[WIP] Project Civ: A Quality-Oriented Civ Pack

[crawf0rd]

First off, thanks for your compliments. What do you think about the map? Compare it to Rome's.

Closely analyze firaxis's icons and formulate each step you'll have to go through. Take apart the icon in your mind and note what happens in each step. This is what I do anytime I want to try to emulate something.

I honestly can't tell you what I did, because I don't remember. I'll do the mental decompiling in my mind though, and tell you what I can come up with.

EDIT: Okay, here's what I can remember. It's in the spoiler. Hope it helps.

* SPOILER *

Thank you so much!

 

[turingmachine]

First off, thanks for your compliments. What do you think about the map? Compare it to Rome's.

Would you mind sharing the texture-overlay you used to create the paper/map creases (or if you used another method)? It does look very official.

 

[Irkalla]

Would you mind sharing the texture-overlay you used to create the paper/map creases (or if you used another method)? It does look very official.

I searched around until I found one with a compatible license. I did forget to fulfill one tenet of the license, so I'll get right on that. Sorry nevermore! And thank you for reminding me of this, turingmachine.

License is the most important part though. If someone has a restrictive license, you may need to ask them. But you've got to respect people's wishes, it's their stuff, after all.

 

[Irkalla]

Ugh, sorry guys. My creativity keeps drifting from civ to civ. I may just wind up announcing a third civ sooner or later. But, I'll just leave you with this little hint. Took me 7 hours to make the icon, 90% of which was spent just making the logo.

Spoiler :

And here's an arrangement of Chopin. Just thought it would fit.



Link to video.

 

[PawelS]

Very nice Polish eagle

 

[Irkalla]

Very nice Polish eagle

You better damn well think so, took me seven hours to make the son of a b***h

But no, really, thanks. Need a little validation after I put all that work into it

 

[crawf0rd]

Your icon making skills make me feel inferior as a human being.

 

[Irkalla]

Your icon making skills make me feel inferior as a human being.

Just takes time and a bit of uh... want to do it.

If you're making a piece of art or assets, and you can sense time passing by, then you're not going to do quality work. However, when you don't sense time passing by, an icon will come out in about 5 minutes and be of decent enough quality. However, you'll figure out that what you thought was 5 minutes will have been a few hours.

If you want, I'll let you have the PSD of the poland icon to play with and try to figure out. Take it and try to reverse engineer it! But do not use it to make your own icons, because that won't get you anywhere.

Just practice and see what you can come up with. Want some homework?

Also, if you're just needing an icon for something, I'd be glad to help you. We should use our talents for good, first and foremost. Financial gain is an afterthought.

 

[crawf0rd]

You know the saying, "Give a man a fish, feed a man for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed a man for a lifetime". Same goes here. I would love to fiddle with your .psd.

 

[Irkalla]

You know the saying, "Give a man a fish, feed a man for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed a man for a lifetime". Same goes here. I would love to fiddle with your .psd.

I'll make one for you and attach it, it's a civ's artwork that I'm currently working on. Yes, I'm still obsessed with artwork. Wouldn't be surprised if a mod comes along and renames the thread "Project Civ. Or: Irkalla's Civ Icons and Maps"



Your homework? Using what you've learned, make icons based on one, some, or all of these hypothetical civs.

• Australia
• Bosnia
• Corinth
• Taiwan
• Tibet (Hard Mode?)

 

[crawf0rd]

I'll make one for you and attach it, it's a civ's artwork that I'm currently working on. Yes, I'm still obsessed with artwork. Wouldn't be surprised if a mod comes along and renames the thread "Project Civ. Or: Irkalla's Civ Icons and Maps"



Your homework? Using what you've learned, make icons based on one, some, or all of these hypothetical civs.
Australia
Bosnia
Corinth
Taiwan
Tibet (Hard Mode?)

Thanks for this! By the way, for my homework, can I use your "sheen" layers that make the icons look oh so glossy and pro?

 

[Irkalla]

Thanks for this! By the way, for my homework, can I use your "sheen" layers that make the icons look oh so glossy and pro?

Alright, do you use photoshop? If so, right click your paint bucket tool. You'll find a gradient tool. Take that and set it to white -> transparent. Grab your circular selection tool and make a circle that's around that size. Then make a gradient from top to bottom.

Just play around, you'll be surprised how simple it is. I'd like to see you create your own little shiny layer, but if you must, use mine.

 

[crawf0rd]

I've got it now! You've been a big help. Thanks much!

 

[Putmalk]

Would you know how to make 2d icon art that isn't civ icons (like, firaxis-looking units?)

 

[Irkalla]

Would you know how to make 2d icon art that isn't civ icons (like, firaxis-looking units?)

Yep, look at all the ones I've been doing. Nope, just joking. I'm actually looking for someone that can contribute these icons to our project. Sorry!

I'm not an actual artist. I'm just a generalist. The only reason I've managed to pump out the art that I have is because I've been able to break it down into a science.

This was about as far as I got on my study of unit icons before I gave up. I was attempting to try to emulate the Pictish warrior by tracing his form and then adding details to it. Yeah...

 

[trystero49]

I'm a bit of a generalist too, I suppose, and I also looked at making unit icons before I gave up. I thing I did notice was that the lines were pretty well defined, so I used to take pictures from google images and then use a cartoonify special on GIMP that made it look maybe half-decent.

I doubt this helps anyone, but it's my two cents.

 

[Irkalla]

I'm a bit of a generalist too, I suppose, and I also looked at making unit icons before I gave up. I thing I did notice was that the lines were pretty well defined, so I used to take pictures from google images and then use a cartoonify special on GIMP that made it look maybe half-decent.

I doubt this helps anyone, but it's my two cents.

What it is is that they're digitally painted by an artist. The original canvas size is pretty huge. thus when you get them down to the in game size, they're very well defined.

The polish eagle I made for my icon had quite a few f**k ups in it and was pretty geometric in its original size.

I understand the methods behind doing this, it's just that I wasn't blessed with the talent that some people were. I'm better at inanimate objects and logos.

 

[turingmachine]

You Hittite UA can be easily programmed with just XML in G&K as there's an unused CombatBonusVsHigherTech tag (separate from Ethiopia's CombatBonusVsLargerCiv). At the very least, for vanilla, you should be able to copy the code in G&K's DLL and transfer it to Vanilla's DLL.

Your map skills are proving to be top notch, however. They could almost pass for official maps.

 

[Irkalla]

You Hittite UA can be easily programmed with just XML in G&K as there's an unused CombatBonusVsHigherTech tag (separate from Ethiopia's CombatBonusVsLargerCiv). At the very least, for vanilla, you should be able to copy the code in G&K's DLL and transfer it to Vanilla's DLL.

Your map skills are proving to be top notch, however. They could almost pass for official maps.

Yeah I figured that out shortly before you posted. HA

Actually no you posted but I just read it. I noticed about 7 minutes after you posted

But no, seriously, thanks bro.

Also, for porting it to vanilla, It would probably be as simple as knocking out some ifdefs when the DLL hits.

 

[trystero49]

CombatBonusVsHigherTech does nothing. I've played around with it and nothing seems to happen. It looks like a tag with no coding behind it to me. You'll have to code functionality into the DLL yourself.