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[Volatar]

If you prefer ASCII, please just get out of the thread. We have enough graphics vs ASCII threads already.

[Sizik]

Also, the tileset is not meant for actually playing the game with, it's just to make exported maps look more map-like.

[buckets]

You know, you have a realy awesome project here.

If you put some time into it you could end up with something realy pretty.

What you have at the moment is pretty cool, but you should be able to get some old timey maps if you dick around with it enough.

[Volatar]

Thats a fun idea. Mess with the colors and get some kind of paper look to the map. It'll be awesome 

EDIT: Woah. I accidentally clicked somthing, and discovered that we can use different fonts 

[Topace3k]

A fantasy world map should look like a piece of weathered parchment. That said I agree with your general sentiment, I just think Sizik has a long way to go to get it looking better AND as legible as the original ASCII.

The original ASCII only seems more legible to you because you're so used to it.  To someone who hasn't seen either, it looks like a complete jumble of nonsense.  At least people can understand where the hills and settlements are in Sizik's version.  I think it's a great idea for succession games and such so you can post parts of the map and have people who haven't even played get a good idea of what the world looks like.  Obviously a "parchment map" would be great, but that's a little much to ask for at this point.  Hopefully Sizik will continue improving on his work, though.

[Scarpa]

I'm actually really interested in this project, and I went back last night and examined all the differences in detail to figure out what's putting me off about the new tiles.

The biggest issues I had were with the sand and desert badlands tiles. Also, in areas where there's a dominant biome that has one and two tile pockets of another biome interspersed it really looks off.

However, I also realized on inspection that these were the same issues I have with the ASCII maps, except for sand. I think the sand looks great in ASCII because the ~ characters give the biome boundaries kind of a 'ragged' look. I also just hate the mayday sand tile, it's just awful and doesn't look anything like sand.

Sizik, since this is not meant to be used in game, how about multiple versions of biome tiles that are used dependent on the bordering tiles?

For instance a sand tile surround by other sand would be the normal rectangle, but if the sand tile is bordered by another biome you could have a 'ragged edge' version. Of course that would require map analysis prior to rendering, I don't really know if you're willing to go that path or are strictly in this to develop new artwork.

I'll keep thinking on this but I like the way you're going. I would love to have a more realistic map just to look at, I'm a huge map nerd and am slowly developing in my mind a comprehensive 'DF World Viewer' type concept. I've already spent countless hours just genning and looking at worlds, using the detail maps and that terrain viewer as well as the normal maps like these. If we ever get Legends export I would probably never play the actual game again, just continually gen worlds and read histories. 

[Sizik]

Yeah, the Mayday sand/water tiles are a bit more like water than sand. I plan on making my own, more wave-like, tiles for those. And the badlands tiles were made under the assumption that badlands wouldn't occur in checkerboard-esque patterns with hills and forests, as can be seen in the large map linked in the OP.

[baalak]

While I'm happy with the ascii tileset, you're heading in a direction which I'm interested in. I'd like to alter the colors of the characters, because the good and evil tiles look awful to me. I have no idea how to do that, though. Can you tell me where I might learn? I really don't know if it would be easy or hard, but it's keeping me from enjoying the game to its fullest.

- Baalak called Palatte-Swapped

[Elvang]

Color Schemes should set you on the path to making your own.

[baalak]

Thank you! I wasn't sure what to search for.

- Baalak called Appreciative.

[bluea]

Kudos for the work thus far.

If this is primarily for export, the level of detail andor variation could go up.

I'd point at Wesnoth. There are some subtle - but not overwhelming in difficulty - tricks that they're using to make 'block-of-terrain-X' much more visually interesting than any strict one-for-one tile arrangement can manage.

Not all of the terrain is present in that screenshot, and the whole thing is obviously hex-based instead of square. But look at the rocky patch in the upper left - the are that has one fellow with a knife standing in the patch, and a small patch of grassland nearby.

All of that rocky area is described in the underlying map data with just a code 'rocky patch' (or whatever). But there are at least four distinct tiles there. And note how each tile at the edges of a terrain-type blends into the next terrain. So you have half-rocky-half-trees. There isn't a special code for that - they just get auto-blended.

I have no idea if you're thinking of pushing quite that far, so just throwing ideas into the wind here.

[Sizik]

That seems like it would require some sort of post-processing, since I don't control which tiles DF uses for each biome type. I did something similar with glacier tiles, where I drew lines that connected to the same points on the edge, so that it'd look less tiled and more continuous.

If I were to make a program which takes the exported maps or anything like that, it would make sense to use the detailed non-tileset maps, not the standard one-region-per-tile maps I'm currently working with.

[Sensei]

Maybe a program that recognizes the borders of regions differently from the rest, to minimize the tiled look?

Anyway, like I said, maybe add literal borders to the tiles (color each border pixel) if you intend that tileset to be clearer.