some of the eye candy, but stops the really annoying same face over the entire game! (Don't like the flag idea, flags just aren't fun to look at!)

 

[warpstorm]

Of course, if they went with 3D leaderheads instead of the "3D rendered to 2D like in Civ3" leaderheads they would take up less space.

Having said that, I agree. I'd even go so far as to say get rid of animation on them totally (this is why the Civ3 ones take up so much space).

Ivan, I seriously doubt that FLCs will return in Civ4 at all. The Gamebryo engine that Firaxis is using doesn't really support that format (without a bunch of coding).

 

[ybbor]

why not just make civ4 on two CD's?

 

[Juka The Dumb]

how about decapitated leaders?

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Yeah, warpstorm, that FLC editor is more of a wish for how it should have been in civ3 to begin with. I understand that they are going to 3d models for stuff in civ4, and I would expect we will be seeing full 3d animated leaderheads, an improvement, IMO.

2d leader heads would suck, that's what they had in CTP. Even the emissaries they had for civ 2 beat this by a mile.

You know, what might be good is instead of talking to the leader, you always talk to his ambassador, this could always be the same guy (or gal), with different costumes for each age. On the wall behind him, you could have a portrait of the leader, and perhaps some insignia to reflect historical time, government, etc., that would allow for multiple leaders with ease. Easy to mod as well.

 

[dh_epic]

Truthfully, I think there's a lot of benefits to 2D leaderheads. Most of them stem from the reduced quantity of CD space and the faster development time:

- wonder movies?
- unique artwork for various civs, like Japanese pyramids, or Aztec Spearmen
- multiple leaders per Civ (with different traits, maybe even weaknesses)
- more Civs

Maybe even additional features... not that I think CD space would discourage them from developing a new feature.

 

[sir_schwick]

you could have moods inbedeed in the 2D leaderheads.

 

[kram74]

I think the flags idea has a lot of merit. After all, you are dealing with a country, not just a person.

This would also lend itself well to the modding community. They could even add a 'flag builder' to the scenario builder if they felt like it, to allow people to easily create custom civilizations.

Personally I don't think that the 3D heads adds a lot to the game. Some people will disagree. The problem is that I tend to ignore the heads after seeing them a few times (been there / seen that). If it is important to convey the mood of the other country / civ it could be done with either text or a 'mood slider' or something like that.

I agree with removing the palace as well. It does't really add a lot to the game. Maybe there could be some other kind of reward system to replace it? Maybe there could literally be some sort of awards that are voted by the people? For example a leader could win the Nobel Peace Prize for certain achievements, or some sort of medal of honor for other conditions.

 

[Philips beard]

Hey people! This game will be out late 2005, then it will be more then normal with 3 CD games, and 2-D leaderheads will make CIV look like a game from the bronze age!!!! I demand a lot of resources being used on CIV4 from ATARI! The fans deserves it, and we guarantee you the sucsess!!!!!

 

[warpstorm]

Philps beard brings up a good point. The last 3 games I bought each were on 3 CDs. I'd be surprised if Civ4 fits on just one.

 

[ybbor]

Philps beard brings up a good point. The last 3 games I bought each were on 3 CDs. I'd be surprised if Civ4 fits on just one.

Philps beard does? Do I? considering i said exactly the same thing 6 posts before?

 

[Teabeard]

Space is not the only concern, though. It takes alot of time and effort to make these leaderheads. Wouldn't you rather the time and effort be spent on improving the AI or adding features?