One-feature-a-day articles: #12 Pomp and Circumstance
Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 6:27 pm
This is a re-posting of Pocus's original posting on the Paradox forum. I believe he has probably been insanely busy getting PoN ready for us, so I am only attempting to help him out.
One-feature-a-day articles: #12 Pomp and Circumstance
We are big believers that immersion in a game also comes from the little ‘chrome’ touches that developers can add in a given game. We want you somehow to suspend your disbelief, so you think that when you play you are back in the Victorian era, leading a grand nation.
This approach comes from the way graphics are integrated in the game, like showing a nice diplomatic window with a 19th-century desk and inkwell with pen, or the crisis screen with a presentation as if you are playing bridge (or poker!) in a Gentleman’s club. But it doesn’t stop here in PON. Because we have tried to add more than that, but always with the second thought that if beauty can also give some ‘gameplay’ feedback, then so much the better!
For example you’ll realize that in Pride of Nations, your factories sprites produce smoke from their chimneys. The more smoke, the more factories in a given region. But then, try switching your factories off progressively (this can also happen if you suffer from strikes, look out for population militancy in this case!) … and you’ll see that there is no more smoke! So in a way, this animation also has a game purpose. When you have industries and no smoke billowing out, then you can be sure something is wrong in the region.
Another example is the shipping lanes you’ll see on the map, complete with little animated sailing ships or steam ships. There is also some game logic code attached to that. If there is a ship moving between 2 harbors, then it means commerce happens for real in the game (the ship itself doesn’t generate commerce, but is the manifestation of this commerce, in a ‘let’s add chrome’ way). And then, if the ships you used to see disappear from the map… then you can be sure that either one nation is at war with the other, or one of the harbors is blockaded by a third nation. Rail lines work the same way, with little trains moving between cities.
As you’ll learn in detail in the tutorials, there are four gaming modes in PON: Military, Commerce & Industry, Colonial and Political & Homeland decisions mode. These 4 modes can be accessed by a variety of means, one being that there is always an object on the map that you can click on that will switch to this mode. A striking example is the colonial mode. When you see a camel in the desert or a tiger in the jungle, it is not only there to add flavor to the game. Click on it, and you will be in colonial mode!
The map is also dynamic. The Suez Canal (and the others you can build) will for example change the map in the region they are in, when finished. You also get a set of winter images when a region is under snow, so basically you have two maps in one in PON.
This seems a bit superfluous to some of you perhaps, but believe us, adding chrome to a game is really important for its enjoyment. We also added more than 400 Mb of music. Personally I think we went just a little overboard, with 143 music selections provided to you, but hey, the more the merrier in this case, no? Know also that some music files are custom for a particular nation, and some are only played when at war, some only at peace, and the rest at any time…
One-feature-a-day articles: #12 Pomp and Circumstance
We are big believers that immersion in a game also comes from the little ‘chrome’ touches that developers can add in a given game. We want you somehow to suspend your disbelief, so you think that when you play you are back in the Victorian era, leading a grand nation.
This approach comes from the way graphics are integrated in the game, like showing a nice diplomatic window with a 19th-century desk and inkwell with pen, or the crisis screen with a presentation as if you are playing bridge (or poker!) in a Gentleman’s club. But it doesn’t stop here in PON. Because we have tried to add more than that, but always with the second thought that if beauty can also give some ‘gameplay’ feedback, then so much the better!
For example you’ll realize that in Pride of Nations, your factories sprites produce smoke from their chimneys. The more smoke, the more factories in a given region. But then, try switching your factories off progressively (this can also happen if you suffer from strikes, look out for population militancy in this case!) … and you’ll see that there is no more smoke! So in a way, this animation also has a game purpose. When you have industries and no smoke billowing out, then you can be sure something is wrong in the region.
Another example is the shipping lanes you’ll see on the map, complete with little animated sailing ships or steam ships. There is also some game logic code attached to that. If there is a ship moving between 2 harbors, then it means commerce happens for real in the game (the ship itself doesn’t generate commerce, but is the manifestation of this commerce, in a ‘let’s add chrome’ way). And then, if the ships you used to see disappear from the map… then you can be sure that either one nation is at war with the other, or one of the harbors is blockaded by a third nation. Rail lines work the same way, with little trains moving between cities.
As you’ll learn in detail in the tutorials, there are four gaming modes in PON: Military, Commerce & Industry, Colonial and Political & Homeland decisions mode. These 4 modes can be accessed by a variety of means, one being that there is always an object on the map that you can click on that will switch to this mode. A striking example is the colonial mode. When you see a camel in the desert or a tiger in the jungle, it is not only there to add flavor to the game. Click on it, and you will be in colonial mode!
The map is also dynamic. The Suez Canal (and the others you can build) will for example change the map in the region they are in, when finished. You also get a set of winter images when a region is under snow, so basically you have two maps in one in PON.
This seems a bit superfluous to some of you perhaps, but believe us, adding chrome to a game is really important for its enjoyment. We also added more than 400 Mb of music. Personally I think we went just a little overboard, with 143 music selections provided to you, but hey, the more the merrier in this case, no? Know also that some music files are custom for a particular nation, and some are only played when at war, some only at peace, and the rest at any time…