I personally like the sprites the way they are now if it means better gameplay and a more historical feel with very large armies being shown on the field. I'm clueless about sprites but can they be enhanced by making them higher resolution or increase animation frames? What kind of enhancements are there in the works besides the larger number of uniforms?
The general look and feel will be the same but we will definitely make sure we squeeze every last bit of performance we can out of the game and still meet that goal of having tens of thousands of sprites on screen fighting each-other simultaneously.
That doesn't mean nothing is changing though, there are a lot of enhancements going on with a lot more than just uniforms and some are pretty interesting and if they pan out exciting. I'll be happy to share them with you as we get closer to release but at the moment some of the things being worked on are too preliminary for us to really promote them because there is still a lot of uncertainty about what enhancements will make it into the game and what wont.
Stick around and keep the ideas flowing, I'll share what I can when I can.
Yes the sprites can be enhanced by increasing the frames and making them higher resolution. At the moment (and nothing is set in stone) I have increased resolution by about 30% from SOWGB. Those that remember the original low res Bull Run sprites that's an increase of 156%. For animation I have slightly increased some but not many as if I, say, increase frames by 50% then we will lose that amount in new uniforms. We have some new innovations which mean there will be lots more variety in uniforms. So troops will still be sprites with all the pros and cons but I believe you will see a good improvement on the SOWGB sprites.
Also bear in mind that Napoleonic uniforms are generally more colourful than ACW so the sprites do 'pop' a bit more.
Also bear in mind that Napoleonic uniforms are generally more colourful than ACW so the sprites do 'pop' a bit more.
Its not just the sprites, but the graphics as a whole. They (from TCBR to SOWGB) come across (at least on every system I've seen them on) as dark and a blurry . . . almost depressing, even.
I compare to Napoleon Total War (admittedly not quite fair) or Histwar, and, even ignoring the sprites, the graphics just seem off, like I'm looking at things through cheap sunglasses . . .
As it stands now I like the SOW "models" more then the Histwar N models, granted they are smaller en more blury, but rounder, more human, the current models on histwar is very square.
However, in the first post you will se the new models(to be added around june I think and those are beatuifyll)
I'd humbly request that you do not make the Nap uniforms too bright. Military grade dyes were still not very stable in this period and soldiers uniforms took a much harder wearing than civilian clothes - being out in all weahers, heavy rain to frost to hot sun. They faded and bleached out quite quickly so I would ask that you don't make the British and Hanoverian scarlet that bright, but dull it down. White crosbelts as well would be dull and a pale grey tone or a creamy tone may work better than white. Too many of the Total war uniforms are of parade ground cleanliness making the troops look like toy soldiers. Please go for a more used camapign-battered look if you have the computing power available.
Remember also that of the three main participants in the 1815 camapign, the Prussian army was the most ragtag and heterogenous in appearance since many units had not received new uniforms since the end of the 1814 campaign while some German units that were previously in French service were taken under Prussian control follwing negotiations at the Conference of Vienna and still wore their French uniforms.
Chapter 3 of Peter Hofschroer's book "1815 - The Waterloo Campaign - Welington, his German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatres Bras" goes into some detail on this subject. For example the 8th Uhlans in III Army Corps were composed of men taken from the old Russo-German Legion (an irregular force). The men wore their old hussar uniforms (green for the 1st and 2nd squadrons, black for the 3rd and 4th) and despite their name, the unit recieved no lances but used a variety of sabres and small arms.
The two former Berg regiments formed the new infantry regiments #28 and #29 and continued to wear their white uniforms. This led to some problems in the fighting near Charleroi on the first day of the camapign and after this incident the men were ordered to wear their long grey overcoats so that there might be less confusion. Their shakos of course were of French design. IRs #30 and #31 were formed out of men previously of the Russo-German Legion and it is likely that these still wore their Russian green uniforms. IRs #25, #26 and #27 were likewise built up from various contingents, new recruits and soldiers from the old replacement battalions. Some troops in the 25th Regt were from Westphalian territories and would have worn their old white uniforms as well.
The newly raised 6th and 7th Uhlan regiments comprised troopers from the Lutzow cavalry (6th) and Saxcons plus men of Hellwig's Freikorps (7th). Neither of these uhlan regiments recieved lances either and in any case were not trained in their use.
Almost all uniforms would have been faded and battered.
Last edited by Saddletank on Tue Feb 18, 2014 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
HITS & Couriers - a different and realistic way to play SoW MP.
I suppose this thread goes to prove you can't please all the people all the time. As the sprite make I take design decisions all the time. There were many players who thought TC2M too toy town went it came to graphics - I was among them. When I made the SOWGB sprites I muted the tones, made them dirty (it was a hot, dusty summer day). The maps were also toned down by Eric. It was descision we made to get a gritty more realistic look. War is grim and dirty.
Waterloo I am going for a campaign look - albeit a bit brighter than ACW. But with oilskin shako covers, greatcoats, few plumes etc and with some variety amongst the troops. So there's more colours at Waterloo and the sprites look brighter due to that but they will not be parade ground glossy toy soldiers.
Make sure those rookie troops napoleon had that could not perform complex manoevers look the part
They would be a mix of extremely bright new uniforms and scraped together shockers depending on the unit.
Realism is the name of the game. But I certainly know some who will want toy soldier style blindingly bright. For me, I would keep it real while keeping it bright enough to be recognisable in terms of seeing which units are which on site.
I have a great love of cavalry and am hoping the animations for the various types of cavalry movement get a lot of attention.
The sprites in scourge of war always looked strange as they seemed to be missing 5 frames or more for every one shown. It's like watching a slide show, you know where you flick through the cartoon papers with a home made cartoon at a really slow rate.
Last edited by Destraex on Sat Feb 22, 2014 7:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
There's been some work going on on the sprites and shadders end lately, I would like to wait a little bit more before giving you guys a few more sneak peaks. Obviously any posts are preliminary as these items which are being worked on would affect everything even the stuff we've already shown but I don't want to post screenshots when literally day to day things are changing.
I am working on a few other projects which will began appearing within the next week or two which I think you'll all be interested in.
I have a great love of cavalry and am hoping the animations for the various types of cavalry movement get a lot of attention.
The sprites in scourge of war always looked strange as they seemed to be missing 5 frames or more for every one shown. It's like watching a slide show, you know where you flick through the cartoon papers with a home made cartoon at a really slow rate.
At the moment there are lots of cavalry units so you will hopefully be happy with that. As for the animation again there are trade offs we have to make. I try to find a balance. If I add 5 more frames to each unit of cavalry that will add 50%ish to the memory footprint so we would lose about a third of the uniforms. Its all about these compromises.
