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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 9:51:12 GMT -5
This is a new thread that I will be posting some information that has been passed along about the game by one or ore of the Tilted Mill Development team. To start things off, the following quote is information on how you will be able to keep track of the happiness of your 1,000 or more citizens: Three main interface panels are always visible at the center bottom of your screen. The topmost is the People Report. When closed, it displays a "light tree" with a small indicator for each profession in the city. As long as all the lights are green, satisfaction is, um...satisfactory. As problems develop, the little lights turn light green, then yellow, and through the spectrum to red. Opening the panel gives you more detail, and lets you select all of the homes belonging to each occupation. You can then see individual dissatisfaction indicators for every craftsman household in the city (for example), and turn your attention to the reddest ones first. You investigate specific dissatisfaction complaints one household at a time, but it's very easy to find the problem homes, right on screen, without drilling through a lot of menus and reports. Ken Parker is a Tilted Mill team writer for CotN. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:41:03 GMT -5
Tony Leier of Tilted Mill responds to a list of questions: I'll answer what I can. We're still working and polishing, so some answers will be vague- you know the drill. 1. Is the player able to rotate buildings? ** Sure. 2. Are we able to see the pharaoh and the queen and will we be able to control them? ** There is a royal family that appears in the game. Details not final yet though. 3. Will we see that the nile goes over its banks during the yearly flood? ** Yep 4. Will there be temples of eternity like the Ramesseum? ** There are quite a few monuments and big buildings to build. 5. Will there be a valley of the queens like there is a valley of the kings? ** there can be, but it's one of those little details that can come or go easily. 6. If the population number is 10'000, will there then be 10'000 people walking in the streets (10'000 people that you can see)? ** Theoretically, yes. 10 thousand is a bit much for any computer to display, but I can answer in the spirit of the question. The city is filled with individual people. 7. Will a pyramid be built stone for stone? ** Still balancing that 8. When stones are delivered from a quarry will there be a hole where the stone was? ** Yep ** = Tony's response |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:43:30 GMT -5
Will we be able to build truly huge cities, bigger than those in Pharaoh? Largest map and city size is kind of something you don't know for sure until everything is in place and optimized and balanced, since being able to create a huge city relies on all of those things. So, we haven't said anything definate, since we can't really know anything definate yet. I do expect pretty large cities and maps to be possible, and we will have some sandbox/standalone scenarios that will support large cities. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:46:09 GMT -5
Wht controls the flooding of the Nile in CotN? Gods, etc.? Cue nature show music The annual flood of the Nile, or Inundation, starts with rain in the Ethiopian highlands. It rains a lot there in a short amount of time in the early summer. Much of this torrential rainfall goes to the Blue Nile..... Buuuut, the answer you're probably looking for is that the explanation for things in CotN should be, to use a phrase from too many of my college professors, intuitively obvious- why do you think it happens? The flood comes every year. Sometimes it's really low, sometimes it's really high. Most often it's about average. That's how weather in Egypt works (at least before the Aswan dam). The Egyptians didn't really know why the flood happened, though they developed a lot of ways to predict it. That philosophy on 'Why things happen in the game' is something that we use everywhere. For an example that recently happened to Chris Beatrice- he was wondering why a Nobleman in his city was upset and protesting. So he looks at the various info available about the person. It turns out, among other things, that he was mugged recently. Looking around the city, Chris discovers the one person that could have done the mugging, and sure enough, that fellow has a nice new pair of expensive sandals. His answer to the problem was to entice the unruly vagrant to a career in the government and give up his criminal ways. Chris could have instead gotten some city guards in the area, to protect the abused, tax paying Noble. Nothing obscure or arcane about any of that, now is there? |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:48:05 GMT -5
This is the officially stated list of "features" from the official website:
First historic city building game featuring an immersive 3D graphics engine
Revolutionary interface designed for intuitive and immediate usability across all audiences
Behavioral technology based on human nature delivers a compelling experience with hours of replay value
Dynamic societal simulation where government and natural resource management are vital to the success of your civilization
Erect breathtaking monuments to commemorate your achievements and build your legacy
Explore and combat neighboring provinces or expand through diplomacy and trade
Powerful, customizable Campaign and Map Editors
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:50:12 GMT -5
Is this game truly 3D or some sort of 2D gimick? Fear not, it's totally 3D with a fully controllable camera. Meaning, it doesn't have preset zoom levels that you have to choose. It's completely up to you. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:52:39 GMT -5
What screen resolutions will this game support? Currently 640x480 to 1600x1200, though that's not to say that the final product could be different.. The game supports just about whatever resolution your video card and monitor can handle. 640x480 is kind of iffy at this point though. 800x600 is definite. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:54:10 GMT -5
Some female players are curious if there will be a option to play as Queen instead of Pharaoh. Pharaoh is male in CotN. While most of the game's feedback is gender-neutral, the decision to represent Pharaoh within the game led to portraying him as male, which is of course consistent with history. Male pronouns do crop up occasionally, where gender-neutral language would be awkward. I hope that our female players will role-play a male leader without resentment. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:56:21 GMT -5
Looking at the screenshots that display part of the GUI control panel what are those numbers seperated by a slash about? A belated answer to the original question: the numbers, separated by a slash, indicate occupied homes vs. unoccupied homes. The first number is basically the number of families in the category; the second is the number of homes. So yes, the second number does represent a "limit", but it's one you can increase by building more homes. Of course, many citizens require supervision, so merely getting another farmer or laborer family, for example, doesn't mean it's actually going to produce anything for the city. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 14:58:43 GMT -5
How does housing work in Children of the Nile? I think I'll just throw out some info quickly (I'm a bit busy) for you all. Overall, the housing and employment system is quite different from prior titles, so it's a little hard for me to compare the two for you. - There are no market ladies. People shop for what they need themselves. And they go get services they need themselves. There isn't any 'access' walker or concept. - As far as types of housing, if you take a look at the Characters info (http://www.immortalcities.com/cotn/.../characters.php), you might notice how all of the people live in buildings associated with their jobs or social class. Homes are of all different sizes and qualities, with higher social classes living in better homes. - Depending on profession, people work in their homes, or go work at harvesting some resource, or work at a government building (like a School, or Hospital), for example. - Most homes don't 'evolve' in the classical sense, though they do change in appearance and quality as the fortunes of the homeowners wax and wane. - Townhouses, the homes of the nobles, have a more detailed system of evolution (not exactly evolution like you're used to, but similar in concept.) As a noble's income and savings increase, they can improve their home in a variety of ways. As they improve their home, they are able to secure more income, and that builds upon itself. - Among the many homes, you can classify them into 3 basic categories. The townhouses like I describe above, private family homes- like shopkeepers or farmhouses- that are made of simple mudbrick by the residents, and homes for government workers, built by government employees out of higher quality bricks. - As far as how you build all this, again it's a different approach from prior title, and one of those things it's much easier to demonstrate than talk about. You basically place a building foundation for a type of worker or profession that you want, and someone will build the home and move in. Assuming that people are willing to become that profession. People migrate between professions and homes based on their own happiness in their current one, the relative social classes of the profession, and a couple of other factors to create a nice migration web. There's probably more to say, but I've got to get back to work. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 15:01:04 GMT -5
So the people that move to your city will build their own houses? Does a home that loses access to something eventually become abandoned and finally vanish? Depends a bit on the type of home, but that's the gist of it. An abandoned home decays and may eventually go away. Will there be things like water carriers, bazaar ladies delivering goods and services to homes? People go an get what they need, or directly hire other people (like servants) to do it for them. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 15:03:29 GMT -5
Since the people can choose what work they will do will one ever change jobs and move to a different house? They can, assuming they are not satisfied with where they are living currently. Wouldn't bricklayers and carpenters be building these houses instead of the resident? Depends on the home. If it's a private residence, like a farmhouse or pottery shop, then the future residents build it from materials on hand. If it's the residence for a government worker, like a Scribe or Weaponsmith, then the government (that's you) pre-builds the home from good quaility bricks (that you make) and a bricklayer. It's one of the ways the government entices people to work for them. As a geographical/historical note, you can build things out of pretty low quality mud bricks in Egypt, since it basically never rains. Though a high flood can come around and do a lot of damage. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 15:06:01 GMT -5
Since the people can choose what work they will do will one ever change jobs and move to a different house? They can, assuming they are not satisfied with where they are living currently. Wouldn't bricklayers and carpenters be building these houses instead of the resident? Depends on the home. If it's a private residence, like a farmhouse or pottery shop, then the future residents build it from materials on hand. If it's the residence for a government worker, like a Scribe or Weaponsmith, then the government (that's you) pre-builds the home from good quaility bricks (that you make) and a bricklayer. It's one of the ways the government entices people to work for them. As a geographical/historical note, you can build things out of pretty low quality mud bricks in Egypt, since it basically never rains. Though a high flood can come around and do a lot of damage. |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 15:08:53 GMT -5
Will there be "neutral housing" as in the old games? Basically, you don't have neutral housing like in the old games, but there is a form of neutral housing (people that don't work for you or the city have to live somewhere.) Will priests live in the temple or have a home? And, how does a character become a priest? Everyone needs a place to live, so yes a priest needs a home. Then he goes out and works in temples and so on. And yes, some rich citizen (child) has to be educated, which takes time and resources, to become any sort of skilled, educated person (priest, scribe, military commander and so on.) |
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Post by Keith Heitmann on Sept 8, 2004 15:11:17 GMT -5
Chris Beatrice, President and Director of Development of Tilte Mill talks about housing: "Placing housing" or "building houses" would more accurately be thought of as "designating what you want to happen at a particular spot." While for a purely historical sim it would be somewhat unrealistic for the mighty Pharaoh to say "I decree that there will be a mat shop right here on this corner!", nevertheless, these are the types of choices that matter a lot. Houses, like other buildings are actually built by people in the game. If, for example, no one wants to become a laborer at that time (because you've been treating your existing laborers poorly), then those laborers' huts you just designated won't actually be built! CotN is *not* about amassing enough resources (building materials) to build things. No, no, no, no. It's not about having enough crappy mudbrick to build umpteen laborers' huts, shops and farmhouses. There's plenty of mudbrick for everyone!! CotN is about having in place the things necessary for all the families you want to live and prosper. Everyone in the city is connected to and dependent on everyone else in some way. The question about "the only way you can have a priest is to build a house for one" is misleading. The only way an educated worker can work as a priest is if you tell him to do so, and support him as one, according to his level. This is done by designating a new priest apartment in a location you think will suit his needs. You don't "make priests" with a priest apartment any more than you "make farmers" with farmhouses. Aside from births, and small amounts of immigration, all the people in the area already exist, and you direct them to serve in different roles based on the numbers, types and locations of houses you designate. To "make a priest", though, you do need to provide a student with appropriate education. -Chris We pretty much understand that this game will not be strictly about building a city but more about caring for the societal needs of your population. Indeed, I'm amazed at the depth, scope and astuteness of these discussions, for a game none of you has actually played yet. And yep, that's right, CotN is not about building a city in the middle of nowhere and attracting people to it (that's really a modern concept) - no, it's about molding a primitive society into a well-organized, advanced, civilization of interdependent people. Specialization is another basic principle in the game - you can't have full time priests and scribes unless you have full time farmers to support them, and you can't personally manage all those farmers so you need to cede some of Pharaoh's land as estates for the nobility; and you can't have full time farmers unless you have full time potters, and so on. And once you start down the road of building an advanced civilization there's no going back. How well could you survive if all the grocery and housewares stores went away!? |
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