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[Zemat]

So far I have been amazed by the new version and specially with the inclusion of the inclusion of the z-axis. But I have a problem with the way lower z-levels are shown in-game.

I think that everything two levels or more below from the current view altitude should be shown like this:
   

Instead of this:
   

The current cyan/open-sky view of lower z-levels is ugly and confusing. Confusing because not being able to view lower features like rivers and the like make it difficult to orientate yourself in the current level without having to move the view further below or opening the map view.

Being able to distinguish a river or prominent surface features at every z-level would add greatly to the game visualization IMO. Things like lower z-level cliff faces could be shown as straight lines instead of full colored blocks to distinguish them for the cliff faces of the current z-level. Or they could simply be not shown at all. Maybe it would make no difference.

Another idea is to reduce the frequency of the colored dots (making them appear once for every four cells instead of one per cell) in lower z-levels to represent the difference in altitudes.

[ November 02, 2007: Message edited by: Zemat ]

[Leonidas]

I'll second this one.  Just give us the ghosting dots all the way down, on the local and regional maps.  The big blobs of solid color are confusing and unattractive.  Why not add some useful information there instead?

[Tahin]

Maybe instead it could have tiny exponent-size numbers of the appropriate color that are equal to the number of levels down it is? It would achieve pretty much the same visual effect, and give useful information, too.

[Thallone]

quote:Originally posted by Tahin:
<STRONG>Maybe instead it could have tiny exponent-size numbers of the appropriate color that are equal to the number of levels down it is? It would achieve pretty much the same visual effect, and give useful information, too.</STRONG>

That is an awesome suggestion.

However, toady may also be concerned about the processing involved. Only Toady can know for sure.

[Narushima]

I positively agree with the Zemat proposition. That cyan always makes me think of ice. That's confusing.

[Pacho]

I honestly don't want to see numbers all over my screen just to tell me how far down the floor is.

[Tahin]

quote:Originally posted by Pacho:
<STRONG>I honestly don't want to see numbers all over my screen just to tell me how far down the floor is.</STRONG>

That's what the init file is for. And anyway, they would have to be small enough that without looking closely they would resemble periods to achieve the same effect as the original poster described.

[baq]

IMHO with z-levels came the need to drop full-asci character of the game and:
a) enable using the mouse for some stuff, like selecting dwarfs, loo[k]ing or placing buildings
b) make some pixel-resolution minimaps (like top-down from current level)
c) use more colors and alphamasked layers for overlays like designations and depot ranges
and possibly more...

[ November 03, 2007: Message edited by: baq ]

[PTTG??]

It almost sounds like it is time for a new set of images for various altitudes; it may be the most satisfying to add another row of 16 characters (assuming that this  is actually possible with DF as it is) to represent distant items. May I suggest four basic tiles; distant ground, distant tree/structure, distant small item/creature, and distant unit. Then there are four tiles for the ground and trees, as these can be seen farthest. there are only two tiles for creatures and small items, and these become invisible as normal. Then we can use the 1 and 2 tiles for the 1 2 distant ground, and the 3 distant and 4 distant tiles for 3-5 and 6+ distance respectively. Then we have 8 other new tiles for all the new minerals and items! Of course, this is only practical if Toady One feels like messing with the interface and text. Really, this Idea probably maybe might very likely possibly perhaps could not happen.

[Armok]

Actually, if you just don't want it to look like ice, the sky tile is already changable in the init, you till don't get any more actual information, but  changing it to just black might lessen the confusion whit other tings.