SMACivilization - A CivII graphic retrofit project on the SMAX engine

[Buster's Uncle]

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-The idea being to make SMAX look as much as possible like CivII. Gameplay is already quite similar.

This project is at the very beginning -some technical problems I go into in the working thread at the link are holding me up- and naturally, a mod mostly for II-heads needs the input and feedback of II-heads. -But II terrain and much of the interface look are definitely doable. I just need some help with a few things...

Much more at the link: https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=22061.0

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Some custom faction art:

 

[Buster's Uncle]

I've been grinding away at mostly interface images, but check this out:

SMACX base screen people icons-


-to CivII people and the specialists who have direct equivalents w/ the other four on II backgrounds




And three pop-up images, background converted and II frames added:




More to come-

 

[Buck2005]

Hello!

What is the essence of your project? Are you planning to make Alpha Centauri look like CivII? Alpha Centauri was a very good game (at the time). However, it is very different in gameplay and mechanics from CivII. Do you also plan to combine the gameplay elements of these games? It seems like there was a game many years ago that did something similar: Civilization Call to Power.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

It's essentially right there in the thread title - a CivII graphic retrofit. I've been working lately on all the interface elements I can get at, to II-ify them. There is also to be a custom factions set -partly done in collaboration with Alexander a long time ago, who came up with the project name and this part of the concept- based on the idea "What if seven CivII factions made it to Alpha Centauri instead?" -Thus the futurey look of what faction art I've already posted.

There's definitely a bunch of text files I can alter to theme, though I've not decided whether to dive that deep. Input would be welcome. But changing gameplay would be way over my tech level. This is intended as more of a new skin -because I luvs me some CivII- aimed at all the CIVilians who always say "retina burning" about AC, also II-heads feeling a little burned out, same for SMACers bored after decades...

-I could really use all the input I can get; you'll find my working thread at the link in the OP. I very specifically need the help of someone with a graphics program that can handle a background-color palette issue GIMP won't. (My copies of Photoshop won't work on W10, and I refuse to throw money at the problem - again.)

 

[Buck2005]

I agree with you, AC's base graphics look terrible. Even worse than the base TOT graphics. If I understand you correctly, will the game itself be based on AC gameplay?

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes, I'm modding SMACX.

-Think how much more you'd like AC w/o the grimy cyberpunk machine interface display, a w/ II-looking terrain...

 

[Buck2005]

So, I'm not sure that personally I would like an improved version of AC now. At the time, I really liked this game with innovative gameplay changes. Much more than CivIII, released around the same time. The most valuable innovations that I remember are the 3D landscape, which has a vertical dimension, as well as the unit system based on the creation of "prototypes" (the player could create his own unit with completely arbitrary characteristics). Of the funny details, I remember "planet booster" and "nerve bonding for drones." )

However, the gameplay itself was based on giving each faction individual characteristics. Something similar was then implemented in all new versions of Civ, and this was one of the reasons that new versions did not become interesting for me. I've always been of the opinion that differences between factions/civilizations should be minimal and purely decorative. I know that most players take the opposite view, which is why these differences are persistently introduced into the gameplay of new versions of Civ. This is partly why I like Civ2.

AC became a one-time game for me, which I also never returned to. Although I have a working version of AC on my PC. A few years ago we even tried to play the multiplayer of this game, just out of curiosity, would it work. It seemed to work great, but the game itself wasn't appealing to me. However, as far as I know, some players even now play the original AC. I think your project will be interesting for them.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Dunno - I think what makes SMACX special is the story -which none of the official Civ games have- a grand transhuman epic, and that partly depends on non-interchangeable factions. I got my start as a modder doing custom factions...

Anyway-

 

[Buster's Uncle]

So I finally wrangled those blank .pcxs I need - I'll probably find I missed something essential as I attend to details, but so far, so good, and now I can start trying to fit CivII terrain in and generate more interesting screenies soon.



MEANwhile-

I'm pretty sure console2_A.pcx is the one the SMAX uses for the bottom-screen status display.



I did this with it:


...And here's the difference:


-Every extra pixel you can see of the map while playing is good.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Enjoy.

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[Buster's Uncle]

For all my II-headed friends here who've never tried Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire - the SMAC demo is unusually complete for a demo, 100 turns of play. It's what got me hooked back in the day...

Alpha Centauri 2 - SMAC Demo

Alpha Centauri 2 - SMAC Demo

alphacentauri2.info

 

[Blake00]

I've already commented on this project over in it's other thread but I'll say the same thing here too.

This is a very cool project. Some won't get why but others like me will love it as I'm a huge fan of when someone take a Civ game and mods it to look and fell like another Civ game or even a non-Civ game (eg I'm the guy making C&C, Red Alert, Dune and Heroes of Might & Magic scenarios for Civ2 haha). I've nicknamed these sort of projects 'crossover mods' and have found and cataloged some pretty cool ones over the years. Civ2 has an (unfinished) SMAC mod so how fitting that you're working on the reverse idea but also still pushing the spiritual sequel route and asking questions like "what if you won Civ2 as the Aztecs and went to Alpha Centuari, how would that look?". Very cool work.

I plan to release all of my Civ2 scenarios this year which will take a lot of weight off me and free up some time, so hopefully in a few months time I can help out a bit as there's barely any of Civ2 left that I haven't played around with, so odds are any accessible graphic image file from SMAC you show me I can probably find something from Civ2 to stick there lol. Plus plenty of other guys here know the ins and outs of Civ2's inner workings too.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, I hope to get my mojo back/get back to work soon, and of what I think I can get at to 2-ify, there isn't months of work left to do.

But then, when I have a first draft to show, there'll probably be a lot more feedback, and I'm a tweaker/tinker by nature anyway...

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Enjoy.

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Blake suggests that I make this the intro video for the mod, which is a great idea, and probably doable. I think slightly enlarged, w/ a CivII frame around it, run through once or twice at half-speed, maybe to a snatch of Ride of the Valkyries as a sound track...

 

[Blake00]

Yeah I agree, slow it down a bit so people can saver the moment. Ride of the Valkyries is a good choice.. I was also thinking the music from the Civ2 victory video when you arrived at Alpha Centauri which I believe is Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 to get that sense of continuity.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Related, I've made a CivII dark theme...

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Better:

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Hmmm. Of course, I'm playing CivII heavily several years in a row now, and in my current game -large map, stringing along the others to see what happens after a starship victory (of course) over a week ago- the Russians have yet to break a pact we made in large# BC when we first met... (!!!)

-And they've founded and lost and founded a lot of bases over a long game gone far into the future - and so they had their own Cremona, Warsaw. ect. It's slightly annoying. Now, I play as the Babylonians, and happen to be presently reading a book about Sumer someone linked in the history forum...

So anyway, the attached CITY.txt already had a bunch of additional city names compiled mostly from postings here, mostly to the generic list - and now I've considerably expanded the Babylonian list w/ names of some new actual Sumerian cities, plus place names that weren't cities -see also Akkad- and gods and kings who could have had cities named for them.


-I do hope someone enjoys the use of this.