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Guidelines
Current Tilers/modders/contributors/gentlemen/gentlewomen:
ArcElement2002WinnihymcptcaseycrystlshakeJohn_Hugheskronik83oddrheia
- First and foremost, the goal here is to provide the player with a graphically different image that should be "pleasant" (in the sense that it adds to immersion, not the other way around). If you feel that you can't do something that looks good with the guidelines, then you shouldn't do it. What I'm trying to say here is that the most important thing is that we end up with tiles that look good. Quality is extremely important, and it is a requirement (as are the other guidelines). Every tile will be up for discussion in this thread (post images), and I would appreciate it if everyone helped comment with positive criticism on each others tiles.
- Every tile requires two versions - one "under construction", and one in its completed stage. The "under construction" version of each tile should be significantly different from the finished version (you should immediately be able to tell that it is under construction). The "under construction" version does not have as high a quality requirement as the finished version. It is assumed that if you complete a "finished" tile, you will do the "under construction" tile as well.
- Color schemes will be rigidly followed. See each race below for the exact colours used for the buildings. Stay away from models that clash with these colours - you'll have to check for yourself, but a few models have colours that can't be changed. For example, if you're building a black city with the Living Stone, then white pillars are out of the question. Set the colours in the workshop, and you will see what models can and can't change.
- Keep in mind that most of these buildings are "repeatable", that is, the player will place several identical buildings right next to each other. Please try your hardest to minimize the negative impact this has on the visual experience. For example, placing a bright red flag in the top right corner will look extremely poor when the player places 10 next to each other. Broadly speaking, stay away from overly distinguishable models that clash with the color of the faction. With that said, this is obviously a very "gray" area and I only ask that you try your best to accomplish this.
- Also be careful to not divert too much from the previously established tiles of the faction. Remember, we are only doing a handful of the 50+ buildings each faction has available. It is important that the new design looks like it COULD have been made in that city. For example, if I am designing a new study in an elf town, I should be using trees and wooden buildings. With this said, again, the goal here is to create something that is visually distinguishable from the standard designs. I know I'm being very vague here, but be aware that you can go "too far" in either direction. This guideline will be mostly up to every tiler to discuss with each other.
- In addition, - Only one pedestrian may be placed on each tile (three may be used for 'under construction' versions) - Only one effect may be used, and it should be a detail in the tile, and should never "draw the eye" of the viewer - Ground decals may only be used if they are a significant part of the building. For example, see the elf school. If you want to add a new decal, that is doable. Stay away from general cobblestone usage and such, it looks very bad. - No design may contain more than 35 objects. Use them wisely. In particular, try to avoid "useless crap", which is stuff the player won't ever see (models hidden under other models, models too small to see without zooming in as close as possible). - All tiles should be 1x1 for the first stage of this expansion (no exception - make sure you select 1x1 in the workshop and stay within the YELLOW square) - Try to create designs that use as much as possible of the space in the tile, up to the edge. Avoid "inorganic" walls on the tile. - Make sure that you are using the correct environment for the tile. Environments are listed under each faction, and you change it in the Options in the workshop. This is because environments do change the colour on some models. - Scale: Look at other buildings of the same faction.
- The actual buildings in a tile must use the setting below for height placement - fixed height (see screenshot). This is so that the building parts do not go out of sync due to tiny environment changes. Fences, trees, rocks and such things should NOT have fixed height (unless they are the building).
- Each tile must be sent WITH THE SHADOWS. For the elf community project I had to re-save every tile without shadows and it was a total pain in the ass. Shadows are placed in the /tiles/shadows/ folder.
- DO NOT CHANGE THE FILENAME OF A TILE WITHOUT TELLING ME. IF YOU CHANGE THE FILE NAME TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT YOU SAVED IT AS, IT WILL NOT FUNCTION.
- Naming policy - please name your tiles close to something like EF_UU_factionhere_buildinghere and add _build to end if its the "under construction" version. For example, for the angels' study that is under construction, I would name the file EF_UU_angels_Study_build
- If there are any extra models that you feel are needed to complete a certain design, let me know. We can add more to the game, but it takes time to do so.
Asset: TESTBUILDING mod: http://www.mediafire.com/?ci39h3iu0l3l2ad
This is just a 1x1 building that can be built by any faction, and increases prestige by 50 and population by 300 in the city it is built. It is included so that you can test your tiles' appearances in a city. If you wish to test your tile with a city, open this file and replace the following lines
<TileDesign>F_Hovel_02</TileDesign> <ConstructionTileDesign>F_Hovel_Build_02</ConstructionTileDesign>
so that the tags contain the name you saved your tile as.
Uncolored means the task has not been assigned
Orange means the task has been assigned, and you should preferably choose something else to contribute with
Green means the task has been completed (and the files have reached me)
Note: You don't need my permission to start working on a tile. This is just so that if you want to take your time working on something, you can reserve that task so noone can steal it from under your feet.
These colourcodes describe how you get the right colours in the builder's forge - left from right means top to bottom in-game. For example, the drota have the <BuildingRoofColor>230,150,15</BuildingRoofColor> and this would equal this screenshot:
For citycores, the limit is 100 objects and 4 pedestrians, 2 effects
Each race requires at least 5 different cores,
core1 represents the beginning stages of building. It is what the player sees for the first 8-9 turns before he hits the cap in the city at level 1core2 represents the city after its beginning stages - what the user sees at the cap of level 1, and level 2 citiescore3 represents the "average town", you'll likely see a decent form of wall around this, it is used for level 3 citiescore4 is the stage between "average town" and superfortresscore5 is the last stage, the superfortress. This building should be quite large in height, so that it sticks out from the other city buildings.
Angels (environment:grassland)White temple-like buildings in a lush forest. Not swampy. Avoid specific religious symbols. <BuildingPrimaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>200,200,200</BuildingRoofColor>Study (Winnihym)Library (Winnihym)Arcane Lab (Winnihym)Hut (Winnihym)House (Winnihym)Beacon of Hope (Winnihym)Workshop (Winnihym)citycore1 (Winnihym)citycore2 (Winnihym)citycore3 (Winnihym)citycore4 (Winnihym)citycore5 (Winnihym)Living Stone (environment: dead)A race of living stone, they would be suited best to live in rock formations that resemble kingdom buildings. Avoid lava-pits and such. <BuildingPrimaryColor>50,50,50</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>25,25,25</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>100,100,100</BuildingRoofColor>Study (John_Hughes)Library (John_Hughes)Arcane Lab (John_Hughes)Hut (John_Hughes)House (John_Hughes)Beacon of Hope (John_Hughes)Workshop (John_Hughes) citycore1 (John_Hughes) citycore2 (John_Hughes) citycore3 citycore4 citycore5Death legion (environment: dead)Demons with slaves worshipping them. Avoid large demon statues as they will stand out when the building is repated (as ornaments they are ok, and as monument large demons are ok). Buildings should aspire to be "poor" and "twisted". <BuildingPrimaryColor>0,0,0</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>0,0,0</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>0,0,0</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (crystlshake)Monument (crystlshake)Hovel (crystlshake)House (crystlshake) Archivist (crystlshake)Master Archivist (crystlshake)Loreshop (crystlshake)Laborpit (crystlshake) citycore1 citycore2 citycore3 citycore4 citycore5Drota (environment: desert)Desert-living hunters. <BuildingPrimaryColor>140,120,100</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>80,60,40</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>230,150,15</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (kronik83)Monument (kronik83)Hovel (ArcElement2002)House (ArcElement2002)Archivist (kronik83)Master Archivist (kronik83)Loreshop (kronik83)Laborpit (kronik83) citycore1 (kronik83) citycore2 (kronik83) citycore3 (kronik83) citycore4 (kronik83) citycore5 (kronik83)Goblins (environment: dead)As much as I hate to admit, I didn't have a clear line of thought for these bastards. They're smart, evil and backstabbing. Think DnD, not warhammer. Their buildings should appear as "make-shift", and certainly never look like they were designed. But they also do not live in rubble, although rubble surrounds their buildings. <BuildingPrimaryColor>140,120,100</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>80,60,40</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>230,150,15</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (cptcasey)Monument (cptcasey) Hovel (cptcasey)House (cptcasey) Archivist (cptcasey)Master Archivist (cptcasey)Loreshop (cptcasey)Laborpit (cptcasey) citycore1 (cptcasey) citycore2 (cptcasey) citycore3 (cptcasey) citycore4 (cptcasey) citycore5(cptcasey)Golem king (environment: winter)As golems most likely built these buildings, they should be "flawless" in design (the opposite of goblins). No pyramids. Be careful not to place plants or trees, unless they get coloured white by the winter environment. Do not place snow, unless you are placing a larger pile of snow (in that case, use stones, or white flower stacks). <BuildingPrimaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>200,200,200</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (oddrheia)Monument (oddrheia)Hovel (oddrheia)House (oddrheia) Archivist (oddrheia)Master Archivist (oddrheia)Loreshop (oddrheia)Laborpit (oddrheia) citycore1 (oddrheia) citycore2 (oddrheia) citycore3 (oddrheia) citycore4 (oddrheia) citycore5 (oddrheia)Lost Souls (environment: dead)What buildings do ghosts live in? Heh. Alright, these are members of an old traitor-kingdom that is now following the logic of the empires. Run-down kingdom buildings that now look empire would be awesome - but they should not be ruins (doesn't make sense, why "build" ruins?). <BuildingPrimaryColor>100,100,100</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>100,100,100</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>100,100,100</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (ArcElement2002)Monument (ArcElement2002)Hovel (ArcElement2002)House (ArcElement2002)Archivist (ArcElement2002)Master Archivist (ArcElement2002)Loreshop (ArcElement2002)Laborpit (ArcElement2002) citycore1 (ArcElement2002) citycore2 (ArcElement2002) citycore3 (ArcElement2002) citycore4 (ArcElement2002) citycore5 (ArcElement2002)
original post:
Decided on creating a separate thread instead of using the ExpandedFactions thread, so noone misses this.
tiler - a person who creates building designs in the in-game workshop
I'm looking for a few dedicated tilers to join me with working on the ExpandedFactions mod. I want the factions to become more diverse in how their buildings look, but I don't have time to do it myself. The ExpandedFactions mod is currently entering its second phase with the aim of adding unique units to each faction (which will be my main project).
Our first goal will be to create new designs for all the "basic" buildings for each faction (study+library, arcane lab, hut+house, beacon of hope, workshop). The tiles for the Elves have already been completed in the Elves community project.
Second goal will be to create new designs for all the cityhubs for each faction.
Third goal will be to create new wallsets for each faction, starting with the default wall and moving upwards.
I'm not looking for people who only want to do one or two tiles for this one (it's not a community project). I'm also not looking for people who don't enjoy modding, or think this would be something fun worthy of their time. There will be strict guidelines, and the demands on quality will be high. On the other hand, the timelimit will be very open - the project will be on-going until completed.
If you would like to help out, send me a private message and/or post here.
Living Stone have adopted the Kingdom way of life. They do need food that grows, but obviously the whole area can't be green - you can still add patches of stuff that grows. Imagine this picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royalvictoriapark.jpg but with no green grass and less colourful flowers. Mushrooms are fine.
But yes, overall the purpose of adding barrels and such is to keep the focus the same as surrounding tiles.
Okay, HF, I'll stick to not all floating bits. Okay if I do a little "Pandora" type feel to it, though, floating crystals around a ground centered building? That was the vision I was thinking about.
I need to see the elf tileset; do I just download the elf mod and then open them up in the editor?
Download the expandedfactions if you haven't, then just start a game playing as elves and build a city.
if you have downloaded expandedfactions, the tiles will also be available in the forge as CPELF_* for example CPELF_Study
I don't understand the pandora reference, but partially floating is absolutely OK (sounds awesome, even).
I've run into a little problem. When creating a tile I change environment to dead and set up the goblin color set. Everything works fine. However once I save quit and reload the environment goes back to grassland with the default colors.
Don't worry about that, it's not saved with the tile but the game. The only drawback is you'll have to keep changing it when you're designing the tile, but once it's done the colours will come from outside the tile xml.
Here are some shots of the stuff I've been working on.
1 Archivist
2. Labor Pit
By the way, Havenfall, the reason I'm not sending you tiles yet, is that I want to finish the chunk, load them all in game and make sure that multiples of housing/labs etc look good and then make the WIP tiles in bulk. If the initial tile going to need tweaking I'd rather avoid doing double work and doing the WIP tile twice as well. You'll have them tho!
Hovel:
Shanty:
Should I scale up shanty a little? It's slightly bigger than hovel as is (screenshots taken at different camera distance), but maybe more? Also. Fences are giving me trouble with this race *laugh* Should I scrap the shanty's fence and just use the same as hovel?
No, I like the upgrade. Yeah, the shanty is maybe a tad small.
Great job on the goblin layout ctpcasey.
I'm really amazed at how good you all are making the buildings look.
Quoting Heavenfall, reply 76Living Stone have adopted the Kingdom way of life. They do need food that grows, but obviously the whole area can't be green - you can still add patches of stuff that grows. Imagine this picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royalvictoriapark.jpg but with no green grass and less colourful flowers. Mushrooms are fine.But yes, overall the purpose of adding barrels and such is to keep the focus the same as surrounding tiles.
Ok, got it.
"I think Mushroom/fungi plants would work with the theme you have going. Can probably even rescaled to be more small tree - like. They work with dead environment, and if not for food, they can serve decorative purposes."
Yes I did add some shrooms to one already, same thought I had (figured I was kinda cheating lol), and will tweak what is in the pipe now with extras.
Cool look there oddrheia. At first I thought they were Pencil sketches you would then make.
@cptcasey
Looks good. Did you add moving animations to the spinning items? Just curious...
EDIT:Here's the Labor Pit again. I moved some of the objects around(limit reached). Screenshots were taken in-game.I see now that the size of the worker has been decreased again by the editor. Does anyone else find that sometimes upon reloading a tile some of the objects used was set to a different size?
Labor Pit:
I've added some "protection" against the wind, but it's that green color again. Not good. The 2nd image is what it looks like without.
It's a cool design but you have to remember, almost nothing underneath the building will be visible for the player. He will either view it from above, or from the side (where other buildings will cover the angle). It is highly unlikely the player will have the same angle you do in the screenshot.
Maybe move the firepit and the hammerer out to where the cart is standing, and move the cart inside.
I like it. Very neat and clean (graphically) Space seems well used. Perhaps a couple of additional things for aesthetic value.
Throw some small smoke on that Fire. It is lit right?
And add some wind break type material(s) to the windward side.
P.S. and what HF said.
Wow kronik83,
That's really awesome! I can totally see it as a labor pit. On a side note, what does a labor pit produce? Materials? Anyway, it looks great, and I especially like how the building is made. What did you use to make it? It looks realistic and fitting too... and I like all the spears in the barrel, great job! I assume it's all Fallen type wood? What I mean is that yours is all nice and the same color, while mine seem to end up a mix of light brown wood and dark brown, and it's hard to hide the fact that they're obviously different.
This is going to pain me as a kingdoms lover, but I've never got empire game far enough to build master archivist... I know what it does, and its dimensions, but... does it replace (upgrade) the regular archivist tile or is it a separate improvement entierly?
Edit: Nevermind! Fired a test game and they are separate improvements!
No, actually, it does update the regular archivist building. Don't feel limited by that though. Make it as different as you want it to be.
"Pandora" was the name of the planet in the movie "Avatar".
I updated post #65 after the Living_Stone discussion. Please let me know what you all think.
I need to redo the build tile.
P.S. Here is a sneak preview of the (WiP) Arcane Lab
I think the new hut is excellent. The green clashing with the ground will look better once it's in a city.
Quoting Heavenfall, reply 94I think the new hut is excellent. The green clashing with the ground will look better once it's in a city.
I had to smile. That was the exact thought I had when I first zoomed out and saw it.
Thanks. Will do a Build and package it up.
Updated Post #65 again to show the Build Tile and here is the .RAR package.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8370296/EF_Living_Stone_Hut_01.rar
John_
Got it, good job.
Ooh, that arcane lab is nice!
<-- has a weakness for crystals and sparkles, LOL. But seriously, looks great. Rocky surfaces/ornate doorway and that subtle crystal hiding underneath the rock is very neat!
Hrm. Early snapshot: random city core (prolly 2), bunch of hovels, 3 labor pits, few archivists (crystalline stuff), few lore shops (spiraly things), monument and tower of dominion. Oh, and ignore the city walls. They don't belong. And it looks better in full view
I'm thinking I'll need to add some crysalline/frozen trees/mechanical spikes clatter on the ground. looks a tad empty-ish.
Also, Heavenfall, would you mind releasing all of the golem race tiles to me? and I mean all 50+ of them. I think I can make it look good... and avoid classhing issues with the rest of empire tiles at that.
I'm sorry, I can't do that at this point. The complete elf set is an absolute drain on my time to update, and as long as possible I will avoid having another complete set to update. Basically, if they change 1 small detail in their files I have to change it in every one of my files as well. In addition, I would have to provide the golem king faction with a unique tech tree on their own, which just furthers the agony of maintenance as that spreads the updating to pretty much every aspect of the game.
I'm in no position to dictate what you can and can't do, but I can tell you what I will and won't put in the expandedfactions mod.
So here's what I will do. There's the city cores (you can also do different designs for the capital vs the normal cities if you want to), and then there's the wallsets (start with the default one that doesn't require a building). In addition, the following buildings are not linked to any tech, so I can include them as well if you build tiles for them.
E_Stone_QuarryE_Clay_QuarryE_Marble_QuarryE_Timber_MillE_FarmE_Wheat_FarmE_ApiaryE_OrchardE_KennelE_Claimed_Scenic_ViewE_Claimed_OasisE_Claimed_Wild_Game (don't think these two exist in-game anymore)F_Claimed_Ogres
That city looks totally fucking awesome. Very mathematical, it just screams "golem".
Edit: There's also two special tiles that only the golem king has access to. They are called Written Destiny tiles, but that's really just an internal name in my mind. Essentially, near the starting point of all the expandedfactions will be found a unique world resource. This world resource needs an improvement that only that race can build. That building allows the nearest city to recruit unique units. The time to build it is 2 turns, so there's no need to do an UC tile.
This is what I have right now for those tiles
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5659/elemental1294278065.jpghttp://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5483/elemental1294278048.jpg
If you want to do those tiles, you are welcome to. You can choose any "idea" behind the tile you want, the "white wizard birthplace" is just something I made up. Obviously it has to have some connection to the golem king faction. There's no need for the resource and the building to be the same, just know that the player is likely to construct an improvement on the resource very soon so it won't be shown for long in-game.
question: How are you able to rotate the workshop?
Aw, that's too bad. Totally understandable, though! Tell you what, I'll do what you will include first. And if I won't run out of inspiration I'll do the rest and maybe learn how to handle the tech tree/updates to lend a hand. No need to put the cart ahead of a horse, hey?
Also, what do you mean by 'rotating' the workshop? It's just like regular built tile in game... select it, and before you click to place it, press shift and use mouseweel to rotate which way you want the building to face.
I place some objects of some tiles rotated at an angle in the tile forge to start with so the default position the AI uses is already rotated (labor pit, archivists, hovel, for example). The 'default' placement of labor pit is bottom right. So when AI builds multiples, they all will be facing that way.
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