[Freeciv-Dev] Re: [macro]isotrident (fwd)

[Daniel L Speyer <dspeyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 28 Mar 2002, Mike Kaufman wrote:

> I took a look at you version 3 (I assume that this is your latest?)
> 

It was ;)

Version 4 is now available at ftp.freeciv.org/freeciv/incoming

> I have a few comments/complaints that need to at least addressed before
> we consider it for the default isometric tileset.
> 
> Attached is the criticism. Overall it looks really nice. I would
> definitely like to rename it "isotrident" certainly less of a mouthful.
> 
>terrain
>-----
>
>I liked the fact that a little green encroached the desert with
>trident. it gave the game a more rounded feel. to see why, fire up
>civworld, generate a map and then replace all the ocean with desert
>you'll see how cool this looks with trident and how crappy it
>looks with isomacrotrident
>
>same gripe with arctic terrain, though not quite as important.
>

Isometric handles this differrently from overhead.  The border-shape is
the same for all terrains.  Even so, this version puts more of a shape to
it: what do you think?

>the hills should be a bit more periodic when they're adjacent.
>right now, there's no continuity. mountains have quite nice
>periodicity on the other hand
>

Yeah, the hills never worked as well as the mountains.  I've redone
them; I think they're a little better now.

>
>specials
>-----
>the classical city and metropolis without city walls is too high
>up on the tile, and it looks like the same for the other styles.
>

fixed

>It's very difficult to see what's under the farmland graphic,
>on top of desert for example
>

fixed

>the pollution graphic is a bit strange but ok
>

Oops, missed that: it was still the Hires symbol.  I've replaced it with a
tridentier one.

>The fortress graphic is unforgivable. I would prefer a four cornered
>dealie.
>

The real problem is with the way isometric draws fortresses.  I might code
a real solution sometime soon, but for now, here's a hopefully forgiveable
one.

>the airbase graphic doesn't look as dumb as the fortress, but
>still grates a bit on my senses
>

Another Hires -- replaced.

>how about a reddish haze for fallout (radiation)
>

But reddish radiation is harmless -- it's the blue stuf you need to worry
about ;)

More seriously, I don't think that would be as recognizable as what we
have now.

>I kind of liked the little pond for a singlet river.
>

Done

>
>other stuff
>----
>flags cover too much of adjacent tiles <-- major issue, blocker
>

This one is really hard to fix.  It's present in all isometric tilesets,
but the small cities and units in macroisotrident make it more
problematic.  To fix it would require massive coding -- maybe some varient
of the shields patch.

>the tens digit and ones digit should not be separated
>

I'm not sure what you mean here.

>I'm not so hot on the new hitpoint meter. I could live with it
>though.  would like to know what others think. I don't like the
>blue dot in the middle on full hp.

Haven't you ever started a destroyer offensive and then discovered that
one of them only had 29 hitpoints so itcouldn't move as fast as the
rest?  I used to do that all the time.  Now I don't, because almost healed
units don't have the blue stripe.

>---
>overall it's a really good job.
>

Thank you, and thanks for helping to make it better.

--Daniel Speyer
If you *don't* consider sharing information to be morally equivalent to 
kidnapping and murder on the high seas, you probably shouldn't use the
phrase "software piracy."

> -mike
>