SP with better Graphics?

[gabeeg]

Originally Posted by antonm

Yes right, zooming with the mouse wheel would be more conviended than searching with the cursor the sensitive areas (I play winspww2 in windows; otherwise the side rations will be seriously distored).
Receiving and sending PBEM files from out of the game would be fine as well.

Concerning the graphics. I agree that the graphics give some kind of old school feeling. Speaking from my point of view, I value better graphics higher than that feeling. Especially if the classic feelings comes with hard to distinguish units.
Other games, for instead the Close Combat series, have basically the same top-down view, but the graphics (and also in animations) are way better (of course, it is a new development game).

I can completely understand if players are fine with the classic feel of steel panthers. However I want to point out that there is also a market for a game using the steel panther algorithms and an updated surface and handling.

I have to agree with what Antonm says. I think there is a large (for a niche market) segment of current, ex (and potential future players) of Steel Panthers (original, winsp and spwaw)waiting for a modern interface, updated 2d graphics and maps and support for wide screen, true color displays. It is a topic that keeps being posted every few months on every steel panthers forum I follow. It is my favorite game, as is...but I would love to see it updated.

[Imp]

I am going to guess/speculate here as my programing skill is minimal at best.

Adding adjusting zoom level by mouse wheel is doable the rest is in your dreams & dont fully understand or maybe I am old school

Scale is 50m a hex you are not going to get a lot of detail at that level & changing that or how it works pretty much means a new game.
Think about it lets add a new terrain type, brush would be nice lets do the easy bit.
Replace say one of the pavements with it as have 3 types & use is fairly rare, define its properties & do some graphics for the file simples. Now the fun starts map generator has to know how & when to use it for the hundreds of permetations of battles you can create, AI probably has to have an idea about it to etc.
Thats just one terrain type not changing the whole shebang.

On your comment about find it hard to distinguish stuff really??
Terrain - I would describe the graphics as crisp & clear as opposed to washy, this makes recognising terrain easy on the whole.
Possible exceptions being complicated rolling ground with features might need to mouse over & verify a slope & buildings if you really want to know if they are stone or wood. Some are obvious others arent & this pretty much shows the more variety the harder it is to recognise stuff.
Units - As they are based on what they look like dont really understand this I have little trouble distinguishing diffrent units with the exeption of some vehicles which are the same but mount diffrent armament. In some cases they have a slighly diffrent camo which helps distinguish but in others like armed halftracks I either have to zoom in to see the gun or take the quick option & mouse over. I play most of the game at mid zoom levels by the way & stuff is clear enough to me.
The game is modifiable by you if you want to say change the camo on a vehicle so it stands out you can if you are willing to spend the time which raises another point.
The game you mentioned or any modern game for that fact how many units does it include, the answer will be a fraction of those included in this game.
I think most people would love to see a modern update but this is a vast game cant ever see anybody doing something on this scale again. Where we perhaps differ is I am not really fussed about the graphics unless you really are talking old schooI I want the game system updated, better arty routines etc.

On the widscreen thing I play in it & it works fine there is a sticky on this forum with the patch.

[void1984]

I second Imp. The only thing that makes me think of graphics update is the size of fonts and encyclopaedia in high resolution mode.

[ERISS]

Originally Posted by void1984

The only thing that makes me think of graphics update is the size of fonts and encyclopaedia in high resolution mode.

Yes, in a future patch the display size option should be divided in two size options: One resolution for the battle screen (1028x1024 for me), and one for all the others (purchase, encyclopedia, etc; 640x480 for me).

[Gudadantza]

I agree with eriss.

I don´t know if different resolutions for menus is the solution, or a redesigned interface for higher resolutions.

I like the graphics as they are.
The thinks to do. My ideas.

-Higher menus and interface (encyclopaedia, editors, scenarios etc...)They are tiny and hard to read.

-Something MUST be done with the minimap. I can (now) live without the menus in full screen. But the minimap is something make me leave the game for months, damages playability.
The maps in this game are bigger than other versions, but the minimap is useless. Hard to see dots (colours) and tiny square showing only a part of the battlefield if the map is big.
The idea should be adding an external full screen map? and make the actual minimap as generic approach with different dot colours?


I would change the Artillery model, I dont like it. I didnt like it in 1997.

But that is another question.

I think that is the most important things the game needs. No 3d, no new engine unless that simple thinks to do are impossible due to the engine limitations.

Greetings!

[gila]

Not much need for a mini-map change IMO.

Better to use the zoom feature.

Zoom out to get a general view of battlefield,click on a unit in a specific area of action, zoom in,repeat as needed.

ID tags can be turned on and off also.

[Gudadantza]

To gila:

Of course.
And smaller screen resolutions the solution to small fonts.

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Imp

Adding adjusting zoom level by mouse wheel is doable the rest is in your dreams & dont fully understand or maybe I am old school

Hello IMP. I just asked to use the zoom with mouse wheel and nothing else. Look, I am the complainant unless the site lol.

[Imp]

Originally Posted by Roman

Hello IMP. I just asked to use the zoom with mouse wheel and nothing else. Look, I am the complainant unless the site lol.

Realise that Roman & as I said not a bad idea it might even happen at some point, off the top of my head though I probably use next/previous target more so getting it to do N+P on the scroll & T on wheel press saves "stretching" to the keyboard. Course you could always make them user definable.

[DRG]

Originally Posted by gabeeg

I have to agree with what Antonm says. I think there is a large (for a niche market) segment of current, ex (and potential future players) of Steel Panthers (original, winsp and spwaw)waiting for a modern interface, updated 2d graphics and maps and support for wide screen, true color displays. It is a topic that keeps being posted every few months on every steel panthers forum I follow. It is my favorite game, as is...but I would love to see it updated.

We already support widescreen. The Beta test was run with winSPMBT and will be introduced in the next patch for CD owners. As for the rest ......if we did contemplate that type of extensive update ( and we don't... ) it WOULD require a full rewrite of the code and if we did a full rewrite of the code it wouldn't be "Steel Panthers" any longer because we wouldn't waste thousands of hours more modifying existing code with all the imposed restrictions that entails. IF we were going to do that we would have done it 5 years ago and had we done that five years ago we *might* be at the Beta stage now and for absolute certain there would be no winspww2 or winspmbt .

As for the "large niche Market" all I can say is.....there is nothing "large" about the market for this type of computer wargame. Never has been, never will be no matter how fancy the graphics are



Don