"area view" and "palace view" bugs ?

[kring]

Originally posted by korossyl
Well... yeah, they are purely aesthetics. But Civ III just wouldn't be Civ III if it had the graphics from Civ I. It's not about whether they're useful, or necessary, or important to the gameplay engine, it's just that they add a lot to the feel.

No, it is more about how much time it would have taken to provide this, time that wouldn't be used to provide some of the stuff that is in the game. It is also about what would have been left out to put this in. Much as I can appreciate the sentiments, I prefer the extra units, better gameplay, etc that this time was used to create in place of the aesthetics that would have been gained. What would you want left out to gain this?


FWIW, I preferred Civ2's Aerial View to the minor Civ 3 version.

 

[Elden]

Originally posted by strangelove8
Try this, how many units will "aerial view disabled in senarios" sell?

Or better yet "Our new patch umm expansion removes features rather than adding them.".

 

[warpstorm]

Let's do a comparison of features removed versus features added. 2 removed: 250+ added (according to the website). Not a bad ratio.

I've already said that the way to have handled this if they weren't going to spend the time to modify the aerial view would be to have a flag set so that mod maker has the choice.

 

[warpstorm]

Originally posted by korossyl
The epic just doesn't feel so epic without the epic, sweeping views of my epic city throughout the epic timeline of history.
=(

This feature is there for the epic game, just not during scenarios.

 

[korossyl]

Well, I'd rather have the game be released later and with complete features.

 

[Elden]

Originally posted by korossyl
Well, I'd rather have the game be released later and with complete features.

Same here. Especially since Australia gets it late any way.

BTW since I use my own mod with better city/leader lists I will NEVER see my city/palace.

 

[warpstorm]

Originally posted by korossyl
Well, I'd rather have the game be released later and with complete features.

It is a matter of time, money, and resources. I assume that Breakaway (who did a lot of the content production for the game) was working on a fixed budget (and maybe schedule) for this project.

A general rule of thumb for software development is that if you are on a fixed budget (time or money), your options start to come down to what features do you want cut. I'm sure the designers started with a big list of features they wanted to add and had to start paring them away as reality set in.

Very few projects have the luxury of "It'll be done when it's done".

The saying "Time is money" while trite, does have elements of truth. The longer a team works on a project the more it costs them. If they want to stay in business they strive to at least break even (most game companies do not make a profit and utimately close shop). Are you willing to pay more for the additional features that would make it 'complete'?

 

[korossyl]

Originally posted by warpstorm
Very few projects have the luxury of "It'll be done when it's done".

Really? I've seen quite a few games being delayed over and over again, sometimes for months. One of the Metal Gear games for PlayStation was released over a year after the originally planned date.

On the other hand, I just realized whom I am talking to and that you're one of my heroes, so I'll just respectfully conclude by saying that "Aerial views are good, please release them sometime if you can."

And add that the only reason I care is because I can't play the Watercolor terrain with the aerial view.

 

[eric2075]

I would really have hated to see Conquests delayed over the creation of aerial and palace views. These have to be the two most unimportant aspects of the entire game.

 

[kring]

Originally posted by korossyl


Really? I've seen quite a few games being delayed over and over again, sometimes for months. One of the Metal Gear games for PlayStation was released over a year after the originally planned date.

On the other hand, I just realized whom I am talking to and that you're one of my heroes, so I'll just respectfully conclude by saying that "Aerial views are good, please release them sometime if you can."

The main reason games are delayed is to resolve major bug issues. Considering the one you mentioned was a console game, those have to be bug free since patches aren't an option for most console games. While I have seen PC games delayed, it was because major bug issues that need fixed and not due to adding additional things. The amount of time to add the new buildings to Aerial View would take a long time, I don't expect to see them in a patch.

If this was easy for the designers to implement, a possible solution would be to allow people to add the items in themselves. I don't know how easy such a solution would be for Breakaway to add to the game.

FWIW, I believe Atari has the final say in what is or isn't in the final product.

 

[Dan]

Originally posted by Dan

Could easily be added in a patch. Think about it, you really cool guy.

Moderator Action: Warning: Dan, control your temper and language! --Padma
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

hah thanks for the warning. I'll use "donkey" next time.

 

[Dan]

Originally posted by eric2075
I would really have hated to see Conquests delayed over the creation of aerial and palace views. These have to be the two most unimportant aspects of the entire game.

thats true, but they're just one of the few goodies that make this game awesome. But of course, some people don't care for them. Which, yeah, I find aerial view pointless because it's rather ugly anyway. But the palace was always cool like the first few games I played, I wouldn't mind if they didn't improve upon it.

 

[strangelove8]

Just dont allow new buildings to have city graphics. Problem solved. no features removed.
Now to fix this...

 

[Dan]

Originally posted by warpstorm


Patches aren't easy or free for the people who have to actually do them. Even simple ones can easily cost thousands of dollars to do (based on the going rate for programmers and artists). This isn't even including the opportunity cost of what they could have been spending their time on. Think about it.

Having talked with the people doing this at the time, they said that it'd take a few weeks work to get the code and the art together to do it. This was a few weeks that they decided could be better spent on balancing the conquests and adding new rules.

you know, you don't have to be such a jerk. (hope I can say that on this board) Someone just had a simple issue/request they wanted to talk about and I added onto it. No need for cocky remarks in return.

And I noticed you added that little smiley at the end of your first post on this thread. You weren't fooling anyone you clever guy, you.

 

[strangelove8]

Great post Dan, i dont know why some people act like jerks on here. look for the same in the trainer section.

Perhaps the very high number of posts that warpstorm have writen can give us insight on his personality.

 

[warpstorm]

Originally posted by Dan

And I noticed you added that little smiley at the end of your first post on this thread. You weren't fooling anyone you clever guy, you.

I added it since it was obvious (in retrospect) that some people didn't see the humor in it without it.

 

[warpstorm]

Patches aren't easy or free for the people who have to actually do them. Even simple ones can easily cost thousands of dollars to do (based on the going rate for programmers and artists). This isn't even including the opportunity cost of what they could have been spending their time on. Think about it.

Having talked with the people doing this at the time, they said that it'd take a few weeks work to get the code and the art together to do it. This was a few weeks that they decided could be better spent on balancing the conquests and adding new rules.

you know, you don't have to be such a jerk. (hope I can say that on this board) Someone just had a simple issue/request they wanted to talk about and I added onto it. No need for cocky remarks in return.

And I added onto it. I didn't think anyone would be offended that I point out the economic realities of game development and patches. Looking at the text of what I wrote I see no offensive words or name calling in it.

 

[warpstorm]

Originally posted by strangelove8
Perhaps the very high number of posts that warpstorm have writen can give us insight on his personality.

I'm sure they would if you read them all. You might be surprised.

I do write about 3.5 posts a day.

 

[strangelove8]

warpstorm, what a strange medium, this written word is.
3.5 a day gives you insight in what has been said long ago....
Now....how. can. we. fix. this.
any ideas?

 

[Dan]

Originally posted by warpstorm

I added it since it was obvious (in retrospect) that some people didn't see the humor in it without it.

aye, your right I didn't see any humor in it

Originally posted by warpstorm

you know, you don't have to be such a jerk. (hope I can say that on this board) Someone just had a simple issue/request they wanted to talk about and I added onto it. No need for cocky remarks in return.

And I added onto it. I didn't think anyone would be offended that I point out the economic realities of game development and patches. Looking at the text of what I wrote I see no offensive words or name calling in it. [/QUOTE]

Economic realities? I don't think anyone said a word about it all except yourself, therefore, noone was offended. And "think about it" how many of us actually know the whole process in making a patch and take that into consideration when discussing patch wishlists.

but since you changed your avatar to something much cooler, I can forgive you.
out