Redesign - Town Centers - IMPLEMENTED

[DoomCarrot]

Does anyone else think town centers need a newer looking image? The current town center image just doesn't fit the atmosphere of the game anymore, and it looks very two dimensional compared to every other building in the game now.

Something like what currently is in age of fantasy would look much better I think. (Or something different to keep the games separate).

Does anyone else feel this way?

[COOLguy]

No kidding. I think something else would be nice. Do you have any suggestions? Would you be able to draw it.

[DoomCarrot]

Sure, I'll try to get an idea image up here soon. I'm a terrible artist though, so theres that

[DoomCarrot]

A first try:

Like I said, I'm a terrible artist, but the concept is there kind of. Maybe make it look a bit more advanced with bricks and stuff. I liked the thatched look, but that probably won't fit with the game currently with modern churches and barracks and stuff.

[Alexander82]

Why don't you search the net for a concept image? I might try to use it as a base

[COOLguy]

A first try:

Like I said, I'm a terrible artist, but the concept is there kind of. Maybe make it look a bit more advanced with bricks and stuff. I liked the thatched look, but that probably won't fit with the game currently with modern churches and barracks and stuff.

It's not that bad for a rough draft. But I think there might be a better approach for it. Maybe more of a top down view, but that is just my opinion. I like the stockade hill idea but the angle of perspective is more "flat" than the rest of the buildings.

[COOLguy]

Why don't you search the net for a concept image?

It helps to see what other games do too. ( But don't outright "steal" anything because of copyrights)

[DoomCarrot]

Yes, I actually tried 2 or 3 top down views before I finally accepted the fact that I have terrible perspective on artistic views like that. I tried to make a forum looking thing (a physical meeting place used in ancient cultures, not an internet forum ) but It looked really bad... I could try again later tonight maybe.

And as far as concepts go, I was picturing either:
A. A forum/meeting place
B. Something like a mead hall (Although this only really was in northern cultures).
C. Something like in age of empires 2, which is what the above picture was mostly based off of. Just look up "age of empires 2 town center" or something along those lines.

[DoomCarrot]

Ok, here is a redone version of the forum kind of idea. I think this actually turned out half alright (although not game quality at all yet). But I think you can kind of see the concept behind this version.

My idea was flames are lit/animated when the town center is occupied, and unlit when it is not.



Maybe If I put walls around it it would look more town centerish? And btw what is the pixels * pixels size I can use for this? Because I'm just using the basic 30x30 grid that is used for units and stuff, but surely a town center could be put on like a 40x50 grid or so?

[DoomCarrot]

Another version, with walls, and a slightly bigger canvas.



Note: the sides of the walls look very thin and out of place, because I didn't want to make the canvas much bigger in width. This image is like 34x40 pixels.

[COOLguy]

I don't think you can make the image wider than 32 px. It can go up all the way to 64 px (if it is a 1 tile image).

I like the idea of a mead hall. The only thing that could possibly be better would be like the AoE Rise of Rome center of towns.

[Stratego (dev)]

i think there is no pixel space for fences and "garden" parts.
we need a single building in mostly 32x32 (or a few pixel higher).

and most importantly we need a "3D ish" look

[Stratego (dev)]

i have fount in my collection some possible builkdings.

[DoomCarrot]

I like the last 2 as well as the first one

[Alexander82]

I agree with doom

[COOLguy]

Me too.

[patroid]

I dont like...sorry...should i do a village image
Like the one in Rome totap war (a few houses staying in a circle)

Patroid

[Stratego (dev)]

i tried to make my favorite version to look ok, but it seems that i am not so gifted.

if anyone could make it look like other buildings would be awesome
- contouring (not only outside but inside too)
- finishing the coloring (it is not so nice now)
- maybe increasing the wall height (now it is too small to be a big building)

here are the current images with and without coloring (coloring is not the best too)

thanks in advance for any help!

[patroid]

Hi
If i think of tiwn center i more see such a town...center

Patroid


Ps: its yust a...sketch..maybe...textures and details are
Not in the image (also teamcoloring)

[COOLguy]

I think once Daniel's are edited that his will fit better into the game.

[DoomCarrot]

With Daniel's idea, I think if we put like a tower (not really a tower, but a tall thing) in the middle of the x shape, it would look more town centerish.

Like a bell tower thing.

[Stratego (dev)]

good idea, we could try that too as an alternative version to see how it looks.

[Hardeep]

Just make an AoE III European town center already

[DoomCarrot]

^I think that has kind of been the idea from the beginning of this topic^

[Stratego (dev)]

ok, this one is in the game

[SomeGuy]

It's hard to tell who owns the town center, as the pink area is very small and hard to see. But I understand that it is not finished yet.

However, I like the AoF town centres, as shown here:



How about we base the AoS design on this? What do you think?

[Stratego (dev)]

can you make some modification u have in mind? we can see how that looks

[Hardeep]

Add a steep upwards slant on the tallest rampart thingie

[Stratego (dev)]

Add a steep upwards slant on the tallest rampart thingie

sorry i dont understand this.


also i think the new tc look also can be enhanced
- eg. by putting a teamolored shield somewhere,
- or a nice flag,
- or a "cloth" like "banner", we hasd samples of such somewhere.

[patroid]

Hi,
After a hubdred trys i didnt got a nice lookng flag...or banner... that is karge eniugh r not
To tall. Sry ...but:
Can i yust change roof/wall color?? Or maybe make the chemniy pink?

Patroid