C-evo HOWTO: UI

Parent article

This is the part of the C-evo HOWTO that describes basic user interface features of C-evo.

Starting C-Evo

Once C-Evo is installed on your computer, start up the game. The game runs in full-screen mode at the resolution you have set your monitor at. On this screen, one can see a big version of C-Evo's logo in the upper right-hand side of the screen, along with a window in the lower left part that allows one to select how to start a game. There is, in this window, three tabs and two buttons marked "?" and "X". The "X" button exits C-Evo and returns to the desktop; if you wish to go to another running application without quitting C-Evo, it is possible to hit Alt+Tab (in Windows XP, you will need to have at least one other program running when you start C-Evo to do this).

The "?" button gives you help on the parameters you can choose to start C-Evo. The "Map" tab allows you to choose how big the map is; it is also possible to download and play maps, which would be in this menu, as well as making your own map. The most important option here is the size of the map; C-Evo lets you choose one of six sizes of random maps, ranging in size from fairly small to epic-size huge maps.

While it is possible to play a handmade map with C-Evo, the majority of games are played with random maps: When the game is started, the computer makes a map that resembles the Earth. Each game has a different looking map; no two games are the same as a result. Every game allows you to explore a new world.

Civilization games are very long games; even a game played with the smallest map (35%) can easily last several hours. Combine with C-Evo's very addictive gameplay, it is recommended to not start a game unless you know you will be free for a few hours.

In C-Evo parlance, a game is called a "book"; to start a game, do the following:

• Go to "Map" and choose a world size of 35% (the smallest sized world C-Evo supports)
• Go to "New Book", choose "Beginner" level and have 0 foreign nations.
• Have the game end at 3000AD
• Click on "Start" to start the game.
• C-Evo will spend a couple of seconds randomly creating the world you will play on.
• Now, C-Evo will ask you to choose your tribe. It doesn't matter which tribe you play; the gameplay is the same. Tribes on affect how your units and cities look, and the names of your cities.
• Once you choose a tribe, the game starts.

After the game starts, you will see a screen with a message saying your civilization is leaving the stone age. The C-Evo game choose an initial location for your first city. You start the game with just a single city, as well as a single "settler" who can either improve the land around your city or form his own new city.

C-Evo's user interface

Once a game is started, we are in C-Evo's user interface, which can be very confusing at first, but soon becomes simple to use.

In the upper left hand corner of the screen is a small version of the C-Evo logo. This allows you to open up the manual, change user-interface options (whether there is sound, etc.), cheat in various ways (see the entire world) via the "Manipulation" item (we will not do this), allow experienced players to automate some tasks via "Micro management", open up C-Evo's website (this is a good way of starting up a second application so you can Alt+Tab out of C-Evo in Windows XP), and save the game by "closing" the book.

Saving and loading games

C-Evo, unlike other games, doesn't have a "Save game" option; a game is saved by closing the game in progress. When you close a game, it will ask you if you want to save the game. Click on "Yes" to save the game.

Once a game is saved, it can be reloaded again by restarting C-Evo, choosing the "Earlier books" tab, and choosing the game you just saved. Multiple games can be saved; games are sorted by the time a game was saved, with newer games lower in the list. If this is the first time you have played C-Evo, the game you just saved will have the name "Book 1". If you or someone else has played a game of C-Evo before, the game you just saved will be the game at the bottom of the list of saved games. To open a saved game, select the game on the left side of the box then hit the box marked "open".

If you don't like how a game has progressed, you can load a save game at any point in the past. To do this, select the "book" (saved game) you wish to roll back the clock on. Next, below the mini-map icon, and above the "open" button, there is a display of the year (in game time) when the game is saved. It is possible to change the year to continue playing again by either clicking on the arrows to the right of the year, or sliding the long black bar immediately below the year.

Map viewing options

In the lower left corner of the screen there is a, at this point, largely black rectangle with a small blue or green area. This is a mini-map; this lets you see the entire world at a glance. Below this mini-map are some options that affect how you view the world; the most useful of these options are the ones that allow you to see political borders (you can not cross these borders if you have a peace treaty with another player) and the one that allows you to see the isometric grid C-Evo uses.

Since we are playing without any opponents, the option to see political borders will only allow us to see our own borders. To enable this button, click on the third box from the left below the mini-map. The grid can be turned on by clicking on the sixth box from the left below the mini-map (the second box from the right).

While these options are below the mini-map, these options for the most part affect how we view the main map that takes up most of the screen real estate on the screen.

The main map does not show the entire world; it only shows a part of the world. One can change what part of the world one sees by left-clicking on the main map; the point you click will become the center of the main map window. It is also possible to change one's viewpoint by left-clicking on the mini-map, or by enabling scrolling in the options in the top left menu.