First World War Campaigns - New Map Graphics Preview.
Hi All,
There is additional new content coming for version 4.05!
We have been very fortunate that Jison has made available new 2D map graphics for the First World War Campaigns series. This includes the first ever hi-resolution graphics for this series. In addition, the ‘normal’ zoom level graphics have been enhanced to match the new hi-resolution offerings.
A number of graphical changes were made in the 4.04 release including aligning the First World War Campaign series graphics with the Panzer Campaigns layouts. That will continue in version 4.05.
The images we are sharing are currently work in process, but they will give a good idea of what is coming. Beyond the terrain, counters and other symbols have all been updated.
We are planning to rollout version 4.05 after Panzer Campaigns: Smolensk ’43 is released. All series will be enhanced with the features (plus more!) listed in our recent quarterly update blog post here.
Here are some old and new comparisons:
100 Zoom level
Old
New
200 Zoom level
Old
New
Without further ado here are some sample screen shots from each of the three released titles.
First World War Campaigns: France ‘14
First World War Campaigns: East Prussia ’14
First World War Campaigns: Serbia ’14
We hope you agree, the new graphics are impressive, we can’t wait to share them with you!
Finally, we are adding images to the scenario selection screen. This had previously been implemented in Panzer Battles. We are hopeful we will be able to include this for the 4.05 updates as well. Here is a work-in-progress shot from France '14
On another topic, we continue to come across people who aren't aware of our Free Menu Program. This is a nice utility that allows you to access not only all the available programs that ship with each game, but the documentation as well. This is located off our Support page, then "Other Downloads".
Just install to the default folder - or if you install into custom folders place it in the root/base folder of where your games are installed. For example, I use D:\Games\... the program will pick up all WDS games installed up to two levels deep. What that means is, you can have your games installed by series or time period and it will group them together. See the screen shot below for one example:
It is important to note that the program only looks in the parent folder it is installed to, and other folders below that. It does not search your hard drive as a whole... so if you have some games in C:\WDS and others in C:\John Tiller Software the Menu will only pick up those in C:\WDS where it installs to. This should become less of a problem as all titles are migrated to new full installers - which the bulk of our catalogue is at this point.
Please keep visiting the WDS site for the latest news, or make certain you are subscribed to our email updates for the latest.
If you choose to go with the new map style that’s being highlighted in this article, is it possible to also include the current 4.04 release version in the update so players can switch back to it if they want to? While I greatly appreciate all the work WDS does to keep games updated, I really think this new map is a bit of a letdown. The 4.04 version map, due to its colorization makes the game pop, this 4.05 version works in the opposite direction and makes the game look too dark and dull. Apologies for the negative waves at the beginning of a weekend.
Loving the improved graphics, especially the urban hexes. I prefer my wargames not to look like My Little Pony with bright colors everywhere.
I think the new graphics are much better but I do think they should be brighter.
The old graphics are much better. It looks like they were changed not because the new ones are better but just for the sake of change. I think if you do something so drastic you should ask the people who will be paying for it if they think it is worth the trouble. Will there be a way to still have the old style? The new would cause more than a bit of hesitation about a purchase.
While I appreciate the higher fidelity of the new graphics, I agree with the other comments that these are not really a step forward overall. The new graphics are a bit dark and dull. The buildings in the new urban hex and the trees in the forest hex no longer go to the edges of the hex, causing them to respectively look like isolated pockets of buildings/trees rather than a contiguous environment. Large cities and forests look much worse than they do currently. I also think the farms also need a rework — when used in clumps they look like someone has scattered folders of paper across a green carpet. Having a more subtle effect that goes closer to the edges would likely fix that.
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