Will be Wesnoth forever 2D-only?

[Velensk]

I think you'll find that it's a lot easier to revise your associations than it is to revise 3000+ images.

Have the idea that something of a 'cartoony' style is for kids is plenty dangerous outside Wesnoth as it is.

[Turuk]

Another reason I asked about the graphics of Wesnoth is the look.
In my opinion Wesnoth looks a bit too cartoonish. Sometimes it gives me the impression of a game for kids. I apologize if this offends, I do not intend this.
If Wesnoth will remain 2D, it should look more seriously. An example is the graphics of Age of Empires. It is also 2D, but looks great.
This can be changed or it's another unchangeable thing?

+1 to what Velensk said. The style was chosen deliberately based on some of the other games that influence BfW, and there is certainly not going to be an effort to redo all of the base sprites/animations/etc.

[Zerovirus]

Wesnoth was originally conceived of as a 2D game, and the 2D-ness is, I'd imagine, rather fundamentally situated in its code. There's probably no plausible way to get Wesnoth to become a 3D game short of a complete sequel to the game. It's not like they tried to upgrade the original code of Mario into 3D, after all; they had to make completely new engines and game mechanics to suit 3D. Even if Wesnoth kept its original gameplay, just converting the engine and graphics into 3D would be prohibitively expensive.

On the other hand, if you're wondering why people aren't showing much interest in 3D: it's because, to use a metaphor, you're asking a forum full of retro-platformer-8bit-mario fans why they aren't such huge fans of the newer Mario games like Galaxy and whatnot instead. The forum's culture is rather heavily intertwined with pixelart culture; a lot of people play Wesnoth (including me) /only/ because of its pixelart graphics, and it's understandable that this population of the forum wouldn't care for a 3D 'upgrade'. Any such sequel to Wesnoth would likely lose a large proportion of its community, including most if not all of the artists at the least.

[Crow_T]

I think if Wesnoth does go 3D it should use claymation figures and backgrounds. That's an upgrade I could get behind

[Deki]

I like 2D looks in Wesnoth. Maybe I am old, but I enjoy 2D graphics much more than any other 3D.

[Jetrel]

"Battle for Wesnoth", the game you're currently playing, won't ever be fundamentally altered from its current hex-grid 2d system. Even if it was, someone would fork the current 2d iteration back into existence. People like it, and for a long a timeframe as any project of significance would get mulled over, people will stir the coals and keep wesnoth's codebase running.

What has happened on numerous occasions is that people have messed around with "taking wesnoth's ingredients" and making 2d, or sometimes 3d games out of them. Not many of these have gone far, but it would be cool if those that potentially ever did helped spread the franchise and worked with the existing team - like maybe calling their game Wesnoth Tactics, or whatever. Some sort of actually finished, playable 3d game done with wesnoth's sprites, like FFTactics, would be pretty rad.


That's how OSS works. You usually don't reboot the current one around a radically different vision - someone else does, and then you have two things of common lineage. Not one thing transformed into something different.

[max_torch]

What attracted me to wesnoth was that the development of the game really cared about the gameplay... sure graphics are important but for me gameplay>graphics.
Also what is important for me is that all the information is clear, menus accessible and smartly designed, game is highly customizable and can be tweaked (the addons), active and very friendly online community, replay support, and i find it remarkable for an opensource game that I can get a game started on the server without waiting and without lag(it even beats blizzards battlenet for where im from). I feel that the 2d graphics of wesnoth doesnt look cheap. I will even play dwarf fortress(thats a roguelike with ascii graphics) if it was easier to get into and had a good interface (alas, i cant stand the game its so garbled and unclear for my standard and very inaccessible)
just my 2cents

[Nobun]

Well I personally prefer 2D over 3D for several reasons

1. Less eye-impact: 3D tends to stress your brain more than 2D... I am a person that often suffers headache... and 2D graphic is a lot more relaxing...

2. Less Hardware: 2D doesn't require acceleration so it is betterly supported in older pc like mine

3. Old-fashion style: 2D reminds me a lot of very good games.

[PizzaFromLastWeek]

Please, please, please - no 3D.
This is not some kind of fancy pancy 3D walk your units around game. There are plenty of those out there.

The reason I love this is because the concept has been executed in that Oldschool 2D style so well.
Dear developers, please stay true to yourself and the project. You know why you did this in 2D.
If this get's re-released in 3D, I'd say that I instantly lose the interest in the game. Like many others.

Another reason I asked about the graphics of Wesnoth is the look.
In my opinion Wesnoth looks a bit too cartoonish. Sometimes it gives me the impression of a game for kids. I apologize if this offends, I do not intend this.
If Wesnoth will remain 2D, it should look more seriously. An example is the graphics of Age of Empires. It is also 2D, but looks great.
This can be changed or it's another unchangeable thing?

+1 to what Velensk said. The style was chosen deliberately based on some of the other games that influence BfW, and there is certainly not going to be an effort to redo all of the base sprites/animations/etc.

If the 2D graphics are being remade, (hope the devs read this) please consider making this for Battle of Wesnoth 2. Or "HD" or whatever this may be called.
Some people are perfectly fine with what this game looks like, just because it looks like it is.
(I'm a graphic designer with many years experience in all categories and I know that it's possible to add more details and what not. But I love Battle of Wesnoth like it is right now.)

Basicly the main rule in gaming is: Never judge a game by it's graphics.
But in my case the graphics and gameplay is just what makes it perfect to me.
Without doing any researches on that at all I'm saying: This might have a big fanbase. And this has 2 reasons. Gameplay and graphics. There are people out there that love it because it looks like how it is right now.
Improved graphics might attract new players but it might also end up losing the old ones.

[nuti-naguti]

Banner Saga by Stoic has awesome art style and storyline. 20000 backers, 700K dollars on kickstarter and good sales on Steam - good proof, that 2D is more esthetic than 3D.

I thinck, Wesnoth development should go by this path.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YupzBYxsgow

[Blarumyrran]

i think a big problem with 3d is that most of Wesnoth takes place on land. Most creatures of Wesnoth cannot fly.That said I do not think wesnoth should take placein air because very few flying creatures would be in air 24/7 like balloons - so it'd be silly to have eg griffins remain continuously separated from the ground by multiple tiles of height. I think a better bet is underwater - although that would require modifications for most units too.

[iceiceice]

i think a big problem with 3d is that most of Wesnoth takes place on land. Most creatures of Wesnoth cannot fly.That said I do not think wesnoth should take placein air because very few flying creatures would be in air 24/7 like balloons - so it'd be silly to have eg griffins remain continuously separated from the ground by multiple tiles of height. I think a better bet is underwater - although that would require modifications for most units too.

Agreed, the proper use of a more powerful wesnoth map engine would be to make impossible / mind bending landscapes, not more dead space for gryphons to inhabit...



I have seen the future of wesnoth, and it involves a two pronged grunt rush up both sides of the central staircase

[TheColonel33]

Awesome 2D graphics are soul of this fantastic game! And I hope it will stay that way!
Also the game would be much harder to modify if so. No 3D, please, if it is up to me.

[pipnoodles2]

hmm. 3d i hope not... the time it would take and the resourses that would be used would be a shame I hope this game develops into what d and d ie balders gate could have been. the greedy ass wizards at dnd prevent open source development and have their greedy little fingers in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. that said stat pages. diversity in costume. creature development and most of all open source community are the things that will make this game even more special. an equipped items page, special skills, lore. to hit stats, ect. 3d dime a dozen well balanced strategy games priceless.

[iceiceice]

3d dime a dozen well balanced strategy games priceless.

Amen, brother.