Project Adolphus

[Yelnoc]

During last nights meeting, we developed a concept for the engine's map. To test the idea out, we decided on making a game centered on the 30 Years War. Read that sentence again. We are testing an idea. Do not expect "EUIII but better". This will likely feature 2D graphics, among other shortcuts to make prototyping easier. Here is Dangimill on the project.

All right. After a long discussion in the IRC chat, a number of members and I decided that the game should be based on a hexagonal grid of municipalities, which would be part of larger sub-provinces, which would be part of even larger provinces. Think Victoria II, but with three tiers. The regions would be mutable and a player could use a lasso tool to select aesthetically-pleasing borders from the hexes.

Due to the use of microprovinces, we decided that we'd start by creating a Thirty Years' War scenario to test the engine, then slowly expand to accommodate other timeframes. What say the community?

Dreadnought has found a solid map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1618, which you can view here. This is the same map divided into a grid, and this is it in hexagons.

To the artists: we need artwork! Specifically, for a 2D game, we will need sprites for units, cities, and whatever else you can think of it. So hit the drawing board!

Meetings: Every Sunday at 7pm EST (4pm PST, 12am GMT) in #ahgame on mibbit (irc.mibbit.net)

 

[Dreadnought]

Those look nice! How did you make it, if you don't mind me asking? A hexagonal layer under the map, and the map on multiply?

Just added an effect on Photoshop, nothing much,

Also, as for Northern Italy, what should we do with that?, should we count it as part of the HRE? (we would need to modify the map a bit for Tuscany)


As for the units, will they be 3d on top of the 2d map? or will they be 2d as well?

 

[Vjacheslav Malyshev]

-snip-

I found a nice sprite maker it's a bit limited though. here it is

 

[Dreadnought]

Also, the actual game map will be 16x taller and wider than the existing map.

Here is a small chunk of that map (at final size), so we can have an idea of what our units need to fit into.

 

[Vjacheslav Malyshev]

-snip-

will you see the hexes i thinking a button where you can press to turn them on and off.

 

[Dreadnought]

will you see the hexes i thinking a button where you can press to turn them on and off.

You will move by hexes, but they will have a faint border (ideally)

 

[Tallest Skil]

Here is a small chunk of that map (at final size), so we can have an idea of what our units need to fit into.

How wonderfully delicious. This is now, truly, grand strategy at its finest.

Imagine Korea… Bitter fighting over Hill 403 (just Hill 403) outside Panmunjom to gain just that tiny bit more land as you wait for your latest peace offer to be accepted…

It ain't no vector, but at this size, it's almost operationally identical (coordinate lines are going to be quite difficult with a hex map, but…).

 

[Dangimill]

I was thinking we could have the hexes in an image file, with each pixel representing one hex and the color its texture, then we could have an XML file with vector coastlines. Furthermore, I assume the Photoshop effect is just for concept illustration, because the hexes are going to be an integral part of the code.

How wonderfully delicious. This is now, truly, grand strategy at its finest.

Imagine Korea… Bitter fighting over Hill 403 (just Hill 403) outside Panmunjom to gain just that tiny bit more land as you wait for your latest peace offer to be accepted…

It ain't no vector, but at this size, it's almost operationally identical (coordinate lines are going to be quite difficult with a hex map, but…).

Thank you. Hexes can actually be referenced by Cartesian coordinates, but one dimension ends up looking rather awkward. Not that the player will be able to see a given row or column as the game handles one.

 

[PoeFacedKilla]

ok, i need to get in on the meetings if im to begin writing an engine;

 

[Dreadnought]

How wonderfully delicious. This is now, truly, grand strategy at its finest.

Imagine Korea… Bitter fighting over Hill 403 (just Hill 403) outside Panmunjom to gain just that tiny bit more land as you wait for your latest peace offer to be accepted…

It ain't no vector, but at this size, it's almost operationally identical (coordinate lines are going to be quite difficult with a hex map, but…).

that's given me an idea, for the ocean, instead of a bunch of unneeded small provinces, what if we just used lines of Latitude and Longitude? (a sea province might be between 53N and 52N and between 3E and 4E) that would reduce the ocean provinces to about 50 on the current map, and save us a ton of work later on. Also, you would have a rough idea where you could draw a rough line of latitude or longitude (we might make the lines of latitude and longitude an overlay that can be toggled on and off).

Though, in Medieval Germany, I don't think there were (or will be) many straight lines , the provinces might be tweaked when we get to less dense areas.

 

[PoeFacedKilla]

that's given me an idea, for the ocean, instead of a bunch of unneeded small provinces, what if we just used lines of Latitude and Longitude? (a sea province might be between 53N and 52N and between 3E and 4E) that would reduce the ocean provinces to about 50 on the current map, and save us a ton of work later on. Also, you would have a rough idea where you could draw a rough line of latitude or longitude (we might make the lines of latitude and longitude an overlay that can be toggled on and off).

Though, in Medieval Germany, I don't think there were (or will be) many straight lines , the provinces might be tweaked when we get to less dense areas.

i don't like the lat lon idea, what would we call the provinces?
they would need names for naval battles and what about the channel?
i think we need to stick to oceanic provinces instead of going by longitude and latitute.

 

[Dangimill]

i don't like the lat lon idea, what would we call the provinces?
they would need names for naval battles and what about the channel?
i think we need to stick to oceanic provinces instead of going by longitude and latitute.

Agreed. It also makes the grid a lot easier to implement.

 

[Dreadnought]

Agreed. It also makes the grid a lot easier to implement.

Alright, you are a programmer, so I trust your opinion.

As for naming Ocean tiles, do we really need to name ALL of them? or can we just have like 40 provinces named the English Channel? or whatever applies?

 

[Dangimill]

Alright, you are a programmer, so I trust your opinion.

As for naming Ocean tiles, do we really need to name ALL of them? or can we just have like 40 provinces named the English Channel? or whatever applies?

I was thinking about this. It would probably be best to have ocean hexes be generic, and grouped into bodies of water large enough to be deemed significant.

 

[Tongera]

Does it have to be hexagons? Can't the the provinces/regions/areas etc whatever be different shapes and sizes?

 

[Dreadnought]

Does it have to be hexagons? Can't the the provinces/regions/areas etc whatever be different shapes and sizes?

Hexagons will work best for movement, and will be really small in comparison to the real world (1 hexagon is about 3 miles wide), so you are able to make custom borders almost entirely to your liking.

 

[Tongera]

Hexagons will work best for movement, and will be really small in comparison to the real world (1 hexagon is about 3 miles wide), so you are able to make custom borders almost entirely to your liking.

At least be different shapes? The borders will look blocky and a bit weird thoug.

 

[Dreadnought]

At least be different shapes? The borders will look blocky and a bit weird thoug.

they will be a bit rounded on the coasts, and when zoomed out, it will look alright though.

 

[Baconheimer]

So when will thois game end?

 

[Dreadnought]

So when will thois game end?

I'd think 1648, for the initial scenario