I know the game is in it's very early stages and I am sure things will change dramatically as time goes on. With that said, the planetary view window is great and all but it is very reminiscent of GalCiv2 (feels like I am in the old GalCiv2 tremendously - too much). Even though the move to hex tiles is great - I myself was hoping that this aspect of the game would evolve past GalvCiv2.
Has the development team considered a geodesic sphere format for the planetary view screen? Granted some of the tiles are pentagons rather than just simply hexagons but it would be very cool (and aesthetically compatible with the space view) to have a rotatable planet with little 3d improvements on the given tiles. Perhaps you could even switch back and forth between a 2D and 3D view.
This may be an over the top (and for all I know impractical) suggestion but I think it would help elevate GalCiv3 visually and give it a fresh feel to further distinguish itself from it predecessor while keeping true to the 'feel' of the franchise. Plus the odd Pentagon tiles could add to the gameplay/strategy of the planet overall.
Just a thought.
I seriously appreciate your kind and tempered feedback on the entirety of the matter/concept. It is nice to get some good natured feedback from someone who doesn't agree.
As the original poster I never saw the 2d map a a problem at all. I just felt that a 3d map would be more in tune with the aesthetics of the space view and thought it would look really nice and add to the 'immersion' of the game. The sphere hex thing was merely an idea that popped into my head as I was playing. It would add to my game experience but the 2d map does not detract from my game experience in the slightest.
Directed to the thread as a whole: I've noticed on here other posters can get real fired up and bull doze any discussion on the matter with obnoxious know-it-all attitudes that aim to dismiss certain concepts. I understand if something is not viable (and I even said it may not be in my initial post) but even if the concept at hand is not practical - a hearty discussion could lead to something similar that very well may be practical and desired. As a new Founder I came to these boards excited to talk, share feedback/ideas and bathe in GalCiv3 goodness. But responses I have seen to people offering ideas (which have made me cringe) make me think twice about offering any feedback/ideas at all. Someone may genuinely have a fantastic/eureka idea but through fear of getting flamed and 'dismissed' by the 'committee' may never share it at all.
Not everyone here is a 'smarty-pants' - in addition to playing GalCiv as a strategy game I also play it for immersion. I like playing space opera. Yes the core strategy is paramount but also to be immersed in a smooth, visually appealing space saga is a great escape from the doldrums of everyday life and 'bells and whistles' can add to that overall experience. Being a graphics guy and very much being a visually oriented person many of my suggestions will probably relate to UI, graphics, visually intuitive things (like being able to rotate under the horizon). I will continue to post ideas and suggestions and hope people will be a little more kind in there criticism.
I'm gonna go play more space opera now.
I have to say you presented the origional idea every well and it would be visually interesting just from an implemention and utility (e.g. for managing your colony, you'd have to keep rotating it), point of view not practical in my view. But I say keep offering suggestions it's what this forums here for after all.
i agree completely
but there are some things that could be done to increase the "soul" of the planet without i think drastically changing the usefulness of the flat map
here's what i envision
when clicking on a planet it doesn't just pop-up a planet screen but zooms into to the planet transitioning from space view to a 3d world view which unrolls to a flat map.
a couple of interesting things that could be added would be
1) a day and night section on the map that adjusts in real time (this would need to take into account day length star type(multiple stars?)
2) a thin layer of cloud cover barely visible over the whole planet
3) weather reports (custom by tile)
now all of this is purely fluff data but i think would add a lot to the feel of a planet
This would be sweet. Your first click on the planet will just select it and show you quick stats, but double clicking would bring it zooming up into view. The more I think about this I think it would add a very showy component to GalCiv 3. It would make the game look very polished indeed. This actually makes me think of Gal Civ 1's planet screen, where you have all the stats to the left and a giant rotating planet wrapped in the stats and tooltips on the right (if I remember correctly). This would make GalCiv 3 that much more.
On the topic of maps, we could also add star system maps that can be accessed by moving a ship atop a star and then zooming in (the same principle used for a tactical map. Not only would such a development be far more realistic in terms of scale, but it would also remove the clutter associated with planets especially on maps with lots of planets.
I for one would like to see some graphical love to the planet/colony screen in the form of something 3D whether it be of a spherical nature (as per OP) provided it was practical or these very cool suggestions . I know the adjacency aspect is going to be massive in GC3 but I really hope SD is already planning to bring some (3D) bling to the planet tile screen (are you reading this Paul? ).
That would be fun to see if not a hudge priority.
I'm no expert but couldn't a compromise be made in this situation. Making a globe like feature would for me seem like a huge undertaking for the number of planets that would be in one map and it might draw to much work away from the actual game play which in my opinion is more important. At least draw attention away from more features or ways to play etc.
Is it not possible to have a 2D map with 3D obstacles (maybe a tilted view and still a lot of work) or simply just an enhanced 2D background that isn't just a simple portrait of the planets surface? If anything, wouldn't it be possible to add a little life into the background as well, simply movement effects or like tiny ships flying from the stardock to factories etc.
Also, my opinion on why this is important to me or it is something I would like to see is depth. This game gives you a galaxy for you to immerse yourself into. It draws you in so that you care about what is going on and you care about your planets etc....but...when you go into planet view that immersion lessens drastically as it feels so stagnant. I think any improvement in the planet view would enhance the game.
P.S. I do hope that planetary invasion isn't as simple as it was in GCII but I will still be happy if it isn't.
Well I agree with you on planetary invasion I always thought that needed a lot more depth than it got in GCII, the old radio show was very perfuctory indeed.
The issue as I see it for the eye candy in the colony view is to not have it distract from the functionality of that view, I've never seen a 4x space game that managed to make such a view both detailed graphicly and functional must show a spinning globe or a picture of one city,etc.
the view ideally needs to be pretty immersive and functional in practice there will be some comprimise with functionality being king.
What if the current colony tile view was a 'touchscreen interface console' and above it, in a split screen was a viewscreen with a closeup 3d orbital view of the planet (similar to what is in the main menu of the game) with all it's fancy clouds and sun/moons in the background as well as any ships that might be in orbit. Then when you click a tile/improvement on the 'touchscreen interface console' the viewscreen pans/zooms down quickly to the planet through the clouds where it either shows the terrain/sky of an empty tile improvement or an actual improvement/building from a relative distance (which you could pan and zoom around in 3d if you wanted to - but it would be restricted to that immediate area/tile of the planet. Also, all the planet stats could be a digital overlay on the viewscreen too.
As you develop the planet you could see more and more city lights from space in the orbital view (which could also be seen in the space view as well as some people have already suggested).
This was an idea I was toying with a few months ago when considering developing a 4x space game for Android since I can't find a good one. Trying to think how to do this via some procedural texturing. but would love to see this in a little eye candy window seperate from my strategic colony map.
Well I do agree with that fact that not many 4X games have made it successful in looks and function. I will of course side with functionality cause you can't have something that looks good but doesn't work and still have fun. Putting a little life into it wouldn't hurt though. Whatever can be added to increase its depth without hampering functionality I would say is an improvement no matter how little the change is.
I have seen that done before, used to happen in a lot of older games due to graphic and power restrictions and now days that wouldn't be that hard to create and make it look tasteful. You would still get the functionality of the map but a sense that people actually live there. Another possible if all else fails is in interactive mayor. A portrait square of a mayor type person for the planet, it wouldn't have to give you planet information but would be nice. He could simply give you hints about the game like at a loading screen etc. Anything that would really give the planet view a look like someone is alive down there would be awesome.
It looks neat, but when I think about a good UI, I'm thinking I want to see as much information as possible at once. Making the planet round makes only half (at best) of it visible at any one time which is going to drastically affect functionality. I don't think the benefit is worth the cost.
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