ADC2 Quatre Bras 2 Art Evaluation

I received the QB ADC2 module yesterday and took a quick look at the countermix and high-definition maps. Wow! Terry Leeds really knows his stuff.

My first impression is that we will be able to make use of such art in PC Eylau. I will perform a few tests in the next couple of weeks:

1. I will convert a unit bitmap of Terry's so that it can appear in PC Eylau. This will involve scaling down, then rotating the unit bitmap every 30 degrees in a full circle and embedding the resulting unit images in a bitmap with a transparent background. I'll add the resulting bitmap to the game with a Debug menu command to display it. I'll post a picture or two when I'm done. This will allow the test group and the CSW-ers to see how that might look.

2. I will find out what it takes to import the high-res QB2 map into PC Eylau. I will need to identify and isolate/refactor all code pertaining to map and hex dimensions in order to make this happen. I also might have to restore map scaling (zoom in/out) functionality in order to make the game workable with those large hexes on the QB2 board.

I'm excited about this. This is very cool artwork.

I asked Charlie what would it take to have Terry do similar artwork for Eylau, and at what point in the development cycle we should pursue that? (I guess he will want to hold off giving Terry a green light until the AI has a higher IQ than a chimpanzee.)

vive l'E!

AI, AI, AI, AI...

(canta y no llores)

OK. I swapped a couple of e-mails with Charlie and Ed at Clash of Arms. The bottom line is they need an AI in order to sell the game to a larger audience. This is about what I expected.

All the UI and gameplay mods are now on the back burner in favor of AI development. After I review the AI's status, I will draw up a plan to finish it.

In other news, I sent a build to Chris with the "Valentine's Day" modifications night before last. I'll post again soon with some screen shots.

Big Picture Status/ConsimWorld Forum Posts of Interest

On ConsimWorld, Charlie Spiegel asked me

What I want to know Bill, is do you estimate it will be ready for Prime Time this Origins?

I replied

It's not ready yet. AI work as been on hold since last Origins. I've
been concentrating on improving the user interface and the gameplay.

We've had no direction on whether to work towards an initial release
without the AI or with it. Ed said he hoped to get back to us on the
AI/no AI question last August.

And also

Oops. Previous post incomplete.

We've continued to work along even without the AI decision, but
we've been working in anticpation of a non-AI release.

Aside from that, things have been fairly slow going, between the
holidays and personal life.

I won't be at Origins this year, as it conflicts with my upcoming
wedding. The last time I spoke with Chris, he was still planning
to attend.

Generally speaking, the game is much more playable and user-friendly
than it was last year. All messages are now displayed in a Game
Messages window. Morale information is displayed in its own window in
a way that makes it easy to find out which commands are in trouble,
and which units are at risk. Game status information has its own
window as well. The Jump Map dialog is now modeless and it synchronizes
with the display pretty well. Movement execution is now animated...you
can see each unit move a hex at a time. The mouse cursor now changes
appearance to show where you can move and plot fire.

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in?

You scored as Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica). You are leery of your surroundings, and with good reason. Anyone could be a cylon. But you have close friends and you know they would never hurt you. Now if only the damn XO would stop drinking. Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 75% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 69% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 63% Serenity (Firefly) 56% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 50% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 50% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 44% SG-1 (Stargate) 44% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 44% Moya (Farscape) 44% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 38% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 25% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

WideScreenGamingForum

I had a great face-to-face conversation with one of the moderators of
WideScreenGamingForum.com the other night at Starbucks. I was showing Eylau to Dawn on my laptop, which runs at 1680 x 1050 resolution. This caught Skip's attention, and he introduced himself. We chatted for a while, and I took him up on his invitation to check out the WSGF site.

If you really get the big picture, so to speak, WSGF is the place to go. It's inhabited by friendly people who have been there and done that when it comes to tweaking systems and games to get the best performance and appearance on wide screens.

I think I can find some testers there for Eylau.