Flat maps?

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by ozeo, April 6, 2015.

  1. MrTBSC

    MrTBSC Post Master General

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    i concede that people want everything no matter how rediculous or redundant it is ...

    and it is not that i dislike flat maps but i see no point in having them in a game that is about spherical maps, neither do i see a reason for the devs to waste time and resources on such thing ... maybe very late in the future when everything else has been done that needed to be done ...
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  2. ozeo

    ozeo New Member

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    To put this in perspective for everyone, PA doesn't really have the following it needs and quite frankly it deserves. I am here because I am passionate about this game. However when I see that spore has more then 3 times the amount of players, or farm simulator has 10x the numbers of PA. Or how about out of this park baseball 16 having more then 100 players then PA.

    Why wouldn't you want another feature? Having a more steamlined UI at this point isn't going to get more blood in here, more features more ways to play with people.
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  3. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    I honestly feel one issue PA has that it often has failed to fully polish up the existing features and instead added new stuff on top of it. I rather would have Uber to spent a full month only improving existing features.
  4. ozeo

    ozeo New Member

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    Will PA ever be fully polished? Will it ever plateau to the game you want it too? I will be 100% honest with you, I don't play the game and I haven't in awhile because of the whole flat map. If you gave me that feature I promise me and my friends would play it non stop.

    I think when a game is trying to build on something successful from the past, they really need to go to the roots of what made it so appealing.

    I like giant bases with tons of defenses and stationary weapons, with shields and mines, row after row of layered defense.

    Even make it optional DLC so you guys can make money off it, then you will know for a fact, if it's economically viable to support or not. At this point, you have nothing at all to loose, but maybe another revenue stream to capitalize on.
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  5. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    There is a time cost involved with adding features like flat maps. Flat maps also are clearly out of scope. PA never was about flat maps. Really better make spherical maps play better instead. Focus on what PA wants to be, not try to add a ton of other side features. Better focus on a few concepts and be strong with them instead of try to fill many roles at the same time and fail at all of them.
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  6. ozeo

    ozeo New Member

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    I guess I can take that as the official reply, saying that for the foreseeable future, no intent from uber to implement flat maps for PA.

    Thank you for your time though.
  7. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    to quote my signature:
    Developers a red. I am just a voluntary moderator.
  8. kalherine

    kalherine Active Member

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    Is this wy PA almost over ?

    Oh sry you right, PA is still work on future improve in next 50 years......
    You are so smart that dont see behind the door where all options are?

    Dont call rediculous to players that want diferent options ,like you they also got the right see something diferent, when they now PA wont go anywhere now !!

    I dont see PA with flat maps, i like but dont make sence thats wy i dont play PA im oldskool player rts,but its not bad idea, this style just dont have enouth power to grab me.

    Forget flat maps here and try improve Ui

    I hope PA wont never got flat maps ,or lot players might start play this game a lot.

    I like like it is ....without multiplayer hosts.

    Im the only that notice PA is only about foruns ,and no one play the game ?
    Last edited: April 7, 2015
  9. MrTBSC

    MrTBSC Post Master General

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    i have no idea what you want to say
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  10. brandonpotter

    brandonpotter Well-Known Member

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    Eh, doesnt matter to me. I dont play online anyways :p

    If the game has a good AI, Im good :cool:
  11. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

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    I like the possibility of flat maps. They WOULD be popular. I just think, it could be done given what we seen before. A lot of people showed off how "flat" a size 3000 planet surface is. If Uber could somehow do a bastardized tweak where planets render size-3000 surface, but only 700 of the surface area and stop, and the little cone part on the bottom is acceptable, AND AIR DIDN'T PATH OVER THE EMPTY SPACE which last I checked is both bug and the only limiting factor of this, then they could make it where flat maps can be generated.

    Although, to be honest, if they fixed the air thing, then players with really high ram can make flat maps and players without it SHOULD be able to load them given their very small surface area after rendering. The hardest part, is getting a size 3000 planet to render, and then using geometry subtraction via crater or whatever on all but the top flat part.
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  12. DeathByDenim

    DeathByDenim Post Master General

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    I must say I don't understand the flat map thing either. The spherical maps contributes a great deal to what makes this game unique, and it really really fun! And sure, you can emulate it with all kind of hackery (yay modders!), but I don't think Uber should spend dev resources on it. I mean it's a lot of work. You need to get the camera to work decently. That is, making it impossible to move the camera beyond a certain point. You don't want to look at the map from the bottom. You'd also need introduce air pathing, since now air can no longer simply go anyway. There is probably a lot of other stuff I haven't even thought about. Uber is overworked as it is already anyway.
  13. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

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    If they can get air to not fly over craters, that in a way would be bug fixing, not dev work for flat maps. It is only semi-intensive to try to program too, not the biggest thing ever.
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  14. DeathByDenim

    DeathByDenim Post Master General

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    It always more work than you think. :)
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  15. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    There were two more pages I didn't see...
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  16. warrenkc

    warrenkc Active Member

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    I think that is an excellent idea. I proposed something similar to that a long time ago. Anyway, about 50% of the people I know hate the spheres and they just want to play on a simple rectangle map.
  17. reptarking

    reptarking Post Master General

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    I made a flat map. It needs the camera to be mode to work....
  18. andrehsu

    andrehsu Active Member

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    Where
  19. reptarking

    reptarking Post Master General

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    It's unreleased and until I feel the game camera can handle it I won't be releasing
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  20. philoscience

    philoscience Post Master General

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    Honestly just play a very restricted map like Hot Platforms or Temple Arena (in the community pack). The use of choke points and controlled paths makes it feel very much like a 2D map.
    thetrophysystem likes this.

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