Game News Age of Wonders 3 announced. Coming this fall

[General Maxson]

I don't think you realize how extremely expensive/time-consuming it is to make high-resolution 2D graphics.
Also I just tried to play HoMM 3 and it's unplayable on modern resolutions. I wish I had kept my 13" CRT.

I find the screenshot okay. It doesn't need to be pretty, it needs to be utilitarian. I wish I could see the UI and I sincerely hope you can zoom out more.

Graphics aside, I play Heroes 3 on 22" LCD and it still looks magical, like when I first saw it. Don't understand how it looks unplayable to you... o_O

But yes, I dislike 3D as they never can make it so pretty like magical 2D graphics. Age of Wonders 1, 2, and Heroes 3 all look better to me. It's like it's impossible to capture that "magic" in 3D. Although the terrain and cities and countryside should look magical and fantasy enough, it still can't be captured well enough at least for me. Can't even explain it. Heroes 5 and 6 look a lot worse on the map than earlier editions. Well Heroes 4 has a shitty look though.

What is the limit for devs that they always seem to make it dull and boring when they make 3D?

But yes, I'm not raging, this screenshot looks quite nice for a 3D, I'm just saying what could have been...

 

[Marsal]

I don't think you realize how extremely expensive/time-consuming it is to make high-resolution 2D graphics.
Also I just tried to play HoMM 3 and it's unplayable on modern resolutions. I wish I had kept my 13" CRT.

I find the screenshot okay. It doesn't need to be pretty, it needs to be utilitarian. I wish I could see the UI and I sincerely hope you can zoom out more.

Use the HD patch, bro. Still looks and plays great.

 

[SCO]

That cloud on the right hand upper side is weird. I'd guess it would become a highly annoying 'feature' if it didn't fade-out on the player view somehow. -there was a reason AoW2 hadn't any fog atmospheric effects, even where it would make sense (swamps, shorelines).

edit: maybe it's a air spell, like poison mist or cloud of pestilence.

 

[Jasede]

Oh, I dislike 3D as much as all of you combined, I daresay. But it's not realistic to expect 2D art in 1920x1280 or something. It'd be magical and wonderful, but it's unlikely to happen, considering the sheer expense required.

 

[Excidium]

I don't think you realize how extremely expensive/time-consuming it is to make high-resolution 2D graphics.
Also I just tried to play HoMM 3 and it's unplayable on modern resolutions. I wish I had kept my 13" CRT.

I find the screenshot okay. It doesn't need to be pretty, it needs to be utilitarian. I wish I could see the UI and I sincerely hope you can zoom out more.

Use the HD patch, bro. Still looks and plays great.

Yup. russians.

 

[Jasede]

Hm that does look better.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

I think the graphics look okay for a 3D game. I like that everything is small and rather in scale, while at the same time having a relatively high polygon count and detailed textures. That gives it somewhat of the "crisp" look that was inherent to most 2D games. If they don't dumb down the gameplay mechanics this could definetely bring major incline.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Oh, I dislike 3D as much as all of you combined, I daresay. But it's not realistic to expect 2D art in 1920x1280 or something. It'd be magical and wonderful, but it's unlikely to happen, considering the sheer expense required.

You should look for The Banner Saga if you haven't already. Up to 2731x1536 2D justice.

 

[visions]

I don't think you realize how extremely expensive/time-consuming it is to make high-resolution 2D graphics.
Also I just tried to play HoMM 3 and it's unplayable on modern resolutions. I wish I had kept my 13" CRT.

Aren't old crts cheap and easy to find where you live? They are here, thank gods.

On topic, not too psyched about the graphics (prefer 2d for strategy), otherwise seems promising.

 

[Hobo Elf]

The 3D looks pretty lame but if the gameplay is as fun as it was previously then I'll be happy with that. Thank fuck they are doing AoW3 instead of Overlord 3.

 

[OSK]

 

[General Maxson]

@OldSkoolKamikaze:

Is that at your home?

 

[SCO]

Looks unplayable.

BTW is this Heroes III HD thing supposed to work with Era 2.4? I just tried it now (era 2.4 for the first time) and era is all fucked up, the wogify menu can't even change options.

It's probably a bad installer for wine for Era though. HD by itself works fine (and Era by itself has similar symptoms, so it's probably it's installer fucking up or wine itself not liking it's memory injection methods).
Heroes III mods are the most horrid thing i've ever seen recently, programing wise. That script 'language' accessing game process memory structures directly...

A example from the forums; spoiled to protect the innocent

Spoiler

* 1) check for swapped Hero Portrait number @ [69CCFC]+B84 +492h*n
* or [6933756]+2948+1170*n (n=HE#)
!!UN:C6933756/4/?y2; pointer
!!VRy3:Sy1*1170+y2+2948; swapped Hero # address
!!UN:Cy3/1/?y4; m=y4 - but negative if HE#>127
!!VRy4&y4<0:+256;
* 2) check for external filename assigned to Hero (Era 1.8 addresses):
* 27F9A7C + 3C*m, or 41917052 + 60*m = address of filename
!!VRv1:Sy4*60+41917052;
!!SN:Xv1; push address to buffer
!!SN:X?z1; set z1 address to value in buffer (e.g., z1="HPL00000.pcx"
!!UN:Cv1/1/?v2; set v2 value to buffer value
*!IF^External filename = %Z1, v2=%V2^;
!!if&v2=0:; start of default process if no external file
* 3) if z1="", then, look up m's filename at 67F134 -20h*m, or 6811956-32*m
!!VRv1:Sy4*-32+6811956;
!!SN:Xv1; push address to buffer
!!SN:X?z1; set z1's address to buffer value, e.g., z1="HPL000KN.pcx" (Orrin)
!!en:; end of default process

Hope vcmi washes all of the old mod systems away.

 

[Fowyr]

I want my customable wizards... and my 300+ spells. And I want my types of magic feeling different from each other.

Play Master of Magic then.