Display

During the first stage of development (2D) it may be difficult to support different screen sizes because the game play is restricted to background images of a certain size. From the second stage onward we will have different panels. One of them will be the main panel that fills out the exceeding space. Thus we can support any screen resolution. Up unto version 1 we will only have a resolution of 1024x768 in a windowed mode. It may be possible to introduce a full screen mode with the same resolution in this stage. There the image would be placed in the center and everything else would be blacked out.

Comparison top view vs. front view

Up to version 1.0 the OpenPatrician game does not try to imitate a 3D view (isometic). This page lists the pros and cons of the two 2D approaches front-view (or portrait view)(as in The Patrician) and top view (as in the original Civilisation and RailRoad Tycoon).

Top view

Pros

• The game layout of the city is basically the same as in later versions

Cons

• It is difficult to design buildings viewed from the top (you only see the roof) to be distinguishable and have distingushed purpose
• Game-Art is not reusable

Front view

Pros

• Game-Art is easier to create
• If the game-art is created in a 3D manner but only displayed in 2D the game-art can be reused.

Cons

• Huge break in the visual concept from 1.0 to 2.0

Decision

Based on the need to produce fast visual result in the beginning, I decided to go with the Front view approach. As in the starting phase there is few developers and even fewer designers it is imperative to concentrate the efforts. As is laid out there will be a break in the design between 1 and 2 but this break is as well present in the Patrician 1 and 2. However the gameplay and more important the savegames should stay compatible.

I dearly hope to be able to gain some experienced help in the design of the game art when starting into the second phase, which would drastically improve the outcome.