Improving DoF Visuals - progress report.

[The Witch King of Angmar]

Wow that looks great! You guys have come so far from those screens I saw from 2003 (I think). Keep up the great work.

[Chris]

What really really hurts DoF at it's current state is it's numerous 'graphical upgrades' that have happened few years after few years and it's Photoshop look. By that I mean that nearly all textures in the game display their 'brushed and filtered' look.

HDR/Bloom won't make things better if the base they work on aren't that great to HDR and Bloom. I adore the classic fantasy style with it's pale colors and the like, but the game looks outdated a bit.

Problem with Bloom especially is that DoF at it's current state looks like a pretty crowded game. This will make people turn bloom off since Bloom often smooths the lines between details. Currently it's already very hard to see units on a map. This screenshot (http://www.dawnoffantasy.com/media/rtsc/screen1.jpg) is a good example of how fog helps reduce the effect, but this one here is a random mess (http://www.dawnoffantasy.com/media/rtsc/screen3.jpg). Also, what doesn't help at all, is the feeling of depth in the game that seems to be missing (http://www.dawnoffantasy.com/media/rtsc/screen2.jpg). This makes the last screenshot look very 2D.

Another problem in graphics currently seems to be that every 'city' is greyish brown, every forest is green-green-green, and the like. There's no 'beauty' to the nature and environment itself. The city shown on numerous screenshots looks like a boring place to live in or build in my opinion. Considering some of the better fantasy RTS'es around these days, this seems lacking in it's current state. Where are the seasons, the weather, the daytime, the atmosphere itself?

Reason I'm saying this is because the news surprises me, I didn't expect another graphics makeover this late in the project. I was expecting the number of variations in environment, different textures and looks to the world be the ones worked on this late since right now I've only really seen one human city and one elven forest in similar lighting conditions and similar setups.

Is graphics overhaul really this necessary this late instead of simply piling up and adding to what's already there? Just my opinion of course, I just believe the latter would be more beneficial.

[The Witch King of Angmar]

Sorry Chris, I couldn't see the last 2 screens because the links didn't work. ANyway, if you look at the picture with the close up orcs and see how "blocky" they look I think you would agree they needed a bit of a touch-up on graphics.

[Joseph Visscher]

Originally Posted by The Witch King of Angmar

Sorry Chris, I couldn't see the last 2 screens because the links didn't work. ANyway, if you look at the picture with the close up orcs and see how "blocky" they look I think you would agree they needed a bit of a touch-up on graphics.

The first shot worked, so i just changed

http://www.dawnoffantasy.com/media/rtsc/screen1.jpg

to

http://www.dawnoffantasy.com/media/rtsc/screen2.jpg

and then

http://www.dawnoffantasy.com/media/rtsc/screen3.jpg

and all 3 work. for me anyways.

responce to Chris, I somewhat agree, we need to build a larger part of the game, then again on the other hand we need to update the graphics enough that this game will really get off the ground and get an awsome population growing with support and such which will most likely mean more funding to finish the rest of the game faster. Thats all im gona say for now

[Chris]

Well I agree that more detailed units are always lovely. I love detail in characters and units quite a bit, but they are secondary to the gameplay and atmosphere itself. For example, Company of Heroes or Spellforce 2 are some of the better looking RTS titles around at the moment when it comes to unit details, but games like Battle for Middle Earth 2 - while having less polycount on units - aren't affected by it. You could also list Medieval Total War 2 here I suppose, though it's not RTS, and more of strategy-tactics game.

I see Dawn of Fantasy as a large scale game of epic proportions, massive armies. And I personally don't see a problem in how the details of units are right now. While - as I mentioned before - game has this strong Photoshop brushed-filtered look, the graphics themselves look good the way they are when it comes to what's currently there. In my opinion it would simply benefit from expanding what's already there, instead of remaking a large portion of it.

I just have a hard time seeing that there's time for another massive graphics upgrade that leaves alot of months of time to add to it, since I believe the game would strongly benefit from being expanded than upgraded what's there.

It would help strongly with maps variations as well, the last thing you need is to end up with a situation where maps look mostly the same. Yes, buildings in different places, vegetation in different places, terrain elevation variations, but overall the same.

But I have alot of faith in you guys, after you've come far and I'm sure you'll make the right decision, simply offered a bit of my own opinion to the pile. Hopefully we'll see the real benefits of the graphics update soon enough

EDIT: And apologies for the DoF screens in my previous post, happened to drop few symbols into URL that weren't meant to be there. Fixed now.

[Gallivan]

In your last screenshot you comment about lack of depth. Isn't it possible to add a fog-induced filter when the camera plane is less then - say 50 degrees?

The fog would only affect the things in the back drop, and the farther away the foggier it would become.

For example:

http://www.terragame.com/downloadabl...m/screen_1.jpg

[olauwers]

I have a question about these screens. The armies shown in them, are they actually realistic armies, speaking in bigness-terms?

[The Witch King of Angmar]

Originally Posted by olauwers

I have a question about these screens. The armies shown in them, are they actually realistic armies, speaking in bigness-terms?

They looked pretty real to me, but no, I think they might have just added them as a part of the "scenery".

[Ryan Zelazny]

Originally Posted by olauwers

I have a question about these screens. The armies shown in them, are they actually realistic armies, speaking in bigness-terms?

The Orc army in the first screen is actually much larger, thats just a portion of the forces. That one is taken from part of the human campaign, just a look at the force you have to defeat!

[The Witch King of Angmar]

Originally Posted by Ryan Zelazny

The Orc army in the first screen is actually much larger, thats just a portion of the forces. That one is taken from part of the human campaign, just a look at the force you have to defeat!

Wow, I can't wait to have a giant battle like that.