Re: Xconq Maps from GIS Data

[Lincoln Peters <sampln@sbcglobal.net>]

On Fri, 2004-09-17 at 20:23, D. Cooper Stevenson wrote:
> Dear Xconq Developers,
> 
> I am working to build an aggressive new image set for XCONQ. I'll just
> come right out and say it: I want to build a map made from actual
> Geographical Information System Images.

Welcome to the list.  This sounds like an exciting project, and I think
we would open up countless possibilities for new games.

I suspect that Xconq's existing terrain libraries might need to be
modified (or a new, separate terrain library be written from scratch) to
accept the data you describe.  I haven't looked at it as closely as you
have (so far I've just examined the maps of my native San Francisco Bay
Area), so I have a few questions about the GIS data:

1. Does it track vegetation separately from terrain?  If so, a terrain
library based on the GIS data would do well to implement vegetation as
terrain coatings, rather than try to make cell terrain for every
combination that exists in the world.

2. Does it provide meteorological statistics, such as average rainfall,
wind patterns, etc.?  I can see that a game based based on something as
detailed as GIS data might want to include such statistics, although I'm
sure that if they're not part of the GIS data, we could find them
elsewhere?

3. Does it provide any detailed information about area, such as soil
composition or specific kinds of vegetation?  This probably would not be
important for most games based on a world map, but I could see it being
used to generate more realistic maps with the existing terrain synthesis
methods.


There are a few technical difficulties involved with such a project that
I can see already.  One thing that comes to mind is its representation
of rivers.  I'm not sure how we would translate them into Xconq maps;
depending on the nature of the game being built, it might be most
logical to represent them as border terrain (which is how it's usually
done), connection terrain (which is how it's done in bolodd3.g and
panzer.g), as cell terrain (at a very close-up scale), or maybe even as
coating terrain.  I'd be curious as to how the other Xconq developers
would handle this and why.

---
Lincoln Peters
<sampln@sbcglobal.net>

Fortune finishes the great quotations, #12

	Those who can, do.  Those who can't, write the instructions.