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[eurydike]

When creating a tileset one encounters an obstacle; the creatures are assigned to letters based on the initial letter of their name. This leads to that the creatures under this sorting share very little in terms of meaning or appearance. With non-alphabetical symbols it appears that a different style of assignment is most often used. This problem could be resolved by the creation of `virtual` creature categories, to which the creatures would be assigned, and the assignment of creatures to letters would follow this sorting.

For an example under the letter `K` there are `Kangaroos`, `Keas`, `King cobras` and `Kangaroo Men` among others. Clearly the creatures are chosen by initial letter of their name. And the creatures under the letter are dissimilar. So how do you create a symbol, which represents them well?

Instead if you create categories for types of creatures, not necessarily in code or script, and assign the creatures based on them, the creatures under each letter can share properties, allowing the creation of meaningful symbols or representative graphics. For an example, if `B` had `Birds` you could assign `Kea` to the letter `B`. If `Parrot` is also assigned to `B` then despite their different initial letters, it's easier to create a tile, which matches the category.

I created this PDF file as an example to demonstrate the issue. There are only 3 pages in the file. The last page contains general suggestions symbol methodology. I also created a tileset, trying to somewhat follow these guidelines. This did involve reassigning, primarily creatures, to new letters. I also think that a `symbolic` tileset is a decent alternative to very representational graphical tiles. Although having seen screenshots and samples of various graphical tilesets, I must admit that they look rather nice.

Here is the PDF file uploaded onto some random filehosting service found from google, hope the link actually works:
https://www.docdroid.net/FFrV4mR/associative-map-creatures-004-pdf

Here's the tileset I made (some of the symbols are the same as in standard dwarf fortress):
https://pasteboard.co/J2At7tm.png

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And a sample image using the tileset:
https://pasteboard.co/J2AtnL9.png

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Uploaded the raw files to DFFD:
http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15035

Additionally created a 18x18 version of this tileset:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And here is a slightly updated version of 20x24 size:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Especially the shallow water (and sand) is kind of awkward (with the 20x24)

Here's a sample image using the 18x18 format.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here's the color scheme used in the sample. I think the orange color needs to be adjusted somehow?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[BLACK_R:11]
[BLACK_G:13]
[BLACK_B:28]
[BLUE_R:20]
[BLUE_G:60]
[BLUE_B:184]
[GREEN_R:29]
[GREEN_G:125]
[GREEN_B:46]
[CYAN_R:26]
[CYAN_G:93]
[CYAN_B:173]
[RED_R:143]
[RED_G:53]
[RED_B:89]
[MAGENTA_R:151]
[MAGENTA_G:118]
[MAGENTA_B:194]
[BROWN_R:115]
[BROWN_G:93]
[BROWN_B:37]
[LGRAY_R:143]
[LGRAY_G:138]
[LGRAY_B:140]
[DGRAY_R:82]
[DGRAY_G:75]
[DGRAY_B:94]
[LBLUE_R:80]
[LBLUE_G:117]
[LBLUE_B:235]
[LGREEN_R:109]
[LGREEN_G:171]
[LGREEN_B:75]
[LCYAN_R:84]
[LCYAN_G:80]
[LCYAN_B:133]
[LRED_R:240]
[LRED_G:146]
[LRED_B:127]
[LMAGENTA_R:212]
[LMAGENTA_G:190]
[LMAGENTA_B:232]
[YELLOW_R:186]
[YELLOW_G:181]
[YELLOW_B:145]
[WHITE_R:240]
[WHITE_G:230]
[WHITE_B:235]

[LadyCookie]

That's actually a very interesting concept; and in Caves of Qud they do exactly what you said (if you're playing in ASCII mode). I too think it would be a good idea!

[Fleeting Frames]

You should probably also share the raws you're using for wider adaption; as it is if someone has to do something like this they'd have to reassign all listed creatures one by one.

[Taffer]

Essential DF had this feature. It's a neat idea, it's just that most players are used to the letters as they are now and it makes consulting the DF wiki harder.

ASCII letters corresponding to animal type rather than name. A for amphibians/repties, s for snakes, u for ungulates, r for rodents, v for birds etc. No more confusion between goblins and groundhogs.

[jecowa]

Imgur mirror:

Spoiler: tileset (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: screenshot (click to show/hide)

[eurydike]

You should probably also share the raws you're using for wider adaption; as it is if someone has to do something like this they'd have to reassign all listed creatures one by one.

Uploaded the raws to DFFD which can be found at:

http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15035

[eurydike]

Apologizes for self-bumping this thread, but I'd like to post an update. Worked on stone tiles a bit, which is also the reason for this comment. I'll update the initial post also to include some details.

Rock, stone and mineral patterns
The stone and rock tiles are moving away from abstract idiographic symbols and towards representative tiles in comparison to some of the other tiles in the set. So I tried to setup a system of classifying stones for stonetiles, and looked up some images from google to try and decide which category each stone type should go into. The actual categorization (which isn't implemented in this version properly), is something along these lines:

SMOOTH ------- COARSE
How grainy is the texture?

PLAIN ------- MOTTLED
If there are spots in the texture?

PLAIN ------- STRIPED
If the rock appears to be composed of strata or layers?

AMORPHOUS ----- CRYSTALLINE
If the rock has crystalline or rounded structure?

These would then allow the creation of multiple rock wall tiles, depending on which features are present.
STRIPED and MOTTLED can be treated as mutually exclusive, kind of like a triangle instead of an axis, to reduce the number of required tiles.


Plants and vegetation
Some classification of similarity regarding plant tiles. Such as if the grass appears long, or short, if it's flowery or not. Somewhat simpler classification in comparison, could be developed further?

Continued working on the 18x18 format and haven't worked on the 20x24 format any further recently. The larger size kind of makes the environment very much zoomed in, so I've started to prefer the 18x18 version.

The rock update requires yet another version of raws, which I've not provided yet. There's also some additional changes, such as bunnies having their own tile ('v'). Here's an image of the current version:



Here's also a reference image for how some of the rocks look like. The tile with the symbol is for minerals such as native silver, platinum etc.
Unfortunately this reference image doesn't show many types of tiles.



What do you think? Does the stone classification make sense? Perhaps (you) could try doing something similar with (your) tileset?

PS. If anyone wants to use any tile of this tileset, or a derived tile based on some of these tiles, in their own graphics or tileset, feel free to do so. It would be flattering if that happened. 

[Fleeting Frames]

Good work! I'd be worried that functionally distinct stones would look very similar, but nice to see the extension of principles beyond creature tiles.

About that flower tile; I'd suggest to check in-game look if you add any fully colored in ground tiles; blackspace generally works fine until the background stops being black (though I don't think you're doing it atm).

[Momiro]

I really like this concept. Have you thought of using TWBT and adding an overrides file? This way you can preserve some compatibility with other ascii packs, which may not be strictly necessary.
I'm looking to try and adapt another texture pack to this style, should I just crawl through the raws to see what has changed besides the creatures, which are accounted for with the PDF, I assume.

I really like the use of the vertical lines for the numbers when displaying water depth and priority, I've already adapted the tileset I'm using to do something similar to that.

Hopefully you post the updated raws soon!

[Iklistkel]

stunning  ! The profundity effect is the hit point. Very pleasant to see.