Unit pics too cartoonish?

[ETF]

ORIGINAL: dsawan

Just sa this and love the maps but the unit pics seem too cartoonish or bland. Could they be replaced with blanc and white photos?

I too thought the same.....realistic or even real WWII shots would have been better. I noticed Paradox does this with their HOI3/Semper wargame.

[ETF]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Guys, these are not cartoons. Art is certainly subjective, but these were hand drawn by Nicolas Eskubi, one of the best wargame/boardgame artists around who we commissioned for this task. Here are some of his credits:

MMP Staff Artist.
Winner CSR Awards for Best Wargame Graphics:
Fire in the Sky (2005)
A Victory Lost (2006)
Battle Above the Clouds (2009)
Websites:
http://social.consimworld.com/profile/NicolasEskubi

Well still not a fan of the Infantry.....IMHO.

[jomni]

ORIGINAL: ETF
I too thought the same.....realistic or even real WWII shots would have been better. I noticed Paradox does this with their HOI3/Semper wargame.

In my opinion, colorful hand drawn is better. The board game industry was revitalized with these pretty looking drawings as opposed to traditional tank schematics and infantry silouettes during the classic board game era. Why not do it in computer games?

As for HOI, they did that to fool the regular gamer into thinking the game is historical while it's not. But it's all wrong. hehe.

[WilliePete]

besides some artwork tweaks, id like someone to make some sounds tweaks as well. some of the arty and combat sounds are weak and could use a more "heavy" sound to it.

[Josh]

ORIGINAL: jomni

ORIGINAL: ETF
I too thought the same.....realistic or even real WWII shots would have been better. I noticed Paradox does this with their HOI3/Semper wargame.

In my opinion, colorful hand drawn is better. The board game industry was revitalized with these pretty looking drawings as opposed to traditional tank schematics and infantry silouettes during the classic board game era. Why not do it in computer games?

I agree. I must say I was a little surprised with the drawings, guess it had to sink in first because *then* you realise; hey, this is something new and fresh, beautiful artwork, easily recognizeable units. Yes nothing wrong with good old black and white pictures, maybe even coloured ones from propaganda magazines, nothing wrong with that... but you gotta admire this new approach.
Me, I really love the pictures by now.

[gekkoguy35]

I especially enjoy the artwork of the vehicles and artillery

[HR2]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

These are meant to be basically like the kind of art you see on a great board wargame - ASL or something similar.

Here's a larger pic as an example:

Right. art work. I like them much better than realistic photos which just look out of place in a game that is mostly art.
They are very well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ETF]

ORIGINAL: jomni

ORIGINAL: ETF
I too thought the same.....realistic or even real WWII shots would have been better. I noticed Paradox does this with their HOI3/Semper wargame.

In my opinion, colorful hand drawn is better. The board game industry was revitalized with these pretty looking drawings as opposed to traditional tank schematics and infantry silouettes during the classic board game era. Why not do it in computer games?

As for HOI, they did that to fool the regular gamer into thinking the game is historical while it's not. But it's all wrong. hehe.

haha.
Seriously though
HOI3 with semper fi and HUMAN opponents is the best grand strategic WWII wargame I have ever seen, board or otherwise in 30 years of gaming. I put it up there with WitpAe as my top two wargames. Mind you the later is more opertaional than strategic. I will have to try this one out. Just not sure about this old style of IGO UGO. I thought the higher end wargames have gone to WEGO.

[GlobalExplorer]

Tastes differ.

Having said that, let me cast my vote. I find Nicolas' artwork fantastic. Best artwork I have seen in a 2D game since Ageods American Civil War.

[Fastheinz]

i think the artwork is fantastic [&o]

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: jomni

ORIGINAL: ETF
I too thought the same.....realistic or even real WWII shots would have been better. I noticed Paradox does this with their HOI3/Semper wargame.

In my opinion, colorful hand drawn is better. The board game industry was revitalized with these pretty looking drawings as opposed to traditional tank schematics and infantry silouettes during the classic board game era. Why not do it in computer games?

As for HOI, they did that to fool the regular gamer into thinking the game is historical while it's not. But it's all wrong. hehe.

OT but...

I remember when HOI came out, and I had a talk to one of the designers, trying to tell him that the BF 108 was not one of the LW fighters, and he sort of told me, when you grow up and learn something about history come back and talk to him

when I told him what a BF 108 was, guess he looked it up and came back and said, sorry about that, one of the researchers must of made a mistake

good researchers over there

this one looks interesting

[Pete AU]

I don't really see the unit graphics as an issue. I've played thru the game a few times now and there is a tendency to just quickly click and move units on the screen with the units zoomed out to max in order to speed up play. I don't really look at the unit pictures (although they were amusing for the first play thru). I'd much prefer a full function editor as I do see potential for scenarios that are unlikley to be made by the developer - which is a shame.

[bairdlander2]

ORIGINAL: jomni

ORIGINAL: ETF
I too thought the same.....realistic or even real WWII shots would have been better. I noticed Paradox does this with their HOI3/Semper wargame.

In my opinion, colorful hand drawn is better. The board game industry was revitalized with these pretty looking drawings as opposed to traditional tank schematics and infantry silouettes during the classic board game era. Why not do it in computer games?

As for HOI, they did that to fool the regular gamer into thinking the game is historical while it's not. But it's all wrong. hehe.

you are both wrong,HOI3 uses any vehicle pic because of the tech tree.You can produce for example a tank with an 88mm gun,but with an engine not the same as a Tiger tank,so they just used basic pics.It can be easily modded and there were many complaints on their forum.I think most of us consumers would be aware of a company intentionally trying to "fool" us as we are all history buffs for the most part.

[Birdmon]

From the screenshots I have viewed, they look kewl. Not status quo - if I buy the game (no demo [:@]) it will be because of its first impressions. It was the first thing that caught my eye.

[Birdmon]

ORIGINAL: redmarkus4

Just to show how easily these images can be modded, here's some more stuff I've done for my personal use. I used images from Volcano's mod for the HPS series, so I can't share this work unfortunately, but I'm sure some real modders will be creating new content.

This is OUTSTANDING!!!! do more please!!! Looks like i'll be buying the game after all. I cant help myself

[Redmarkus5]

Well, thanks. I'm really just playing around with a paint program and some images off the Internet. A true modder will be able to work wonders with this game - I don't have the patience for the detailed bits that need to be done...

[Redmarkus5]

More...

[Redmarkus5]

and another...

[G Felzien]

Damn. Those are really good (for just fooling around with photoshop). [:)]

[Josh]

Yeah they're really good. Are you allowed to use them though? That might be a problem if you wanted to replace all of the pictures. I imagine it would take *a lot* of time to do so... heheh, that's precisely the problem, you'd have to spend hours and hours to make a good alternative counterset. Would be cool though.