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Banished -- Shining Rock Software

Discussion in 'XLN Watering Hole' started by KevinTheCynic, Sep 26, 2014.

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  1. KevinTheCynic

    KevinTheCynic Executive

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    Anybody else playing this?
    It doesn't have the scale or breadth of most other city builders (to be fair though, it isn't meant as a straight up city builder but as a builder with a strong survival component) but I'm finding it quite addictive - been playing nothing else for the last three days!
    There's a small modding community that has some really great ideas for the game now that it's been updated to allow mod integration.

    For those of you who don't know about it, the website is here http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/
    and it's available for purchase from the website or through Steam http://store.steampowered.com/app/242920/
     
  2. The Funky Monk

    The Funky Monk Moderator
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    I got this the day it came out and played it flat out for a couple of months. The first few days I my citizens kept starving to death but once you get the hang of it it is quite a challenging game.

    My only complaint was there wasn't enough building or professions. Hopefully people will make more mods so there is a bit more depth.
     
  3. KevinTheCynic

    KevinTheCynic Executive

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    I was watching it but I wasn't convinced enough to buy it. So I sat and waited for some gameplay videos to come out and finally decided that it was worth a try. By this time, a few mods had been made so I have such things as llamas, apiary, dairy, distillery, the choice for larger maps and also three buildings that work as markets but each has a smaller radius of effect than the previous one.

    Yeah the lack of other buildings is a bit of a let down, I'm not so bothered by the number of professions as some of the mods I have add some extras. Considering the game was developed as a "survival" city builder I can see why the developer didn't add others but it still would have been nice to have some variety.
     
  4. Alex24

    Alex24 Moderator
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    I bought it on humblebundle and downloaded the drm free version (and registered it on steam as well). Best part: it's working on school computers
     
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  5. snick

    snick Moderator
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    How do you get away with playing it at school? A "social studies" experiment? :p
     
  6. Alex24

    Alex24 Moderator
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    mostly in breaks actually
     
  7. KevinTheCynic

    KevinTheCynic Executive

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    I'm still playing around with this, trying any new mods as they become available
    Now there are quite a few mods available to increase the professions and buildings, I think the main criticism of the game for some will be the lack of perceived end game. There are a number of achievements that might substitute for this lack for some people but like many games on Steam, it seems that as soon as you modify it in any way, you invalidate the achievement system.
     
  8. AzemOcram

    AzemOcram Executive

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    I love that game! It is such a shame I have not played it much.

    --Ocram
     
  9. KevinTheCynic

    KevinTheCynic Executive

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  10. KevinTheCynic

    KevinTheCynic Executive

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    For anyone still wondering about whether to try Banished, have a look at the Colonial Charter mod here http://colonialcharter.com/
    It's a massive collection of new buildings and professions to change the theme of the game from one of simple banishment and survival into the idea that you are managing a new colony. End game is still the same but because the game has the option to reduce the survival aspects (e.g. turning off disasters, changing the climate to a more moderate one), the Colonial Charter mod makes the game align much more into the city creation genre.
     
  11. AzemOcram

    AzemOcram Executive

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    I have started creating a mod that adds rowhouses to Banished because Colonial Charter is so fun and it adds the materials I want to use.

    Here is the thread I created on their forum dedicated to my WIP mod:
    http://colonialcharter.com/index.php/forum/tavern/588-brick-rowhouses

    I plan on making 4 variations per tier with 4 tiers (base with 2 floors, 2nd having dormers, 3rd having 3 stories, and 4th having 4 stories) with 2-4 models per tier (so possibly 2 models with 2 different textures each).

    --Ocram
     
  12. The Funky Monk

    The Funky Monk Moderator
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    Have you finished the different climate mods for Banished Ocram? I really hate the snow.
     
  13. AzemOcram

    AzemOcram Executive

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    I really hate the snow as well. Seattle rarely gets snow and there are plenty of areas that people could get banished to (in the late middle ages through colonial era) that have warmer, milder weather. I wrote the text files to make Marine (like rainy Western Washington or certain rainy areas on the other side of the Pacific) and Mediterranean (exact copy of the tutorial) climates but I haven't figured out how to turn them into mod packages (so I don't yet know how to make them work in the game). Once I figure that out, I will release them, possibly on Steam.

    Anyway, here is a picture I posted in that thread of the models for my Rowhouses (with their polygon and vertex counts):

    UylWhww.png

    --Ocram
     
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  14. pauliaxz

    pauliaxz Mayor

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    It's strange.. They refer to poly count, not triangle count. I can make one poly having 2 triangles and 1 poly which has 500 triangles
    Will performance be same? I don't think so...
     
  15. AzemOcram

    AzemOcram Executive

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    Now that I know the difference between a polygon and a triangle when it comes to 3D modelling, I have taken screenshots of my 3rd and 4th tier rowhouses with triangle counts.

    nNhQICM.png

    What do you think?

    --Ocram
     
  16. pauliaxz

    pauliaxz Mayor

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    That's OK, you should enable both polys and triangles statistics
     
  17. AzemOcram

    AzemOcram Executive

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    Here are all the models I have made. The only work left to do now is texturing (each model will have 2 different color schemes and thus two different texture variations), making the models (and texturing) for the construction phases (I will make the same construction models for all of the variations of each tier, so I will only have to make 4 instead of 16) and turning it into a Banished mod. By mirroring the main building mesh, I managed to add variety easily and by making different textures (making sure to make windows and doors different styles/colors), I will have a good amount of variation.

    dsLTPk3.png

    Please tell me if any of you think I should change or replace any of the building models.

    --Ocram
     
  18. KevinTheCynic

    KevinTheCynic Executive

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    A greater variety of houses is something that I've wanted in Banished since I first started adding mods to the vanilla game but particularly colonial era row houses. Colonial Charter has some really good models and while the houses are great, they seem to be inspired by one particular painting of a small colonial town. I'd like to see much denser housing and row houses are the way to do it.
    So basically, "Thank You Ocram" for putting all the effort into making more houses for Banished and especially for making row houses. I'm looking forward to the day I can add them to my Banished towns. :)
     
  19. AzemOcram

    AzemOcram Executive

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    I managed to add textures to 3 different buildings (and converted the textures of one of those 3 buildings to a single file).

    Here are the renders (first two I worked on yesterday, last one I finished today):

    7PtA8pW.png
    2nd tier

    69X9Dte.png
    4th tier

    QqFl8dk.png
    3rd tier

    --Ocram
     
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  20. AzemOcram

    AzemOcram Executive

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    I found out how to properly render whole diffuse maps by adding a skybox before rendering the texture. It brightens the whole image but it gets all sides properly lit (the last image in the previous post was too dark and had the other 2 sides of it be completely black).

    Here is a link to my album with all my renders: http://imgur.com/a/GXEqI

    Please keep the feedback coming!

    --Ocram
     
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