omicron1

Easy! Have the terrain extend with a random perlin effect (which modifies a simple "clamp" effect of having the current height/texture continue to infinity) to the edges of the LOS in all directions. Maybe have it computed at map design times, by adding a screen-width "border" region to the map terrain. Then darken all colors beyond the map region by half, or simply add a colored border around the edges. This solves both problems: It clearly defines the game area, and it is much more immersive (by dint of not ending abruptly in darkness or visual artifacts) than the typical approach would be. In my own project (which has the added challenge of accomodating a landscape perspective in regular play), I extended the ocean visual beyond the range of vision in all directions, then modified my map generation scripts so that, in effect, all maps are islands. (Although a 2x-size terrain might be possible with no framerate decrements) The end result is quite pleasing! The holy grail of map borders, I think, is probably the World in Conflict approach - both terrain and scenery objects extend to the horizon in all directions!

Bonus: 0 AD is the "still picture" on the indie contest front-page.

Go for a non-Greek name! How about "Alpha 3 Clannad"?

Here's a thought for y'all... As well as the attached-to-buildings beautification objects, why not have some that spawn around buildings based on a pseudointelligent algorithm to create the feeling so common in promotional screenshots and so lacking in gameplay ones of a functional town? Things like, say, a fence around houses at the edge of a village facing away from other buildings... a little dirt trail between a house and an adjoining work building... a bush between a house and an adjoining warehouse or other industrial facade... basically, just spread out the detail objects over time.

Jus' waitin' on a go-ahead from Amish/Feneur.

Got it. I'd just made a running animation, so much to do still.

I'm guessing the other needed animations are: 1x run 2x attack variations 2x die 1x walk Possibly also an "eating" animation if you want it to interact with other animal NPCs.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/h5ihkwco65lo...ow_rigged.blend

Lion has been rigged. I'm going to make an "idle" animation of 30 frames, then upload the blend so y'all can try it ingame.

Ok, any specific guidelines for rigging/animating? (Bone count, animations required, animation length, etc?

I don't see the attachments. I see pseudo-html.

Uh, what? Lioness.zip?

I'd suggest an "overview" icon. EG, rather than just having a set of icons for each unit, utilize a larger icon that contains a representative icon: say, if you have only/mostly horse units, a picture of mixed cavalry shows up. This allows at-a-glance identification of a group or hotkeyed-group's intended purpose - much as the hotkey-group banners in Age of Empires 3 did. The health bar on this icon should be an average of all the selected units' health. This is important - it provides visual information on the overall state of the entire selected force even if a large number are selected. Possibly additional information (average attack power? Average/min/max range?) could be displayed in this space as well.

Ok, I might be able to handle some of the animating. I've done a bit in Blender, so if those lions are in a .blend compatible format, could ya send them my way/direct me to where they are in the source tree?

A thought: The metal/stone deposits don't really stand out on all maps, especially visible in the valley 1 screenshot above. I'm not certain what you could do to highlight them; what AoE3 did was to place a dirt "rim" around any resource outcrops, separating them visually from the surrounding terrain.