08-06-2004 00:31									#1
	Simple Color-Coded Resource Labels for C3C Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

I'm not a big fan of alternative graphic sets for resources, as (with the possible exception of uranium) I find them all pretty darn good in terms of visibility and distinction from other resources. They're also quite attractive. But they can be darn hard to spot on the map at a glance, especially under the fog of war. I had a few different label sets that identified luxuries with smileys, some that labeled strategic resources with letters, etc., but they were either a bit too fancy or didn't have C3C upgrades for the new bonus resources.

Well, I decided to employ my meager skills to fix that. What you have here is a simple 2D label with a simple bordered circle containing a letter identifying the resource. The border color tells you what the resource is: red is strategic, blue is luxury, yellow is bonus. Where two categories had overlapping names (fish/fruit in bonus, incense/ivory and spices/silk in luxury) I just used something easy to remember (iVory has a V in it, siLk has an L in it, and fruit has been designated B in honor of our beloved banana).

Now, these aren't the most attractive labels in the world. In fact, they're downright... well, spartan. But boy howdy, they do the job better than I ever imagined.

In Action Shot

This is the icon set at work on the regular ol' map. Fairly easy to see (a little hard for the bonus as it tends to blend into the plains and hills, but that can be fixed with a bit of darkening and contrast), easily identified, same old graphics, and you can tell there's still something there even with a worker squatting on it.

Trade Window Shot

The trade window. This is after I've conquered the world, so there are a FEW too many resources on the bar, but it's much easier to look at the letters and count how many instances of a resource you have than to look at a bunch of horse butts to figure out how many you have hooked up.

The icons could stand a little shadowing, and perhaps a recoloring, but I like them because they accomplish the task of both telling you which resource is which as well as what kind of resource it is. Sugar and tobacco are not luxuries, though I far too often forget that. Now I don't!

The file is just the usual resources.pcx for C3C, modified with the label markers. As there have been no changes to the shadows or to the resource graphics themselves, you can leave that unaltered. Stick it in \Conquests\Art after backing it up. You know the drill.

Attachment: labeled_resources.zip
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