Hello and welcome to today development diary for Imperator: Rome!
I’m Carlberg, the Art Lead on Imperator, and today we’re going to have a look at some of the visual changes that we’ve done to 1.2 Cicero. It’s also going to be a bit of a retrospective at some of the visual additions since release as well, and our thoughts behind them.
New Interfaces and UX
As shown in earlier DD’s we’ve been working on improving our interfaces. This is a collaborative effort between our 2D artists and UX designer to make sure each window becomes more easily readable and contain the information you might need at a glance. In the case of our province view for example some information that wasn't as necessary was moved out, and more important information moved in from other interfaces to make sure it's closer at hand.
The new building icons were another area where we sought to increase the clarity, as the previous icons were small and unclear. When we added the new set of buildings we made sure that they and the old ones had a more iconic look and easier silhouette to read. This includes both the new set of buildings for settlements and for cities/metropolises.
In general we’re looking at making our interfaces more clear and streamlined. It’s a bit of a balance we need to strike between having information readily available, but it shouldn't be so cluttered that it’s hard to actually discern. This is of course an ongoing process and will continue past 1.2 Cicero.
Curtailed Fog
As we got to hear from a lot of people after release, the fog was too strong. So much so that a mod popped up that went in and removed it completely. We definitely agreed it was too much and dialed it back. The before and after images below will give you a good idea of the change to bring more clarity to the world.
The fog became a problem when the game camera was at certain angles and just overall. We made sure that it’d look better at all zoom levels and just play a role in the background, for areas much further away in the distance.
Progressing civilization
In 1.2 we dialed back the amount of visual cities in the world to create a more stark contrast between sparsely settled provinces and large bustling cities. This also makes the growth of cities and civilization stand out more in the world.
A living world
Starting in 1.1 we’ve been adding more of what we call dynamic objects to the world. These come in the form of constructible wonders, storms, volcanic eruptions and the like. They are ways for us to show the progress of the classical states, as well as the uncaring nature of the elements and the world itself.
We aim to add more dynamic aspects to the world in the future, and it should also open up the avenue for our modders to add interesting things to the world as well.
Seagulls
So as some may have spotted, and we have noted earlier, is that now all the ports in the game have seagulls flying overhead. This is not merely for aesthetics but also a sign that the territory is a potential port location.
Deepwater ports were hard to construct in this era, the Romans did, but more so during the Imperial era. Most states instead had to rely on using naturally occurring deepwater for their ports. So now, even if a territory is uncolonized, these seagulls will be flying overhead as a telltale sign of the natural harbor location.
Visualizing the Future
Going forward we aim to add more interesting aspects to the world to tell the state of your empires, or what might afflict them. A more living world we will all enjoy conquering.
Some of the things on the horizon I’m burning to show you, but those will have to wait until they’re ready for showing.
That’s it for this weeks Dev Diary!
To discuss the diary further you can view the original post on our forums here.