I'm just gonna categorically agree with rekov on the smooth/engraved walls. Since they represent civilized areas of the fortress, the majority of the tile should have a look as though it's made with intent, and not just a little strip at the edge. However, I will add that if a thin edge texture is used, it could allow for engraved walls to do something worthwhile with that old setting to represent engraved walls as what's on them rather than as a wall tile. I feel like that hasn't been given any thought in part because with its current state, it's confusing and ugly and nobody uses it so it could be cut entirely and nobody would miss it. However, it could look nice if existing sprites and tiles are given a monochrome low opacity look and printed on a base stone texture in between the wall edges. Seems like a lot of work though, and not enough value added to be worth the initial "minimum viable product" release. So, yeah. Just take a note from tilesets that exist and make it look good.
Rekov: I have pretty much the same opinion as you, my wall sprites take up about 16px, so that they fill a square entirely.
Mike isn't a big fan of this, which is why we made both versions for now, thin and thick walls.
I'm definitely with you on this one. There's enough empty blackness in this game, no need to force more I to a situation where it can only serve to misleading people into thinking there might be something different in between two walls. Plus, a completed fortress area should appear solid and not full of the unknown anyway, just on general thematic principle. Empty void between wall edges just doesn't make sense, and limiting your walls to thin lines doesn't convey the physical gravity that the inside of a mountain very well ought to have. However, the idea implied by earlier in this thread is also viable; you can have a general stone texture in between the walls which is colored to match the stone type when that's known. Then other things can be done with different textures and the way they fade into each other and into the unknown area texture. This has the disadvantage that, being different from how anything in DF currently works, it would probably be a hassle for Toady. It has the advantage that it doesn't prevent him from adding stuff to reveal non-visible tiles in future releases. Although that could be done other ways too.
A pretty straightforward and simple way to do this, as I Rekov's mockup, would still be considered a good thing although I find that gradient to be too steep for visual appeal.
We also have little pebble-sprites to fill in a few random unrevealed tiles in the fog of war, just like the occasional # , . ' that you see in ASCII, but a variation of slight rock-like texture is a nice idea. Giving information about the unrevealed walls, like color or material is a no-go.
The pebbles and the bad texture aren't incompatible.
Simple test with a slight texture on the unrevealed tiles:
I think the way this is implemented is not a distraction or misleading, so it's a success in that regard, however the actual texture used is kind of gross. Looks like silty dead mud (as in, small particles without healthy organic matter) that dried out in the sun. If this gets implemented, please do something not gross. Also, keep in mind that it doesn't have to be drawn out on the same scale as everything else.
Here is part of what I was talking about, mocked up with what I believe are constructed walls made from blocks, not sure:
Obviously you could come up with a pattern that's less regular than a series of elongated blocks, but the idea is that single-tile-thick walls get filled in completely.
While I'm working on making walls thicker right now, this look is very much in contrary to what the community apparently works.
Rough carved walls are supposed to look very similar to walls constructed from rough blocks.
Smooth carved walls are supposed to look very similar to walls constructed from smooth blocks.
Engraved carved walls are supposed to be almost the same as engraved walls constructed from smooth blocks.
So I'm basically working on some very different designs right now to support that.
Pretty sure ain't nobody voted on what you just described, and I haven't seen it said either. People voted that block-constructed walls should be able to look similar to smoothed walls so that your fort can look nice and tidy. Nobody voted on thin or thick walls, which I'm can't tell if you're trying to imply or if this is brought up as an incidental. I definitely don't think you can correctly infer from the poll that people want block-built walls to look like your
current implementation of stone walls of any particular sort. But also, nobody voted on different kinds of block walls. Since the goal from everyone who described their votes and who said similar things in previous discussions over the years (including, at times, with regard to Stonesense) is to be able to patch up holes in places that look nice, I don't think raw stone and rough blocks, therefore, need to look totally similar to respect the intent of the public.
It should be noted that the poll on walls is from before Toady announced he's going to allow us to smooth and engrave constructed walls. Not sure how much that changes the community's opinions, but they probably don't need to look too similar anymore.
Did Toady actually announce this? I checked the devlog, the Steam announcements, and FotF and didn't see anything of the sort. Mind linking where it was mentioned, or at least pointing me in the right direction?
NINJA: I guess what rekov posted is what's called an announcement, though I wouldn't have taken "current thought" to mean "confirmed for next release". I'd still like the link for context if it's handy.
Also, although I know mentioning it to you guys isn't necessarily meaningful, I reckon it would make sense for block-constructed walls to be smoothed from the get-go.
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Topic: Steam/Itch.io tileset - Mayday/Ironhand - Discussion and Suggestions (Read 435745 times)