Dynastic Biography

[Uatch-Khepheru]

This is just an idea, but what about something like a "Dynastic Biography" at the end of the game that chronicled all of your achievements according to how you played, within preset limits of course. Ex: "Neshi, the first in this dynasty, turned a group of hunters and gatheres into an organzied village that eventually became one of the focal points for trade during the New Kingdom. His descendent went on to claim his authority over the surrounding territory through diplomacy as well as military might" and so on. It would also be a great feature if you could upload these to the cotn site for all to recognize, maybe even a score that will let you stand out among the rest.

[Azeem]

Sounds similar to Tropico where your advisor tells you your achievements after you retire as presidente. :)

[Keith]

Might be possible through a simplified text file. It would probably be too difficult to make a audio narration; not that you suggested it that way. Or it could just present a list of things accomplished without any embellishments. A list of the deed and date accomplished. It could lead to small competitions of "who could build a tomb the quickest." Of course, a text file can easily be tampered with so that might lead to some problems in any competitions.
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[EmperorJay]

Nice idea, I don't give much about scores really, but I always like to read stories and data about how I did :).

[vovan]

Well, I think with a straight-forward campaign system that we have seen in the previous city-builders, the "stories" would be much the same, except the name of the ruler would change and the dates would be slightly different. Other than that, I think they would all look the same.

What I would maybe like to see is a replay feature (sorry for taking this a bit off-track). You know how if you have say a multiplayer game in an RTS, like Warcraft 3 (I don't remember about Empire Earth as I never played it much, so I wouldn't know), after you are done with the game, you can view a replay of how everybody did. You can view in real-time, or speed up to fast-forward through uninteresting parts, or, instead, slow down to view an important battle in all its detail and glory.

I was thinking it would be cool to implement such a thing for a city-builder as well. I mean, I remember in Pharaoh, all too often I would concentrate on keeping something up, like watching a trade route so the traders wouldn't deprive me of a vital good by selling it, or maybe watching a market lady that didn't quite cover the block all the time, or forgot to restock every now and then. I would be watching something small like that and miss some great event, like... you know, finishing the pyramid. :) One moment I'm watching this market lady, and then boom - you won. :)

Other times, it was the reverse. My city would be working perfectly, so I would leave it running to finish up that pyramid, and myself leave to have dinner or some such. By the time, I'm back, sure enough, the thing's finished, but I never get to see it in its full glory. Not even that so much, but I'd like to sometimes overview the process. How did I build up the city? How did it go from a tiny village to a prosperous metropolis? It would be cool to review several hours' worth of effort from a bird's-eye perspective in five minutes. :)

[Miut]

Oh, no! Eggyputians on speed! :D I remember that well, when in desperation to hurry up some part of the mission, I set it to 100% speed...

[vovan]

I remember that well, when in desperation to hurry up some part of the mission, I set it to 100% speed...

Heh, I played all but the first couple of years on 100%. :) Except the battles, where I slowed down some.

[Jayhawk]

Hmmm...
Wouldn't it be nice to have a place (a bit like Karnak) where you could have a look at the various steles comemorating the achievements of your ancestors?

[vovan]

Yes, I think that would be cool. Makes me think of the Palace in Civ2/3, where for certain achievements you would be allowed to improve it somehow, and the achievements screen in Alpha Centaury, where your achievements, along with their dates were "listed" on a monument-looking kinda thing. I think it adds a certain immersion factor to the game, when you see something like that instead of a bland list.

[Keith]

Yes, I think that would be cool. Makes me think of the Palace in Civ2/3, where for certain achievements you would be allowed to improve it somehow, and the achievements screen in Alpha Centaury, where your achievements, along with their dates were "listed" on a monument-looking kinda thing. I think it adds a certain immersion factor to the game, when you see something like that instead of a bland list.
Now if they could just put it all down in actual hieroglypics with a translation provided, of course.;)
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[vovan]

Now if they could just put it all down in actual hieroglypics with a translation provided, of course.

Heeeeey. :) Picture this: You are done with the main campaign, and there is this victory cinematic, right: it's modern times (more or less), and an archaeologist is opening up a pyramid. He has his helpers move the stone at the entrance (okay, okay, I don't know what doors were like into pyramids - just talking all movie-like) and enters in. He sees a wall with lots of writing on them. He then swipes the dust off with his hand, and looks at the writing. That's when the cinematic ends, and you get to the "results" screen, where basically, it looks like the wall of a pyramid, and all your achievements are listed in hierogliphs, with dates next to them (like: built a large pyramid - 1000BC), and then as you mouse over entries in the list, they kinda change into english-language (or whatever localized version you have) labels. :D

Okay, maybe that'd be an overkill. :)

[EmperorJay]

No overkill! Finally a movie that makes you feel you've earned something after completing a game! (Not blaming earlier CB's here, but in general, I'm not all that pleased with the ending cinematics)

[vovan]

No overkill! Finally a movie that makes you feel you've earned something after completing a game! (Not blaming earlier CB's here, but in general, I'm not all that pleased with the ending cinematics)

Naturally! I like seeing nice victory movies, maybe even more than the intros, because you've got to achieve something to see them.

When I said "overkill", I meant the "hierogliphic" score-board with mouse-hover translation. :)

[Keith]

Ok, building on that end cinematic idea, OR....there could be a set of short pre-designed video clips that could be run in the sequence that you have accomplished your mighty deeds.

From the reading of the hieroglyphics, it would fade to a sequence of videos, maybe even with appropriate voice narration, example, fade to a battle and cut to a victory parade, with the voice over saying "Mighty Pharaoh, ruler of upper and lower kingdoms, beloved of Re,.....etc., in the 5th year of his reign smote the mighty Sea People invaders and purged them from our lands...." Then it would fade to a new scene of the pyramid construction and quick cut to the completed structure, with a narration, "Mighty Pharoah, etc., .........in the eighteenth year of his glorious reign, this day completed his eternal resting place, which is more beautiful than all monuments in the land...., etc."

You get the general idea. The voice narration part would be a tricky bit if it where to include the actual dates or year of reign. The sequence that the videos could be strung together would be based on the actual order of accomplishment.

I have always enjoyed the old smacker and bink video clips of the old games, although I'm happy they dropped the short ones for god effects and disasters after Caesar III. I like the intro, inter-era, and end videos of Pharaoh. Zeus was a little disappointing in that it only had the intro video. I'd still like a longer end-game victory video though. Even if they have to put them on a second disc for us to watch. :D

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[Uatch-Khepheru]

That sounds like an excellent idea Keith, I'll add my own ideas soon, but I'm pretty burnt at the moment. Again these are some very creative aspects that I think could add alot to the game's ending.

[vovan]

Ok, building on that end cinematic idea, OR....there could be a set of short pre-designed video clips that could be run in the sequence that you have accomplished your mighty deeds.

I was thiking along these same lines, too, actually. This same thing was done in Fallout, where after you win the game, you'd see what happened to each village you visited, and what you see would depend on what quests you did for each village. So, if you were good, you'd see them prosper, otherwise, you'd see them turn to wasteland. Of course, for each village it was just a picture (different for each different outcome) with some text describing what happens, and the sequence of pictures for each village is then combined into a single "video" type thing.

So, I was thinking something similar would be cool, but of course, to make actual moving videos, instead of just still images would be an immense extra art load, I am not sure they would be willing to do.

[Jayhawk]

Hmmm, how about you would actually be building your version of Karnak?
Having the option of adding halls, temples, steles, obelisks etc. after achieving some goals in the game.

With the 3D technology of the game, the end could actually be a tourist guide showing you around the place, highlighting the actions the old pharaohs have partaken in.

I can see it in my mind's eye...

"And here you see the stele Pharaoh Jahakemhotep VII raised to commemorate his victory over the Sea People. Behind it you can see the Temple for Khnum built by his grandfather Jahakemhotep V.

Now please follow me to the hypostele hall, built by Jahakemhotep XIII..."