Gold Rush [32 bpp mod]

[Bad_Brett]

I agree about the flags, too; They really do provide a little extra life to the model. I just wonder how they'll look in-game.

They'll look like this:

johnbull2.gif (19.5 KiB) Viewed 6568 times

Just one thing, and I beg you forgive me being a Mr. McNitpick here, but the John Bull was a 4-2-0, not a 2-2-2-0. Only the rearmost axle was powered. A totally understandable mistake; I myself mistook this engine for years to be a 2-4-0, since both the wheels under the boiler are the same size. Actually, the frontmost little wheels were only added after its completion to support the newfangled "cowcatcher" thingy. Like say, I apologize for nitpicking on a tiny detail, but I wanted to give you a heads-up before that typo made it into the final product.

I want to get this right as well, so I did quite a bit of research on this one. It was built as a 0-4-0 in Great Britain and was shipped to Philadelphia in 1831. However:

Due to poorer quality track than was the norm in its native England, the locomotive had much trouble with derailment; the C&A's engineers added a leading truck (an assembly consisting of an unpowered axle with smaller diameter wheels that was connected to the frame and pushed in front of the locomotive) to help guide the engine into curves.[3] The leading truck's mechanism necessitated the removal of the coupling rod between the two main axles, leaving only the rear axle powered. Effectively, the John Bull became a 2-2-2-0 (a locomotive with two unpowered axles of different diameters, one powered main axle, and no trailing axles).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bull_ ... xhibitions

More reading:

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2-0 usually represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered but uncoupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels, but can also be used to represent two sets of leading wheels (not in a bogie truck) two driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. Some authorities place brackets around the duplicated but uncoupled wheels, creating a notation 2-(2-2)-0,[1] or (2-2)-2-0,[2] as a means of differentiating between them. Others simply refer to the locomotives 2-2-2-0.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-2-2-0

Then we have the issues with the 0-4-0 Atlantic, which actually was a 0-2-2 (I think)...

[maquinista]

If a house is built on a grass tile, it will look weird because buildings are always drawn over ground tiles. So when I design a new house, I must have this in the back of my head. Everything affects everything, and this makes it very time consuming impossible to only release parts of the set.

You can avoid it coding the house in two parts: a ground sprite and a building sprite.

You can leave some areas of the building in the ground sprite, and It won't be covered.

[Bad_Brett]

You can avoid it coding the house in two parts: a ground sprite and a building sprite.

You can leave some areas of the building in the ground sprite, and It won't be covered.

Yes, of course... Why didn't I think of that?

[planetmaker]

I would actually suggest three sprites:
- the unmodified ground tile referenced
- a child sprite to the ground tile with parts of the house so that it fits on it. This could for instance just be the outline around the base to make it smooth-in. OpenGFX+Landscape for instance uses similarily two building sprites to make the wind turbins fit better to the ground
- a building sprite with the real building

This way make it also easier to adopt to different ground types without the need to know how exactly the base ground type looks like.

[kamnet]

I was going to point that out as well, so just wasn't you...

[P.Val]

I understand that you are not ready to publish a beta version... but how about an alpha? Or a tech demo? Even if it was highly unstable and glitchy, I think many of us would enjoy it, and maybe could help with suggestions, ideas, etc.

[vinaximus]

Yeah! i would also like to try the alpha and report if any bugs are to be found.

[Bad_Brett]

I understand that you are not ready to publish a beta version... but how about an alpha? Or a tech demo? Even if it was highly unstable and glitchy, I think many of us would enjoy it, and maybe could help with suggestions, ideas, etc.

I really can't wait to let you guys try this out, but unfortunately some key elements are still missing such as most rolling stock. Some industries are simply to complex to include until I get new hardware. Generating the grf. can take several hours, so I'm currently only including the parts I'm testing at the moment. But as soon as it's somewhat playable, I'll let you try it out.

[habell]

Good to know you're still working on it
Can't wait.

[NekoMaster]

if hardware is a limitation I have a half decent gaming computer with 3ds max 2013 on it. Quad core AMD Phenom II, 16GB memory, GTX 570 Graphics card. the only two games that tax my computer is Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4

[Bad_Brett]

if hardware is a limitation I have a half decent gaming computer with 3ds max 2013 on it. Quad core AMD Phenom II, 16GB memory, GTX 570 Graphics card. the only two games that tax my computer is Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4

That sounds really nice. I'll let you know when I have some heavy stuff ready for rendering.

[cpy]

I say, this is the one of the best looking, graphics for TTD i've ever seen! Amazing dude, can't wait till it's done.

[mstade]

This is absolutely stunning work – bravo!

[plnrmatt]

Wow! Exciting stuff! Can you give an update on how things are progressing?

[Bad_Brett]

Wow! Exciting stuff! Can you give an update on how things are progressing?

Unfortunately, due to a personal matter, the project is somewhat on hold . I'm going to need a few weeks to get back on track, because I'm going through the worst days of my life right now.

There are a few new screenshots at my web page:

http://www.badbrett.se/goldrush/?p=gallery&image=51

If you want to, you can listen to some of my songs at http://soundcloud.com/bad_brett and tell me if you'd like folk music style midi adaptions of them (somehow it's easier working on the soundtrack when I feel like this).

Thanks again. Hopefully I will feel better withing a few weeks.

[kamnet]

With all of the "Gold Rush" era songs being in the public domain, I think I'd love to hear some authentic folk and western music.

[bokkie]

(...)because I'm going through the worst days of my life right now.(...)

Wow, wish you strength!

[ISA]

because I'm going through the worst days of my life right now.

Wish all the best! Hold it tight!

[Bad_Brett]

Thank you guys for the support! It feels a lot better today. and I'll begin working on the project again tomorrow.

[Killer 11]

Glad to hear that!
Your graphics work is phenomenal, your graphics have this liveliness to them that is so needed in 32bpp graphics projects I can't wait to play Gold Rush.