DDay - 5

[JMM]

I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and a chance to think of something else than work.

Very good Christmas.. I was drinking the most fabulous wine of the World.. A Chateau Yquem... And you??? Merry Christmas too

The last couple of days I've been thinking if those latest screenshots of the 3D soldiers (the more detailed ones). I wonder if they are the ones that will be in Les Grognards or if it is for Histwar 1806.  

For "Les Grognards"...  :wink:

If it will be for Les Grognards then I think you will succeed with your objective to dive the gamer into the melee already in Les Grognards.  
Especially if the animations will be realistic too like Curassiers horse mane on their helmets will wave as they move. The same for the Hussars pelisse like they did in an early gif image on this site

All animations are ready... for example you will seen the different gunners.. like one which is pushing the wheel to place the cannon again...

I got one concern however. Is it really possible to have Les Grognards ready for Q1 2004?  I mean there are a lot of uniforms to make and none of them are ready yet. Then everything needs to be put together and tested as well etc, etc.

Yep.. Good question.. and I can't answer! The problem isn't the uniforms because Laurent is working very hard.. and we have a lot of uniforms.. The problem isn't the implementation of these 3D soldiers in the game (because there is a version with the animated sprites.. Take a look about the avis.. so the different managements of the animation are ready) The problem isn' t the musics or the voices.. I have a lot of sounds.. and the SW allows to play 64 synchronised sounds (and more if I have to add some new sounds)
The problem isn't the MP because a lot of tests were made during the last year... BUT I am working about the engine AND I have to get a very very good behaviours.. This new engine was  checked up on the second Q of this year... Many functions run fine.. but I have to finish it.. The features of the new Great Tactical AI are defined, but I have to write the code...

Summarize : a lot of parts of the SW are right.. and I have to finish the other ones... It's easy to identify the time to spend for some tasks.. more difficult to other ones.. I'll try to finish Les Grognards on March/April.. No sure I can do it! I don't know!

JMM

[Link]

Very good Christmas.. I was drinking the most fabulous wine of the World.. A Chateau Yquem... And you??? Merry Christmas too

Chateau Yquem.. you say. I'll keep that in mind. I had a traditional Christmas with Christmas tree, Santa and a lot of food and candy.

All animations are ready... for example you will seen the different gunners.. like one which is pushing the wheel to place the cannon again...

I'm really excited to see those new 3D soldiers animated and in full formation. It must be an awesome sight. I know that this will be far off  before it will be possible to show something but I can wait  :wink:  

I can imagine Napoleon in his greatcoat sitting on his white horse.  The commander in chief will have their own textures like before, right?

The features of the new Great Tactical AI are defined, but I have to write the code...

Sounds like a lot of work and tiresome too. Good luck!

/Lars L.

[Bil Hardenberger]

The size of the units increases with the distance.. so I believe the Gameplay is better because it's more easy to detect them.

I am trying to get a feel for this game, so forgive me if I ask questions that have already been covered.

I have looked at the screen shots in this thread, and I can indeed see that the soldier models do appear to get very large as you zoom out... also there seems to be fewer of them.  

The problem I have with this system is that you lose the sense of the formation the units are in... I would personally prefer to either have the soldier models maintain their scale throughout, or else replace them with a bounding box (similar to the box that encompasses each unit in the 2D view) that will still help the player visualize the field, in fact it would be more clear in my opinion.

Also, after watching the avi's, and I mean no disrespect, but the motion leaves much to be desired.  I don't know what 3D program you are using but if I were you I would look into   CAT http://www.charanitech.com/home.asp .. it is an excellent program that simplifies character animation and makes it more realistic than what you have at the same time.  And it plugs in to 3DS MAX, so it is very easy to use.

Looking forward to watching this game develop.

Regards,
Bil

[JMM]

It's possible to watch the battlefield from some meters to 1000 meters.. In this condition, you can see all the organizations..
So, you can choose your better view point....

Yep.. I am sad about these AVIs.. no wonderful.. so I don't want to spend a lot of time to get new AVIs.. I am prefering to work into the game.. with all graphical functions. The screenshots of 4 infantryman were coming from a DX9 program.. same 3D objects you can see in the AVIs...

All animations are ready (and ones of AVIs have been modified). I believe they are nice... Textures of soldier are finished.. Laurent is working about the textures of houses, churchs, and castles...

I hope we can show the first animations on the middle of february!

Best regards
JMM

[Link]

Hi bil,

Also, after watching the avi's, and I mean no disrespect, but the motion leaves much to be desired.

I'm part of the Bet test team and I've seen an AVI that is very smooth and fluid.

If I get JMM's permission I can show it here on this forum. If not then you just have to take my word for it.  :wink:

JMM, I'm thinking of the foot dragon available on the beta server.  

/Lars L.

[JMM]

Yep Lars, you can do it...I believe the foot dragoon is a good example!

I would like to say all activities of my small team is on the Release...
When all will run fine, we'll show a bunch of Screenshots, AVIs...
Today, it's not possible to do that...

Patience my friends.. My objective is to do a good napoleonic wargame.. and I hope we can do that  

ASAP the demo..
JMM

[Link]

Hi,

Here is the AVI I was referring too:

http://www.histwar.com/video/dragon3.avi

Note: It's not an in-game animation and it's without the textures that will make the uniform more detailed. Correct me if I'm wrong JMM.

/Lars L.

[Bil]

Hehe, yeah that's pretty smooth... he looks like he's had a bit too much to drink though   :wink:   is he getting shot?

I'm sure the motion is in good hands.  Looking forward to seeing more.

Bil

[Frédéric Walther]

God...how many times this guy has been shot at ? And still standing !... or is this some kind of rock n'roll ? :wink:

[Link]

Hehe, yeah that's pretty smooth... he looks like he's had a bit too much to drink though   :wink:   is he getting shot?

I'm sure the motion is in good hands.  Looking forward to seeing more.

Bil

Hi Bil,

The animation on the AVI is not an animation you will see in the game. It's more like a funny example how the animation can look like.

I have another one in my sleeve (the last):
http://www.histwar.com/video/dragon1.avi

Imagine a banana peal on the ground.  :amuse:

/Lars L.

[Anonymous]

Lars,

Thanks I understand now.  Well then I will reserve judgement until I see some in game animations.  

Smooth motion doesn't necessarily mean that the motion is good, if you know what I'm saying.  Any monkey with a 3D program can create smooth motion these days, but it takes a pro to create an accurate believable walk cycle or other human motion (like falling, running, etc.).

Good luck guys, I'll be keeping an eye out for some more in game animations.

Bil