Contribution (From Free Empires)

Carbon Dating is largely unproven. The fossil record is all messed up. Huge gaps in the 'rock layers'. And I don't like the idea of 'early man' being 'primitive bunch of monkeys'. In my opinion, 'early man' was just as intelligent as us. Well of course! Also Monkeys are not stupid either. Many species are advanced Tool users. I agree early man was just as intelligent. In fact part of the reason for making the game was to spread the truth of early man. Not as primitives but as equal peoples. I can understand not wanting to spread the myth of early human stupidity. :) As for the bottom bar. I suggest probably a mix of both the AOK and original AOE bottoms. However currently our one is more primitive then either (No mini-map and so on) however when I give out the code you can think of ways to improve the bar. You asked about jumping ahead of time well not at all if you look at the development shots at http://freeempires.yoll.net you can see that there is a primitive bottom bar!

As for the bottom bar. I suggest probably a mix of both the AOK and original AOE bottoms. However currently our one is more primitive then either (No mini-map and so on) however when I give out the code you can think of ways to improve the bar. Cool. I can't wait. I'm already thinking about it, but my thoughts might change once I've seen the code, because I don't know yet how everything is put together. As for the mini-map, I'd like to get working on that soon because It is an incredibly important part of the game. Without a mini-map, a player would feel horribly lost and confused, and it would cause beta-testing to be rather unfortunately tedious. I noted that there is a square around the 'town-center' in one of the development 'shots. This square is parallel to the edge of the screen, whereas in AoE, selection squares are mapped onto an isometric surface. Is Free Empires going to be on an isometric map (like AoE and AoK) or a square one (like C&C Tiberian Dawn, Outpost 2, Civilization 1)? I assume that the square is just a pre-beta thing for the time being, until we get a proper isometric map, and that the final release will be isometric because I see that the buildings are in an isometric orientation. Sorry if this is a bit of a stupid question.

Yes, well here are some comparission shots Free Empires Thus Far Age of Empires AOK (unfortunately without building/unit selected) AOE III Age of Mythology

Yes, well here are some comparission shots Free Empires Thus Far Age of Empires AOK (unfortunately without building/unit selected) AOE III Age of Mythology You do realize that was an in-development AOK screenshot.

I don't like the AoE3 interface. They swapped it all around. IMO AoK had the best GUI of all the AoE series. I haven't played AoM ever, though, so I don't know how it looks. I think we shouldn't make an exact copy of AoE. Perhaps all the units, buildings and civilizations can be exactly the same, and many parts of the gameplay. We could include some other features like idle villager button (only available from RoR 1.0a and newer), farm build que (only in AoKTC and SWGB), automatic building-to-resource (build a lumber camp and the villager automatically starts chopping wood) etc. P.S. IS there a Main Menu, and if so what does it look like?

Cool. I can't wait. I'm already thinking about it, but my thoughts might change once I've seen the code, because I don't know yet how everything is put together. Well the game is generally built up of Picture box's. These act as objects. The top bar and bottom bars are picture boxes to. If you make any good progress send it to use and I can implement your contribution into the Free Empires code on Piga's computers. :wink: Some other things you'll notice in the code is the half written FE encyclopedia. I suggest you just ignore that and look at the code in map01 form. Me and Hamish have put hours of research in and we have most of the knowledge that is going to be put in the encyclopedia. 8) Something also that would be useful is to try an implement sounds into the game. In the source you will find some sounds (in the form of Oggs) we at Piga however are having difficulty in getting GAMBAS to play them (The GAMBAS documentation is not very well written!) however we know GAMBAS can play Oggs. If you could try at that then it would be useful. :wink: Isn't it ironic that we are working on this project when AOE 1 will turn 10 years old in October! :lol:

tis Well Chiefs and Warriors can be the basic engine development. Emperors and Barbarians should be a clone of Rise of Rome Kings and Tyrants should be a clone of Conquerors Of coarse we do have an opportunely to implement the best of AOE, ROR, AOK, and Conquerors. Also just because a Final is built for one version doesn't mean that advancements from others can't be back ported. I believe that all of these are treated as separate projects within the Free Empires Family.

I don't like the AoE3 interface. They swapped it all around. IMO AoK had the best GUI of all the AoE series. I haven't played AoM ever, though, so I don't know how it looks. Yea I played the AOE III demo and did not like it. My brother also did so and did not like it. So AOE III is probably not something we want to duplicate. Maybe make a game set in the time period (Colonial era) with game play based on AOK. I think we shouldn't make an exact copy of AoE. Perhaps all the units, buildings and civilizations can be exactly the same, and many parts of the gameplay. We could include some other features like idle villager button (only available from RoR 1.0a and newer), farm build que (only in AoKTC and SWGB), automatic building-to-resource (build a lumber camp and the villager automatically starts chopping wood) etc. Yep I agree we should not make an exact clone of AOE 1. We should add some of the AOK userfreindlyness. Also me and Hamishhave found some wrong facts with the Age series (Namely the wrong fact of Eric the Red going to Vinland it was his son Leif who did! :P Also the Mesoamerican Civilizations were dismally done at best). We do not only want to make something like AOE we want to make a better AOE. :) P.S. IS there a Main Menu, and if so what does it look like? Yes FE does have a main menu. We can put a screen shot up. The menus background should however be changed to something well... more human. However we want to find something we can legally use. The current one is a GDFL or commons painting from Wikimedia Commons (Can't remember which license). Hamish wants us to continue discussions of this in the newly created Source Code discussion in the Free Empires area.

tis Well Chiefs and Warriors can be the basic engine development. Emperors and Barbarians should be a clone of Rise of Rome Kings and Tyrants should be a clone of Conquerors Of coarse we do have an opportunely to implement the best of AOE, ROR, AOK, and Conquerors. Also just because a Final is built for one version doesn't mean that advancements from others can't be back ported. I believe that all of these are treated as separate projects within the Free Empires Family. Yes thats correct.

of coarse there is the cave painting that has a "copyright expired because the author died...." on it LMAO

Yes FE does have a main menu. We can put a screen shot up. The menus background should however be changed to something well... more human. However we want to find something we can legally use. The current one is a GDFL or commons painting from Wikimedia Commons (Can't remember which license). If You want something legally useable, perhaps why not make one ourself in photoshop/blender. BTW, where's the source code?

Yes FE does have a main menu. We can put a screen shot up. The menus background should however be changed to something well... more human. However we want to find something we can legally use. The current one is a GDFL or commons painting from Wikimedia Commons (Can't remember which license). If You want something legally useable, perhaps why not make one ourself in photoshop/blender. BTW, where's the source code? Why not in Gimp? As for the code I have a lot of stuff to do lately. Ask me again in two weeks!

I got the sounds downloaded Taloychase. Do you think it would be possible to give me the music as Wavs, or Ogg Vorbis? 8)

Why not in Gimp? IMO Photoshop is a lot more powerful and easy to use than Gimp. I've been using Photoshop and Blender for years now and I've gotten used to them both. However, if you insist, I don't mind learning how to use Gimp. Do you think it would be possible to give me the music as Wavs, or Ogg Vorbis? I have an Ogg converter if you need...

IMO Photoshop is a lot more powerful and easy to use than Gimp. I've been using Photoshop and Blender for years now and I've gotten used to them both. However, if you insist, I don't mind learning how to use Gimp. Does Phtoshop or Blender run in Linux? I would also prefer Open-Source development Tools. I have an Ogg converter if you need... Does it do Midi to Ogg Vorbis?

View Full Version: Contribution (From Free Empires)