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[Bytyan]

This would be of the most benefit to new players, I think. A top down view of your site is much easier to handle conceptually then an MRI of it, which is what we currently have. Lord knows that one of the biggest barriers to new players is just that initial moment of understanding what they are seeing for the first time. I don't think I could have gotten into this game without my background in ACSII gaming.

[Jeoshua]

Exactly my point.

I remember playing the game for the first time and seeing the jagged lines, understanding that "this is grass... that looks like rock... okay that's a tree... but not understanding anything about the Z-levels or how they fit together, in the slightest.

And I played Rogue.  And NetHack.  And many other top-down ASCII games.

Now if it had been like the picture up top, I'd immediately understand that that line I was seeing was a "clipping plane" and that there were multiple z-levels, and have looked immediately for a way to move that clipping plane.

[Sadrice]

When I'm trying to show my girlfriend something in dwarf fortress, she has no trouble understanding that the little smileys are dwarves, and the moving letters are other animals, but switching Z levels confuses her.  Without being a little familiar with the game, it just looks as though suddenly you're looking at something totally different and not obviously related.

The shader system could also be used to make miasma transparent, which would be a huge improvement.

[Brotato]

I voted for it! Everybody else: You need to vote for this!