User:Sphr/gfx set

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Some stuff about my gfx sets.

My guidelines in tile pixel art:

1. Tiles should be distinguishable. Distinguishable != Different (!= means 'not equal', for those who are unfamiliar). Two tiles are different if at least one pixel at the same corresponding position has different value, but that doesn't mean the user can notice the difference when viewing it zoomed out at it's native 16x16 resolution on a 1280x400 window among many other tiles. As much as possible, I try to make my tiles distinguishable, through colors, more distinctive shapes (overlays) etc.
2. Tiles should be intuitively recognizable. Just because tiles are distinguishable doesn't mean you know what it is without consulting some lookup-table or having to enter view unit mode to get more info. As much as possible, I try to make my tiles such that even if a person is looking at it for the first time, he or she can sort of guess what the tile represents and not be too surprised by the actual thing being represented.
3. Lastly, as much as possible, tiles should be nice to look at. While this isn't a strict requirement like the previous two, I figure that nice-looking tiles -> nice-looking game -> happy players. I can't say that all my tiles look good (if any, since aesthetics are really subjective), but I try my best.

I may not always satisfy my own guidelines sufficiently all the time, given the large number of tiles that have to be produced for the gfx set to become usable at the basic level, but I keep the guidelines in mind whenever I do new tiles or remake old ones, when I find better ideas, since I AM producing it for my own benefit and use, motivation will lasts as long as I play the game. But since I find the gfx somewhat useful (could be subjective) I decided to start completing the basic tileset and share it, all in the hope of improving the experiences of some of the players/fans of ToadyOne and ThreeToe's amazing work.

If there are suggestions, especially on improving things according to my 3 guidelines (well, number 3 is a little subjective), please add to this page's discussion. But please do understand that this work is first and foremost meant for myself, so I may not (and will probably never) be able to accommodate all requests. But if I find feasible ideas that can be streamlined into my own goals, and that I can find time to do it, I will incorporate them. So please do not feel slighted/offended if I reject some ideas.

Race Sets

Similar to other List of user graphics sets, and discussion other items at Talk:List of user graphics sets.

Dwarves (v0.9)

v0.9 is probably as high as the version can be for some time (less minor tweaks) as I have no immediate plans to do the only thing that is left : zombie and skeleton versions of the dwarves, since they aren't really used in the dwarf mode atm. When I muster the motivation to complete it, that will be the complete version v1.0.

Notes:

• in the last column (column 11), Veryinkey's Dystopian Qantas (v0.94) lists them from top down as COUNT, COUNT_CONSORT, BARON, BARON_CONSORT, DUKE, DUKE_CONSORT, KING, KING_CONSORT, which is strange because I thought it would be more natural if it followed an order of increasing rank (but Count is actually higher in rank to Baron). So in my work, I actually swapped position of BARON with COUNT and BARON_CONSORT with COUNT_CONSORT. The text data at the image's page differs from DQ's in this respect as well. But even without changes to text data, it should be fine as there is only one type of baron/count/duke at any point, if most people are like me who can't be bothered to distinguishing such nobles beyond that they are bags of troubles ;)
• I'm assuming that tile at 9:4 which was previously unreferenced refers to the CAPTAIN_OF_THE_GUARD. This is also recorded in the text data section, which is another area the text data differs from DQ's original.

16x16

Details see image page (click on image).

12x12

This is automatically shrunk from the 16x16 versions with no manual tweaking. So some tiles may become recognizable/unusable. As this is a automatically derived version from 16x16 one, no direct support will be given for this version at this time as I don't want to maintain 2 different sets manually. Just providing an additional channel for people who wants 12x12 instead.

Also, if you think you have a better way of re-sampling the image, you can start from the original 16x16 version.

For the text data, refer to the one for 16x16, but change the line

[TILE_DIM:16:16]

to

[TILE_DIM:12:12]

. Everything else should be the same.

Sample Screenshots

(Only 16x16 versions are shown)

Disclaimer: Most of the following are real captures. A few are faked. Faked doesn't mean that it cannot be done in-game, just that I didn't want to spend the time to do that.

List of civilian professions in Status Screen.
List of military professions in Status Screen.
Whose's blood is that on the barracks floor *THIS* time?
A Tax Collector's day starts in the booze stockpile of the Dining Room.
When Darth Hammer isn't out executing innocent craft dwarves given impossible tasks that are doomed to fail by the evil Nobles of the Empire, he enjoys a quiet evening in his room amidst valuable metal ammo that he had 'claimed' in the name of the Empire. His favourite line: May the Dark Side of the Fortress be with you...
Darth Hammer comes to survey the Storm... eh... Fortress Guards. The Royal Guards accepts his authority in the absence of the Emperor... uh... I mean the King.
A drinking session between Dungeon-"I love chains"-Master and his drinking buddy, Armorer Al. Al: Do you have to bring that silly chain everywhere you go? DM: Why not? I love chains. I love to forge them, I love to use them ... eh.. when chaining animals of course. Al: No need to explain, I won't probe further. At least it was better than that stinking whip you carried last time. DM: I love whips too. I mean... they are used for training animals... Al: ... DM: Really! Al: Speaking of animals, do you HAVE to come to booze session with all the dogs you trained? Escaped the chains that YOU forged... AGAIN huh? DM: It wasn't really the faults my chai... Al:Oh my... what the... did you see what that dog did?? Into that wine barrel??? DID YOU SEE WHAT IT DID??? DM: Don't worry, nobody will notice the difference. It should be harmless to the body. In fact, it could be ACTUALLY be nutritious... Al: I'm NEVER going to drink from a booze stockpile that you've visited... EVER!

Others

Special occasions

Special tiles for special occasions. (No text data available as these are not meant for usual games, do your own merging.)

Christmas Special 2007

A secret meeting between Darth Hammer and Santa-dwarf. A new conspiracy of the Empire? Overheard: "shining bars... metal" "raw... crystal" "gems... shining" "focusing... light" "blade... red"

Mayor-pretending-to-be-Santa; Craftsdwarf-pretending-to-be-Santa's-Elf; Dog-pretending-to-be-reindeer.

WIP Creatures

Unicorn Test

Not really planning to do animals yet, but there are unicorns on the current map I play... so....

A herd of unicorns moves on, ignoring one of theirs who get snared by a cage-trap. Lesson: Camouflage among the white sand don't really work against traps, then again, camouflage don't work at all! Well... at least not YET...

(placeholder); Adult unicorn; Child unicorn

(placeholder is added because some systems uses top-left pixel to denote transparent colour and I used the top-left pixel for the Adult unicorn. Can be removed if Adult unicorn tile is not top-left tile in the actual bmp)