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[Rekov]

I've thought about this some and I've come up with something that's just a little less ambiguous than the shading or void looks:

[Starver]

Tigers and Reindeer and Elephants (and 'Uman and Narwhal and Kangaroo), oh my!

[Superdorf]

I've thought about this some and I've come up with something that's just a little less ambiguous than the shading or void looks:

I spent a good twenty seconds trying to look around the labels to see what you'd done to the trunks... and now I feel stupid.

[voliol]

Tigers and Reindeer and Elephants (and 'Uman and Narwhal and Kangaroo), oh my!

Wait, are there new pictures or are you just browsing the thread?

[Moeteru]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

How about do something to make the tree trunks look less like cut trunks?

I prefer this over the more stump-like versions.
If you're a new player, which of these is a better scenario?:

• Carrying on playing, confident in your assumption that it is a tree stump which has already been cut down.
• Getting confused and asking what the weird eerie rabbit hole thing is.

Personally I think that the second option is less likely to lead to people getting frustrated and quitting.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

How about do something to make the tree trunks look less like cut trunks?

I prefer this over the more stump-like versions.
If you're a new player, which of these is a better scenario?:

• Carrying on playing, confident in your assumption that it is a tree stump which has already been cut down.
• Getting confused and asking what the weird eerie rabbit hole thing is.

Personally I think that the second option is less likely to lead to people getting frustrated and quitting.

As opposed to dark holes, there are no tree stumps in Dwarf Fortress. Sorry but the whole "noobs are so, so dumb there's no possible way they could undersrand the woodcutting tutorial without going into meltdown and screaming "all I see is stumps!" at their screens", is a myth.

They bought a game with a reputation for complexity. A pixel-art, indie game. "Cut this stump, it's a tree." Says the tutorial. Noooooo. Give me my money back, it's a stump!! just isn't a thing.

[MoltenIdol]

True, but the hopefully many new people playing, once this Steam version is released, won't know that.

Of course, as amazing as this is already looking, there's still gonna be some learning curve as to what the graphics represent.

About...3 seconds to work out that a tree is a tree and not something which doesn't exist. Less if they follow the tutorial and understand that the "look" command and z-levels exists. If there were stumps and constant confusion over which is which you'd have a point.

Without reprogramming procedural trees from scratch, it's only ever going to look like a stump or a stump with shading (which looks like a stump to me). And nothing that complex is going to happen before the all-important Steam release (probably).

Dude, it just looks like a cut tree. It bears no visual indication whatsoever, of being anything more than a stump. So, I have to COMPLETELY diasagree. Right now it seems like theres ONLY tree stumps in DF.

And you Know, I bet that we might, just MIGHT See treestumps at Some point.

Graphics are supposed to lessen the learning curve.
Supposed to be an accurate representation of what Youre actually looking at, without the 'k' command.

That there, is a stump. Theres NO doubt.

With the shading, at least there can be a little doubt.

[Schmaven]

Maybe instead of stumps there could be tiny little isometric 1 tile trees?  Something like in the world map, but a bit bigger.  It wouldn't match the Z levels above or really make much sense with respect to other nearby elements in general, but it would look like a tree.

Spoiler: A World Map (click to show/hide)

Since most forts end up digging down for stone and metals, the ability to change Z-levels will probably be one of the first things a new player learns.  And if their embark is on a slope, they will see the mid-sections and maybe some tops of other trees.  But if their embark is 100% all at a single elevation, they may never have a need to look up a Z or 2 and see the rest of their trees.  In that case, the only conclusion to draw would be that they embarked upon the Lorax's worst nightmare: tree stumps of recently felled trees as far as the eye can see.  But tree stumps are still made of wood, and you can still send wood cutters after them to produce logs, so I think it would still functionally work for new players even if they only saw stumps at first.  Then when they realize they can look up above ground level, and finally see that the trees in DF are actually 3-Dimensional entities, they can post in the Face Palm moments you had in Dwarf Fortress thread about it.

[Rekov]

If you want to be somewhat consistent, treat the tree trunk exactly like a one tile pillar of rock. It has a rim of detail around the edge, and is then filled in with a very dark neutral brown.

[bloop_bleep]

I think we should make a hole in the center, but make it SMALLER and not have it subsume the whole trunk, so it's s more clear that it's actually part of a tree. Maybe shade darker into the whole too.

[Starver]

Tigers and Reindeer and Elephants (and 'Uman and Narwhal and Kangaroo), oh my!

Wait, are there new pictures or are you just browsing the thread?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Some funny colours, but that's must be the new graphics!)

[Schmaven]

What if the center 15% or so was greenish brown instead of black?  Green makes me think it's alive.

[Meph]

Seriously guys, the tree trunk is fine. Yes, it looks like a stump, but thats because visually that's exactly what it is: A tree trunk cut off after 1 z-lvl. It follows the same design setup as walls. As several people have mentioned: The lack of actual stumps in the game makes this a trivial issue.

I've been using stump-like tree trunk graphics in my tileset since the start and not one person has ever mentioned it in a negative way.

[vettlingr]

Tigers and Reindeer and Elephants (and 'Uman and Narwhal and Kangaroo), oh my!

Wait, are there new pictures or are you just browsing the thread?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Some funny colours, but that's must be the new graphics!)

DF Dad Joke award Contender

[Meph]

Toady just went through all the trouble of adding over 1000 identifiers, so that Mike and me can play around with the worldmap. Lots of variaty sprites, edges, etc. So, without further ado, here it is, please let me know what's good, what's bad.

(Some edges are missing, like the glacier or tundra. The 6 red [ ] in the ocean are cursors, it's 6 screenshots put together. )