Animated Water and So On.

[evil_green]

Apologize beforehand if this has been discussed before...didn't turn up on the search anyway...

But, would like to know how the art folks feel about animating the water in a cyclical fashion for Wesnoth. By cyclical I mean only that there be some waves animated and that this animation repeat ad infintium. If this presents serious problems for multiplayer, how about just single?

My thoughts are that it'd make Wesnoth more graphically rich and lush, and would not contradict the aesthetic of the game presently (though it certainly might bolster the "cute" image, I suppose). If the art personnel really dig it, they could go on to animating the plain grass, coast, etc. Leave your snow-capped mountains alone though. I envision I much more sumptuous and engaging screen for the player to muse on while he/she plans the next move.

In closing, I'd like to thank the Wesnoth team for their years of hard work which has already culminated in an envious TBS game. Congratulations!

Walker

[evil_green]

Let me point out too: the flags are animated. I know that they tie directly into gameplay, but the immersiveness of Wesnoth's fictional setting would be tenfold if more background were animated. The water and grass is so well done, it begs for animation.

[Sangel]

This is certainly an appealing idea, and one that has been discussed on occasion by the art team. A couple of artists even took a stab at animating the water.

As it turned out, it was a lot harder than it sounded. Achieving a proper cycle for the water which didn't make the eye sea-sick was rather difficult, particularly given that the water couldn't exhibit any gross (inter-hex directional) motion.

While it's possible that a couple of our terrain artists have the technical skill to accomplish this, there are a couple of minor additions which I believe should take priority (new swamp tiles, fresh grassland -> water transitions).

Perhaps this should be considered anew after 1.0 is released?

[scott]

On the other hand, if what you come up with is better than what the game has now, then go for it. It seems there's a high bar for this topic because the motion can also create problems... so there's a good risk of it not being better, but I'm optimistic (and someone who otherwise has no say in things!).

[Jetrel]

Eleazar seemingly only gave it one try. I don't fault him, though - the new water tiles he had made were enough of a stellar achievement.

Doing this properly would be a b****.
Lots of work.

However, that seems to be the barrier of entry for anything sufficiently awesome. If everyone could jump, spin, and dance the deadly dance of a ninja, ninjas would cease to be cool.

Anything that really opens eyes (or, for those of us with bleak outlooks like me, keeps them from using wesnoth as cushioning in their digital trash/recycle bin) seems to take quite a leap of work.


It's a mighty appealing carrot to dangle at me, but I really need to do other things first, like finishing the naga, mermen, and elves, not to mention some other revisions.

[Invisible Philosopher]

for those of us with bleak outlooks like me, keeps them from using wesnoth as cushioning in their digital trash/recycle bin

I do that every time a new version comes out.

Problems with animated water:
If there are waves going in a direction, no direction would be correct all the time.
I don't know whether waves that don't appear to be going in any direction would look any good.

[charlieg]

Problems with animated water:
If there are waves going in a direction, no direction would be correct all the time.
I don't know whether waves that don't appear to be going in any direction would look any good.

The only place you have waves is where water meets land and you have the watter 'lapping' at the shore. All other water tiles should just have a 'choppy water' animation [i.e. directionless].

[wapcaplet]

One easy way to keep the water animation simple is to reduce it to just a few sparkling pixels. Rather than make the water move around at all, just have small ripples that subtly cycle through 3-4 shades of brightness, plus maybe a couple tiny waves lapping at the shore.

Slightly off-topic, but how hard would it be to implement some kind of environmental system with wind? A breeze passes over the playing field; water ripples, trees and banners stir and rustle... Well, it'd be neat, but not exactly high priority

[evil_green]

Yeah, the very small pixel change I think would be worth experimenting with, barring a full-on wave animation. The wind idea, on the other hand, sounds too extravagant.

[Na'enthos]

Problems with animated water:
If there are waves going in a direction, no direction would be correct all the time.
I don't know whether waves that don't appear to be going in any direction would look any good.

Or one could have multiple tiles where the water goes different directions (and so the direction can be chosen by the mapmaker).

[Dave]

If any artist could do nice looking animated water, I think they'd be loved by many Wesnoth users (though probably hated by a few as well ).

It's certainly not an easy thing to do though.

While a 'full environmental system' would probably be overcomplicated, I think we would want a way to specify some randomness in animations. It just looks too weird to have terrain of the same type animated 'in sync'. It'd be good if we could do this with flags already.

On this topic, it'd be nicer if someone could make the animated flags look....nicer

David

[Invisible Philosopher]

I think we would want a way to specify some randomness in animations. It just looks too weird to have terrain of the same type animated 'in sync'.

It's already possible to choose one animation sequence at random for each water hex, I think. That may not be a great way to do it, though -- a single tile's animation would still be repetitive.