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[Sean Mirrsen]

Yes, it is. Like I said, I instantly recognized cel shading from that first teaser shot.

Of the games I know today, some console titles use cel shading so expertly you'll never discern it from real anime.

Of the PC titles, there was XIII, and there will be the new Prince of Persia, plus a lot of intermediate titles.

[Asehujiko]

Imo they realy overdid the cel-shading here. And i'm having a ard time making out what the screenshots are actualy showing, as the map remains the same everywhere. This either means that it's staged or that the overword is going to be so huge that even at intermediate zoom, you still can't make out the shape of what you are looking at on the world map. The first is a bit of a downer and the second means my pc most likely won't play it without upgrading.

[lumin]

The first is a bit of a downer and the second means my pc most likely won't play it without upgrading.

I don't know, from this I get the impression you'll be able to play on a much older machine:

As more cores are available, says Wardell, "the world just becomes richer. In the most extreme sense, this engine's been designed as such that at the lowest end with a really old machine, you can play almost with icons. But at the high end, you can zoom in and see squirrels running around in the trees. It all depends on your hardware.

This is from the official forums, from a dev:

We are so excited to finally be able to talk about the "fantasy strategy game".  Here are some answers for questions we suspect will come out.

Regarding the title...

We wanted to just call it Elemental but but trademark reasons we needed to come up with a sub-title. We wanted to give it a sub-title that was a bit corney to harken back to the classic 4X days when game names were a little more generic.

Screenshots...

The graphics seen in the screenshots are still very early on. The lighting and such aren't really in yet. The idea is to convey a general style and show a bit what the game would look like.

Persistent Multiplayer...

So one of the things we will be doing is hosting the multiplayer games ourselves. That is, when someone launches a game, it will all be supported by the Impulse Reactor back-end. Your game will effectively exist on the Impulse cloud so that you can access it anywhere anytime and make connecting with other players easy.

Modding...

The idea is to allow the game to expand itself through user created content (all optional). Our own content will be submitted in this way in order to make sure the system is very robust.

More to come...

[Soulwynd]

Woa, what's up with this "screenshot"  It looks like a still image.  Are they saying that's the game engine, in action?

Link

It's your typical cell shader and outliner. Quite a few games started using that technique to make things more cartoonish.

[Tormy]

Woa, what's up with this "screenshot"  It looks like a still image.  Are they saying that's the game engine, in action?

Link

wow I thought that it's a wallpaper or something at first look. Do you think that it's an in-game screenshot? [Zoomed in battle sequence] 
If it is...it's pure awesomeness! The zoom feature will be insanely powerful in this game in that case. 

[Tormy]

New infos again!

1.
http://forums.elementalgame.com/329010

Random map generation is in! 

2.
http://forums.elementalgame.com/328998
Dungeons!

[lumin]

New infos again!

http://forums.elementalgame.com/329010

Random map generation is in! 

The thing that I wonder about this, is how sophisticated will these random maps be?  Most random map generators, in games, look completely unrealistic, with "clumps" of forests and mountains scattered around in implausible places. 

I wonder if it will generate maps like the one in the screenshot above, complete with names for geographic locations, and creature lairs, etc.  If so, that sounds a lot like Toady's DF world generation.

I've been reading in a few places (can't remember sources), that random heroes will wander into a dungeon within your kingdom's boundaries, and battle megabeast creatures.  Apparently, if they lose the battle, the new megabeast creature will be unleashed to wreak havoc on your land.  That reminds me a lot of Dungeon Keeper.

[Hawkfrost]

This game looks awesome.
I never got MoM working properly, but if its anything like it I'll buy it.
And the graphic style is beautiful, I don't know what some of you are saying.
It looks a bit like Okami.(Best game evar.)

[Tormy]

Little update again.
In-game Item Creation [remember MoM?] is in the game!
http://forums.elementalgame.com/328989

"Item creation is definitely there. Users can create their own items even, provide their own graphics, submit them and if accepted all users can see them."

[Tormy]

New infos again!

http://forums.elementalgame.com/329010

Random map generation is in! 

The thing that I wonder about this, is how sophisticated will these random maps be?  Most random map generators, in games, look completely unrealistic, with "clumps" of forests and mountains scattered around in implausible places. 

I wonder if it will generate maps like the one in the screenshot above, complete with names for geographic locations, and creature lairs, etc.  If so, that sounds a lot like Toady's DF world generation.

I've been reading in a few places (can't remember sources), that random heroes will wander into a dungeon within your kingdom's boundaries, and battle megabeast creatures.  Apparently, if they lose the battle, the new megabeast creature will be unleashed to wreak havoc on your land.  That reminds me a lot of Dungeon Keeper.

Some more infos about the random map generation:

"Not only will you be able no Mod Random maps, you will be able to save them and share them strait from the game. You will be able to create what we are calling "stamps" which are map regions, which can than be randomly placed. The possibilities should be endless." 


-----

Sandbox mode has been confirmed also! [..so we won't only have campaigns and multiplayer modes]

http://forums.elementalgame.com/329066

-----

..about Life & Death Magic:

http://forums.elementalgame.com/329025

"You will be able do destructive things with life Magic, and Heal with Death Magic, but you will be doing it in different ways.

This is one of the reasons we have both forms of magic are at heart the same type of Manna.

Some examples, you could cure a disease by destroying all the organisms in the blood, using Death magic. Or bring raise the dead using life magic. At heart they are the same type of manna, but are imbued with different characteristics by the filter that is the Channeler. These are very basic examples, and we will be doing a lot to make sure that the different “filters” are balanced, yet unique."

-----

..about gfx modding:
http://forums.elementalgame.com/328989

"You will be able to mod the graphics pretty much as much as you want. We do however think that once you see things in action you will learn to love the style as much as we do."

[lumin]

By "sandbox" mode, don't they mean "skirmish" mode or a regular battle mode against a bunch of AI w/preset conditions?

I'm not accustomed to using the word "sandbox" for a TBS or RTS game.  Or maybe there is a difference here.

EDIT:

Nevermind, got my answer from the Elemental forums.  Turns out, sandbox is the classic, pick your options and play a skirmish game, like we all know.

I am still confused about what the persistent world is all about though, so I posed this question

[lumin]

This is interesting

Apparently the runes on the concept art can actually be translated.

[wallish]

I am still confused about what the persistent world is all about though, so I posed this question

Persistent world means just that: they'll have a single "game" set up with a persistent world.  Players will compete to conquer that world, probably forming guilds and alliances and so on. 

The best thing that strategy gamers have to look forward to is how fifteen years and the advent of the Internet have changed what's possible in a turn-based strategy game like Elemental. The game will come complete with several different multiplayer modes, including classic skirmish and a persistent universe mode that will allow players to develop long-term open campaigns

Or it'll mean players will be create their own persistent games, meaning each player can essentially make their own private Elemental MMO.

[lumin]

I wonder if when you are not "logged on", the world will continue on without you.  That's unprecedented in a TBS game, if that's the way it is.  That's the way I understand persistent worlds.

See, that's kind of what confuses me about it.  If I log out of a game session, what happens to my faction when I'm not there?  If the world is truly persistent, the other players can keep playing without me.

Edit: Hmm, maybe I'll add this point to my question at Elemental.

[Tormy]

This is interesting

Apparently the runes on the concept art can actually be translated.

Yeah, I've noticed that also.