Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar is a PC strategy game. So why would we talk about it on WinCustomize.com? The user interface of it was created with DesktopX. Each screen is a .dxpack (just like the ones in the DesktopX objects gallery). 

This week, G4TV's XPlay takes a look at the game. The average review score of GalCiv II: Dark Avatar is about 4.75 stars out of 5 putting it firmly in the top 10 best PC games in history.

You can read the full review here.

Check out the video...

You can learn more about Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar at www.galciv2.com.

When it comes to skinning, there is sometimes a very big difference between what one finds funnest to skin versus what is the most popular thing to skin.

For example, I love to make DesktopX objects. That's because DesktopX supports programmable (JavaScript or VB Script) type animation and responses. Since I'm a developer, I can do pretty neat stuff very quickly.

But making WindowBlinds skins tends to result in far more users noticing what I'm doing.

So I'm wondering, for other skinners here, do you have the same situation crop up? Things you like to skin more versus wanting to make skins for the larger community?

Programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel, Paintshop Pro are pretty standard tools for most skinners.

But how many skinners are experts with programs like Maya and 3D Studio?

I ask this because one can imagine a day not so far in the future when skinning involves working with 3D Models.

In Windows Vista, Microsoft nearly had the Sidebar support DWM gadgets out of the box which used XAML and could be exported from 3D Studio as models. Imagine a true 3D object on your desktop for instance.

With Windows DreamScene and Stardock DeskScapes, for animated wallpaper, you can already see the demand for 3D rendered scenes (as opposed to just video files).

Do many, or even most, skinners who know 2D graphics design packages also have a familiarity with 3D modeling?

This is a concept of what we're thinking of doing with what is currently the "Articles" and "Forums". Instead, we would create a new concept called "Community".

The forums listed by default would be based on popularity.  But users would also have their own list of forums and topics based on what they've recently participated in. This would be generated automatically based on user activity.

Top authors -- people who have created posts with the most activity, would be listed so that when other users clicked on those authors names, they would get a list of the articles those authors hvae created in order of last response.  Note that this listing would NOT be based on # of comments to posts but the number of POINTS (to prevent cliques from taking over).

When dealing with the forums, UNLESS the user explicitly chooses forum index, users will only see posts based on last comment to that post. So the community will have control over what is displayed.

We also want to add suport for SKIN comments to this area too.

Anyway, this is a key issue for you guys who enjoy the forums and such. So we need feedback.  The community page would be a landing page for all kinds of different areas on the site and what it displays matters.

Early last week the publisher of Computer Games Magazine informed us that the magazine was going to be shut-down effectively immediately.

Of the big three American PC game publications (PC Gamer, Games for Windows, and Computer Games Magazine), CGM had a long history of covering strategy games in-depth even when they were smaller companies.  It used to be called "Strategy Plus" long ago and that it would cover what we were doing when we were just getting started really helped out a lot.

You could also trust the reviews from CGM. Editor-in-Chief Steve Bauman took no prisoners when it came to reviews which was a pretty scary thing for game developers (such as myself). But as a gamer, I appreciated that I could get the full story from CGM.

I still hold out hope that some other publisher may pick up CGM. But for now, it looks like one of the best PC game publications of all time is gone.  To fellow fans of CGM, we share your pain.  We will miss CGM.

Proposal for new gallery page:

It's simila rto what we have today but organized differnetly.  There is also no right bar in order to leave more room for important data.

What do you think?

Previous WC2K8 discussions:

https://forums.wincustomize.com/?forumid=144&aid=146966 (home page)

With the release of Windows DreamScenes, Microsoft has made animated wallpapers on Windows a practical reality. Windows DreamScenes enables users to play video as their desktop background which, when done correctly can provide spectacular results.

Windows DreamScenes, available only on Windows Vista Ultimate, makes full use of the new DWM's video acceleration to deliver high definition backgrounds that won't slow your computer to a crawl.  The caveat is that the video driver makers need to make sure their drivers are up to snuff which, in some cases, they are not yet. But that is a temporary issue.

Stardock worked with Microsoft on the DreamScenes projects and is responsible for some of the animated wallpapers that will come with the final release of Windows DreamScene as well as producing tools and enhancements that extend the functionality of the animated wallpaper feature.  The best known tool is Stardock DeskScapes. It's ones of the new programs that makes up Stardock's popular Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancement utilities.

The two most anticipated features of Stardock DeskScapes has been the promise of animated wallpapers that can change based on triggered events (time of day, weather, etc.) as well as dynamic animated wallpapers (wallpapers that are generated on the fly as opposed to looping video). 

Ironically, what has probably helped make DeskScapes so popular is that most people creating animated wallpapers choose its format .DREAM instead of releasing their work at .MPEG or .WMV.  The reason? .DREAM files support author information that is displayed in the Desktop Background dialog (including links to the author's website).  Without this, the hard work that artists put in creating these wonderful animated wallpapers would done anonymously.

Dynamic Dreams Become a Reality

In early March 2007, Stardock released DeskScapes 1.01 into beta for Object Desktop users.  It includes two dynamic animated wallpapers to show what is possible.  These dynamic animated wallpapers are called Dynamic Dreams.

The first Dynamic Dream is a floating, bouncing, rotating cube with the Stardock logo on each side.  This is a sample one that will also be included in the upcoming DreamMaker 1.01 SDK to allow others to create their own Dynamic Dreams.  Dynamic Dreams use DeskScapes to do much of the work. They're not like screen savers which are essentially EXEs renamed.  Dynamic Dreams are designed specifically to be animated wallpapers to use as little CPU and resources as possible while delivering stunning visuals. DeskScapes also provides support  for configuration and performance settings.

Stardock's mid-term plan is to also release an editor to make it easier to create Dynamic Dreams that are very easy to create that fall into certain common templates. This way, artists can concentrate on making visually impressive Dynamic Dreams without having to worry about coding or scripting.

Dynamic Dream: Stardock Cube

Stardock Cube floats gently around the screen on a reflective surface

Dynamic Dreams use very little CPU. Their performance is tied to your video card. If your video card is poor, then Dynamic Dreams will perform poorly too visually. Think of them like a video game.  If you're running at 1920x1200 on your desktop, ask yourself if you usually run your video games at 1920x1200 with all the quality options on. But fear not, DeskScapes provides options to control the experience.

Performance Settings for DeskScapes 1.01

My ThinkPad T60 laptop is a pretty decent laptop.  But the running at 1400x1050 is taxing on it.  It's not like I could run Company of Heroes with at that resolution with 4X animation and expect to get 60fps.  So on my laptop, at maximum rating, I'm only using 3% CPU but the cube moves at less than 30fps and windows move slowly because the DWM is being taxed. In other words, it slows down my Windows experience which is unacceptable.    So I try lowering the performance to regular quality.

Same cube at "Regular quality"

I can't actually tell any quality difference between the two versions. But the performance is much better. Now the cube moves smoothly. But windows move with a bit of a lag because the DWM is still taxed.  For me, I won't tolerate any degradation in performance for eye candy.  So I'm going to turn down the performance all the way to best performance.

Same cube at best performance setting but minimum quality

At this setting, it's perfect. But I can tell the cube doesn't look quite as good now. It's not significant but it's there.  I could use some beefy machine for this demo but the point here is to use the lowest common denominator.  If your video card rating is a 3.0, you probably shouldn't be running Aero let alone animated wallpapers.  The point here is to give users a real-world, worst case scenario.

Incidentally, if I run my laptop at 1280x1024 I can run at near the highest quality without any affect. It's just that at 1400x1050 the video card is either not optimized for 3D at that resolution or it's where video memory starts to run out.  But a well designed Dynamic Dream will provide its own options as well and the Stardock cube is no exception:

Dynamic Dreams can have their own configuration

If I shrink the cube a little and slow it down, it performs better.  The other guys here are laughing at me for even running this stuff on a business laptop but again, I just want to stress that this stuff runs pretty well even on lower end hardware if you set it up right.

Dynamic Dream: Desktop Earth

The second Dynamic Dream released is called Desktop Earth. This is available to Object Desktop users for free but it will also be released as a premium Dynamic Dream to users who don't have Object Desktop (it took far too long to develop to give away entirely). 

Desktop Earth Dynamic Dream

Desktop Earth looks at the time of day and time of year and lights the Earth and textures it appropriately. It's March 2007 so you can see snow and such down in Michigan (or as we say to prospective employees -- lies! Michigan never has snow! It's warm!).  As Spring arrives, you will see it gradually changing to being greener as the snow goes north. 

Since I'm in the Eastern Time zone, it automatically defaults to centering there.  If I choose to not have the globe rotate, it will lock overhead and over the course of the day, the shadow of night will slowly creep in until you see the lights come on.

Because I'm boring, I don't even have it rotating on my screen. I just enjoy watching the day pass gradually from above the earth.

By the time I go to bed my desktop looks like this:

The change is extremely gradual -- rendered in real time.

Now if I choose to have the globe spinning, I can set how fast it rotates so that I can see the whole world. The lighting of the world is still based on the time of day and time of year. But instead of looking over one part of the world, your desktop is orbiting the earth.

The earth at around 1:57pm EST in March 2007.

The quality settings really matter on this one because the Earth texture is extremely high resolution.  We wanted something that would look good even at 2500x1600 type resolutions.  But if you're running at a lower resolution, there's no need to use such a huge texture.

Even at the lowest settings, it looks really good and performs well at the highest resolution with less than 1% CPU use.

Availability

You can get this right now if you have Windows Vista Ultimate Edition and Windows DreamScenes installed IF you have Object Desktop.  Stardock is releasing DeskScapes 1.01 first on Object Desktop and later to the general public.  The Desktop Earth Dynamic Dream is free for Object Desktop users and is part of the content download.

When you buy Object Desktop you get Stardock Central which makes it easy to download and manage the programs that come with Object Desktop such as DeskScapes.

DeskScapes 1.01 should be available to the general public by the end of March at http://dream.wincustomize.com and on its home page https://www.stardock.com/products/deskscapes

If you have any questions, ask here, we're around.

DeskScapes 1.01
Requires: Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows DreamScenes (and Stardock Object Desktop to get it early)

Update: DeskScapes 1.01 is generally available! Visit http://dream.wincustomize.com to download the latest version.

A new beta of Stardock DeskScapes is available for Object Desktop users. It supports (and includes) two dynamic animated wallpapers (Dynamic Dreams). That is, animated wallpaper that is generated on the fly as opposed to a looping video. 

The advantage of Dynamic Dreams is that less CPU use is involved and users can control the experience through a performance setting which lets users choose between quality and speed (similar to the kinds of settings in a PC game). The better your video card, the higher the resolution you can run Dynamic Dreams at maximum quality.

Note the low CPU usage. Screenshot taken on a ThinkPad T60 laptop

Once DeskScapes 1.01 completes its beta cycle on Object Desktop, it will be released to the general public.  Object Desktop users will be receiving some premium Dynamic Dream content as part of their subscription to ObjectDesktop.net.

An SDK will follow shortly to allow third-parties to create their own Dynamic Dreams. DeskScapes 1.01 will also include a triggered based Dream (where the animated wallpaper changes based on time of day or other conditions). 

Stardock will be also updating DreamMaker to v1.01 which will support dynamic dreams and include the Dynamic Dreams SDK shortly after 1.01 is generally available. 

A guided tour of DeskScapes 1.01 will be available tomorrow.

Slashdot has an interesting article up regarding the Viacom vs. YouTube lawsuit.

On the one hand, Viacom's copyrighted content is showing up on YouTube.  On the other hand, YouTube is complying with the DMCA law that puts the burden on the copyright holder to notify the host of copyrighted material.

So who's right?  It's a very tricky situation.

YouTube videos are relatively low quality and the duration is strictly limited (I don't think you could upload a 20 minute video for instance).

But on the other hand, let's be realistic, how many people here are sick of seeing companies get rich on the "build a massive user base at any cost" business model? I know I am.  Napster "pioneered" this technique by making a pretty obvious program that most developers (including us) had thought of but didn't make it because of the potential for copyright violations.

YouTube didn't become massivley popular because of people uploading home videos. They got popular because people uploaded snippets of TV shows and movies and grew from there.  I don't know if "fair use" can be applied there. 

And if YouTube wanted to stop copyrighted content from showing up, they could either moderate what is uploaded or have some in-between system such as moderate content that gets marked with a red flag when uploaded (like "Simpsons" being in the title) or do that combined with a user verification system (i.e. if you're a known user with a verified identity, your content gets less scrutiny).

Such techniques won't eliminate copyright violations -- we moderate and stuff gets passed us and there is probably plenty of things that are on the edge of "fair use" here.  But they would at least show a reasonable effort. 

My personal opinion is that YouTube does have some liability here. I think a reasonable jury would conclude that the reason YouTube became worth billions of dollars was because they turned a blind eye to copyright violation in order to build the massive user base they needed to become worth billions.  It's easy to build a huge user base if you're giving away other people's stuff.

WinCustomize, being a skinning site -- distributing people's copyrighted material with permission -- can emphathize with YouTube's situation. Which is why I don't have a lot of sympathy for them.  The idea of letting people upload videos to share is kind of a "well Duh" idea.  The hard part is keeping pirated videos off. YouTube got rich by just looking the other way.  Each day no WinCustomize, we reject dozens of entries because they blatantly violate copyright (and like I said, things slip by or things get marked as "fair use", we're aware of the "glass house" thing but at least we are trying here which puts us at an infinite disadvantage compared to sites that have no moderation at all).

What's your opinion?