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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Norm Koger's The Operational Art Of War III >> Scenario Design >> Graphics question

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Graphics question - 3/20/2010 9:24:41 AM

ColinWright

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Modifying tiles is hardly my strong suite, but I manage to stagger through it when a need arises.

Anyway, I've got a situation where it would be desirable to see which hexes are badlands and which aren't at a glance -- they're usually buried under the hills and mountains.

I was playing with putting a black dot at the center -- but the black dot won't show under the hills and mountains.

Does the program decide which tile type is 'on top' -- i.e., is there no way to get what I want?

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RE: Graphics question - 3/20/2010 2:42:15 PM

golden delicious

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Put a hole in the same place on the tiles that go on top?

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 12:15:35 AM

ColinWright

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quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

Put a hole in the same place on the tiles that go on top?

Obviously, you're understanding the problem -- but equally obviously, this isn't the solution. The whole point is to be able to have hexes that are hills that visibly aren't badlands.

What I'm dealing with, specifically, are Western Asiatic mountain ranges where we've got three types of terrain:

1. Hills/mountains with actual, driveable roads. The Georgian Military Highway, for example.

2. Hills/mountains that have some kind of alleged cart track or dirt road across them. Supplies and mechanized units should be able to traverse them -- albeit with difficulty.

3. Hills/mountains that are definitely rugged, and that definitely have nothing that is clearly more than a deer trail across them. These should be badlands -- and should be easily distinguishable from (2.)

The problem's not critical -- I can always just leave players to fish around. However, in an ideal world, the players would be able to easily distinguish the available traverseable paths from the completely virgin wilderness.

< Message edited by ColinWright -- 3/21/2010 12:22:48 AM >

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 1:40:45 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ColinWright

quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

Put a hole in the same place on the tiles that go on top?

Obviously, you're understanding the problem -- but equally obviously, this isn't the solution. The whole point is to be able to have hexes that are hills that visibly aren't badlands.

No, I understand perfectly.

You pick a pixel or two in the middle of the hex shape. On the badlands hex, you add your black spot. On the terrain types which go over the top, you make a transparent section.

If there are badlands in the hex, the black spot will show through. If there aren't, you'll see the arid or open terrain at the bottom.

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"Absolutely nothing."

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 3:57:22 AM

sPzAbt653

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I'm no good at tile making, but tinkered with it the same as you are. I ended up sticking 'rocky' terrain in the badlands hex. It's only a subtle visual change, but it's something. I also noticed that during play, sometimes the 'badlands' terrain description doesn't appear in the area at the bottom of the screen, which makes it even more difficult to determine what is going on.

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 6:05:04 AM

ColinWright

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quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

quote:

ORIGINAL: ColinWright

quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

Put a hole in the same place on the tiles that go on top?

Obviously, you're understanding the problem -- but equally obviously, this isn't the solution. The whole point is to be able to have hexes that are hills that visibly aren't badlands.

No, I understand perfectly.

You pick a pixel or two in the middle of the hex shape. On the badlands hex, you add your black spot. On the terrain types which go over the top, you make a transparent section.

If there are badlands in the hex, the black spot will show through. If there aren't, you'll see the arid or open terrain at the bottom.

Ah. Cool. Let me battle with this. If it proves beyond my awesome powers, I'll scream for help.

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 6:11:43 AM

ColinWright

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quote:

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

I'm no good at tile making, but tinkered with it the same as you are. I ended up sticking 'rocky' terrain in the badlands hex. It's only a subtle visual change, but it's something. I also noticed that during play, sometimes the 'badlands' terrain description doesn't appear in the area at the bottom of the screen, which makes it even more difficult to determine what is going on.

This'd work in a scenario where I didn't have a use for the 'rocky' tile (which happens). However, I have a lot of real rock here.

I was actually thinking along similar lines, but with muddy. Difficulty there is that there will be real mud. I'll probably see whether I can do as Golden suggests -- hopefully the little holes won't be too distracting.

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 10:15:19 AM

ColinWright

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Yeah this works pretty good -- albeit changing all the tiles isn't the most exciting thing I've ever done. Someone may find it useful to learn that the centers of the tiles are 51 pixels apart horizontally and 44 pixels apart vertically, start at 25,22.

Red worked better than black for the center of the badlands (black won't show up against the hills and mountains). I used a width of five pixels -- there'd be an argument for going to seven pixels. Five isn't too disturbing aesthetically, but the dots can be hard to pick out. At least one of the river tiles will require editing.

Actual work time for the whole thing -- as opposed to time spent figuring out GIMP -- would come to maybe three hours. Once you work out a routine for finding the coordinates of each center, it flies along pretty fast.

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 1:29:55 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ColinWright

Red worked better than black for the center of the badlands (black won't show up against the hills and mountains). I used a width of five pixels -- there'd be an argument for going to seven pixels. Five isn't too disturbing aesthetically, but the dots can be hard to pick out. At least one of the river tiles will require editing.

I tend to figure that river beds are rarely badlands anyway.

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"What did you read at university?"
"War Studies"
"War? Huh. What is it good for?"
"Absolutely nothing."

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RE: Graphics question - 3/21/2010 7:20:54 PM

ColinWright

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quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

quote:

ORIGINAL: ColinWright

Red worked better than black for the center of the badlands (black won't show up against the hills and mountains). I used a width of five pixels -- there'd be an argument for going to seven pixels. Five isn't too disturbing aesthetically, but the dots can be hard to pick out. At least one of the river tiles will require editing.

I tend to figure that river beds are rarely badlands anyway.

Generally. If anything -- particularly in an arid landscape -- the river valleys tend to contain whatever communications there are.* However, you do get these savage gorges -- and that's precisely where one needs to make the badlands known.

It's not exactly a lot of editing. I've only found one configuration that blocks the dot.

*This is actually of some use, as by putting in a road and then blowing all the 'bridges' one can create a path that is not really useful out of the box but that can be improved to provide a serviceable route.

< Message edited by ColinWright -- 3/21/2010 7:22:25 PM >

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