Zooming: Better or Worse? » Forum Post by Frogboy

I like having them stay the same size myself.

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The fixed is more immersive, the scale is somewhat better for gameplay, but seems to break with the towering units when you back up.

I really enjoy scale, and if you are going with the look of the game as being a seemless world, I think keeping everything relatively the same size is important. For example, having a HUGE unit should be HUGE proportionally to buildings and world features in addition to units. With the scaling, it will only be large in comparison to other units, otherwise it will pop out of the world and seem detached as though it is an icon, rather than a part of the world. It would only be when you have zoomed in enough to the point that the scale is 'correct' would the game world feel immersive again.

I think you should have fixed scale, and to help spot your units as you zoom out and they become too small, to add a banner or some other type of immersive 'icon' pop up out of their heads to make them easier to spot on the whole. But I really really think unit scale should be proportional to the features on the world map in addition to one another.

This sort of brings up the fact how I saw in screenshots the player's character standing by buildings being about 2x as high as village huts and towering over everything. It made it feel like a gameboard and really sucked you out of the immersion you are attempting to create with the world.

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I like number 1 also

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Ashbery76

Join Date 02/2002

+36

Scale units looks much better in my view.

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One choice is for aesthetic purposes and the other is for gameplay purposes. May we have the aesthetic one be the default setting and allow us to switch it up to the more advantageous gameplay one?

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The zoom is what got my attention to this game when I first starting paying attention, was a very neat aspect I had not seen before... (oohh! shinny), so I say keep it, it's good eye candy.

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I prefer the first option as the default (fixed size *relative* to background - so scaling matched to zoom), but leaving the check box is good if possible.

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Default: Scale as you zoom, gives perspective of the world.

Hit TAB Button. While pressed Scaling turned off, makes it easier to find thing if you are looking for them.

I think going into the menu and switching is to hard, for usability, to constantly find things. No scale makes it easier to find units, but i dislike that they are bigger than my cities.

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I like the first option, i.e. "scale units" UNCHECKED. However, the example is zoomed in pretty far, so some subtle scaling up when zooming farther out would be nice for visual clarity purposes.

I REALLY don't like having the units shrink as I zoom way in, it destroys any sense of scale which is essential for immersion in a fantasy game with weird creatures and stuff.

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I like the second option you turned on they look realistic. Yes I have a 24in monitor and realistic unit size is something I like but, I can see why people want them a little bigger with smaller screens sizes. But keep that option to be checked please!

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Units size should change with zoom level. Small when zoomed out, big when zoomed in.

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However, what I think is the best is to make the scaling very subtle - certainly nowhere near proportional to the zoom distance. So when very far out stuff would seem smaller yet nice and visible, and when zoomed in close stuff would seem somewhat larger - but in reality when you're zoomed in closer while the model is larger on your screen, it's absolute scale is somewhat smaller than when you're zoomed out.

I like scaling but the above is a good way to handle it, maybe just a tad more scaling then what he proposes though. If you don't shrink them so much that I can't tell units apart or click on them or so big that I can't see anything else and I'll be happy.

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Fixed definitely, scaling of any amount kills the game's aesthetics: goodbye immersion and RPG-like fantasy world, hello chess board. There's not even any need for scaling - as Raven X says, that's what the cloth map is for! You already have two separate systems that integrate together beautifully; cloth map for gameplay, with easy identification of cities/units/terrain/etc, full graphics for aesthetics.

That being said, I've got nothing against keeping the option there for all you folks that prefer the crazy scaling units.

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I like the scaling.

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Quoting BvG,

reply 45

In my oppinion, both behaviours demonstrated suck, and neither should be in a finished product.

Instead, it should be an amalgan of both. Zooming in and seeing everything shrink to half the tilesize just looks extremely silly. There should be a minimum size beyond which zooming in will not make the units smaller. When zooming out, the same problem. They should get larger up to a certain bound, to prevent them clipping into each other, etc. Meanwhile, simply making the units stay the same size all the time, makes the map harder to decifer as a user interface.

Also, there should be no option, at least not in the default game settings. If the game zooming behaves correctly, then it should behave that way. Tho I'm all for mods being able to change unit size and scaling behaviour willy nilly.

This. I think scaling is good - within limits. Zoom out too far and you get a mushy pile of clipped bodies that move erratically together.

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I personally prefer fixed, it shows the true look of an NPC and doesn't make me wonder how big the creature I actually am fighting is or the relative height of two NPCs in relation to each other and the world.

However scaling helps when I am actually trying to find something, yet I find it doesn't matter which setting it actually is set upon. I'd say keep it on by default and leave the option for allowing it to be fixed for when it is wanted.

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My vote is to keep the option while having the default be fixed (no giant peasants unless the player wants them...)

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Quoting Sareln,

reply 5

Have a cop-out answer:

I like scaling for gameplay. I want to remove scaling for screenshots of awesome. So make sure that checkbox stays on that menu!

Yay for check boxes. I agree

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I think it should remain optional in the game settings.

As for the default? Right now, the first one. However, I think the scale to zoom thing you checked should remain an option if it's worked on. Other people have already proposed fixes for it, like a min/max size thresh-hold so that it will look a bit better.

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Quoting unacomn,

reply 4

I prefer the scaling option, makes for a better atmosphere, just as long as the units have a scale of their own. I mean, a dragon is still going to be enormous compared to a simple soldiers regardless of zoom, right?

+1

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I still like the pewter figures on the zoomed out map. I think I'd prefer the figurines at a fixed size, once I've zoomed out too far to make out details of the actual characters.

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