Sshots @ gamespot

[taraxacumoff]

I just noticed that gamespot has posted 29 new screens, you have to go through their E3 news to see it, if you just go to their PC news (like I usually do), it has not been updated fo a long time.
Anyway, here is the link:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screenindex.html
P.

<EDIT> I gotta say, the screens look phenomenal, you can even see the "control panel" with the minimap on some of them, better stop drooling before my computer blows...

[Elvenwarrior2001]

Just damaging my my keyboard...comp's not taking any damage. ;)

Elven

[ChickenGaveMeABadCoupon]

love the water, so tropical an nice:)

[mouse]

Will have leave my keyboard to dry after those screenshots they are so great :D

[Elvenwarrior2001]

love the water, so tropical an nice:)

That stuff on the keyboard is NOT water... ;)

Elven

[ChickenGaveMeABadCoupon]

hehe, my mistake:p. But the water on the screens arelly do look nice :D

[Ineti]

I love the look of the interface. Very evocative of the setting. If the final version is even close to what we saw in those screenshots, I'd say TM has one happy customer here. :)

I wonder, though. If this game is due to hit in October or November, are beta tests already underway?

[Elvenwarrior2001]

CGMABC: :lol:

Elven

[Azeem]

Absolutely gorgeous. I like how they use such highly detailed graphics, but apparently avoid making things overly realistic (like the way SimCity 4 does), thus keeping the classic charm of the City-Building series. :)

[Elvenwarrior2001]

Yup. I don't want thing to look 100% realistic. I mean...even the Myst series doesn't do that. It looks photo-realistic, but it has a surreal look to it. And this game should also have that...game look, to it. I'm not sure exactly what I mean, but you get the surrealistic picture. Or something... ;)

Elven

[Keith]

I like the change of elevations shown with the village down in a depression below the temple and the pyarmid construction sites. Pyramid construction looks like it's an immense project, as it should be, given the shot of the laborers hauling the stone on the sledge over the construction site. The sheer number of blocks each level is going to take looks staggering. I like it! And we thought the the pyramids in Pharoh took a long time! :D

I see in the one shot that there is going to be use of massive earthen ramps alongside the pyramids. In one special program that aired on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) they discussed the various means of getting the blocks to the top. The one large ramp was ruled out. It was theorized that the smaller earthen ramps were built on the stepped stone surface around the pyramid itself and not all the way to the ground. A large ramp would take almost as much labor and time to create as the pyramid. Then as the cap stone and facing stones were laid from the top down the earthen ramp was removed as work proceeded.

I like the looks of the control panel/interface. I also like the fact that it doesn't occupy the entire right side of the screen as in Pharaoh.

There appears to be some interesting variation of housing types in the one shot. With lower, middle and higher types in the one shot. Apparently the one nicer home is influenced by the large statue near it and what appears to be a small temple of some kind just on the other side of it.

The changing of the daylight is going to make things interesting. The screen shots present some interesting views of that.

I have to laugh a little at the is apparantly with a citizen protest outside what might be the palace. I'm not so sure they'd be carrying placard signs with a picture of a foot kicking the crowns of Egypt. It gets the message across though. Looks like these folks aren't happy with the man in charge.

I see there will be large river barges conducting at least obelisks and probably stone blocks, although I didn't see any pictured, and small reed fishing boats. I see the hippos made the trip over from Pharaoh too.

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[PCDania]

Close to drying out from drooling, better go get some water

[Jacquou Le]

By seeing all those screen shots, I'm convinced that the game is fully 3-D. But I don't know that the cameras will rotate 360 degree or just shot in front view and we have to move sideward (left or right).

Could any game developer tell something?

[EmperorJay]

:mad:

:(

I can't see anything from Gamespot.. it never loads any images from that site.

:(

[EmperorJay]

Phew.. that took some time but I've seen the screenshots! (Had to fire up my dads computer, download all shots and send them to my computer before I had the time to see them well :p )

I must say I'm impressed by many, I drooled over a few but I must also say that there was 1 screenshot that somehow dissapointed me. :eek:

It was the screenshot with a overview of the floodplain on the left. The fields looked so small! I hoped I would be able to see vast fields of grain but the size really suprised me.

All in all, looking forward to the game even more.

[Jacquou Le]

:mad:

:(

I can't see anything from Gamespot.. it never loads any images from that site.

:(

I've seen them, there're 47 screen shots in GameSpot. I think they're only available for subscribers (GameSpot Complete.)

[EmperorJay]

No way I'll be going to be for screenshots, but like I said above. I've seen them now :D

[PCDania]

I've seen them, there're 47 screen shots in GameSpot. I think they're only available for subscribers (GameSpot Complete.)
I have the GameSpot Basic and can see all the pictures without being logged in (might be cookie controlled).

[Keith]

Phew.. that took some time but I've seen the screenshots! (Had to fire up my dads computer, download all shots and send them to my computer before I had the time to see them well :p )

I must say I'm impressed by many, I drooled over a few but I must also say that there was 1 screenshot that somehow dissapointed me. :eek:

It was the screenshot with a overview of the floodplain on the left. The fields looked so small! I hoped I would be able to see vast fields of grain but the size really suprised me.

All in all, looking forward to the game even more.
I think that ancient farms were quite small. Something one man and his family could handle on their own. Plowing huge tracts of land with oxen would have been very difficult and time consuming.
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[EmperorJay]

I thought food production was communal? Or is that just the impression I got from Pharaoh?

[Keith]

I thought food production was communal? Or is that just the impression I got from Pharaoh?
I am not sure myself, but I don't think it was as huge as you imagined it might be. The techniques involved in farming back then were very primative.
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[EmperorJay]

You have a good point there... Having looked at the picture again, it seems that the size of 1 field is about the same size as the size of a house (in-game), you have to agree that that is not much, no matter how primitive it all may have been.

[Keith]

I thought food production was communal? Or is that just the impression I got from Pharaoh?I did a little poking around and found this:

A textbook passage from a scribes' school, by contrast, paints the peasant's lot in much darker colors - exaggerating perhaps by way of propaganda for the happy career of the scribe: 'When [the farmer] returns to his fields he finds them in good condition. He spends eight hours plowing, and the worms are already waiting. He cuts half his crop himself, the rest is taken by the hippopotamus. There are many mice in the fields, and locusts descend on them.

Even cattle devour his harvest and sparrows steal it. Then the scribe-officer arrives to count up the harvest: he has bailiffs with him who wield sticks, and black men with palm-stalks. "Give us the grain, " they say. "There is none." So they hold him by the legs and beat him, then tie him up and throw him in the ditch. His wife is bound too, and his children, and their neighbors make haste to abandon them so as to save their own grain.'

In tilling his land the peasant made do with a small range of simple tools, many of which are used in almost identical form by the fellah of today. First and foremost was the indispensable hoe for loosening the soil, its broad, thin sharp-edged blade of hard wood set at an acute angle to the long wooden shaft to which it was bound with plant-fiber cord.

The oldest sign of its existence is a plough-shaped hieroglyph of the 2nd dynasty. The plough consisted of a fairly long blade of hard wood fastened at its lower end to a pair of wooden stilts slaved out toward their upper end, on which the plowman would lean to drive the blade into the soil to the required depth and guide it along the furrow. A long pole extended from the lower end of the stilts to the yoke over the necks of the draught animals.

For cutting the corn farmers originally used an almost straight or slightly curved wooden sickle with a longitudinal groove in which a row of flint blades were set close together. These were gradually superseded by copper and then, from the Middle Kingdom on, bronze sickles.

Some time after 2300 BC a dam was constructed near Memphis after the rains began to fail and the city was made the capital. It was during that period that canals were used to irrigate the land and water from the lake would flow out to irrigate the land during inter-flood periods.

During the height of the floods in mid-August farmers would row around their lands closing vents in the dykes. This would allow the Nile water to run off slowly leaving behind it's silt deposits fertilizing the land.

Once the water had completely receeded a scribe would measure out grain to each farmer and a vizier would issue the order for the sowing of the grain to begin. To keep the sown grain from being eaten by birds the farmer would invite herdsment to bring their flocks of sheep or goats on to his land to tread the grain into the mud.

Harvest time was more a communal affair where the whole village was brought in on the job and later from the New Kingdom onwards slaves and violators of royal decrees will have been roped in too, and in an emergency even army units might be detailed to lend a hand.

Harvest scenes are depicted on the walls of many tombs, nowhere more fully than in the 15th-dynasty tomb of Menna at Sheikh Abd el-Quma. We shall now take these as a guide.

Before the sickles plunged into the standing corn the assessor-scribes led by the 'Overseer of Fields' turned up to check the position of the boundary-stones and measure the size of the field with a calibrated surveying cord. From these data they worked out the probable yield, which would be compared with the actual yield after the threshing was done. This was clearly done to prevent any part of the harvest being 'mislaid'.

The harvesters usually worked in a straight row, advancing steadily to the rhythm of one of the songs documented for example in the tombs of Ty (5th dynasty) or Mereruka (6th dynasty) at Saqqara. The song-leader was accompanied by a flautist and the harvesters probably chanted in response. (We can hear Egyptian laborers singing today in the same fashion during the tedious work of removing sand from archaeological sites.)

Grasping a bunch of stalks in his left hand the harvester would slice them through 9 at a level just above his knees, then toss the cars aside to be picked up by the helpers. These would pile the eared stalks alternately end to end, so that a compact sheaf formed that required no binding - the Ty relief shows this very clearly.
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[EmperorJay]

Very interesting, thank you Keith! :)

I assume that at least the harvest was very communal, but what a poor peasants they were! Mice, hippos, worms, poor guy.

[Keith]

Very interesting, thank you Keith! :)

I assume that at least the harvest was very communal, but what a poor peasants they were! Mice, hippos, worms, poor guy.
Also, apparently there were two types of granaries in use.

The oldest type of granary, known from Archaic times, was a round-based cone with a domed top. It was made of seasoned wood, often plaster-lined, or of mud bricks. The largest ones had steps leading up to the filling hole, or else a ladder was laid against them.

All grain earmarked for the next sowing was stored in granaries of a different, trapezoidal shape so that there was no danger of it being ground in error. Among Middle Kingdom models we find another, four-cornered design of granary, standing in a row against one side of a house courtyard. One such granary is shown with a flat roof and five filling-holes through which women are pouring sacks of grain while a scribe, seated nearby, keeps a tally and a guard looks on, stick in hand.

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[EmperorJay]

Also, apparently there were two types of granaries in use.

The oldest type of granary, known from Archaic times, was a round-based cone with a domed top. It was made of seasoned wood, often plaster-lined, or of mud bricks. The largest ones had steps leading up to the filling hole, or else a ladder was laid against them.

All grain earmarked for the next sowing was stored in granaries of a different, trapezoidal shape so that there was no danger of it being ground in error. Among Middle Kingdom models we find another, four-cornered design of granary, standing in a row against one side of a house courtyard. One such granary is shown with a flat roof and five filling-holes through which women are pouring sacks of grain while a scribe, seated nearby, keeps a tally and a guard looks on, stick in hand.

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I've made a part of your quote bold, above. This seems to imply that there were no general granaries and everybody had their own. Egg shaped things near houses are shown at the screenshots too. I feel there's a connection :p

[Lannes]

Nice screens. Especially the ones with the controls shown may clarify some things. Note the time indication. In screen 7 it says: "2399 BC, Peret (planting season), 12:31". Could this mean we have a season in one day? The quadrangle in the minimap at the lower left indicates the field of view as a function of camera position, orientation and tilt. Not sure it will be used for navigation though.....

Lannes

[Nero Would]

Wow! I'm the one who always says that it's really the gameplay I care about, and I don't bother too much about the graphics. But after looking at the screenshots, I would make an exception in this case, they're gorgeous.

Of course, considering who is developing it, I'm expecting great gameplay as well. This game could be huge.

[Nero Would]

In screen 7 it says: "2399 BC, Peret (planting season), 12:31". Could this mean we have a season in one day?Lannes
I noticed that too. I agree that it is probably intended to allow a cycle of day and night without having the screen flash light and dark 360+ times in one game year.

My guess is that, rather than one day per season, we either a small fixed number days per season (maybe 4-6), or the day and night cycle runs in real time while the seasons and years run in game time (so that at the slowest game speed you might have hundreds of days per season, and at the fastest you have one or even less than one).

[Elvenwarrior2001]

Sounds rather interesting...I like your idea Nero. :D

Elven

[Azeem]

SimCity 4 had day/night cycles, but it was still conceptual. Day/Night cycles are only good for aesthetic affects. To make it simulate real life would be asking too much. :)

[Lannes]

My guess is that, rather than one day per season, we either a small fixed number days per season (maybe 4-6)

There doesn't appear to be a day counter though.

or the day and night cycle runs in real time while the seasons and years run in game time (so that at the slowest game speed you might have hundreds of days per season, and at the fastest you have one or even less than one).

Only if the day/night cycle doesn't have any impact on gameplay.

Lannes

[martouf]

are these ingame screenshots? cuz the graphics in these pictures look a lot better than most of the pictures ive seen.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=29
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=27
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=26
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=25
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=19

-martouf

[Elvenwarrior2001]

Hmm...they are a lot better quality. Interesting...

Elven

[Ammurit]

What a sight to behold - a pyramid bathed in the golden light of a setting sun. Absolutely stunning. I can't wait! :)

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=28

[EmperorJay]

Some of those screenshots certainly are artwork. The way I saved them onto my harddisk, it's numbers 22, 23, 24 and 25. The pictures with the pyramids (26 and 27) might actually be ingame pictures.


Note: The numbers they have at GameSpot might be different.

Edit: I really like the artwork though, it's lovely.

Edit 2: After further investigation :p , it shows that the Pyramid screenshots are 1024 x 768 (just like all other screenshots) which seems to imply that they are not artwork but ingame shots. The Artwork pictures are not standard sized.

[Keith]

I noticed that too. I agree that it is probably intended to allow a cycle of day and night without having the screen flash light and dark 360+ times in one game year.

My guess is that, rather than one day per season, we either a small fixed number days per season (maybe 4-6), or the day and night cycle runs in real time while the seasons and years run in game time (so that at the slowest game speed you might have hundreds of days per season, and at the fastest you have one or even less than one).
Or perhaps there is a "time skip" mode where you jump ahead in fixed increments. That way you could have many days per season and either let them run their course naturally or jump ahead a day or two at a time.
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[Caesar Alan]

Two things really caught my eye with this set of screens:

1. An angry mob demonstrating against Pharaoh (complete with placards!)
2. The Hypostyle Hall at Karnak under construction :)

[Nero Would]

There doesn't appear to be a day counter though.



Only if the day/night cycle doesn't have any impact on gameplay.

Lannes
Yes. I'm assuming that the day/night cycle has little or no effect on gameplay.

[MarvL]

That way you could have many days per season and either let them run their course naturally A Tale in the Desert has a rather elegant solution to the time of day implementation.

Minutes and Seconds are about what they are in the smelly world, although server load and other loading factors makes "Teppy Seconds" about 110% of real time.

The interesting wrinkle is that there are only 20 minutes per hour.

The end result is that it might be any time of day, in world, when you enter, and most of the hunting & gathering types of activities are time of day sensitive. Mushrooms, for example, only spawn for a few hours in the early morning. The Test of the Darkest Night, which requires finding 7 mushrooms of each of the 28 types, is quite fascinating.

[Miut]

EmperorJay - I couldn't get Gamespot and another couple of sites after installing and running SpywareBlaster. I Unchecked All and stopped protection, and voila! There was gameSpy... This worries me... It's supposed to on;ly block Active X spyware and cookies, not innocent sites.. Or has Gamespot got spyware?

This might be your problem too, if you run such a program.

.

[EmperorJay]

I'm not running such a program, I do run Norton System Security, but turning that off did not help :( . Well, I'll just fire up my dad's computer again if Gamespot screenshots show up again :) .

[Keith]

EmperorJay - I couldn't get Gamespot and another couple of sites after installing and running SpywareBlaster. I Unchecked All and stopped protection, and voila! There was gameSpy... This worries me... It's supposed to on;ly block Active X spyware and cookies, not innocent sites.. Or has Gamespot got spyware?

This might be your problem too, if you run such a program.

.
I use Ad Aware and don't have any problems with GameSpy sites.
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[Stitch79]

Those screenshots look amazing!

This is my favorite, she looks like she's going to punch the monkey! :p
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=44

[klingon9]

Those screenshots look amazing!

This is my favorite, she looks like she's going to punch the monkey! :p
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/childrenofthenile/screens.html?page=44


haha...

The screens look great. Can't wait to get my hands on the game.

[Elvenwarrior2001]

Yeah...too bad there's so long a wait! (from my point of view. ;))

Elven

[Reed]

For anyone having trouble viewing them at GameSpot/etc, they will all be on the CotN site tomorrow (along with some accompanying text by Ken).

Update: Sorry, change of plans. Those won't be on the site until early next week. However, some other shots will be going up today.

[EmperorJay]

Great! Will that be the case with future Gamespot screenshots too?

[Reed]

Great! Will that be the case with future Gamespot screenshots too?Well, those are all screenshots released at E3, not just to GameSpot. They just happened to be the first to put them up.

[EmperorJay]

Ah, I thought so, but wasn't sure. :)

[Miut]

Keith,
Just read your post on peasants and farming. I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for Posting it. :)

[Jayhawk]

along with some accompanying text by Ken
Brilliant :)

Miut, I don't have any problem with GameSpot, but that may have something to do with me being a member?

[EmperorJay]

It doesn't have anything to do with being a member, like I said, using my dads computer, everything was fine and I wasn't even logged in as a basic member on his computer.

[Reed]

Are you using an AdBlocker?

A lot of people have had problems viewing their screenshots because GameSpot was using the same domain for their ads as well. I'm not sure if that's the case anymore or not, but you might want to check it out and see if you have that domain blocked. (usually image.com.com)

[Elvenwarrior2001]

[QUOTE=Jayhawk]Brilliant :)

Which beer company uses that as it's tagline again?

What? I'm not off topic...really... :o

Elven

[Keith]

Keith,
Just read your post on peasants and farming. I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for Posting it. :)A little more on daily life:

http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/loglife2.gifFood
Agriculture



Each summer, starting in July, the Nile River rose, flooding the low-lying plains on either side. Swollen by the monsoon rains of Ethiopia, it deposited a layer of black soil over the land, rich in nutrients needed for growing crops. The river rose about 8 metres (27 feet) on average. If it rose 2.5 metres (8 feet) higher or lower, disaster struck. When it rose too high, villages were flooded, causing extensive damage and loss of life. When it did not rise high enough, the fields did not receive sufficient nutrients and moisture to support the crops, which resulted in famine.

http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life07a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life07b.jpg)
Under normal conditions, the flood plains supported a rich variety of plants and animals that provided food for the ancient Egyptians. The vast majority of the people were involved in farming. When the flood waters began to recede in mid-September, farmers blocked canals to retain the water for irrigation. Still used today, the shaduf is a mechanical irrigation device used to conduct water from the canals to the fields. One person can operate it by swinging the bucket of water from the canal to the field.
Livestock was important to the Egyptian economy, supplying meat, milk, hides, and dung for cooking fuel. Draft animals such as oxen increased agricultural productivity. Herdsmen and shepherds lived a semi-nomadic life, pasturing their animals in the marshes of the Nile.



http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life04a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life04b.jpg)http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life05a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life05b.jpg)http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life06a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life06b.jpg)(
left) Breaking the ground with plough and hoe.
(centre) Reaping. Scattering the seed.
(right) Separating the grain from the chaff.
Paintings: Winnifred Neeler, Royal Ontario Museum


Although the land was worked by the peasants, it was owned by the king, his officials and the temples. Farmers had to meet grain quotas, which were handed over to the owners as a form of taxation. They were allowed to keep a portion of the crops for their own benefit. If they did not produce the quantity expected, however, they were severely punished.
Food staples


The principal food crops, barley and emmer, were used to make beer and bread, the main staples of the Egyptian diet. Grains were harvested and stored in granaries until ready to be processed. The quantities harvested each season far exceeded the needs of the country, so much was exported to neighbouring countries, providing a rich source of income for the Egyptian treasury.

http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life08a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life08b.jpg) http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life09a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life09b.jpg) http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life10a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life10b.jpg) (left) A baker. (centre) (top) Slab for grinding grain. (bottom) Bread. (right) Fig gatherers. Paintings: Winnifred Neeler, Royal Ontario Museum
A large variety of vegetables were grown, including onions, garlic, leeks, beans, lentils, peas, radishes, cabbage, cucumbers and lettuce. There were also fruits such as dates, figs, pomegranates, melons and grapes, and honey was produced for sweetening desserts. The Egyptian diet was supplemented by fish, fowl and meat, although peasants probably enjoyed meat only on special occasions. Domesticated animals raised for food included pigs, sheep and goats. Grapes were processed into wine for the noble class, but beer was the favourite drink of the common people. Food was served in pottery bowls, but no utensils were used for eating.

http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life50a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life50b.jpg)
Bread- and beer-making Model from the tomb of Mentuhotep II (Valley of the Kings) Plaster and wood Royal Ontario Museum 907.18 series
Hunting and fishing


Pharaohs and nobles participated in hunting, fishing and fowling expeditions, a means of recreation that had ritualistic and religious significance. Hunting scenes often depicted on temple walls and tombs reinforce the prowess of kings and nobles. Rabbits, deer, gazelles, bulls, oryx, antelopes, hippopotamuses, elephants and lions were among the wild animals hunted for their meat and skins.

http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life01a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life01b.jpg)
Assisted by his wife, Tutankhamun hunts birds in the marshes along the Nile. In accordance with artistic convention, the end of the bow string and the butt of the arrow are concealed behind his head. His left arm is protected by an archer's leather brace, and he sits on a folding stool, accompanied by his tame lion. The vulture hovering above the king’s head indicates that this is a ritual hunting scene, and the birds symbolize enemies in the land of the gods.

Fishing allowed the working class to add variety to its diet. The poor substituted fish for meat, which they could not afford. The Nile, the marshes of the delta and the Mediterranean Sea offered them a rich variety of species. Fishing methods included the use of a hook and line, harpoons, traps and nets. Birds, including geese and ducks, were also hunted in the marshes and papyrus thickets along the Nile. Small fishing boats (skiffs) were made from papyrus reeds, which are naturally filled with air pockets, making them particularly buoyant. Skiffs were also used for hunting game in the Nile marshes. http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life02a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life02b.jpg) http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life03a.jpg (http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/images/life03b.jpg) © Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation





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