Contextutal unit sprite "animation"
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There already exists a system for showing a 2-HP unit has received a hit. There is also one for changing unit sprites based on technologies (though it seems to re-render the whole map each time it changes, annoying...).
But, in my opinion, this could be expanded a lot more. What if the unit sprites changed depending on what's happening? Here's a simpe example lists of what an icon could look like under different contexts
I'll make a more complete/complicated list momentarilySimple approach
Unit is stationary but has available moves, and is currently idle (infantry standing at attention, etc)Unit is moving but not in combat/is doing noncombat move phase (infantry marching)
Unit is moving but as cargo of another unit (infantry sitting down, naval fighter with wings folded, etc)
Unit is in combat, attacking (infantry charging with fixed bayonet, etc)
Unit is in combat, defending (infantry kneeled and returning fire, etc)
Unit has already moved, and is out of movement points, but it is still the owner's turn (infantry taking knee, etc)
Unit is stationary but it is not currently the owner's turn (infantry on watch, etc)
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@joseph-prince
Complicated approach
Stacks of multiple units show the most relevant spriteunit_idle Unit is stationary but has available moves, and it's currently the owner's turn (infantry standing at attention, etc)
unit_moving_noncombat Unit is moving but not into combat/is doing noncombat move phase (infantry walking)
unit_moving_combat Unit is moving into combat/is doing combat move phase (infantry marching)
unit_moving_cargo Unit is moving but as cargo of another unit (infantry sitting down, naval fighter with wings folded, etc)
unit_attacking Unit is in combat, attacking (infantry charging with fixed bayonet, etc)
unit_defending Unit is in combat, defending (infantry kneeled and returning fire, etc)
unit_attacking/defending_supporting Unit is in combat attacking/defending and one of its abilities is currently active supporting another unit (arty supports inf, etc)
unit_attacking/defending_supported Unit is in combat attacking/defending and it is receiving another unit's support (inf supported by arty, etc)
unit_attacking/defending_landedhit Unit is in combat and a dice it contributed hit an enemy
unit_attacking/defending_hit Unit is in combat and is damaged (also applies to other context sprites, stacks. same with tech-exclusive sprites)
unit_combat_attacker/defender_destroyed Unit is in combat and has become a casualty but is returning fire before dying
unit_moved Unit has already moved, and is out of movement points, but it is still the owner's turn (infantry taking knee, etc)
unit_scramble Unit is not owned by the currently active player but has the opportunity to scramble to battle
unit_inactive Unit is stationary and it isn't the owner's turn (infantry waiting, etc) and is not bordering a territory/SZ with enemy units in it
unit_inactive_defensive Unit is stationary and it isn't the owner's turn, but it is bordering a territory/SZ with enemy units in it
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@joseph-prince while it would be cool, it seems as if it would add a Huge amount of complexity.
I'm not sure how triplea changes the images for when tech happens, but you'd essentially have todo that for every instance and if any of those units could be changed by tech, would have to allow for that too
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I think this is the sort of the thing that would make playing tripleA feel a bit more immersive. A couple simple idles and action animations could go a long way.
I imagine perhaps an ambulance or medic unit who might come clear casualties during the battle phase, with like a stretcher, cause I remember that plastic army man for sure! Maybe an animation that's like pilots bailing out with parachutes or sailors abandoning ship for say a bomber or a battleship.
I think an infantry unit standing at attention (rifle shouldered) vs charging or firing etc would be cool. Its kinda easy to imagine how that might look. I'm thinking especially of how things where handled in the Risk II battle screen and perhaps doing something along those lines. Basically where unit stacks (or chips) are represented by a larger force of units. Example would be we see 10 infantry units trading fire instead of single inf graphic by type. Player's kinda love doing that face to face right. For the the epic battles playes might chip out and bring a huge force to the battle board just for that feel.
Going another direction with it, the simplest animation I could think of would be the onr where the unit does an 'About Face' and flips orientation. This would be very useful I think and could be used to indicate things like retreats, or facing the faction that's about to get attacked. In the UHD I included all the unit flips in a folder called inverted, hoping someone mignt figure out how to pull it off. This is something players do all the time Face to Face.
Another I can see (more for iso view) would be units that can be rotated or repositioned within a TT dynamically. So effectively allowing the player to rework their unit Place on the fly in-game. This is also something players do FtF rotating and shifting how there units are positioned inside the TT.
Example I would look at is the very first Shogun Total War or MTW 1, basically all the sprites had visuals for moved/unmoved units to differentiate them, and these could be dragged around inside the tile for say Kyoto or Flanders or whatever.
I think stuff like that could be used to improve the player's sense of haptics, and make the player 'feel' more like they're on the physical table top (sculpt vibes), or playing out some sort of mini version of there favorite WW2 flicks (computer battle vibes). I remember all the A&A RTS games and how they sorta always missed the mark for me, cause I don't need a whole separate gameplay style, just some animations like the stuff that typically gets used in those games hehe.
Another idea would be to have Generals or a General staff, or an Agent or advisor type character, similar to Victoria. This could be used for debrief tutorials, since tripleA games tend to be very complicated and reading a rulebook manual in the notes seems somehow less compelling than Victoria breaking it down for us.
I think there is a lot of RP potential for these sorts of strategy games, but the idea of recording audio like that isn't really explored ever. Right now we can use little sound bites or tiny videos which some games use to pretty good effect, but I invision something rather more elaborate hehe
Anyhow! Cool idea!
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Knock on thoughts for what I think would be the most relevant, or I suppose the sort of thing that might still work for unit graphics at such a tiny scale as the stuff used by tripleA.
Units have different sprites to indicate whether it's idle and awaiting orders, marching, completed movement, battle sprites etc. as described in the top two posts.
Units have re-scaled sprites to indicate when they are cargo (i.e. fighters and tactical bombers get smaller when loaded onto a carrier deck, infantry and tanks get smaller when loaded on a transport etc.) Perhaps newly placed units are briefly upscaled during the placement phase. Stuff of that sort.
Unit flips to indicate an advance or retreat (face enemy/about face) in the map view or battlefield view.
Again pretty similar to how the animated battles looked in this game, when the dice were rolling in the super zoom battle view... 1996 style hehe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ec8FX2MEfY
I would suggest if trying to pull this off, that it'd a lot easier if the unit graphics where larger than 48-54px tall. We'd probably want an image that is much much larger. For example say 200px, cause that could be animated and then downscaled. 48px square is quite tiny. Or when converting from pixels to dots per inch, at least would allow a unit image to potentially be printed out.
If TripleA could work with larger unit images, then it would be possible to just use a camera/video cam for some of this. Like just put someone in a period costume and have them go through the motions? hehe
Or likewise just using photographs of painted sculpts or miniature models, and then animating the wheels or turrets or props for the various vehicles, with firing animations and such for combat.
Other things that might be fun would be like the smiling General vs the frowning General for animated facial expressions, or little advisor type emotes. Probably at the level of like 'Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?' cause not sure we could do much beyond that really, but it would still certainly open things up.
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@black_elk said in Contextutal unit sprite "animation":
reading a rulebook manual in the notes seems somehow less compelling than Victoria breaking it down for us.
Yes
Victoria should get the job
