azayrahmad

So I am to create textures for existing greek buildings on the game. Shouldn't I refer to the already existing textures instead of creating an entirely new square? This is a modified Hellenic texture I made, based on the one you've uploaded. But you said to create a new file to store any texture I've got, so I made this too. Warning: still in progress But doesn't that means 3D artists have to remapping the texture again? Does that mean I have to explain every part of the texture and each functions?

Thanks for the references. So I guess you have the list of which textures that already being revamped and textures that are still need to be revamped? Some file names for me? . This is what I'm going to do. Correct me if I'm wrong. 1. I'm going to edit file rome_struct.png to a more high-resolution and high-quality version of the current texture, or a new design. (Should I? or should I keep current resolution 1024x1024?) (I'm sorry but I'm still working on dds plugin. I recently downloaded Gimp 2.8 and the current DDS plugin is not compatible with it. What's the differences between DDS and PNG role in this?) 2. I'm going to post some samples of what I've done here 3. I'm sending the revamped texture to this forum. 4. Repeat for another unrevamped texture I apologize if I still don't understand

Thank you very much Mr. Enrique! As you have seen from my work gallery, my primary expertise is photo-manipulation, so my first choice would be revamping old textures. But I am also willing to help texturing Mauryan and any other objects, if I have time. Soo... which object's textures needs revamping? I would be happy if there is a to-do list.

I always assume you guys are based in America... my bad by the way, thanks Geek377 for your compliment! You need to remember that it's a photo manipulation, I don't create the cruiser.

Sorry double post

I don't know if texture artists are still needed, but why not trying? Position: Texture Artist. Do you understand that Wildfire Games is a non-commercial project, work for 0 A.D. is volunteer, and work is done for free? Yes Do you agree to distribute all your work for Wildfire Games under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license? Yes sir, of course Name: Aziz. Email: azayrahmad@gmail.com MSN Messenger: I don't have one, but I have Gmail chat & Yahoo! both nick: azayrahmad (azayrahmad@gmail.com & azayrahmad@yahoo.co.id) Location: Indonesia (I hope you know where it is). We are 11 hours ahead from you. I type this application at 10 in the morning, in front of my students. Availability: I have at least 2 hours per day and full day on weekend (friday, saturday, and sunday), but I am about to take post-graduate so in 6 months it will probably be different, but I'll try to help as much as I could. Age: 20 Oops, I mean 22. Occupation: Computer teacher for the deaf (full time) and private math teacher (freelance). Skills and Experience: I have more than 4 years experience in Photoshop and later, Gimp. Self-learning though, I do it as a hobbyist, not a professional. I also have ventured to simple 3D modelling and website design, but both going nowhere. I am also a Computer Science graduate, but that was just theories. I'm not really into coding Motivation: I love RTS games, I love anything historical, I love photo manipulation (and I could). 0 AD is pretty much the game of my dream. And I want to realize this dream, as soon as possible, so I could play this game and telling everyone that this is the game we've made (also, this one model, I'm the one textured it) Personality: I see myself as a funny but quiet guy. But mostly I see myself as a handsome guy. Short Essay: I found this game quite a long time ago, about a year ago. That time I was using Linux and there's this game. Probably one of the most sophisticated open source game I know (there's not a lot of good games that has Linux port. What I seek? I seek for experiences, I seek for knowledge, and I seek for a job to fill my free time Interests and Hobbies: I love watching movies, and sometimes reading books (this one has been mostly replaced by surfing the Internet). I also love writing (not in English) and drawing. And of course, playing PC games Staff: Not really. I know some of them from the forum, but not beyond that. Community: There are no exact 'frequent' forums, but I contribute to my local forums (in my country), DeviantArt (hasn't been active for some time now), Reddit, Facebook, and this forum. Favorite Game: At this time I am playing mostly city building sim (Caesar, Pharaoh, SimCity) and RTS games (Rise of Nations, Age of Empires, and this game). My favourite games of all time would be Starcraft and Spider Solitaire Work Examples: I haven't worked as professional, yet. But for hobby, I have several of my arts here http://azayrahmad.de...t.com/gallery/. Thank you for your considerations

So that's where the quotes are written. quotes.txt. Well, if there are no team assigned yet to compile this quotes collection, I guess I could start gathering it right away. I guess tips and quotes have their own place each. Tips are in the center, with picture, while quotes are below it. So don't worry about losing one of them. This is my vision of a great loading screen: 1. The tips section would be called 'Did you know?' and it would feature general hints/tips and trick, preferably related to the map that is about to be played. For example 'You could select only military units by pressing Alt while dragging.' and on the right there is a picture of selected army and deselected female citizens. And it could also feature fun facts/trivia about the era, like 'Chemical and biological warfare have been used long before World War 1. During the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century BC, Spartans used sulfur and pitch to overcome the enemy.' with the picture of Peloponnesian war on the right. 2. The quotes section would feature quotes about war/combat and also unique phrases from related factions. How about that?

It's lovely but I don't think it's suitable to be displayed in an action RTS game. Also it's not 'Quote of the Day', more like 'Words/Phrase of the Day'. If it's really supposed to be filled with phrases, I think it should be limited to things relevant to the topic (war) like military terms. So instead of getting words like alma mater or ad nauseum, it's nice to see military terms like syntagma and primum agmen. Also it would be nice to see military terms from other languages which factions featured in the game, if available. Like Indian terms when you load the screen and play Mauryan, etc. I agree. Many games uses this way. You load the screen, and then after 100% loaded, instead of going straight to the game, a 'Start Game' button appears. So if you aren't finished yet reading the tips, don't worry, just read it thoroughly and then start the game. This is also useful for those who likes to going to the toilet while waiting the game to load (usually those with slower computer). You don't want to go back from the toilet only to find your citizens being slain while doing nothing, won't you? But before implementing this, I think first we need to make sure that the loading screen is worth staring at. Also the unit/building pictures and quotes seems to be appear randomly. Keyword based means that when you play Spartan faction in a naval map, the picture (and the explanation beside it) is one of Spartan units, preferably naval units. And the quote/ tips below is about naval warfare. Really nice.

Our current loading screen has a progress bar, a picture of a unit type/building and its explanation on the right, and below there is a "Quote of the Day" which is apparently change every time I load a game instead of every day and filled with latin phrases and abbreviations. I guess (and hope) those latin phrases are just like lorem ipsum that later will be replaced by actual quote of the day. I'm still curious as to what will it be replaced into? If there is no plan to replace the quote, I have some suggestions in my mind. How about we replace it with: 1. Tips of the day. This is quite common in every game and software. It's basically Learn to Play split into sentences and displayed randomly. 2. Actual quote of the day. Like in Rome Total War, they have a quote about war in every loading screen. 3. Fun facts/ Trivia: I think it's nice to see some random facts about the era that not many people know or many common people get it wrong. Like why those Gaesatae fought battle naked, etc. I bet many of you from history division found many things in this era actually different from what many people today think they know. I wonder if there is already a team assembled to gather these quotes. If there is, I am willing to participate.

How could you convince your university students to take part in this project unless: 1. You're the professor 2. The students are both fans of historical RTS and could actually contribute to the project?

Do you know any good (especially war) movies that set around the period of this game (500BC-500AD)? I think it would be useful for those who interested in this era, which I guess most of us do. The more historically accurate the better, although popular movies also welcomed. I have difficulties to distinguish the time of which each historical epic movie I've watched is in, but here's some that I could remember: 1. Gladiator (around 180AD) 2. 300 (umm... I don't remember but it was featured in the game so it must be around the era too) 3. I think Troy is supposed to be around 1200-1300BC but the movie Troy (2004) featured soldiers and ships that looks a lot like the ones featured in this game) ... well that's all I can remember. Care to add?

I don't see what's so complicated about it. I rather call it 'different way.' Conventional system: you have resources > you build house > you decide if you want female citizens, soldier type a or soldier type b > you build them My idea : you have resources > you decide you need citizens only or soldiers > you build house > you decide you need soldier type a or soldier type b > you build them But this is especially useful to those who is quite slow at deciding things or those who prefer to take it slow, prefer to scout first then create soldiers composition based on what they think enemy would send. For fast clickers who always got their town center & every unit production busy, this probably might force them to plan what they don't usually plan, thus make it look complicated. So it's a matter of preference, I think. Probably it would be nice if this system is not general, ie only one civilization have this system. I wonder who'll win And now that I think of it, I think I'll make a mod about it. Any advice on how to start learning to mod?

Wow, I don't know that hotkey before. Thanks! And yes, they have different rank. I just notice that. Sometimes I made a mistake by grouping those with metal helmet only to realize not all of them is pikemen. I guess I have to make double clicking my habit. Oh and just like you, sometimes when the enemy come without preparation I just zoomed out, drag all people everywhere to attack them, only to find that my female citizens also dragged and slain. Now only if there is 'drag military units only' options... Yes it is. Now I've played long enough to distinguish them. Infantry could be distinguished more easily due to their different shield (square, round, no shield) but for some cavalry I had to look at their weapons first to know whether the unit is ranged or heavy cavalry. A little hard for micro-manager, I think. Oh and I just think about this. The shield could have different picture painted on it right? Could we change it in-game? For example, by default all the shields are blank, but once we assign a group to the units (ctrl + 1), their shield change into a picture, for example a snake. For a second group, different picture, probably an eagle. And, if possible, instead of only a small icon with the number indicating group number, why don't we have the icon of that picture, a snake picture with number 1 on it. And then when we hover over it, there will be tooltip saying Legion I Snake, for second group Legion II Eagle, etc... Well, we can dream, right?

So there is downloadable nightly build? Wow, haven't tried yet... If I'm not wrong one of the tower in a civilization I've played have one visual soldiers upside. It would be nice to have it in the gates too... So the gates only open and closed? No attacker inside (arrows when near enemy)?

So I've downloaded this game a couple of days ago, and after playing it for a while I think this game looks promising. The main appeal of this game is the graphic, which I dare say one of the best RTS graphic I've seen since AoE3, although most of the animations are still poor (but I'm sure you guys are working on it). However I want to give some suggestions to the game. 1. Camera In this game zooming in/out camera is similar to zooming a telescope. You get far and near and that's it. The purpose is to get the closer look at your units. However I found zooming system in other RTS games like Empire Earth and Warcraft III. It is still bird-eye view (about 45 degree), but the more zooming in the camera angle shifts until you get the human eye view (horizontal view). This offers cinematic view, which is cool, but rather annoying because the more you zoomed in the less area you can view. I suggest the camera system that is zooming normally straight until you get close, then if you zoom again it shifts to horizontal view. It'll be both cool and functional 2. UI design I think this is rather confusing, especially for newcomers. I suggest to categorize it, for example the first row is civilian buildings, the 2nd row is military buildings. Also I miss the move/attack/stop button, and I think the formation toggle button is given too much estate than it needed. Also I think maps should be enlarged. I will give my suggestion image later 3. Unit details The variations of units of the same type are too much, I often have to select them to make sure that they are the same type. Soldiers of one type using shield with various different pictures. One units using a leather cap, one unit using a helmet, they are both have different costume and color, and turns out they are also the same type. On the other hand, there are a bunch of caped soldiers of the same type, and they all have beards. I think variation is cool, adding realism into game. But the variation should be of small things, like beard/mustache, skin color (human/ horse), anything that couldn't be noticed unless we look closer. But uniform, they should look the same, so we could know if he's ranged cavalry or heavy cavalry, because in the long shot they all look the same and we need something to distinguish it. That's it for now, I'll play some more to give more suggestions

Now deciding the safe gathering spot, that is the real problem.

Firstly I apologize for some typo. Assuming that a house holds 10 population, that means creating a house automatically produces 10 citizens. The concept is to replace 'population caps' system with 'citizens available.' I try to view citizens as resources, not just units. 1. Actually, you don't have to make sure. If you want all of your citizen to be able to be converted into soldiers, just create male houses. Female houses are just for players who prefer to have their economy still grow even in total war. 2. I don't see this is any different than the original game. 3. The strategy is to make sure you always keep some male citizens idle/garrisoned inside a barrack/being around barrack. Save female citizens for your important resources. The benefits: 1. You don't have to worry about creating citizens and population caps. They will be automatically created/replaced (if died) with houses. All you have to do is manage them. Assign them as gatherers, or soldiers. 2. You don't have to decide early. If you don't want to create soldiers yet, fine, you can plan it first while they are already there, being citizens and gathering resources. In original game, I tend to not let the population caps get full, as I don't want to suddenly need soldiers when I hit the caps, only to find out that I spent most of them for female citizens gathering resources that are already abundant. And I hate to kill some gatherers when I hit the population limit and the ratio of soldiers:gatherer isn't what I want. 3. You can build house anywhere and you can build it more than town center. You can build it near important resources, or military buildings. This is better than having to change town center's rally point all the time. And this will make houses' role more important than just adding the population caps. About Stronghold comparison: I'm just inspired from it (the way it handled citizens). I didn't mean to implement it entirely. Iron ore > weapon factories > armory > barrack = soldier is too complicated for an RTS. So in short this is not intended to complicate things, but to simplify it (simplify the gameplay, not the game itself). Then again, this is just an instant concept that I developed as I type. I might be exaggerating advantages while overlooking the disadvantages, so you might want to give some views.

The closest example of this idea is already implemented in the game Stronghold: Crusader. Although in Stronghold, citizens are not created, they came to your town center based on how prosper your city is. In other word, citizens are also one of the resources that gathered, not built. In the game there are barracks and weapon factories. Weapon factories produce weapons,automatically and infinitely as long as there are resources. So in barrack, you don't produce a swordsman with 50 food and 100 metal, but you built it with 1 citizen and 1 sword. In case of knight, 1 citizen, 1 sword, 1 shield. The automatic system of weapon creation might make your resources management and your weapon amount uncontrollable, unless you manually controlled them. Either way, it is, in the words of Brightgalrs, "tedious micromanagement." The solutions I suggested to meet your requirement are following: 1. If you build a house, 5 citizens would automatically created (not instantly and not free, mind you. This is just so you don't have to press the button 'create female citizen' ever again. It still takes time to summon all 5 citizens, and your food stock will be reduced too). You can assign them to build or gather. This means citizens are created in houses, not town. Town is only for creating citizen-soldiers. Now since we have female and male citizens, there should be build male house and build female house. Female houses produce 5 female citizens which cannot be converted into soldiers. 2. If you build a soldier (either citizen-soldiers in town center or other soldiers in barrack) one idle nearest male citizen would go to town/barrack and walk out a soldier. If it's a siege weapon, then it's two or three citizens. To save from more micro, there is no weapon factory. So to build swordsman we need 1 citizen, 100 metal. Remember if no one's idle this would reduce workers so you probably should check all the citizens work again. Also if enemy is already in your city, they could slay every citizen trying to enter the barrack so you need to create soldiers when it's still safe or have some citizens garrisoned there first. To make this happen, every time you assign a soldier to gather he would automatically drop the armor and became a male citizen again, with citizen efficiency. But if he is needed to be a soldier again he would have to run to barrack again. Well, this is what I have in mind. I don't even know if the game could actually be modified like that.

I agree with build the behavior into AI. Most RTS have citizens either stands still or run in limited distance when attacked by enemy. Some have their citizens armed with simple weapon that obviously cannot win. They should have run into the nearest building and lock the door until everything is safe, ie there is no enemy detected by the building's line of sight. But I agree with Zeta1127. The button is important. The AI only could save the one who is nearest to the enemy, so the citizens who is far away couldn't know what is coming for them. We still need to ring the emergency bell so everyone in town would know if there is a large force coming.

I don't know if this thread is still active, but I have a proposal. (I'm yet to understand the game design, so pardon if there are some parts that are obviously impossible to implement). 1. Gates operated by two soldiers, each on the sides of the gates. It could be pre-added or garrisoned soldiers, but the most important part is that gates uses their LOS. 2. Every time a unit is in the gatekeepers LOS, the gate reacts automatically. It opens for friendly units and keep closed for enemies. If there are both the gates prefer to be closed (sacrificed the friendly units outside) 3. There is an option for gates to be manually opened/closed. 4. The gates opens slowly, takes about 5 seconds to be fully opened so you could be sure who are you letting inside.