Prettying up the game little by little

[darkpanda]

@darkpanda 18, 36, 62, 230 display as magenta, 232 displays as red, 25 displays as grey, 45 displays correctly as you mentioned. The transparent colour is index 0 and wasn’t it there in the sheet all along? For the fortress icon and the resource icons and so on.

Do I understand correctly that I’ll need to make sp256/7.pal and iconpga.pal match?

No they should not match. From experience, what usually happens when using pictures from multiple resources at the same time, CIV will merge palettes from different pictures, to obtain a single palette (magenta is not merged):

• From SP257.PIC, the palette has colors up to index 127 and from 224 to 255, all the rest is shown as "magenta" meaning "no color".
• From ICONPGA.PIC, the palette has colors from index 85 up to 255.

So the resulting merged palette should without problem contain colors 0 to 84 taken from SP257.PIC, and colors 128 to 223 taken from ICONPGA.PIC.

However for colors 85 to 127 and 224 to 255, there is a conflict between SP257.PIC and ICONPGA.PIC since both contain colors at those indexes... I can't know the behaviour until I investigate further.

Also, from the behaviour you describe, 18, 36, 62 as magenta, as well as 232 as red, clearly match the ICONPGA.PIC palette, but not the 25 as grey nor the 45 as beige, so the "merging" pattern is not applying here...

Re: leaders, does it mean that the edited sheet must exactly follow the original? As in, one may only draw within the areas I covered black here, and not go outside?

No when I say "animated area" I mean the entire smaller rectangles. Those "small" rectangles will be copied to a specific rectangular place over the "big leader graphics", and I mean that the position of this specific rectangular place is different for each leader, and probably hard-coded in CIV.EXE.

So when you want to create a new leader, the position of the face and animated area on the big graphics must match exactly the one of the original leader you are replacing... I'm not sure it's clearer If I have time later I will try to illustrate my point with pictures

 

[rhaul]

Something tells me that my little project idea for the civilization of Spain is not going to be possible.

 

[darkpanda]

Also, from the behaviour you describe, 18, 36, 62 as magenta, as well as 232 as red, clearly match the ICONPGA.PIC palette, but not the 25 as grey nor the 45 as beige, so the "merging" pattern is not applying here...

Ok I just downloaded your modified Tileset and indeed you freely use all available colors in the palette, which were probably not intended to be used by developers...

Can you try to limit the palette color set to indexes 0 to 15 and 45 ?

 

[Vaximillian]

Can you try to limit the palette color set to indexes 0 to 15 and 45 ?

why even make the palette so big anyway

In any case, I’ve gone over the sheet and replaced the colours with the closest ones from this limited set; it works for the most part except the dreaded white—index 15 (which is supposed to be #EBEBEB—almost white) is interpreted as cyan in the game, even though there is already a perfectly working cyan in index 11. This is actually a vanilla problem and the reason why the original settler wagon is cyan instead of white. The vanilla sprite is coloured with index 15.

It is clear that it is already a matter of personal taste, but for example I miss the tips of the spears, and it also strikes me that the ships are significantly smaller than the human units, or the very image of the city of London that if it is true it is a small city (low level), when it is bigger the mosaic would not be in accordance with its size.

I’ll try to give the spear-users their spearheads back; will this do?

Personally, I’m not a big fan of these oversized spearheads, and especially I don’t like the “gold”-ish colour but I can’t think of anything better for now.

With regards to the ships, let’s be fair, the game’s scale doesn’t allow to make things properly sized. A tile is a tile is a tile, regardless of whether it’s a unit of soldiers, a whole city, or a single warship. The best I can do is make things scale relative to each other, so that all humans are similar, and ships are progressively larger (a galley/trireme should be smaller than a caravel, and a caravel should be smaller than a tripledecker, you get it).

Unfortunately, there is a single tile to represent cities, and I agree with tomekum’s choice of two houses. It indicates clearly that this is a settlement, and there are no other settlements in Civ1 than cities and tribes, and tribes use a different icon altogether. “Fun” fact: the city tile is actually an overlay on top of the primary-team-coloured square that seems to be hardcoded; the vanilla tile is just a net of streets in “black” that the game interprets as the secondary team colour.

In any case, if there was a way to differentiate small and large cities graphically, I’d be all for it, but as of now we have to work with what we have, and I’m satisfied with two houses representing cities.

 

[darkpanda]

it works for the most part except the dreaded white—index 15 (which is supposed to be #EBEBEB—almost white) is interpreted as cyan in the game, even though there is already a perfectly working cyan in index 11. This is actually a vanilla problem and the reason why the original settler wagon is cyan instead of white. The vanilla sprite is coloured with index 15.

This is specific to Roman and Russian civilizations, whose main color is 15-white: there is special code in CIV, for those 2 civs, to replace sprites 15-white with Cyan, to get contrast against the background 15-white.

Can you try with other Civs to confirm ?

 

[Vaximillian]

This is specific to Roman and Russian civilizations, whose main color is 15-white: there is special code in CIV, for those 2 civs, to replace sprites 15-white with Cyan, to get contrast against the background 15-white.

Can you try with other Civs to confirm ?

Wow, the more I know. With a blue civ, 15-white doesn’t get replaced with cyan in the main screen but of course still does in Civilopedia because Civilopedia background is white.


Is it possible to disable this routine for the white civs? There isn’t anymore background in the unit icons to get contrast against.
Then again, there will still be white on white in Civilopedia; maybe it can be changed to replace 15-white with, I dunno, 14-yellow? It looks absolutely horrible in yellow but still miles better than cyan. …Or maybe change the background of Civilopedia pages?

I wish there was a separate set of sprites specifically for Civilopedia so that one could draw these with background already and leave them be. Or if there was a way to put a tile of 14-yellow as a background for the sprite in Civilopedia. Or something.

 

[rhaul]

I’ll try to give the spear-users their spearheads back; will this do?

Personally, I’m not a big fan of these oversized spearheads, and especially I don’t like the “gold”-ish colour but I can’t think of anything better for now.

In truth the tip is too fat, perhaps a finer tip of the same color and size as the tip of the sword of the "swordsman" would be better.

The most important thing is that you are satisfied with your designs, I only give ideas in case they help you but you are the one who has the last word.

What I would ask you to do is make another version with the "original" units but with a transparent background for the most classic players.

With regards to the ships, let’s be fair, the game’s scale doesn’t allow to make things properly sized. A tile is a tile is a tile, regardless of whether it’s a unit of soldiers, a whole city, or a single warship. The best I can do is make things scale relative to each other, so that all humans are similar, and ships are progressively larger (a galley/trireme should be smaller than a caravel, and a caravel should be smaller than a tripledecker, you get it).

Yes, I was referring to that, for example, I would start with the most powerful/strong units such as bombers, aircraft carriers and battleships to make them as large as possible and from there gradually reduce the size of the units.

When I was little and I played this game I did not understand anything of what the words of the units meant and I was only guided by how big and imposing the Unit tile was and I think it is a useful psychological favor in this game that the units according to its importance is impressive.

Unfortunately, there is a single tile to represent cities, and I agree with tomekum’s choice of two houses. It indicates clearly that this is a settlement, and there are no other settlements in Civ1 than cities and tribes, and tribes use a different icon altogether. “Fun” fact: the city tile is actually an overlay on top of the primary-team-coloured square that seems to be hardcoded; the vanilla tile is just a net of streets in “black” that the game interprets as the secondary team colour.

In any case, if there was a way to differentiate small and large cities graphically, I’d be all for it, but as of now we have to work with what we have, and I’m satisfied with two houses representing cities.

I am more in favor of filling the "tile" with more houses of different sizes to give a more general city feeling that can visually serve both a small and a larger city, as well as being more general for the different historical ages.

Another thing about the cities is that the black frame that appears when at least one unit is inside does not convince me, it completely breaks the design of the tiles marked on the ground, I propose that this frame be removed and added below the image of the city the color bar as the units have.

 

[Vaximillian]

What I would ask you to do is make another version with the "original" units but with a transparent background for the most classic players.

That’s what tomekum’s tileset already is. I forked this for myself to redraw the units.

I am more in favor of filling the "tile" with more houses of different sizes to give a more general city feeling that can visually serve both a small and a larger city, as well as being more general for the different historical ages.

Well, there is only so much you can fit on the 16×16 pixel canvas. I’ll try to make something, but it’s going to be mostly obscured by the population number anyway.
Oh, and also there is no way to make the tile transparent—so that it shows the terrain underneath—because the tile is drawn over vanilla’s coloured square which I believe is hardcoded.

Another thing about the cities is that the black frame that appears when at least one unit is inside does not convince me, it completely breaks the design of the tiles marked on the ground, I propose that this frame be removed and added below the image of the city the color bar as the units have.

This is also something I am unable to do, the black frame isn’t part of the spritesheets either, it’s something the game draws on its own.

 

[rhaul]

Thanks, I hadn't seen it.

The swordsman does not finish convincing me the pose of the arm, I see it very forced, what do you think if the arm is down diagonally holding the weapon vertically?, you can try both the point of the sword raised vertically up and down .

 

[Vaximillian]

@rhaul How about these spears and this sword?


Also I went and redrew the musketman and the rifleman completely; the former is based on this engraving of 17th century musketeer, and the latter is supposed to be generic and carry a rifle with a bayonet attached.

 

[rhaul]

Magnificent, I love them, both the rifleman and the musketeer are the best units you have made without a doubt.
The spears look much better to me and I like the new pose of the swordsman much more than the previous one.

I have an other question.
When you fortify a city or give another order to the unit, the letter of said order usually appears on the mosaic, in the case of fortifying it would be an "f". Is that "f" displayed as an image or is it a letter printed on top of the image?

 

[Vaximillian]

When you fortify a city or give another order to the unit, the letter of said order usually appears on the mosaic, in the case of fortifying it would be an "f". Is that "f" displayed as an image or is it a letter printed on top of the image?

It’s a letter taken from a font set that is an image:


I’d assume there’s a special routine that prints the letter of the order on top of the unit’s icon.

 

[rhaul]

I'll ask darkpanda for my translation of the game. Thanks.
Honestly, the militia looks so good on you that it's a shame you didn't build it just to admire it. XD

 

[Vaximillian]

First attempt at the battleship, it’s unsurprisingly terrible:


EDIT: tweaked slightly:

 

[dom111]

This looks really good!

Hoping to be able to give this a go in the next couple of weeks! Thanks for sharing your hard work!

 

[Vaximillian]

In process of reworking the chariot:

There’s too much stuff going on in this concept icon right now, and I want to simplify it—without losing the horse if possible.

EDIT: new attempt:

Now to fit a weapon in somehow. Which weapon though? Chariots were mostly known as mobile archery platforms (at least the Egyptian and Hittite ones), so a bow would be the most obvious choice…

EDIT#2: going to settle on this for now:

Bunch of new chariots in different terrains.

 

[rhaul]

One of the ones that I consider a flaw in the design game is precisely this unit, in later games they already fixed it but the reality is that it does not make much sense to use horses to pull war chariots without first discovering horse riding (Basically it is to tame them).

I am aware that in the game it talks about horse riding itself, but I think we all understand that if you ride a horse it is because it has been domesticated just like if you use it to pull carts.

In any case, surely sid meier's did not want to include the animal in the mosaic of the chariot because of this same contradiction, but the truth is that it is nice to see the new mosaic that you have just made.

 

[Vaximillian]

Made a new settler: instead of the (admittedly cute when redrawn by tomekum) wagon it’s now a guy with a backpack and walking stick (and a feathered hat):


Working to replace the tank, which one of these (tweaked vanilla is top left facing the viewer) is least terrible to continue with to refine and improve on?


I will redraw every unit eventually (except maybe the cannon because I already like the vanilla cannon a fair bit).

 

[rhaul]

Personally I think the wagon has that unique touch that only this first installment of the saga has, for me it is like an identity badge, I would prefer that you design a new wagon.

About the tank, I don't know the reason, but I'm not convinced by any design but if I had to choose one it would be the last one (bottom right, although I prefer the original)

 

[Vaximillian]

I won’t be able to make a prettier wagon than tomekum already did, it’s in this screenshot:

I’ll include it as an alternative in the finished pack when I’m done.

Designed some more tanks (and the self-propelled artillery):