Storyline Specific Start New Game Screens

[Pieter Boelen]

New idea! How about Storyline Specific Start New Game Screens? I managed to write some code for that in seadogs.c:

void NewGame()
{
GetLanguageParameters();
Trace("Gauging: start new game");
DeleteEntities();
DelEventHandler("frame","NewGame");

// PB: Storyline Specific Start New Game Screens -->
string LoadingScreen = "new_game.tga";
int slno;
slno = FindCurrentStoryline();
aref arstart = GetStorylineStartParams(slno);
if (CheckAttribute(arstart, "screen")) LoadingScreen = arstart.screen;
// PB: Storyline Specific Start New Game Screens <--

CreateEntity(&LanguageObject,"obj_strservice");
CreateEntity(&reload_fader, "fader");
SendMessage(&reload_fader, "ls", FADER_PICTURE, FindReloadPicture(LoadingScreen)); // KK
SendMessage(&reload_fader, "lfl", FADER_IN, RELOAD_TIME_FADE_IN, true);

SetEventHandler("frame","NewGame_continue",1);
}

Now you can add a line like this one in the [Storyline].c file to get a different screen from the default:

sl.(sn).start.screen = "Quest_Jack_Sparrow.tga";

For example this one for Hoist the Colours:

Does anyone have any good images for Start New Game screens for the other storylines?

 

[zorglub]

I like the idea

Good screen for the Jack Sparrow storyline you have here...

 

[Armada]

A wonderful idea!!!
Imagine the impression that would give to the game's storylines...!
And I love that screen you made there- very effective!

I was just thinking- if we keep Master and Commander, we could have a screen with Surprise versus Acheron. But will we keep it as a storyline?
Or perhaps for Hornblower, a screen with the Indy or Hornblower himself.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

We can make screens for all of them; it's easier to remove content than add it.
If you can find a good picture for any of the storylines, post a link and I'll make the screen.

 

[Armada]

I changed my mind about M&C. This image looks better: http://myfirst.class...ndCommander.jpg
What do you reckon?

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

Beautiful screen for the Jack Sparrow Main quest, Pieter

Maybe you could do the screens for the Bartolomeu and Assassin Main quests because at the moment I have no idea for these screens.. :?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That M&C photo is quite a nice one, but I'm not convinced on using photo's in the game; I prefer paintings.
So this is what I did with it in my attempt to make it painting-like. I still think it looks merely like an edited photo though.

Bartolomeu, I'd want to make screens for your storylines as well, but haven't the foggiest either on what images to use.
I had a quick search, but couldn't find anything I was happy with. If you or anyone else ever run into anything, let me know!

 

[Short Jack Gold]

I am all for this and will look at one for Hornblower.

GREAT idea !

 

[Armada]

I see what you mean, Pieter. But I'm sure we can make that photo a bit more painting-like.
I had a go myself; see my FTP folder.

P.S. while we're at it, how do you make a link to a file on the FTP?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I've done new preliminary screens for all the storylines now and also replaced the first editions of Jack Sparrow and Master & Commander.
If you think the originals were better or you've found better images for any of these, please let me know!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

http://www.pyratesahoy.com/potc links to the PotC Files FTP, /build to the Build and /coas to the CoAS one.
So this is the link to your image:

http://www.pyratesahoy.com/potc/Experienced%20Captain/JackAubrey_painting.jpg

Truth be told, that looks very similar to what I did and I wasn't convinced on that one.
See my post above for a completely different take on the Master & Commander screen, though it's not necessarily better either.

 

[Armada]

1) You forgot New Horizons!
2) The Bartolomeu screen features... English ships?
3) Tales of a Chevalier screen looks a little too sad, perhaps?
4) For M&C, see my last post. While the screen you found does look good, it doesn't look hugely related to M&C.
5) All others look excellent!

EDIT: for M&C, I'll have a look around for an actual painting, then.

 

[Armada]

New idea: how about this one?

I know it's not a large image, but I couldn't find much better than that.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

1) You forgot New Horizons!
2) The Bartolomeu screen features... English ships?
3) Tales of a Chevalier screen looks a little too sad, perhaps?
4) For M&C, see my last post. While the screen you found does look good, it doesn't look hugely related to M&C.

1. I thought maybe New Horizons could use the current "Start New Game" screen. Otherwise that one'd go completely unused.
And I haven't the foggiest what storyline-specific picture I could find.

2. Indeed; hadn't been paying attention to that one. I thought the ships themselves looked quite fine for the period,
but indeed the flags are British. Back to the drawing board on that one. No idea where to find a better picture though.

3. It does look sad. I tried to find some sort of French chevalier on a painting, but didn't have much luck.

4. I did think it looked quite similar to the fight early in the movie,
though it's probably more that the effects for that fight have been based on paintings such as that one.
But you're right that there isn't much relation with the film or the books. Maybe we can use this one instead?
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/hi-res/KN 00001/KN-2781.jpg
If I recall, the US do come into play in the books as an enemy at some point and the actual storyline starts on the US island for the time being...

*. I wonder about the Jack Sparrow one. The original Sparrow face painting looked rather grumpy to me,
but the new one technically isn't a scene from any of the films and doesn't feature any of the characters or any of the ships.
All it's got going for it is the Kraken, which admittedly is quite cool.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

This one does look cool, but as you say, low resolution.
I'd prefer something at least around desktop resolution, say 1024x768 if possible.

 

[Armada]

Seems like finding a decent sized painting for M&C is proving very difficult.
The one you suggested is better for quality, but it really makes the Royal Navy seem the weaker side. Not what M&C portrays, in my opinion. :?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Finding a decent sized painting for any of them is difficult. There's not a single one of those I'm fully sold on.

Assassin: Why black and white? Doesn't look Assassin-like.

Bartolomeu o Portugues: Seems the correct period, but the wrong nation.

Devlin Opera: I chose this one because of the bunch of famous pirates in there, but the screen looks rather messy.

Horatio Hornblower: Brilliant picture, but the officer is old, while the Hornblower in the storyline is still young.
The books do continue with old Hornblower, but that's not been added in the storyline.

Master and Commander: Not sure how much you can say about the strength of the British royal navy from that image,
but it's still not a very relevant picture and doesn't have any of the characters or ships or particular events on there.

Tales of a Chevalier: Sad, as already pointed out by Experienced Captain.
I'd prefer some sort of dashing figure with a sword and a French-y moustache. Or something.

Jack Sparrow: No film characters, ships or events. Just a Kraken, which looks cool, but isn't even the actual movie Kraken.

 

[Armada]

In some cases, perhaps we could even use game screenshots?

Either that, or we'll have to paint our own screens! Anyone here a talented marine artist, specialising in tall ships, per chance? :

 

[Pieter Boelen]

For ingame screenshot, we run into the whole "doesn't look like a painting" thing again.
Of course neither do the location loading screens, which use screenshots as well, so it might work.

Another thought is that things might get better if we make a collage of some kind,
for example making a screenshot of the main character model, cutting it out and sticking it on top of what we have now.
Someone could put quite some creativity into that stuff, but I don't think it'll be me who does that.
If anyone's interested, I can upload the PSD files for the versions I've got in use now.

 

[Jack Rackham]

I like the loading screens for the storylines - especially that they are so different!