How much of a graphic improvement are we to expect?

The map graphics will dramatically improve between now and release.

The unit graphics are pretty much final.

Thanks. Hope all is well in Stardock's realm.

Frogboy, I humbly request that you improve the faces for the game's male characters, or at least add more. They are all very squarish and brutish, almost like warcraft's male characters but even more grotesque... 

The female characters look great for the most part, though. 

overall im happy with the graphics. Turn the soft lighting down to 25% or 0% and everything looks more clear and colorful. Vegetation is at 10xs. And i think it barely passes.

Faces ya need improvements.

 I have to agree - the faces look lumpy and unnatural although the figures otherwise are good. Overall the game models are nice but there's too much reflectivity (?) or bloom (?) - anyway, things look 'shiny metal' when they shouldn't. Building roofs, for example, seem to have a few mirror tiles. I suppose that's by design although I find it rather spoils the look.

It's looking very good. For those who think it hangs at startup - wait. I was sure it had crashed, but I left it a few minutes and it started eventually, and was much faster on subsequent launches. I think it's unpacking / installing something.

This is the first version that has run on my PC for quite some time, so the game is effectively new to me, and it's very likeable so far.

A DLC on better default avatars and make-your-own-amazing-sovereign would be popular!

Nice. I've only played for ~15 mins so far with the new version, but I've seen a couple of gfx glitches already.

Everything is supposed to look like it's a color wash with crisp ink lines in the style of one of my favorite artists, Alphonse Mucha.  The "Washed out" look is intended, it's not supposed to be crisp realism like most games go for or Hyper cartoonism like WoW.

The game looks lovely on mostly default settings (I put all detail sliders up as far as they could go). While not a showstopper by any means, I'd agree with people asking for the male units to receive another pass, the faces are definately not up to the same standard most of the graphics are, in my opinion.

Just a heeds on on what we specificaly have in the gfx pipeline...

1. Terrain Textures: We have a couple of tricks to employ to get the terrain textures looking less..boring   They dont currently have the washed/painted feel that we want, so expect improvements there.

2. Forests: Gah, where to begin!  Basically, forests are getting a major overhaul, from their toothpick trunks to the size/plcement/number of leaf clumps, to FINALLY getting shadows beneith them. Lots of love needed on this end of things.

3. Terrain Objects: Most environments are getting another pass on what objects, (new plants, rocks, wildlife, etc) will be sprinkled throughout them and how htey are dynamically placed. 

4. Starting Positions: What alot of games do nowadays (the 'Ratchet and Clank' series does this to great effect) is start the player off with a spectacular viw of the world. We....do not...unless you like brown ground with brown trees   Goingto spend some serious attention on those forst 5 minutes of gameplay in the map.

5. Passive Particle Effects: You'll notice now that the only particles you see are attached to battle attacks and spells. We want to put some passive/bg particles into the world to give it more life.

6. Distance FOG: We'restill playin with this, but we'd like to have the distance fog be specific to the environment that your selected player is in. That atmospheric perspective really adds a lot to the mood, and we have the technology to push it even further (right now it's baely noticable).

So those are just he map-gfx related tweaks we have in the works. It's going to be exciting getting these changes in and see the visual progression over the next few updates!

Thanks for everyone's feedback!

Good to hear Boogie!

Great Stuff!

It's good enough for me, but I know I'd be striving to get them just right if they were my work, too!  Glad to hear it.

How easy is it going to be to impress us with a barren desolate world?

I like #6, it sounds fun.

Thanks for the response! (The Mucha thing is what led me to stick around after hearing someone mention the game in ventrillo on WAR, otherwise I might have read about it and waited until months after release to check it out again)

This one I was really worrying on, looking at them now makes me gag when compared to the rest of the trees  that are not part of the forest.  Can't wait to see the final product of what the forests will soon become!

Out of all the graphics so far, the forests are the ones that bug me the most.  Zooming out and looking at the map I see a town of mine surrounded by a dark, thick forest.  When I zoom in, that ominous forest is just a few shrubberies, it kills the mood.

This is excellent as the World needs a little more personality. I can just see 'Distance FOG' with colors or streaks of lightning!! Can't wait!

Yep, I feel the same way. Thankfully the devs will work on the forest gfx & presentation.

And Meteo effect ?