[CF-Devel] Graphical continutiy in the new maps

[Tim Rightnour]

So.. as some of you might know.. I've been mucking with some code that
reformats the world via the weather system.  This is giving me the opportunity
to see a few problems, and correct a few on the fly.. but I'm running into
something thats really bugging me..

There is a wierd lack of scale on the worldmaps..

1) There are two types of trees on the map.  Really big trees, that take up a
whole tile, and little trees that look like a mini forest. (evergreen vs
evergreens).  These look bizzare when placed together.

2) The mountains and hills match the scale for the little trees, but don't
match the scale for walls and houses in the town.  You end up with this wierd
montage where streetlamps are the same size as a high mountain peak.

I don't think mountains and hills are really fixable.. and I know there is a
general "scale isn't relevant" thing in crossfire, I'm ok with that, but I'd
like us to pick a style for the worldmaps and stick with it.  Either:

1) All trees on the worldmap will be of the small variety.
2) All trees on the worldmap will be of the big variety.

I can honestly make arguments either way.  Once you get out of town.. the
smaller trees really do look better.  Unfortunately, the cobblestone roads
kinda blow that sense of scale away.  If the roads were more like the river
tile, it would work better.. but we made them 2 wide for a reason.

The bigger trees hold the sense of scale better with the town and roads.. but
you end up with trees being bigger than houses.  We have more variety with the
bigger trees though, and with some of my newer code to handle seasons and
whatnot, we can do alot more detail with them.  They also look less out of
place WRT your character standing next to them.

Visually.. I like the smaller trees..  It looks more like a map.

Conceptually.. I like the larger ones.  They look better with the
characters/monsters/towns.. and I can work with them a bit easier.  I think my
vote would probably be for the larger ones, though admittedly I started this
email out intending to say the smaller ones.

If we did go with larger trees.. one thing I would like to see is the tower
image redone to be about twice as large.  It looks really out of place in town.

Either way. the mixture is what really drives me nuts.  Does anyone have an
opinion on this?

---
Tim Rightnour <
     
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