PPQ Flavor Module
- Thread starter PPQ_Purple
- Start date
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
Yep, it's the legion.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
There are days to be sad and days to be happy. There are times when you need to be patient or brave.
Spoiler And than there are days when you just want to let out your inner evil clown. :
pretty nice.
if you accept some critics :
I wouldn't have done the LB with a mimic's head. Mimics are really special units and not only "themed".
What about leaving the same head as for archers/warriors ? (that said, purely artistically they're neat !!)
for X-bows: I don't think we'll really see the smiley face on the helmet. It would need to be thicker ? or red. (red is always good) (as of now, unless zoomed, it looks like strange shadows).
as for their pants : great work; but I fear we don't notice it at the usual zoomed value. thus, one leg purple and one leg orange (with a slight strip?) might make their strange color-taste more visible.
(but take all those comments with a grain of salt)
if you accept some critics :
I wouldn't have done the LB with a mimic's head. Mimics are really special units and not only "themed".
What about leaving the same head as for archers/warriors ? (that said, purely artistically they're neat !!)
for X-bows: I don't think we'll really see the smiley face on the helmet. It would need to be thicker ? or red. (red is always good) (as of now, unless zoomed, it looks like strange shadows).
as for their pants : great work; but I fear we don't notice it at the usual zoomed value. thus, one leg purple and one leg orange (with a slight strip?) might make their strange color-taste more visible.
(but take all those comments with a grain of salt)
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
I am not against criticism, so don't take my reply the wrong way. However:
1. It's not the head from a mimic. It's the head from the swordsman model. You can really see it in the comparison image where I put the swordsman and longbow side by side. In fact, if you look at the scout and swordsman in context with the longbow you can see that I took the colors of the scout and swapped them onto the swordsman for the body. That's why I did that last image. It was a sort of easter egg image that I hoped people would pick up and go "I see what you did there.".
2. Sadly you won't really see too much detail on my units fully zoomed out, period. That goes for any of my units. It's not really an issue of color so much as texture resolution. There is just so little you can do with 128x128 and I don't want to go 256x256 for performance reasons. And at 128x128 those eye slits (that's what they are) are 5 x 3 pixels at their widest. Fully zoomed out any color I use is just going to look either like a shadow or a smudge when you zoom out.
So little touches like the smiley face are sadly going to have to be relegated to cool ester eggs you pick up once you zoom into your stack and go: "Wait. That's cool."
Also, the thing on the helmet is supposed to represent vision slits on a visor. It's based off actual historical Renaissance helmets that were a bit... uncanny.
I figured it would fit our theme nicely. And I intend to have closed helmets with a similar design for some units as well.
1. It's not the head from a mimic. It's the head from the swordsman model. You can really see it in the comparison image where I put the swordsman and longbow side by side. In fact, if you look at the scout and swordsman in context with the longbow you can see that I took the colors of the scout and swapped them onto the swordsman for the body. That's why I did that last image. It was a sort of easter egg image that I hoped people would pick up and go "I see what you did there.".
2. Sadly you won't really see too much detail on my units fully zoomed out, period. That goes for any of my units. It's not really an issue of color so much as texture resolution. There is just so little you can do with 128x128 and I don't want to go 256x256 for performance reasons. And at 128x128 those eye slits (that's what they are) are 5 x 3 pixels at their widest. Fully zoomed out any color I use is just going to look either like a shadow or a smudge when you zoom out.
So little touches like the smiley face are sadly going to have to be relegated to cool ester eggs you pick up once you zoom into your stack and go: "Wait. That's cool."
Also, the thing on the helmet is supposed to represent vision slits on a visor. It's based off actual historical Renaissance helmets that were a bit... uncanny.
Spoiler Click at your own peril :
I figured it would fit our theme nicely. And I intend to have closed helmets with a similar design for some units as well.
no problem.
I mistook the swordman for a mimic then
therfore I take back my comment
re zoom : I agree... but for the units I tried to do, I went more for "recognizable at distance, and prettier zoomed in" than "pretty zoomed in, mashed up zoomed out"; that's the reason of my proposition : larger strips on the pants would be seen as 1 leg orange, and one purple.. and the small(er) green strip would be seen zoomed in.
At the moment I fear that we will have the impression that the pants are "brownish", and see the pretty colored strips only while zooming.
re-helmets: I directly recognized the vision slits... but I thought the easter egg was a crazy smile... reason of my remark. As it's not supposed to be a crazy smile, it is well done .
ergo... I take back 2 out of 3 "suggestions", but in no way will I insiste to have you change your models. They are good as is.
and thanks for your dedication !
I mistook the swordman for a mimic then
therfore I take back my comment re zoom : I agree... but for the units I tried to do, I went more for "recognizable at distance, and prettier zoomed in" than "pretty zoomed in, mashed up zoomed out"; that's the reason of my proposition : larger strips on the pants would be seen as 1 leg orange, and one purple.. and the small(er) green strip would be seen zoomed in.
At the moment I fear that we will have the impression that the pants are "brownish", and see the pretty colored strips only while zooming.
re-helmets: I directly recognized the vision slits... but I thought the easter egg was a crazy smile... reason of my remark. As it's not supposed to be a crazy smile, it is well done .
ergo... I take back 2 out of 3 "suggestions", but in no way will I insiste to have you change your models. They are good as is.
and thanks for your dedication !
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
I took your concern to note so I went and double checked how they look at the default zoom setting the game gives you. That's how I tend to play the game and that's where I optimize my models toward in general. And I've determined that at that level I can see the stripes and other relatively minor details decently.
The only thing you can't really see is the helmet face. And that's more or less a deliberate easter egg on my part that you aren't really supposed to figure out until you stumble upon it. I only really revealed this one to call attention to the fact that when the units are out you guys might want to start looking for stuff like that.
This said, my approach to making this units is a bit different than yours in that it's not so much focused on them looking good as it is on information delivery.
Not to say I am not looking for cool and good looking. They definitively should. But my primary goal is that I want the player to be, at a glance, instantly capable of telling a units faction, type and tier. That is why I focus so much on keeping things consistent and making units of the same tier look alike.
For example: Naked, black spiky hair and a white loincloth? That's a Belesarph tier 1 thing. Looks kind of like a Moroi? That's a Calabim tier 1 thing. Etc. And you'll be able to learn that relatively quickly and instantly use them to ID units. Mostly your own since the AI tends to use massive stacks that we players can't really match but still.
I only really branch out heavily for late tier units like crossbows and paladins where I can go all out on the details because they are rather unique inherently. And because by the time you hit late game stacks get so big that you need to check manually anyway. So making them look pretty on all levels is secondary to making them look distinct in an identifiable way.
Spoiler Here is a full screen screenshot at default zoom level of the various units. :
The only thing you can't really see is the helmet face. And that's more or less a deliberate easter egg on my part that you aren't really supposed to figure out until you stumble upon it. I only really revealed this one to call attention to the fact that when the units are out you guys might want to start looking for stuff like that.
This said, my approach to making this units is a bit different than yours in that it's not so much focused on them looking good as it is on information delivery.
Not to say I am not looking for cool and good looking. They definitively should. But my primary goal is that I want the player to be, at a glance, instantly capable of telling a units faction, type and tier. That is why I focus so much on keeping things consistent and making units of the same tier look alike.
For example: Naked, black spiky hair and a white loincloth? That's a Belesarph tier 1 thing. Looks kind of like a Moroi? That's a Calabim tier 1 thing. Etc. And you'll be able to learn that relatively quickly and instantly use them to ID units. Mostly your own since the AI tends to use massive stacks that we players can't really match but still.
I only really branch out heavily for late tier units like crossbows and paladins where I can go all out on the details because they are rather unique inherently. And because by the time you hit late game stacks get so big that you need to check manually anyway. So making them look pretty on all levels is secondary to making them look distinct in an identifiable way.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
A small update. This is not dead and I am not gone. I am just working on a big pack of units that I'll all publish in one go as they are thematic. Think religion.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
For all whom it may concern. I am currently somewhat stuck as far as inspiration is concerned for the various religions. The basic disciples are perfectly fine, but the priests and high priests need a rework (except OO which is fine). I did some good stuff for the leaves and AV but can't think of much that would make lore sense for the Empyrian and Order.
So I am taking suggestions.
So I am taking suggestions.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
Pre-Final update. I am finishing up the religious units. Just order to go. After that I'll start packaging this in a downloadable format and taking screenshots for a big post.
black_imperator
Deity
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2005
- Messages
- 2,104
nice to know it's progressing well.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
Two things to note however:
1. I am only going to release those units I am happy with. And that means the first edition of this pack will only cover some civs. Still loads of units, and basically all you've seen in this thread (and some you have not that I've been keeping in reserve) but actually that's about 1/2 of all the units I made as part of my work.
2. This pack is built on the stable version and not the SVN version. And whilst it probably is 99.999% compatible it might still contain some bugs that would need to be fixed in the first days for those playing the SVN version.
1. I am only going to release those units I am happy with. And that means the first edition of this pack will only cover some civs. Still loads of units, and basically all you've seen in this thread (and some you have not that I've been keeping in reserve) but actually that's about 1/2 of all the units I made as part of my work.
2. This pack is built on the stable version and not the SVN version. And whilst it probably is 99.999% compatible it might still contain some bugs that would need to be fixed in the first days for those playing the SVN version.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
Sadly order won't be making it into this release. And I find that the overlords look good enough without my intervention. The other religions however are getting an overhaul visually as well as elf specific racial units.
Status: trimming files
Status: trimming files
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
Status: Trimming almost done, 87%
I know this is a really old post, but if you go into Worldbuilder, you can use one of the buttons to change all the plots to grassland. Then just save the map and load it from the Play Scenario menu.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
Which button is that? This is the first time I hear of it.
The third from the left on the top row.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
Thanks.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube (retired)
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,764
And it's out. Version 2017 New Year edition of the module is ready for download.
Check the opening post of this thread for details.
Credits for each subcomponent of each unit are in their individual folders.
Check the opening post of this thread for details.
Credits for each subcomponent of each unit are in their individual folders.
