Z-levels

Discussion in 'Clockwork Empires General' started by EvilCyst, Sep 8, 2012.

  1. EvilCyst

    EvilCyst Member

    How many z-levels will there be? Could you build a hidden base, concealed deep underground? Or a aerial fortress, suspended by fragile supports?
    Basically, will we be limited to building on the surface, or will we have more control than that? A city built on supports over the ocean sounds pretty awesome, especially if then sea monsters chew through the struts keeping it up.
     
  2. Triskelli

    Triskelli Member

    From what I heard, there won't be any digging, mainly because of the difficulty of representing tunnels in a 3D environment while keeping everything clean and visible. Just look at RollerCoaster Tycoon for an example of how messy this can be.
     
  3. EvilCyst

    EvilCyst Member

    Ah, that's a shame. I had a simple idea for the z-levels, but theres not much point if they don't have any.
    Alas.
     
  4. dbaumgart

    dbaumgart Art Director Staff Member

    TLDR: We're not making a digging game close to Dwarf Fortress, basically.

    Displaying z-levels is a problem that can be solved, but it's not where we want to put our limited time and player's limited scope of attention. Really, we're going to have quite enough of a complex simulation to convey to the player without z-levels. Further, thematically it doesn't really fit as Victorians are not dwarves. This is not to say there won't be bridges and digging and building in CE, just that it's not going to be a replication of Dwarf Fortress style terrain manipulation.
     
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  5. Kazeto

    Kazeto Member

    In other words, it can be summed up as "'The Settlers' meets lots of 'fun'" instead of presenting it as a facsimile of Dwarf Fortress with better UI.
     
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  6. Kamisma

    Kamisma Member

    No one presented the game as a facsimile of Dwarf Fortress. Dwarf Fortress is the main inspiration, that doesn't mean they are copying it, this isn't Towns or Gnomoria.

    I think CWE is something new. Trying to describe it with trademark games isn't the way to go.

    By the way being able to dig and build on a tile by tile basis is a big part of what makes DF but that's not the essence of the game.
    I think the DF "genre" is more about freeform/sandboxy building of a settlement with semi-autonomous characters that bring life to your creations, which is what we're having in CWE.

    Here we will already have procedural buildings (and probably other procedural stuff), i'm confident we need not to mimic Voxel based games like Castle Story here, this is not the point, and that would be kinda counterproductive considering what the game is trying to achieve.
     
  7. Kazeto

    Kazeto Member

    It doesn't matter either way, because I doubt anyone would get offended even if they did, and a large part of people who heard about the game being made does expect it to be a facsimile of Dwarf Fortress with better UI.
    Thus, I tried to provide a better summary; whether I failed much or just some is not something I can answer, but I think that summing it up as "'The Settlers' meets lots of 'fun'" is appropriate considering that it is likely to end up closer to the The Settlers franchise than to Dwarf Fortress, and people who know enough to actually get either this or the original summary will get it (whilst people who don't know what Dwarf Fortress or The Settlers are wouldn't care about these summaries either way).

    But I'm digressing here, so let us leave this point be or someone will get poked with it (because it tends to happen when people digress on some not-so-relevant point).
     
    Essence likes this.
  8. I don't know The Settlers, but "city building game with !!fun!!" sounds like a fairly good way to characterize what I've seen.

    I mean, I assume what they're trying to draw on from DF is more the !!fun!! aspect than the extremely detailed geology simulation.
     
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  9. Daynab

    Daynab Community Moderator Staff Member

    Also the intricate workings of 28 levels of cartilage
     
  10. To be fair I think if you want to replicate the !!fun!! factor a highly detailed injury system is probably helpful.

    Although probably more on the level of "can remember where you got wounded and what sort of wound" and less "models how well your fat protects your spleen when someone kicks you in the lower body"
     
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  11. jhffmn

    jhffmn Member

    If you were to implement z-levels, I'd ask that only one be visible at a time. Then again, I'm a strange beast who prefers 2D in games to 3D and turn based to real time.

    Speaking of which, I hope there will be a way stop the progression of time to issue commands.
     
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  12. SangerZonvolt

    SangerZonvolt Member

    I am preety sure htey said somewhere (probably the PC Gamer interview, not sure though) that the engine is able to simulate terrainmodification. So digging should be possible. The question is how deep you can go and how detailed it will be. But come on, even the old popolus was able to simulate Terraforming, so a new game as ambitious as this one, with inspiration from DF no less, should be able to allow digging and subterran building.
     
  13. Kazeto

    Kazeto Member

    Well, basic terraforming is one thing, but digging elaborate tunnels and stuff associated with that is something else entirely.
     
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  14. Triskelli

    Triskelli Member

    In short, I just want to be able to make Victorian skyscrapers and artificial hill-cities like in the concept art. I think I can survive without giant caverns filled with huts.
     
  15. EvilCyst

    EvilCyst Member

    Thanks for the reply. I see your point on digging being somewhat less victorian than it is dwarven.
     
  16. SangerZonvolt

    SangerZonvolt Member

    Digging maybe isn´t victorian, but it´s definately Elder Gods material. So it could be quite important.
     
  17. Kamisma

    Kamisma Member

    As much as I liked Settlers 2 and 3 when I was a kid, i hope CWE will stay as far as possible from this kind of game. Even Anno is more interesting ....
     
  18. Frelus

    Frelus Member

    All the heathens writing ‼ as !!....
    Use the Alt+19 code, dammit, in discussions about or related to Dwarf Fortress!
     
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  19. Essence

    Essence Will Mod for Digglebucks


    Amen, brotha.

    To all three counts.
     
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  20. SangerZonvolt

    SangerZonvolt Member

    Has been confirmed by the technology director in another threat named "Sorry for the dumb question". Will be possible even in Multiplayer, if all players wish to do so.
     
    OmniaNigrum likes this.