Dem bones, dem bones, dem

Kalah · Unread postby **Kalah** » 20 Feb 2011, 12:02

<p>Is this a dead dragon, or is it a bone dragon having a sleep? If it's the former, who killed it?
<p>These skeletal remains offer a <i>classic</i> fantasy RPG look, and will hopefully be a feature map makers can place on their maps.

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/show_b ... php?id=470

GreatEmerald · Unread postby **GreatEmerald** » 20 Feb 2011, 12:34

Why classic?

Infiltrator · Unread postby **Infiltrator** » 20 Feb 2011, 16:24

RIP Bone Dragon.

Metathron · Unread postby **Metathron** » 20 Feb 2011, 16:37

This is probably my favourite screenshot so far. The trees on the left, the skeletal remains on the right, and the sea in the distance - really stirs up that feeling of adventure...

rdeford · Unread postby **rdeford** » 20 Feb 2011, 17:16

'Tis a great screen shot indeed. Classic in the sense that it looks like a fantasy world that invites exploration and adventure. Personally, I find it beautiful, intriguing, and a bit spooky in an exciting way.

H5 had skeletal remains of big creatures that map makers could place on maps, and in H3 through H5 mapmakers could use every object used in the official maps. I think it likely that H6 will continue with the tradition.
Edited on Sun, Feb 20 2011, 12:17 by rdeford

Darkström · Unread postby **Darkström** » 20 Feb 2011, 17:50

It does look great, as pretty much every screenshot so far.

But am I the only one who thinks that decorative objects should not overshadow adventure objects?

Metathron · Unread postby **Metathron** » 20 Feb 2011, 17:53

Darkström wrote:It does look great, as pretty much every screenshot so far.

But am I the only one who thinks that decorative objects should not overshadow adventure objects?

Do you mean only these bones or some other objects as well?

Doesn't bother me in the least, I have to say. In fact, I like it.

jeff · Unread postby **jeff** » 20 Feb 2011, 18:21

While it would be nice to have it in the object pallet, I think something that big won't be used very often. Still I prefer to have the choice than not. I would be upset if they put objects on their maps that are not available to mapmakers.

Pitsu · Unread postby **Pitsu** » 20 Feb 2011, 18:28

Metathron wrote: Do you mean only these bones or some other objects as well?

He meant only the second left rib.

They learned in h5 that camera rotating is a problem, maybe one day they also learn that the interesting objects are those that can be interacted with.

hellegennes · Unread postby **hellegennes** » 20 Feb 2011, 18:31

which kinda lefts us wondering how can 150 black dragons go unseen behind the hero, when they go adventuring.

michiganjf · Unread postby **michiganjf** » 20 Feb 2011, 18:44

Judging by the size of special map feaures showcased in your series of screenshots, map size must be considerably larger than anything ever before developed in the HOMM franchise.

If not, actual play area is going to be highly inadequate.

I'm guessing map area for HOMM 6 is going to be massive, especially on larger maps.

Love the look!
Edited on Sun, Feb 20 2011, 13:52 by michiganjf

Metathron · Unread postby **Metathron** » 20 Feb 2011, 18:53

michiganjf wrote:I'm guessing map area for HOMM 6 is going to be massive, especially on larger maps.

I think many of us are hoping for that.

sezerp · Unread postby **sezerp** » 20 Feb 2011, 20:28

Pretty stuff is pretty, but I'm with Pitsu on 'signal to noise ratio' being low.

On related note: fingers crossed for huge maps.

Darkström · Unread postby **Darkström** » 20 Feb 2011, 21:18

It's funny that this dragon skeleton would be 10 times bigger than what a dragon creature would appear on the map.

Maybe they should finally realise that this is supposed to be a strategical map and things don't need to be in the right ratio to the hero.

jeff · Unread postby **jeff** » 20 Feb 2011, 21:37

Metathron wrote:
michiganjf wrote:I'm guessing map area for HOMM 6 is going to be massive, especially on larger maps.
I think many of us are hoping for that.

Well perhaps, but I found decorating and making Extra Large maps in H-IV was a burden. So have it available, but what little I did in the H-V editor the bigger maps need more decorating all of which drained system performance. There were just too many moving objects.

Calmisto · Unread postby **Calmisto** » 21 Feb 2011, 09:25

I think this still looks frightenly linear.

Would definitely like to see more open terrains that give chanses to slip by enemy heroes or that you wouldn't have a clear paved way all the way to the enemy towns i.e. less terrain that says "enemy here" "go there".

The occasional bottleneck is still a must imo but don't make entire maps like that.

Variol · Unread postby **Variol** » 21 Feb 2011, 10:27

Many of the screen shots have been reminding me of H4; specially the various icons, like the one above the sawmill on the right. I agree that the maps must be huge; or else they have shortened the movement distance of the heroes, to offset the map size. I do find the dragon a little big, for being just a useless feature, but not a big deal. That shot does look quite linear though.

Neidhaart · Unread postby **Neidhaart** » 21 Feb 2011, 22:10

Still, there should be the option to make huge maps.

Also, nice dragon!

LongDarkBlues · Unread postby **LongDarkBlues** » 22 Feb 2011, 01:39

Proportionately, it's no larger than the biggest H3 mountain tiles, and, visually, it's much more interesting.

Infiltrator · Unread postby **Infiltrator** » 22 Feb 2011, 01:48

I absolutely love XXL maps that are balanced and detailed.

From a technical point of view, there is ABSOLUTELY no way an XXL map in H6's engine should cause hickups on even a mediocre system. The amount of data displayed, and I mean polys, shaders, textures is MINUSCULE compared to what some engines can sport..

The only reason why H5 couldn't handle them was very poor optimization.

The Heroes Round Table